The reason behind the difference in MDMA’s biological interactivity for men and women is due to women typically having lower body mass indexes, but not adjusting their dosages appropriately to account for this.
A staple for all-night ravers
Research has found that MDMA (aka ecstasy, molly in the US, or mandy in the UK) could be more harmful to women than men. One of the most popular party drugs since the 80s, it has experienced a recent revival and surge in popularity in the clubbing, festival and dance scenes.
A survey of 27,000 people for the NET pleasure index ranked MDMA as the most pleasurable drug, comparing both its positive and negative effects with a host of other substances including alcohol, cocaine and cigarettes.
The drug works through increasing the activity of three brain chemicals: dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. An influx of dopamine causes a surge in euphoria and increases energy, aiding the drug’s status as a staple for all-night ravers. Norepinephrine increases heart rate, blood pressure and heightens sensory arousal and alertness. Greatly increased serotonin uptake boosts mood and suppresses the need for sleep. It also triggers additional hormones that affect sexual arousal and trust, often causing the extraordinary emotional closeness and empathy for others often experienced by MDMA users, and earning it its reputation as the ‘hug drug.’
Women twice as likely to seek treatment than men
But, as with any illicit substance, MDMA has its downsides too. The drug has a multitude of effects on both the bodies and the brains of its users, and can land them, indiscriminate of gender, in A&E. Interestingly, the results of the 2016 Global Drugs Survey revealed that the number of female clubbers in Britain seeking emergency medical treatment is four times higher than it was three years ago, and that women are more than twice as likely to seek that treatment than men.
The survey gravely concluded that now is the worst time to be using MDMA in a generation, due to concerns over the high dosage levels in MDMA pills as well as people intaking greater amounts, leading to increased risk of acute harm, severe damage and death.
Fiona Measham, professor of criminology at Durham University, emphasises the particular dangers for women taking MDMA. “There are concerns with women’s differential metabolising of MDMA combined with low body mass index.” She postulates that the reason behind the difference in MDMA’s biological interactivity for men and women is due to women typically having a lower body mass index, but not adjusting their dosages appropriately to account for this.
Women don't adjust their dosages to account for their lower body mass index
However, a study published in the journal of Psychopharmacology in Berlin found that the psychoactive effects of MDMA were more intense in women than in men, despite male and female participants being matched for body mass. Women especially had higher scores for MDMA-induced perceptual changes, thought disturbances, and fear of loss of body control. This would strongly indicate that MDMA interacts differently in female and male users, but why is this so?
Drowning inside their own bodies
One theory that is proposed to account for MDMA’s particularly pronounced effect on women is increased cellular water retention. A fairly innocuous side effect, it might seem, but in some cases this can lead to hyponatremia and dangerous swelling in the brain. Oestrogen, the female hormone, impairs cells’ ability to release water, meaning that women are particularly at risk of suffering this effect. The side effects of hyponatremia vary dependant on severity of the condition, but in the worst cases it can lead to severe salt imbalances in the cells and cause the user to essentially drown inside their own body.
Other research has also pointed out a number of alternate factors that could cause this pronounced female effect, including a woman’s stage in the menstrual cycle. In a study on MDMA interactivity in rats, when comparing male rats, female rats, and male and female rats that had had their respective reproductive systems removed, they found the drug had the strongest effect on female rats with an intact reproductive system. They concluded that this was due to an increased reactivity of the serotonin system due to the effect of ovarian hormones.
While most MDMA trips are relatively problem free, with the latest European survey data estimating around 2.1 million people aged between 15 and 34 had used it in the last year, its dangers cannot be understated and a bad batch can cause widespread lethalities. While MDMA itself is not biologically addictive, in the same way that cocaine or heroin are, users can find themselves taking it compulsively to keep up with an ultimately damaging lifestyle, and dependency is not unheard of. And, if the trends are to be believed, women should be particularly careful when choosing to indulge.
City Addictions, April 14, 2017
RELATED CONTENT
Is there a cocaine culture at the criminal bar?
Best Of The Web
Alex Aldridge, a freelance journalist writing in The Guardian, reflects on the implication given by the BBC drama Silk that cocaine use is rife in the legal profession.
Professor David Nutt was infamously sacked from his role as Chief Drugs Advisor after publishing a report in the Lancet which challenged the government's policy on drugs, stating that alcohol is in fact more dangerous than heroin.
