MDMA (a Component of Ecstacy) Potential for the Treatment of Tinnitus

Fat chance anything will come of it. Whenever they find a treatment linked to an illegal substance, you never hear from it again.

Besides, the government shills at the FDA will make short work of it.
 
The benefit will be more psychosomatic and emotional ... because you will be able to have an encreased empathy for your own situation. Still not the desired discovery us T people are hoping for. After taking mdma your serotonin levels are down so you get a hit of temporary depression so that might reverse the whole empathy discovery. Some insights are life lessons, but the expereince does fade after a day. mdma lasts only 3-5 hours.
 
The benefit will be more psychosomatic and emotional ... because you will be able to have an encreased empathy for your own situation. Still not the desired discovery us T people are hoping for. After taking mdma your serotonin levels are down so you get a hit of temporary depression so that might reverse the whole empathy discovery. Some insights are life lessons, but the expereince does fade after a day. mdma lasts only 3-5 hours.

ok, so MDMA seems to be bad idea :-(
 
I can definitely see how MDMA could possibly help with habituation. Funnily enough, whenever I have done MDMA since getting tinnitus, I get a reduction in my tinnitus volume for a good couple weeks, not sure why though. The reduction is definitely temporary so it's nothing to get too excited about, but it is still interesting.

I hope they do decide to explore this more in-depth, because I have very little doubt that MDMA could be an effective treatment modality if it used along side some form of additional therapy or counselling. They are already exploring this with conditions like PTSD (the mechanisms behind PTSD and tinnitus are similar) with significant results.
 
Fat chance anything will come of it. Whenever they find a treatment linked to an illegal substance, you never hear from it again.

Besides, the government shills at the FDA will make short work of it.

Ketamine is a controlled substance and AM-101 is basically a stronger version of the drug.

If a drug can be shown to have useful effects while minimizing side effects (either through dosing or through finding a chemical derivative that still has the desired effect) it can easily sail through an FDA trial.

Opiate pain medications are based on the same basic chemical that you use to make diamorphine, or heroin. That hasn't stopped their use.
 
It has been used in a select few experiments for psychological conditions, but only a tiny few.

Because of the way it makes you feel it let's you connect with emotions that you may not be able to express, which is why it's good for conditions where you are emotionally separated.

It's a psychiatry dream drug. Months of therapy to get to the root cause of a problem can be replaced with a few sessions.

Edit: but they would lose a fortune in fees so probably not likely to be accepted by the mainstream very easily.

So I would reckon that it's the emotional connection and state of mind that make T reduce when taking MDMA, couldn't imagine anything permanent coming from it.
 
Although thinking about it again, if it helps to reduce the emotional connection and helps us to stop treating T as a negative and unwanted sound, then it could accelerate CBT style treatments.
 
A couple of drug users (most likely with very mild tinnitus) said their tinnitus went away and now they think they have a cure. lol. People with severe tinnitus would never consider taking an illegal drug to get high.
 
"QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 200 mg) It was taken twice at different times in a dosage of 200 milligrams each time, without the slightest peripheral or central effects.

(with 300 mg) My tinnitus had disappeared. Probably nothing. "

http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal115.shtml

http://www.dancesafe.org/OldEbooth/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=187167

The above quote by Alexander Shulgin (discoverer of MDMA and T sufferer) refers to a drug related to MDMA.

I'm no scientist, but I don't think we should discount something simply because it is illegal.
 
Ecstacy being so common there must be enough anecdotal evidence out there - though maybe it's more common amongst people who are young and tinnitus is more prevalent in a more mature (!) population so that might limit the numbers who have/tried T and mdma.

I've never tried it, must admit I wouldn't fancy taking a hallucinogenic like lsd these days.
 
Ecstacy being so common there must be enough anecdotal evidence out there - though maybe it's more common amongst people who are young and tinnitus is more prevalent in a more mature (!) population so that might limit the numbers who have/tried T and mdma.

I've never tried it, must admit I wouldn't fancy taking a hallucinogenic like lsd these days.
The problem is that on the street you will virtually never get pure MDMA. It will be adulterated with any number of different things that can have different effects, so it's never going to be very reliable what is causing any particular effect.
 
They also seem to think much more research is needed. Don't get hopes up too high yet. It is an encouraging sign but way early at this point. Plus if you google MDMA, it seems to cure everything from cancer to hangovers to depression.
 
