Man who took 40,000 ecstasy tablets and lived to tell the tale: Raver, 37, popped up to 25 pills a DAY for nine years was left unable to move for weeks after stopping
- The man dubbed ‘Mr A’ took the drug nearly everyday for nine years of his life
- Habitual use left him with depression, anxiety, memory issues and rigid muscles
- 40,000 tablets of ecstasy is the most that has ever been taken by a single person
A man who took the most amount of MDMA ever consumed by a single person and lived to tell the tale was popping 25 tablets a day at the height of his addiction.
Doctors estimate the 37-year-old, from Surrey in England, took 40,000 ecstasy pills over nine years after getting ‘very much into the club scene’.
He started taking the pills in party settings where they are most popular, but found that when he tried to stop he could not move and experienced tunnel vision because he was in withdrawal.
His case was documented in a medical journal in 2006 that has only recently surfaced and circulated online. It comes after DailyMail.com revealed MDMA could be available in US hospitals in 2024 after showing promise as a powerful treatment for PTSD.
Mr A took ecstasy nearly every day for nine years, leaving him with severe health consequences including depression, panic attacks, and muscle rigidity
MDMA, also known as molly, is popular in the underground dance scene when people take it to party through the night and feel more connected to the music and fellow ravers.
The British man, referred to only as ‘Mr A,’ used the drug heavily from the age of 21 until he was 30.
He took five tablets every weekend for the first two years but bumped that up to about 3.5 tablets daily for the next three years. That jumped even higher to an average of 25 tablets daily over the next four years.
Dr Christos Kouimtsidis, the psychiatrist who treated him, said there was so much ecstasy in his system that he was high ‘for a few months’ after he quit the drug.
WHAT IS MDMA?
Ecstasy, known chemically as MDMA or molly, has been used by clubbers for decades due to its effects in helping keep people awake.
It can come in the form of various pills and often takes about 30 minutes for its long-lasting effects to kick in, which can include feelings of love.
In the US, the jail term can be as severe as 40 years in some states.
In the UK, possession of any form of ecstasy – considered a Class A drug – comes with a potential jail term of up to seven years.
Drug campaigners warn the biggest risk of taking MDMA revolves around the fact that many users are unaware of what is in the substance they are taking.
It can include other drugs, such as PMA, which can be fatal in lower doses than MDMA itself.
Dr Kouimtsidis was first connected to Mr A at age 37 to address his memory loss issues. The case report did not say whether Mr A was still on the drugs when he met with the doctor.
Mr A stopped using ecstasy after ‘collapsing’ at parties too many times.
He experienced bouts of ‘tunnel vision’ and later developed severe anxiety, panic attacks, depression, muscle rigidity, hallucinations and paranoia.
MDMA typically is not considered an addictive drug in the same way that benzodiazepines and opioids are.
Overdoses of MDMA are rare and most overdoses involving the drug are a result of multiple drug poisoning or outside circumstances such as dehydration. But too much of any subtance can prove toxic and cause cardiac arrest, regardless of whether it is an illegal drug.
The previous record number of MDMA tablets taken was set in 1998 in a study that recorded a person taking 2,000 in their lifetime.
Dr Kouimtsidis said: ‘Typical use is not every day and not the amount of tablets he was taking. It was extreme, his use was really, really high.
Mr A may have started taking a staggering amount of ecstasy for fun, Dr Kouimstsidis said. The raver ‘was very much into the club scene, providing ecstasy for himself and others and so forth,’ he added.
But at a later point he was likely taking so much of the drug to self medicate.
Dr Kouimstsidis added: ‘It was more like a management of his mood rather than excitement and having fun.’
He also had a history of using other harmful drugs including benzodiazepines, amphetamines, LSD, cocaine and heroin.
Mr A stopped taking the drug at age 37 but researchers lost contact with him.
Source: Read Full Article