In this piece from The Guardian one woman speaks candidly about her experiences of blacking out after too much alcohol, and too many times, waking up in a stranger’s bed.
In this piece form Buzzfeed, Patrick Strudwick investigates the hidden world of "chemsex", following the conviction of Stephen Port for the rape, drugging, and murder of four young men.
Honey, it just doesn't work if it's not on the internet
Video
Patrick Carnes is a best-selling author and a leading proponent of the viewpoint that some sexual behaviour can be seen as an addiction. Indeed it was Carnes who popularised the term 'sex addiction'.
Your Brain on Porn - Scary Effects of Porn Addiction
Video
Scientists in the field of neuroscience and brain imaging are showing in study after study that high speed internet porn can change the brain just like drug addiction. This wreaks havoc on the reward/pleasure system in the brain resulting in devastating effects.
Investigating this piece for The Mail on Sunday, Laura Topham discovered how ketamine, previously the preserve of hardcore clubbers, has became hugely popular with Britain's young upper classes.
When asked which drug kills the most users per year what springs to mind? Heroin? Cocaine? Certainly not Paracetamol. But prescription drug abuse is responsible for a significant number of drug related deaths across the globe.
How cracking down on prescription peddling pain clinics created an even more devastating epidemic that remains ongoing and growing to this day: an eruption of widespread heroin addiction
Did cocaine use by bankers cause the financial crisis?
Best Of The Web
Geraint Anderson, renegade stockbroker author of ‘Cityboy’, reflects on former drug tsar David Nutt’s opinion piece suggesting that coked-up bankers were responsible for the credit crunch.
Tinder has skyrocketed in popularity since its inception in 2012. Its trajectory has proven remarkable: within two short years it was registering about one billion ‘swipes’ per day opening up a whole new world of internet assisted casual sex.
The drug ketamine is mainly used as an anaesthetic, particularly in emergency medicine. But in some countries, it's become popular as a recreational drug. China is one — the authorities there say its use is soaring among young people — while its price continues to drop.
The detrimental physical effects of cocaine are well documented, but lesser known is its neurological impact on brain functioning, in areas such as attention span, decision-making and memory.
Ferris Jabr, reporting for Scientific American, discovers that pathological gamblers and drug addicts share many of the same genetic predispositions for impulsivity and reward seeking.
A short documentary looking at life the stories of eight alcoholics from their first drink, to their rock bottom, and then to their recovery. Director Mikey Trotter asks ‘what makes alcoholics drink’ and ‘how do you try and get sober.'
Ketamine has been on the club scene for decades, although only quite recently are its debilitating long-term side effects coming to light. But it's also a life saver in developing countries where it serves as a cheap and available anaesthetic.
Bruce Parry spends time with workers of an illegal cocaine-making factory located deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle. Remarkable footage from BBC documentary Amazon with Bruce Parry.
Toxicologist Richard Church has a simple warning for young party-goers who may think the club drug 'Molly', an allegedly pure form of MDMA, is safe. "Don't trust your drug dealer," says Dr Church. Molly is not the Molly they thought it was. It is not pure.
Gambling is all around us, whether in casinos and betting shops, or in the growing number of online bingo and roulette websites. What determines who can keep it to the odd flutter, and for whom gambling can get out of control?
Drugs, alcohol, exercise, sex, pornography, gambling....It seems anything pleasurable can become addictive, but how to draw the line between a harmless hobby and a problem? What elements of treatment are most important in helping tackle addictions?
Nina Lakhani, reporting for The Independent, asks how an unchecked culture of legal drug addiction has been allowed to flourish, with two million addicted to tranquillisers, and many thousands abusing over-the-counter painkillers.
Reported cases of sex addiction in America are now in the millions. Some estimates suggest 3 to 5% of the American population, including stories of ordinary folk . . . like the Doherty’s from San Antonio
The pleasure derived from success is borne of the very same brain pathways that make substance use so irresistible to some. Traits that make a good CEO are exactly those that make a ‘good’ addict.
This BBC Newsnight report asks if the prescription drug addiction problem sweeping the United States could be replicated in the UK. With interviews with people who have struggled with addiction, and those offering help and support.
