Amy, why would you take ecstasy as opposed to going to a doctor for a drug to combat the issues you were having? Not being judgemental, just curious.

Take the research about the mortality benefits of marriage with a grain of salt. Take the ecstasy if you want.

Drugs are a crutch for people who can't handle reality.

Conversely, reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs.

Me? Cannabis all the way baby, and some wine on the side. Don't need nothin' else.

Putting strange chemicals in your body can fuck you up in strange ways. Why risk it? As a friend once told me, "Pot is nature's way of saying 'high'!"

Personal experience? No. The following depression can be very deep. Plus, the feelings it elicits aren't real. Plus, maybe it's just me, but when I was on E (or anything else) I did not want sex. I was just all in my head. In fact, it pretty much killed all sensation in the genitals.

Plus, it can cause permanent changes in brain chemistry. A lot of coke users end up with lifelong anxiety issues. A lot of E users can have problems with depression the rest of their lives. Worth it? Not so much.

it's very common for people, usually teenagers pr young adults, to go thru a phase of finding themselves, especially, like amy and myself, if we did not have strong parental role models. i did pot daily for nearly 2 years in high school. my friends did it, too, so it was partly a social thing. i gradually dropped pot during college, as i continued to find myself. didn't need it any more and preferred life, and myself, without it.

or, you know... we could use chemistry naturally occurring in the body.

It is my feeling [and I'd pay for the research if I won the lottery] that much of this boils down to the use of barrier contraception, and hormonal contraception.

We bond to each other chemically... unless we can't. Both types of contro alter how things generally work, in the brain and body of the couple.

This talk of african savannahs ignores the idea that back then, we didn't live to test anything long term.

The crux is, we need and wish to control when we have kids an how many, and currently the ways of doing this are either to trick a woman's body into thinking it's preggers, or blocking the swimmers and all that chemistry form interchanging at all... both situations not normal over the long run.

Curious on Amy's take on this, because of the IUD... which my understanding is not for every woman. OTOH, the RSUIG method studied in india to block [kill] the swimmers in men, but NOT the rest of the chemistry, seem promising... but will prolly never get past the various governmental hurdles in India, much less the US. There's no money in it... and it would also trouble many of the narratives about who controls pregnancy.

At my advanced age, I have come to believe that there are two things that make us crazy and or sick. The first is genetics, and the second is your environment.
People evolved to eat a relatively natural diet, low in sugar and processed crap, and they need enough sunshine to manufacture sufficient vitamin d.
They also apparently, according to research derive a number of benefits from the exchange of bodily fluids with a loved one. Unprotected sex is the best, and only kind I am willing to have.
My husband got a vasectomy 6 weeks after our second child was born, which in retrospect was probably the best thing for my long term health and well being.

The older I get the more allergies I have, and the more foods I have to avoid in order to feel well.
I am on very few medications for my age, and I don't think recreational drugs other than an occasional glass of wine or cup of coffee will make my marriage better.
I may have some pretty good genes for longevity, if I don't screw it up with an unhealthy lifestyle.

I knew a couple who did this.

Long story short, they became addicts, as in 6 hits a night addicts; they started exhibiting crazy behavior like calling us 17 times in a row at 2am, showing up if we didn't answer the phone, coming up with crazy ideas and inventions,(the last one involved harvesting serotonin from dead bodies as a depression treatment) and getting angry at us for having other friends.

We don't hang around with them anymore. It's sad, because we were friends with them for 20 years.

I miss them. Or rather, who they were.

In short, we weren't built for lifelong monogamy, and it's no huge surprise that we struggle to pull it off.

Monogamy is surprising easy to pull off when a) you weren't promiscuous before marriage and b) you live in a community where a married person flirting would be perceived as creepy.

Not sure about ecstasy for relationships but docs say you can pop

shrooms for personality!

@Sorer Bveito

"Monogamy is surprising easy to pull off when a) you weren't promiscuous before marriage "

Could you provide some evidence for that?

Thanks!

"Putting strange chemicals in your body can fuck you up in strange ways."

Perhaps not this hippie chick, but, "Hippie chick complains about HGH in beef. Buys weed from unknown source, is OK with that."

Just in this thread, cognitive dissonance is alarming.