E causes (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) and dopamine to flood the brain. Both are neurotransmitters which influence the flow of information throughout the brain. Changing the balance between the two changes your mood. Ecstasy gives you a glow of well-being, happiness, empathy, euphoria, increases your sensitivity to rhythmic music, and makes you want to dance.
The latest studies show that Ecstasy use can impair the serotonin system and memory performance. Research conducted on subjects who had used E on a couple of hundred occasions showed that people who use the drug had suffered brain damage. The level of brain damage users experience is directly proportional to the number of times the drug was used.
The brain damage found among X-TC users involved the cells responsible for releasing serotonin in the brain. An imaging technique known as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) was used to study the brains of a group of Ecstasy users. Researchers found that the number of healthy serotonin cells in the participants' brains was between 20-60 percent lower than normal. This type of change in the normal level of cells in the brain accounts for the memory loss that long-term users of E may experience.
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