Hello people,

I have been using ECA stack for a long long time now , 5-6 months unstoppable and became a routine. That staff would not give me any help now.

I decided to stop this shit 3 days ago. I used to take around 100 -125 mg of Ephe HCI each day. It's the 3rd day now and damn :( I sleep around 10 hours , I wake up , I try to workout but It 's very difficult , I go back to home , i eat and then .....lethargy. I need to sleep. I sleep 3 hours. I wake up at 8.00 pm in the evening. I go out with friends and I really get sleepy at around 12.00 am :(.

I am holding ok , I watch my craving, i eat clean food, i try to do some cardio with weights but it is very difficult. Now i Understand how addiction looks like. I sweat and feel lethargic all day around with low pressure.

I am continuing my fight. How long will it take?Any prescriptions useful?Any advices?

Thanks

PS.Stay away from ephedra abuse

Hello people,

I have been using ECA stack for a long long time now , 5-6 months unstoppable and became a routine. That staff would not give me any help now.

I decided to stop this shit 3 days ago. I used to take around 100 -125 mg of Ephe HCI each day. It's the 3rd day now and damn :( I sleep around 10 hours , I wake up , I try to workout but It 's very difficult , I go back to home , i eat and then .....lethargy. I need to sleep. I sleep 3 hours. I wake up at 8.00 pm in the evening. I go out with friends and I really get sleepy at around 12.00 am :(.

I am holding ok , I watch my craving, i eat clean food, i try to do some cardio with weights but it is very difficult. Now i Understand how addiction looks like. I sweat and feel lethargic all day around with low pressure.

I am continuing my fight. How long will it take?Any prescriptions useful?Any advices?

Thanks

PS.Stay away from ephedra abuse

Lesson learned - Don't abuse anything! Your insomnia and any other withdrawl symptoms should subside within a week - 10 days.However, the mental part of addiction is a little trickier.That shit will last a lifetime. There's an old saying."Once an addict, always an addict". Let this be a warning. This is not to say you'll always be an "active" addict however you definetly WILL run into further problems if you continue to do shit in excess.Hold on tight. You may be in for the ride of your life.

I know excatly where your coming from. I used to use that stuff all the time. It was very hard not to take some whenever I felt tired and wanted to workout or anytime during the day. I would take it alot. I'm finally done with that shit and VERY glad, it gave me irregular heartbeats and all sorts of other things. Like Doordude said..the physical symptoms should go away within 10 days. And once your clean for awhile its alot easier to not take it. Good Luck man, you made a good desicion to stop using :tu:

Lol, ephedra is not meth!

You will not have a mental addiction for the rest of your life to ephedra unless you are mentally very weak!

Your body will take a week or two to adapt to not having the stimulant in your system and then everything will be fine.

In the future you should not use stimulants chronically rather use them sparingly when needed.

Lol, ephedra is not meth!

You will not have a mental addiction for the rest of your life to ephedra unless you are mentally very weak!

Your body will take a week or two to adapt to not having the stimulant in your system and then everything will be fine.

In the future you should not use stimulants chronically rather use them sparingly when needed.


LOL huh?
With all due respect,you couldn't be further from the truth. Addiction = obssessive/compulsive behavior towards anything!!Drugs, alcohol, workouts, you name it.Sicko readily admitted that he ABUSED ephedrine to the point where he's now suffering from withdrawl symptoms. That's a pretty strong indication there's a problem. I'm no one to preach about this shit but I can tell you that certain people have what's called an "addictive personality" and have a problem controlling obssessions and compulsions.
It is my opinion that your advise is of poor quality to say the least.Telling him to use stimulants sparingly in the future is like telling an alcoholic to drink moderately. I am NOT saying Sicko will struggle with this forever. I AM saying that if he has an "addictive personality" he'd better use caution in the future. Just a heads up.

i am a strong character dude , and I can handle it .It is very difficult though but not impossible. It is like i am overreacting but , no , these 3-4 days im unsociable , a zombie dude :(. I am going to study this September Sport and Exercise Science Bsc and follow a Sports Medicine degree for a MAster. I am only 20.5 years old , and yes i have this addiction because of overdose and abuse of this staff. You learn by your mistakes dont you? I am glad and i am sure i am going to get over this staff and now I am going to be glad to be one of those people who are going to say ''Do not use this shit!I used it and I know the shitty side effects first hand''.
I am having a full blood test, heart monitor at a cardiologist Monday Morning for a complete picture and advice from a doc.