They also seem to think much more research is needed. Don't get hopes up too high yet. It is an encouraging sign but way early at this point. Plus if you google MDMA, it seems to cure everything from cancer to hangovers to depression.
Yeah thats what i figured but still cool
 
Local NMDA Receptor Blockade Attenuates Chronic Tinnitus and Associated Brain Activity in an Animal Model
  • Thomas J. Brozoski mail,
    * E-mail: tbrozoski@siumed.edu
    Affiliation: Division of Otolaryngology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, United States of America
    X
  • Kurt W. Wisner,
    Affiliation: Division of Otolaryngology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, United States of America
    X
  • Boris Odintsov,
    Affiliation: Biomedical Imaging Center, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America
    X
  • Carol A. Bauer
    Affiliation: Division of Otolaryngology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, United States of America
    X
  • Published: October 21, 2013
  • DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077674

Abstract

Chronic tinnitus has no broadly effective treatment. Identification of specific markers for tinnitus should facilitate the development of effective therapeutics. Recently it was shown that glutamatergic blockade in the cerebellar paraflocculus, using an antagonist cocktail was successful in reducing chronic tinnitus. The present experiment examined the effect of selective N-methyl d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor blockade on tinnitus and associated spontaneous brain activity in a rat model. The NMDA antagonist, D(−)-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (D-AP5) (0.5 mM), was continuously infused for 2 weeks directly to the ipsilateral paraflocculus of rats with tinnitus induced months prior by unilateral noise exposure. Treated rats were compared to untreated normal controls without tinnitus, and to untreated positive controls with tinnitus. D-AP5 significantly decreased tinnitus within three days of beginning treatment, and continued to significantly reduce tinnitus throughout the course of treatment and for 23 days thereafter, at which time testing was halted. At the conclusion of psychophysical testing, neural activity was assessed using manganese enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI). In agreement with previous research, untreated animals with chronic tinnitus showed significantly elevated bilateral activity in their paraflocculus and brainstem cochlear nuclei, but not in mid or forebrain structures. In contrast, D-AP5-treated-tinnitus animals showed significantly less bilateral parafloccular and dorsal cochlear nucleus activity, as well as significantly less contralateral ventral cochlear nucleus activity. It was concluded that NMDA-mediated glutamatergic transmission in the paraflocculus appears to be a necessary component of chronic noise-induced tinnitus in a rat model. Additionally, it was confirmed that in this model, elevated spontaneous activity in the cerebellar paraflocculus and auditory brainstem is associated with tinnitus.


http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0077674
 
"QUALITATIVE COMMENTS: (with 200 mg) It was taken twice at different times in a dosage of 200 milligrams each time, without the slightest peripheral or central effects.

(with 300 mg) My tinnitus had disappeared. Probably nothing. "

http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/pihkal/pihkal115.shtml

http://www.dancesafe.org/OldEbooth/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=187167

The above quote by Alexander Shulgin (discoverer of MDMA and T sufferer) refers to a drug related to MDMA.

I'm no scientist, but I don't think we should discount something simply because it is illegal.
That's intriguing. If only he would join here so we could ask him about it.

May be a complete longshot, but I sent a quick mail to the Facebook page his wife Ann has up. He's not in great health so they are fundraising for him, still the message may get through. I'll update if I get a reply.
 
That's intriguing. If only he would join here so we could ask him about it.

May be a complete longshot, but I sent a quick mail to the Facebook page his wife Ann has up. He's not in great health so they are fundraising for him, still the message may get through. I'll update if I get a reply.

I think it should be noted that the study @stelar is referring to was based on NMDA treatment of tinnitus, which is a very different mode of action from MDMA.
 
Good point, @Hudson.

MDMA is XTC. NMDA, on the other hand, is (accoriding to Wiki) "an amino acid derivative that acts as a specific agonist at the NMDA receptor."

According to attached survey paper, various NMDA antagonists (including AM-101, Neramexane, and Memantine) are being examined as possible treatments for tinnitus. I should note as well that Ketamine, which has been discussed recently on TT, is also an NMDA antagonist.

-Golly
 

Attachments

  • nihms302634.pdf
    783.8 KB · Views: 61
Wow very interesting! I would personally imagine the drug would have the opposite effect, being that you would be more attentive to your tinnitus. I feel like alcohol might (while being consumed) reduce the perception of tinnitus due to its effects but the next morning your tinnitus may be much worse because of the cumulative effects of the hangover.
 

Log in or register to get the full forum benefits!

Register

Register on Tinnitus Talk for free!

Register Now