HPPD

[prier]

I'm only young and I’ve only been taking psychedelic drugs for a few years.

About six months ago when I was smoking pot really heavily and taking acid & DMT ('dreamtime', nothing too strong) fairly frequently I began to think I had developed HPPD. It really scared the shit out of me, so I stopped smoking & stopped taking acid.

It's gotten so much better now that I’m not even sure it was their in the first place. I now take psychedelics a very rarely and I haven't had any problems with it.

I plan on trying some new things over the coming months, and am slightly worried this might be a problem. I'm just curious if anyone has had experience with this or knows anything about it?

[faustus]

HPPD is rare but does exist, the DSM criteria for it is a little more strict that the conventional concept of flashbacks. my take is that any emotionally salient event can be re-experienced, particularly when associated cues are present... drugs aren't even necessary, e.g. an overhead ceiling fan might remind a vietnam veteran with PTSD of a helicopter, then they have flashbacks of the war. same deal with acid, i'm sure we've all seen "heaven" and "hell" one time or another...

when i first started smoking weed i heard voices calling out my name several times, turned around and nobody was there. this was when i was straight, it never happened again, but definitely made me worried for a bit. another odd one was smoking weed with acid, then when i smoked weed by itself several weeks later, it felt like i was tripping. again, my take is that it's a simple case of classical conditioning. and there's been the odd perceptual illusion like ripples of light off a window, which i think is due to the acid but is more interesting than distressing.

recently though, i found out my uncle, whom i'd always believed had died by stepping on a landmine, had killed himself by pulling the pin of a grenade... on previous occasions he'd claimed that god told him to kill himself. in light of other peculiar things that have happened to me, this has made me re-assess my use of hallucinogens and their effects on my mind... i'd hate to be a scaremonger, but i recommend you take things slow. you say yourself that rare use doesn't seem to trouble you, i guess that's as good a gauge as any as to how much you should be taking.

and it'd help if you gave more details about symptoms... were they positive/negative/neutral? dose, duration & when did they occur?

[gerbil]

I agree with faustus on the take things slow aspect.

As much as I love cannabis, I think that may have been a big contributor to your problem. AFOAF has recently found that they are at their limit with it's use and need to stop ASAP before some damage occurs. Mixing things ontop of this really made things pear shaped in majority of cases, so much so that they have hardly touched anything else for a decent amount of time as it's just too full on, too stressfull and overall extremely head screwing in both the experience and the day/s following.

Everything in moderation definately. I also think it's quite important (even though I often don't do it, which I ALWAYS regret) to really prepare yourself before a journey no matter how large or small the dose. Get yourself healthy, your body and mind, exercise alot, eat well and use the plants every now and then but don't over do it.

IMO things often become alot more profound, easier to meld into the experience and alot less stressfull when things are done in healthy moderation.

Also it would be well worth it IMO to stick to a single plant that works for you and acheives the need why you are using it and leave everything else alone. Then use this in moderation. At first it's very hard to break the thought cycle etc but once it's acheived it makes things alot more clear. Eh that was probably a confusing post, but it's a hard thing to explain, along with most things lol

[Thelema]

Most cases of suspected HPPD disappear within 6 months.

I used to suspect psychological reasons for flashbacks (indeed I did not really believe in them) but after experiencing a full 5meo-DMT flash 24hours after a proper 5meo-DMT experience I am certain there is a proper physiological reason for the effect.

(indeed, what psychological effects are NOT physiological effects?)

If HPPD persists for more than 6 months, or is too hard to handle in a timeframe under 6, then an antipsychotic such as Zyprexa will immediately nullify it.

[ballzac]

When I was in my early teens, I would have a couple of experiences a week, usually two or three trips at a time. After about six months of this, I found that I was seeing trails and warping (that is, flag in the wind effect) when I wasn't on anything, but particularly when I was tired. There were no good feelings associated with this as there are when I was on the drug, and very little change in thought processes. It was rarely a problem in most things, but I found it difficult to read, because the letters on the page would turn into alphabet soup. It took probably five years since I stopped the acid binging for it to go away almost completely, and I still see stuff now, about ten years later. The only people I know who have had this happen to them, had a lot of acid too. I definately agree with the comments on moderation.

-Zac

[jasemateau]

use them sure.

identfy the line between using them for your pleasure, before they use you.

remember we are talking about drugs here, be smart not stoned.

i spose everyone has there own lessons to learn, this is your quest alone groover.

always the toughest road is the right one, fuck it!!!

[SikkimRex]

As for flash-backs, I agree with earlier post - I had thought it was psychological )ie disguised psychiatric disorder), but I have had a few psychedelic experiences in normal life, I have realised after recent experience (legally, in Amsterdam, with mushrooms, discussed below). Most have been associated with sickness, but some also other medications, even diets. When I went on Zoloft afew years back (which I found very effective for anxiety at the time, and was able to leave behind), during the first day when I could feel my physiology adjust. One day, walking down the street, in North Melbourne, all of a sudden the world got an acid vividness for a moment. Rather than being scary, I found it interesting, and it somehow confirmed the pharmacological agency of the Zoloft.

Terence and Dennis McKenna discuss illness as a precursor to psychedlia in relation to Shamen as recovered sick people, and in relation to mental illness. In both the "Centre of the Cyclone" and the "Dyadic Cyclone", John Lilly also reflects on his own sickness, in the former, before he had experince with psychedlia and tankwork, and the second after. For him, the delerious state has its own connections to consciousness that is not too different from psychedlia. He attempted to apply the same level of precission he did in the isolation tank and on LSD, in meta-programming the spave of the sickness experience.

In light of this I have been thinking about my memories of being on anaesthetics as a chikl, and also during a period of seizures I had as a late teenager (when I first discovered alcohol). At these times I was transported smoothly into another physical environment, participating in activities there. It's embarrassing to admit that the environment was a pacific environment, complete with hullah dancers. My main memory was of jolting back into my body. Recently, in Amsterdam, I experienced a similar physical separation, though to an entirely different Aztec land. I then returned to my body with the same jolt that I had had during my seizeures. Suddenly the experiences that I had had as part of "normal life", even if sickness, seemed connected.

I have always regarded with suspicion discussion of visionary experience, as being highly pro Ajective, or speculative. It is revelation to think that it has presence objectively, that iy is already here - a sense I have heard of with Acacia extract. For Dr Hoffman, LSD was something that was rendered familiar by an eerly, super-vivid, connected experince in his local environment. In our daily bodies, then, perhaps we are already in this space, then. It's very hard to beleive this though, in this world saturated with capitalist hyper reality...