thanks for your support and advises

LOL huh?
With all due respect,you couldn't be further from the truth. Addiction = obssessive/compulsive behavior towards anything!!Drugs, alcohol, workouts, you name it.Sicko readily admitted that he ABUSED ephedrine to the point where he's now suffering from withdrawl symptoms. That's a pretty strong indication there's a problem. I'm no one to preach about this shit but I can tell you that certain people have what's called an "addictive personality" and have a problem controlling obssessions and compulsions.
It is my opinion that your advise is of poor quality to say the least.Telling him to use stimulants sparingly in the future is like telling an alcoholic to drink moderately. I am NOT saying Sicko will struggle with this forever. I AM saying that if he has an "addictive personality" he'd better use caution in the future. Just a heads up.

i am a strong character dude , and I can handle it .It is very difficult though but not impossible. It is like i am overreacting but , no , these 3-4 days im unsociable , a zombie dude :(. I am going to study this September Sport and Exercise Science Bsc and follow a Sports Medicine degree for a MAster. I am only 20.5 years old , and yes i have this addiction because of overdose and abuse of this staff. You learn by your mistakes dont you? I am glad and i am sure i am going to get over this staff and now I am going to be glad to be one of those people who are going to say ''Do not use this shit!I used it and I know the shitty side effects first hand''.
I am having a full blood test, heart monitor at a cardiologist Monday Morning for a complete picture and advice from a doc.

thanks for your support and advises

Sicko,
I'm sure you will get over this but strength and age have nothing to do with it.And, I am certainly not implying you have an addiction problem.I, on the other hand do and i'm just giving you a heads up by saying be careful. Addiction manifests itself in many ways.

LOL huh?
With all due respect,you couldn't be further from the truth. Addiction = obssessive/compulsive behavior towards anything!!Drugs, alcohol, workouts, you name it.Sicko readily admitted that he ABUSED ephedrine to the point where he's now suffering from withdrawl symptoms. That's a pretty strong indication there's a problem. I'm no one to preach about this shit but I can tell you that certain people have what's called an "addictive personality" and have a problem controlling obssessions and compulsions.
It is my opinion that your advise is of poor quality to say the least.Telling him to use stimulants sparingly in the future is like telling an alcoholic to drink moderately. I am NOT saying Sicko will struggle with this forever. I AM saying that if he has an "addictive personality" he'd better use caution in the future. Just a heads up.

There are also different types of addiction. There is mental addiction and chemical addiction. You wouldn't liken ephedrine to crack cocaine would you?
I got withdrawl symptoms when I only slept with one pillow instead of two. Was I addicted to having 2 pillows? Its probably a bad example but it kinda gets my point across. People get caffeine withdrawal symptoms too. I had headaches for a couple of days after exam season etc.

Sicko,
To be honest as long as you don't take ephedrine again *just* to make yourself feel better, you'll be fine soon. Then it begins to be used as a fix, which is not a great use for anything. (except maybe duckape)

Count yourself lucky that its not a class A drug, and make sure that you don't waste any of the progress that you've made while on ephedrine. I mean what would be worse than going though all this pain and anguish, and then loosing the edge that you got from ephedrine in the first place?
Good luck on your willpower dude.

There are also different types of addiction. There is mental addiction and chemical addiction. You wouldn't liken ephedrine to crack cocaine would you?
I got withdrawl symptoms when I only slept with one pillow instead of two. Was I addicted to having 2 pillows? Its probably a bad example but it kinda gets my point across. People get caffeine withdrawal symptoms too. I had headaches for a couple of days after exam season etc.

Sicko,
To be honest as long as you don't take ephedrine again *just* to make yourself feel better, you'll be fine soon. Then it begins to be used as a fix, which is not a great use for anything. (except maybe duckape)

Count yourself lucky that its not a class A drug, and make sure that you don't waste any of the progress that you've made while on ephedrine. I mean what would be worse than going though all this pain and anguish, and then loosing the edge that you got from ephedrine in the first place?
Good luck on your willpower dude.