“The NHS is severely impaired in its ability to address new pathologies such as problem gambling, because it is having to spend all its money on drug and alcohol treatment” says psychiatrist Henrietta Bowden-Jones.
In making the drug illegal, the government only succeeded in compromising its quality and hiking up its price, making it not only more unaffordable, but more dangerous.
Powder cocaine has a stereotyped reputation as the ‘recreational’ drug of choice for rich high-flyers in pressured jobs, but recreation can quickly become a destructive dependency. What are the reasons for this, and how can problematic use be alleviated with treatment?
What happens inside the brain of a gambling addict when they make a bet - and can the secret to their addiction be found within the brain itself? BBC Panorama filmed a unique experiment designed to find out.
Researchers in Germany dubbed a certain variant of the CAMK4 gene the ‘cocaine gene' after discovering that cocaine addicts were 25% more likely to carry this variant than non-users.
This piece from The Independent reveals that as far back as 2000 there was significant cause for concern that alcohol and drug taking in the legal professions was undermining public faith.
While controversy over its definition – and even its very existence – continues to foment, sex addiction, all too often steeped in shame and guilt, is a very real problem that has a spectacular ability to destroy lives and relationships.
Stuart Adams has a long history of addictive behaviour, particularly problem gambling. Now receiving counselling through GamCare he is attempting to turn his life around.
BBC's Weird Nature series shows how Vervet Monkeys in the Caribbean have taken to stealing cocktails from people on the beach. Studies show that they have the same percentage of teetotal and alcoholic individuals as the human population.
Clues from our distant ancestral past suggest that an attraction to alcohol may once have conferred an evolutionary advantage, and explain the the mystery of why we humans are often compelled to consume what is essentially a toxin.
Fry never took cocaine while he was working, on a stage or in a television studio. He would call it, rather creepily, the ‘pudding’ that would give him an extra 'reward' afterwards.
There's a tendency in economics to think that financial risk-taking is a purely cognitive activity, but as Dr John Coates explains, it's more quirky than that. Young male city traders on a winning streak shift their risk preferences and take on too much risk.
Alex Aldridge, a freelance journalist writing in The Guardian, reflects on the implication given by the BBC drama Silk that cocaine use is rife in the legal profession.
Professor David Nutt was infamously sacked from his role as Chief Drugs Advisor after publishing a report in the Lancet which challenged the government's policy on drugs, stating that alcohol is in fact more dangerous than heroin.
In this piece from The Guardian one woman speaks candidly about her experiences of blacking out after too much alcohol, and too many times, waking up in a stranger’s bed.
In this piece form Buzzfeed, Patrick Strudwick investigates the hidden world of "chemsex", following the conviction of Stephen Port for the rape, drugging, and murder of four young men.
Honey, it just doesn't work if it's not on the internet
Video
Patrick Carnes is a best-selling author and a leading proponent of the viewpoint that some sexual behaviour can be seen as an addiction. Indeed it was Carnes who popularised the term 'sex addiction'.
Your Brain on Porn - Scary Effects of Porn Addiction
Video
Scientists in the field of neuroscience and brain imaging are showing in study after study that high speed internet porn can change the brain just like drug addiction. This wreaks havoc on the reward/pleasure system in the brain resulting in devastating effects.
Investigating this piece for The Mail on Sunday, Laura Topham discovered how ketamine, previously the preserve of hardcore clubbers, has became hugely popular with Britain's young upper classes.
When asked which drug kills the most users per year what springs to mind? Heroin? Cocaine? Certainly not Paracetamol. But prescription drug abuse is responsible for a significant number of drug related deaths across the globe.
How cracking down on prescription peddling pain clinics created an even more devastating epidemic that remains ongoing and growing to this day: an eruption of widespread heroin addiction
Did cocaine use by bankers cause the financial crisis?
Best Of The Web
Geraint Anderson, renegade stockbroker author of ‘Cityboy’, reflects on former drug tsar David Nutt’s opinion piece suggesting that coked-up bankers were responsible for the credit crunch.
Tinder has skyrocketed in popularity since its inception in 2012. Its trajectory has proven remarkable: within two short years it was registering about one billion ‘swipes’ per day opening up a whole new world of internet assisted casual sex.
The drug ketamine is mainly used as an anaesthetic, particularly in emergency medicine. But in some countries, it's become popular as a recreational drug. China is one — the authorities there say its use is soaring among young people — while its price continues to drop.
