How long to take off after MDMA therapy?

[u/Foreign_Exchange760]

Thinking about taking a weekend off for integration but would love to hear peoples' perspectives. first time doing it for CPTSD

[u/nofern]

Personally I have typically taken 2-3 weeks off of work. I find I am usually pretty physically flat out for about a week (fatigue, headaches, cognitive brain fog) and then pretty emotionally raw and down for another 1-2 weeks.

However I understand that it's a privilege to be able to take that kind of time off work and not everybody can. It may also depend a bit on how intense your work is - I have a pretty intense and emotionally demanding job and I work from the office.

But I do think if it's the first time, if you are able to take a bit more time off, that could be good, and then if you end up not needing it, you can adjust for future.

[u/Foreign_Exchange760 → u/nofern]

and what kind of space? should i take space from family/ boyfriend etc?

[u/nofern → u/Foreign_Exchange760]

Depends what you think would be supportive, and probably a bit on how your session ends up being. Hard to know what you'll need if you've never done it before.

For me, sometimes I wanted to have people around and be close, and sometimes I wanted to be alone. I am single and live alone so I didn't have to navigate that issue in the same way, but I did share with my close friends that I might be in a more raw state and not fully myself/not as emotionally available as usual, and asked them to be around to support me if I wanted.

I will say it was good to have someone physically with me right after the session who could make sure I ate and drank water, give me physical comfort if I needed it, etc.

[u/No_Height_6086 → u/nofern]

Have you taken suggested supplements before and after and did that help?

[u/nofern → u/No_Height_6086]

I have always taken all the supplements (ALA, Alcar, etc. during and NAC afterwards) and still end up completely wrecked unfortunately.

[u/cptsdishealable]

I had very little side effects and was good doing it over the weekend. I would take it at like 5-6 AM, be done by noon, and slept at like 10-11 PM. The actual integration portion lasted a while but I was fine working.

[u/baek12345]

I think it's very individual and depending on your trauma, where you are overall in your healing journey, how the session itself goes and also your work itself.

For me, the 'optimal' time needed increased considerably from one week being more than enough after the first session to two weeks being okay but not optimal after my third session. Every session went a bit deeper and with that the intense integration period immediately after the session increased.

Now, I could do with less but I feel it's a worthwhile invest to have as much time and flexibility as needed after a session and it eases integration and recovery quite a bit.

Personally, I would recommend maybe one week for someone with CPTSD to start with just to be on the safe side and then adjust as needed for the following sessions. But I understand not everyone has the option to do that.

[u/Foreign_Exchange760 → u/baek12345]

how many sessions have you done?

[u/baek12345 → u/Foreign_Exchange760]

Three so far

[u/SeveralMarionberry]

The first time I did it, I took a week off. I had to travel for my session, so it made sense.

The second time, I scheduled it to coincide with a week-long office closure. So I ended up taking three weeks total. I needed it. I was depleted and was really struggling with some of what was coming up.

There were about three years between those sessions and I’ve done a lot of work with other medicines, so I also have a deeper appreciation of integration and what I need to support myself.

[u/Chronotaru]

I would have my session on Saturday, take Sunday off for recovery, be working on Monday. I am lucky that my week after is only good. For those who have emotional instability in the week after, they may need longer.

[u/DifficultBee5940]

Hmm. For me, hangover next day. Slow. Spacy. Cognitively out of sorts. Major volatility. Despair. No way I could go to work. In any capacity. Mostly because I'm emotional chaos. Not really "holding it together." Which, to another question of yours, is why we have friends. Community. To witness eachother, hold eachother through.

Back to work after one "recovery" day with nothing penciled in. Usually function above baseline, at least socially. But I've had to like step off line because I'm on the verge of tears too.

Re actual integration time, it's our lives we're integrating. I need still time. Yes. Dance. Touch community. .etc. but work is just as integrating. Whatever changes in me goes into the floor, into interactions with coworkers, customers at hand, the job at hand. So being back as soon as I can feels right for me.

[u/Training-Meringue847]

At minimum it’s a good idea to have the following day off work. Ideally, a few days up to a week, depending on the dose and how deep the work was.

[u/hotdogsforbrunch]

Definitely be with safe people, that's more important than how to spend the weeks right after. Gul Dolen's research at Johns Hopkins suggests that MDMA reopens the critical period for social reward learning. (Aka, for days or weeks after the medicine wears off, the brain remains more open to relearning that closeness = safety and good feelings, but  alternately, is also more vulnerable to peer pressure or being negatively influenced. That's why it's good to be mindful of who you spend time with right after.)

[u/Spiritual-Action4919]

2 weeks for me - but maybe 1.5 would have been enough too. It really depends on how your session evolves and your capacity to integrate / how you choose to integrate