Damn man! everyone's missing the point! No, I would not liken ephedrine to crack cocaine. That's #1. And #2, I have no idea how you're comparing your choice of using 2 pillows to an addiction.All i'm saying is that certain people have a predisposed disposition towards addiction.Shit, I don't know this guy from Adam.I'm just trying to make him aware of the potential problem.And here's another morsel of info. Caffeine IS a drug!!!!!
Hey, you all can do what you want.It don't make no nevermind to me.

By the way.Addiction,whether it be mental or physical is still addiction.What was your point.

By the way.Addiction,whether it be mental or physical is still addiction.What was your point.
My guess is that you're both right. Ephedrine shouldn't be addictive because of it's chemical makeup (for lack of a better term), but like Acliff said even 2 pillows can be addictive (BTW I thought this anaology was fine!).

Anyway back to the topic. Sicko why not taper back instead of stopping cold turkey? I dunno if that would help, but it's an idea. You could have gone from 125mg/ed to 100 for a day or two, then to 85, then 65, then 45, etc.

Heck though you're already on day 3 so it might be best just to stick with it. Anyway good luck to you.

I said "lol" because I found it amusing that you seemed to be comparing ephedra to a highly addictive drug. Evidently I misunderstood.


Now, he never said he was addicted to it he said he used it daily for 5-6 months. That hardly makes him unique.

I think your idea of addiction and mine are quite different and that is ok. Just so you know, by your definition of addiction probably 80%+ of the people on this board are addicted to protein...

In my opinion what he is experiencing is perfectly normal and to be expected when one ceases using a strong stimulant after 5-6 months of continuous use.

I said "lol" because I found it amusing that you seemed to be comparing ephedra to a highly addictive drug. Evidently I misunderstood.


Now, he never said he was addicted to it he said he used it daily for 5-6 months. That hardly makes him unique.

I think your idea of addiction and mine are quite different and that is ok. Just so you know, by your definition of addiction probably 80%+ of the people on this board are addicted to protein...

In my opinion what he is experiencing is perfectly normal and to be expected when one ceases using a strong stimulant after 5-6 months of continuous use.
I believe the title to his thread was "ephedrine addiction withdrawl - help". I never said there was an addiction problem. He did. Listen man,we're beating a dead horse here. Being a recovering addict myself I thought i'd try to spare Sicko some of the pain I experienced.
Once again i'm gonna say just be careful.Let this be a learning experience.

I just don't believe in the 'once an addict, always an addict' adage. I mean, if that were the case all the people here who have made so much success from food addictions are destined to fail. I'd like to give them more credit than that. And it has always seemed to me as a cop out, an excuse for continuing, and encapsulates sounds pretty defeatist. I guess I over reacted a bit, but I feel that phrase was a bit too scare mongering especially in the face of ephedrine.

I guess feeling as if you have less energy would be something you'd experience when not taking ephedra, because I'm pretty sure thats what ephedra is generally used to do. To be honest so is creatine.
You're obviously mentally strong enough to control your diet, and your weights sessions, so consider the forthcoming week as a max weight week. I mean if its harder, it must reap more benefits, right? (even if it doesn't, it'll make it easier to consider in your mind)

I just don't believe in the 'once an addict, always an addict' adage. I mean, if that were the case all the people here who have made so much success from food addictions are destined to fail. I'd like to give them more credit than that. And it has always seemed to me as a cop out, an excuse for continuing, and encapsulates sounds pretty defeatist. I guess I over reacted a bit, but I feel that phrase was a bit too scare mongering especially in the face of ephedrine.

I guess feeling as if you have less energy would be something you'd experience when not taking ephedra, because I'm pretty sure thats what ephedra is generally used to do. To be honest so is creatine.
You're obviously mentally strong enough to control your diet, and your weights sessions, so consider the forthcoming week as a max weight week. I mean if its harder, it must reap more benefits, right? (even if it doesn't, it'll make it easier to consider in your mind)

The phrase once an addict always an addict simply means that there is an obssession/compulsion with a certain behavior, and that to continue that behavior or relapse back into that behavior would almost certainly lead to an active addiction again.Simply put, If a recovering alcoholic was to say "what the fuck, I can have 1 drink tonight" chances are he would have another the next night and so on and so on until he is back into an active addiction.It's just the nature of the beast. Hence the expression amongst addicts, one is too many and a thousand is never enough.
Do you follow what i'm saying?
By all means, addiction with anything can be controlled to a certain degree.Just takes some will power and common sense.To be quite honest Sicko, I wouldn't sweat this ephedrine thing. Just keep in mind what happened here for future reference.

