Is the MDMA Comedown Real? Effects of Molly The Day After

Is the Molly/MDMA comedown a real thing?

Short answer: We believe the comedown is preventable if you:

• Get 9+ hours of sleep the night after rolling and ideally the night before rolling, too. We believe this is the factor that people most often confuse with an MDMA comedown. People think they are feeling bad the day after due to MDMA, but it’s actually mostly due to mild sleep deprivation.
• Take safer dosages, perhaps less than 180 mg total during a session for a male or 120 mg for a female/smaller person
• Test your MDMA so you know it’s not fake
• Don’t mix other drugs that have comedowns with MDMA
• Take breaks between consecutive MDMA uses, perhaps at least 3 weeks

Interestingly, in MAPS sponsored MDMA clinical research, depressed mood in days 1-7 following MDMA use was observed in 13% of patients in the placebo condition, and 13% of patients in the 100-125 mg condition! Refer to page 77 of 143.¹

From the fantastic book Acid Test: “He’d learned that MDMA, which flooded the brain with serotonin during the session, could leave a hangover of serotonin depletion for a few days, which might be associated with depressed feelings. Oddly though, in Michael’s first study, the subjects who took only the sugar pill reported more depressed feelings following the sessions than those who got the MDMA.”²

From the page on MDMA Side Effects.

Anecdotal reports indicate that MDMA comedowns are strongly related to:

• Impure MDMA
• Unsafe dosages
• Not waiting long enough between MDMA uses
• Lack of sleep
• Other unhealthy actions / other drug use

Preventing a comedown before dosing

Follow harm reduction advice:

• Consider taking supplements, there’s some anecdotal evidence that they might help reduce your comedown - though there’s no high quality scientific research. As a bonus, there’s evidence from rat studies that specific supplements “may prevent or reduce the risk of “losing the magic”.”
• Take as long of a break between rolls as possible. “A minimum break is then perhaps 3-5 weeks if you’re taking less than or equal to 120 mg and with no more than 3 sessions - it may be smart to increase the delay if you plan on more than 3 sessions in your life, but we don’t really know.” (1)
• Dose <120 mg. Avoid re-dosing.
• Only consume MDMA that you have good evidence (e.g. reviews/other people have tested it, or you have tested it using Mandelin, Mecke, Marquis and Simon’s Reagents) is extremely high purity.

I’m currently coming down - how can I treat my MDMA comedown?

1. Sleep. Getting 9+ hours should be helpful. Anecdotal reports seem to indicate that some MDMA comedown symptoms are related to a lack of sleep.

2. Hydrate, especially with electrolyte-containing fluids. (2)

3. Eat nutritious food. In general, we’d expect low sugar food to be better.

4. Supplement 5-HTP, optionally with EGCG. Avoid 24 h before or after rolling. Evidence: anecdotal only. There’s no scientific evidence confirming this. (2) Some users find it helpful, some don’t.

References