The detrimental physical effects of cocaine are well documented, but lesser known is its neurological impact on brain functioning, in areas such as attention span, decision-making and memory.
Ferris Jabr, reporting for Scientific American, discovers that pathological gamblers and drug addicts share many of the same genetic predispositions for impulsivity and reward seeking.
A short documentary looking at life the stories of eight alcoholics from their first drink, to their rock bottom, and then to their recovery. Director Mikey Trotter asks ‘what makes alcoholics drink’ and ‘how do you try and get sober.'
Ketamine has been on the club scene for decades, although only quite recently are its debilitating long-term side effects coming to light. But it's also a life saver in developing countries where it serves as a cheap and available anaesthetic.
Bruce Parry spends time with workers of an illegal cocaine-making factory located deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle. Remarkable footage from BBC documentary Amazon with Bruce Parry.
Toxicologist Richard Church has a simple warning for young party-goers who may think the club drug 'Molly', an allegedly pure form of MDMA, is safe. "Don't trust your drug dealer," says Dr Church. Molly is not the Molly they thought it was. It is not pure.
Gambling is all around us, whether in casinos and betting shops, or in the growing number of online bingo and roulette websites. What determines who can keep it to the odd flutter, and for whom gambling can get out of control?
Drugs, alcohol, exercise, sex, pornography, gambling....It seems anything pleasurable can become addictive, but how to draw the line between a harmless hobby and a problem? What elements of treatment are most important in helping tackle addictions?
Nina Lakhani, reporting for The Independent, asks how an unchecked culture of legal drug addiction has been allowed to flourish, with two million addicted to tranquillisers, and many thousands abusing over-the-counter painkillers.
Reported cases of sex addiction in America are now in the millions. Some estimates suggest 3 to 5% of the American population, including stories of ordinary folk . . . like the Doherty’s from San Antonio
The pleasure derived from success is borne of the very same brain pathways that make substance use so irresistible to some. Traits that make a good CEO are exactly those that make a ‘good’ addict.
This BBC Newsnight report asks if the prescription drug addiction problem sweeping the United States could be replicated in the UK. With interviews with people who have struggled with addiction, and those offering help and support.
“The NHS is severely impaired in its ability to address new pathologies such as problem gambling, because it is having to spend all its money on drug and alcohol treatment” says psychiatrist Henrietta Bowden-Jones.
In making the drug illegal, the government only succeeded in compromising its quality and hiking up its price, making it not only more unaffordable, but more dangerous.
Powder cocaine has a stereotyped reputation as the ‘recreational’ drug of choice for rich high-flyers in pressured jobs, but recreation can quickly become a destructive dependency. What are the reasons for this, and how can problematic use be alleviated with treatment?
What happens inside the brain of a gambling addict when they make a bet - and can the secret to their addiction be found within the brain itself? BBC Panorama filmed a unique experiment designed to find out.
Researchers in Germany dubbed a certain variant of the CAMK4 gene the ‘cocaine gene' after discovering that cocaine addicts were 25% more likely to carry this variant than non-users.
This piece from The Independent reveals that as far back as 2000 there was significant cause for concern that alcohol and drug taking in the legal professions was undermining public faith.
While controversy over its definition – and even its very existence – continues to foment, sex addiction, all too often steeped in shame and guilt, is a very real problem that has a spectacular ability to destroy lives and relationships.
Stuart Adams has a long history of addictive behaviour, particularly problem gambling. Now receiving counselling through GamCare he is attempting to turn his life around.
BBC's Weird Nature series shows how Vervet Monkeys in the Caribbean have taken to stealing cocktails from people on the beach. Studies show that they have the same percentage of teetotal and alcoholic individuals as the human population.
Clues from our distant ancestral past suggest that an attraction to alcohol may once have conferred an evolutionary advantage, and explain the the mystery of why we humans are often compelled to consume what is essentially a toxin.
Fry never took cocaine while he was working, on a stage or in a television studio. He would call it, rather creepily, the ‘pudding’ that would give him an extra 'reward' afterwards.
There's a tendency in economics to think that financial risk-taking is a purely cognitive activity, but as Dr John Coates explains, it's more quirky than that. Young male city traders on a winning streak shift their risk preferences and take on too much risk.