I got withdrawl symptoms when I only slept with one pillow instead of two. Was I addicted to having 2 pillows? .

That example doesn't really work -- Doordude is describing the process of both physiological and psychological addiction ... both of which contribute to compulsive behavior. Ephedrine (like many other drugs like cocaine) block the reuptake of certain neurotransmitters (ephedrine blocks the reuptake of norepinephrine). Your body doesn't like having all of this extra NE around, so it compensates by reducing the number of receptors and decreasing its sensitivity to NE. At this point, it no longer gives you an energy boost, but rather, it just provides you with enough energy so that you don't feel tired. You are now physiologically addicted because you now need ephedrine just to function normally. That is how it works for many addictive drugs.

Now obviously, certain drugs are more addictive and dangerous than others.....Being addicted to coke or meth is certainly worse than being addicted to caffeine. Caffeine ain't likely to kill you. I wouldn't say that ephedrine is in the same ballpark as meth, but it certainly has proven to be dangerous when taken in large doses (and 125mg per day is a little high)...and who knows what the long term effects of taking large doses every day will be.

I think doordude makes a point ... He isn't saying that it is equivalent to taking meth...He is just suggesting that patterns of behavior that lead to addiction are red flags that one should be aware of.


I just don't believe in the 'once an addict, always an addict' adage. I mean, if that were the case all the people here who have made so much success from food addictions are destined to fail.


Well, all addictions are not created equal. In some cases, doordude's adage makes perfect sense. Many former alcoholics cannot even be around alcohol...otherwise, the smells, the stimuli, contexts, etc. will lead them into a drunken binge. Same thing with former gamblers. Many enter a casino and it is all over. It really depends, but I suspect doordude is merely saying that some people have personality dispositions that lead them to engage in certain addictive behavior patterns, and that treating an addiction as something permanent can help avoid falling into those patterns again. He isn't talking specifically about ephedrine, but about addiction in general.

That example doesn't really work -- Doordude is describing the process of both physiological and psychological addiction ... both of which contribute to compulsive behavior. Ephedrine (like many other drugs like cocaine) block the reuptake of certain neurotransmitters (ephedrine blocks the reuptake of norepinephrine). Your body doesn't like having all of this extra NE around, so it compensates by reducing the number of receptors and decreasing its sensitivity to NE. At this point, it no longer gives you an energy boost, but rather, it just provides you with enough energy so that you don't feel tired. You are now physiologically addicted because you now need ephedrine just to function normally. That is how it works for many addictive drugs.

Now obviously, certain drugs are more addictive and dangerous than others.....Being addicted to coke or meth is certainly worse than being addicted to caffeine. Caffeine ain't likely to kill you. I wouldn't say that ephedrine is in the same ballpark as meth, but it certainly has proven to be dangerous when taken in large doses (and 125mg per day is a little high)...and who knows what the long term effects of taking large doses every day will be.

I think doordude makes a point ... He isn't saying that it is equivalent to taking meth...He is just suggesting that patterns of behavior that lead to addiction are red flags that one should be aware of.





Well, all addictions are not created equal. In some cases, doordude's adage makes perfect sense. Many former alcoholics cannot even be around alcohol...otherwise, the smells, the stimuli, contexts, etc. will lead them into a drunken binge. Same thing with former gamblers. Many enter a casino and it is all over. It really depends, but I suspect doordude is merely saying that some people have personality dispositions that lead them to engage in certain addictive behavior patterns, and that treating an addiction as something permanent can help avoid falling into those patterns again. He isn't talking specifically about ephedrine, but about addiction in general.


EUREKA!!!!! Someone does get the point!!!!!! Thank you Joeshmo.

At this point, it no longer gives you an energy boost, but rather, it just provides you with enough energy so that you don't feel tired. You are now physiologically addicted because you now need ephedrine just to function normally. That is how it works for many addictive drugs.
Excellent reply!!!

