Help! How do psychedelics differ from each other?

[Pissed_and_messed]

I think hydroxyzine should ease it without taking off much of the trip but I can't imagine it being sufficient if it gets real bad, neither for anxiety or getting trip down.

I guess having both available is best.
Chamomile has done next to nothing for me, ever.

 

[Juicewrldfan]

Well, I do get concerned about it’s effect on acetylcholine though.

Well kratom is a 5ht2a antagonist so in theory it should stop the trip dead in its tracks and I don’t mind the taste. Have any experience with kratom and tripping?

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

No I don't.

 

[Mcracken420]

The closest I ever tried to a psychedelic was weed and I never really liked that stuff. Made me overly self-critical to the point of self-loathing...and the thought loops were awful too. When I used to smoke the occasional joint I sometimes ended up being stuck with these very vivid, gory visions and it always ruined everything. I remember how at one point it became so bad that I had to drop a couple Valium to calm myself down. That's why I stopped doing weed a long time ago. It's very unpredictable and sometimes sent me to very dark mindscapes. Weed feels a bit like a fever dream to me.

I'm obviously not a psychonaut, but after reading some DMT experience reports I became interested in maybe trying a low dose to test the waters. I'm normally a downer type of person, but recently I became interested in exploring my spiritual side and the idea of visiting other worlds appears very fascinating to me. The problem is that I, as a psychedelic greenhorn, can't really tell the difference in all the various psychedelic drugs, in terms of effects that it has on people. How is a DMT trip different than, say a Salvia trip? Or LSD, mushrooms, ayahuasca, 2cb and so on? Is it possible to intentionally contact higher beings with these substances? Ask them questions? I always wanted to experience the neoplatonic cosmic hierarchy of being and maybe even encounter the Demiurge himself.

Another thing that got me interested in trying is that many people who don't know each other, live in totally different cultures, with completely different mentalities and personalities, somehow end up experiencing very similar or even the same things. This to me would disprove that psychedelics are "hallucinogenics", because if two or more people can perceive the same thing, how can it be a hallucination? There must be some objective truth to the experience. Of course this doesn't mean that actual hallucinations and delusions cannot arise, but shared experiences indicate something that could be real.

Anyway, I'd be thankful if experienced psychonauts could help me weed through (no pun intended) this forest of psychedelics.

If you get hallucinations from weed, you probably have some kind of mental condition that could make psychedelics a very bad or possibly dangerous experience.

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

I beg to differ, it seems like it is just proper fucking drug to many people.
Which has little common mechanisms of action with classic serotonergic psychedelics and thus outcomes can not be predicted solely of what is it like being baked.

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

I don't claim there is no any kind of association, but I doubt it is that straight-forward.

 

[plumbus-nine]

If you get hallucinations from weed, you probably have some kind of mental condition that could make psychedelics a very bad or possibly dangerous experience.

I get both paranoia and CEVs from just some hits of a joint but tolerate serotonergic psychedelics (most recently 1cP-LSD). These are just very different substances and problems with weed don't necessarily predict a negative outcome. A fair share of people reacts anxiogenic to weed or even develops drug induced psychosis while such cases from serotonergic psychedelics are exceedingly rare. Rare enough for to warrant renewed interest in psychedelics as therapeutic substances.

I do get anxiety from psychedelics though and found low-dose DXM (100-120mg HBr) to be a good adjunct which both amoreliates the anxiety as well as potentiates the trip. Only do this if you're experienced with DXM. Another dissociative like ketamine might be favorable because that doesn't interact with serotonin.

 

[foodcrisis]

i feel bad for people that don't get hallucinations from smoking weed to be honest. the psychedelic part is the main point, other than that it's pretty much a cigarette addiction with a different buzz.

i don't get the self loathing stuff though, so maybe he does have some kind of condition. i'm schizophrenic and i love weed. the voices i get go along with my high and it's most enjoyable.

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

haha LSDXM is some serious gourmet shit BTW
But possibly very intense, I wouldn't start with that

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

this is based purely on non-scientific approach, but self-loathing stuff seems to be of the mental side-effects the least connected with any conditions. It is like weed was just fucking asshole which teases you overwhelmingly with whatever minor thing.

 

[plumbus-nine]

haha LSDXM is some serious gourmet shit BTW
But possibly very intense, I wouldn't start with that

In fact 1cP-LSD (unknown dose, maybe 200mcg - two EU RC blotters which were defined as weak by the others) plus 120mg DXM were my first psychedelic experience after almost a decade and while I was still on venlafaxine which would have blocked the trip without the DXM. Note that combining DXM with venlafaxine can be deadly, and I had lots of experience with that combo so I felt safe. The trip was mild with vivid, colorful visuals and notable absence of anxiety. Just a slight loopy mind on the way back to the apartment (was in a city I didn't know before with a couple I just met a couple days ago after chatting with her for some months, not ideal setting but it turned out well.)

 

[moonyham]

I wouldn't recommend dmt as a way of testing the psychedelic waters. People have a naive view of its short duration meaning it's not as dangerous.


Lsd or mescaline I would recommend. A low dose, quarter or half. These two are much easier on the mind. Mushrooms are strong when it comes to mental load, overwhelming for many. Personally I like mushrooms but they are special and as said already can and often will enlighten you but through a negative lense.