In the early days of Ephedrine I took Dymetadrine Extreme and whatever the original Twinlab product was called (dont remember as this was more than a decade ago) on a regular basis. There were no recomendations at that time to cycle or use sparingly. 2 per day quickly became 6. Before I knew it I had great difficulty functioning without it. If I tried to skip a day, I had to drag myself through my normal routine feeling I had been hit by a truck the day before. I finally had to quit, cold turkey, and have not been a fan of ephedrine since that time. It was stated that comparing ephedrine to meth is crazy, but unless I am mistaken (and I may be) there are only three ingredients to meth. Thay are iodine, red phosphorus, and ephedrine. To me that sounds like although it may not be meth, it is cetainly in the same ballpark. I do not claim to be an expert on that however. I just know that ephedrine certainly did a number on me.

Once again, great post Joe!

Excellent reply!!!

In the early days of Ephedrine I took Dymetadrine Extreme and whatever the original Twinlab product was called (dont remember as this was more than a decade ago) on a regular basis. There were no recomendations at that time to cycle or use sparingly. 2 per day quickly became 6. Before I knew it I had great difficulty functioning without it. If I tried to skip a day, I had to drag myself through my normal routine feeling I had been hit by a truck the day before. I finally had to quit, cold turkey, and have not been a fan of ephedrine since that time. It was stated that comparing ephedrine to meth is crazy, but unless I am mistaken (and I may be) there are only three ingredients to meth. Thay are iodine, red phosphorus, and ephedrine. To me that sounds like although it may not be meth, it is cetainly in the same ballpark. I do not claim to be an expert on that however. I just know that ephedrine certainly did a number on me.

Once again, great post Joe!

Thanx to both of you guys - I REST MY CASE!!!!!!!
Damn man, I thought i'd never get the point across.

Ok, I will agree with most of what has been said with the exception that I feel addiction occurs in degrees of severity.

In other words, I can take caffeine for a period of time and become acclimated to it in such a way as was decribed by Joe for ephedra (I take X amount and feel no increased energy, only normal). I can then stop taking caffeine and be tired for a few days. No big deal.

You can play semantics and call what I experienced a physiological addiction but I think in doing so you are not relaying the proper sense of the idea. I would not be ready to steal to get the money for caffeine. :lol:

Sorry, I couldn't help it. I understand some here might have been former addicts and this is a more sensitive issue for them. I just think in this case the young man is not truly addicted from what he said. I think he is just having a bit of a post-use crash and will quickly overcome it.

In any event, none of us can diagnose him over the net and it is good he is seeing a physician.

Ok, I will agree with most of what has been said with the exception that I feel addiction occurs in degrees of severity.

In other words, I can take caffeine for a period of time and become acclimated to it in such a way as was decribed by Joe for ephedra (I take X amount and feel no increased energy, only normal). I can then stop taking caffeine and be tired for a few days. No big deal.

You can play semantics and call what I experienced a physiological addiction but I think in doing so you are not relaying the proper sense of the idea. I would not be ready to steal to get the money for caffeine. :lol:

Sorry, I couldn't help it. I understand some here might have been former addicts and this is a more sensitive issue for them. I just think in this case the young man is not truly addicted from what he said. I think he is just having a bit of a post-use crash and will quickly overcome it.

In any event, none of us can diagnose him over the net and it is good he is seeing a physician.

We're just gonna go round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round and round.......Well, you get the point.

Sicko: Do you think taking an ephedrine stack helped you burn extra fat during the 5-6 months you were taking it?

Hello people,

I have been using ECA stack for a long long time now , 5-6 months unstoppable and became a routine. That staff would not give me any help now.

I decided to stop this shit 3 days ago. I used to take around 100 -125 mg of Ephe HCI each day. It's the 3rd day now and damn :( I sleep around 10 hours , I wake up , I try to workout but It 's very difficult , I go back to home , i eat and then .....lethargy. I need to sleep. I sleep 3 hours. I wake up at 8.00 pm in the evening. I go out with friends and I really get sleepy at around 12.00 am :(.

I am holding ok , I watch my craving, i eat clean food, i try to do some cardio with weights but it is very difficult. Now i Understand how addiction looks like. I sweat and feel lethargic all day around with low pressure.

I am continuing my fight. How long will it take?Any prescriptions useful?Any advices?

Thanks

PS.Stay away from ephedra abuse
You are a prime example of why they take useful supplements off the market.