Thought loops I found have never happened for me on lsd or mescaline but have on more than one occasion for mushrooms.

What you talk about in regards to spirituality - mushrooms are the one. But I think work your way there through lsd and mescaline. Mushrooms truly changed me for the better, permanently. But the trips were often very hard and intense. Lsd changed me a little, but it seems temporary over a few weeks or months.

Oh and I'll add: I think light mushroom trips are a waste of time. I think doing a proper dose or more as a minimum is the only good way to experience them. Light trips on them don't even prepare you for a real one, feels completely lacking of what a real mushroom trip is. But for mescaline and lsd, light trips I think are just as good as heavy ones.

 

[foodcrisis]

^^^i'd say a half 1/8th of dried shrooms is a good way to go, maybe put it in some tea cause it's just easier that way. i was going to make a post about how i was amazed there isn't much of a loss in potency and how i recommend them.

i've gotten visuals off of a half 1/8th, both open and closed eyed. i tend to not really forget what's going on.

and if you try a half 1/8th and it's not enough for you you, you can always get some nitrous oxide, i know that's not really harm reduction. but i've gotten similar trips to salvia off of low doses of shrooms and nitrous. i'd just get like one small whip cream can. it's crazy. once can be a good memory for the whole night, and there isn't really a bad come down from that, like salvia.

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

i feel bad for people that don't get hallucinations from smoking weed to be honest. the psychedelic part is the main point, other than that it's pretty much a cigarette addiction with a different buzz.

i don't get the self loathing stuff though, so maybe he does have some kind of condition. i'm schizophrenic and i love weed. the voices i get go along with my high and it's most enjoyable.

I've never had a single hallucination from cannabis in over 30 years use, sometimes at v high dosage and with due care and attention paid to maintaining a decently low-ish tolerance - except really mildly in days following a psychedelic

Perhaps it's potentiated in a certain way by the schizophrenia? I know someone irl who says similar

pros and cons

 

[Juicewrldfan]

I've never had a single hallucination from cannabis in over 30 years use, sometimes at v high dosage and with due care and attention paid to maintaining a decently low-ish tolerance - except really mildly in days following a psychedelic

Perhaps it's potentiated in a certain way by the schizophrenia? I know someone irl who says similar

pros and cons

Yeah. I really agree that it might be a sign that people probably shouldn’t use cannabis if it causes hallucinations for them. It does sound like it could be the start of triggering schizophrenia to start sooner than it would naturally in their life.

Also, if a person doesn’t like the hallucinations they get on weed I don’t think they will like shrooms. Also, a common side effect of shrooms is anxiety at least according to the spirit pharmacist. It was a crazy percentage perhaps the most common side effect if his information is accurate.

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

Yeah. I really agree that it might be a sign that people probably shouldn’t use cannabis if it causes hallucinations for them. It does sound like it could be the start of triggering schizophrenia to start sooner than it would naturally in their life.

You've misunderstood - I wasn't saying that at all. The person I know who has schizophrenia enjoys the interplay bewtween cannabis and his psychosis

You're right though...cannabis can trigger latent scizophrenia. It incredibly rare though, like super-rare

 

[foodcrisis]

I've never had a single hallucination from cannabis in over 30 years use, sometimes at v high dosage and with due care and attention paid to maintaining a decently low-ish tolerance - except really mildly in days following a psychedelic

Perhaps it's potentiated in a certain way by the schizophrenia? I know someone irl who says similar

pros and cons

yeah, i don't really drive because of my schizophrenia. plus driving gives me anxiety, so i'd probably be on benzos to take the edge of having driven... i could see trying to devote my life to not using drugs to see if it changed, but it seems really not my thing. i just consider myself fortunate to be in this part of the world... there's a lot people don't think about when using psychedelics, like if you have a mental disorder, you might not be able to do some things as safely, namely driving.

i know people that drive perfect that use drugs btw... driving is just not for me. it's like i can tell when my friends are driving good or bad, but as soon as i'm behind the wheel, it's like i can't tell if i'm in the lines and shit. it's terrible. plus the anxiety of endangering other people... not my thing. i just pretend god wants me to take the bus.

 

[Juicewrldfan]

You've misunderstood - I wasn't saying that at all. The person I know who has schizophrenia enjoys the interplay bewtween cannabis and his psychosis

You're right though...cannabis can trigger latent scizophrenia. It incredibly rare though, like super-rare

Yeah, I think they did a study on people that use drugs with schizophrenia and then a group that doesn’t and they found that that the prevalence was the same in both groups.

I was mainly referring to OP who seems to not have liked the effects weed had on them because they caused hallucinations. Mushroom is likely more intense hallucinations. Then again I’ve never hallucinated on weed.

 

[G_Chem]

Deleriants and salvia tend to be kind of dysphoric, or at least there isn't any awe to buffer the state you are in.

Ketamine might be a good fit for you if you like downers, it can be unpleasantly disorienting for some, but it tends to not produce a tonne of anxiety, and is relatively short lived. Down side is it is more addictive than serotonergic psychs, salvia, or deleriants, in a way that resembles downers. Also ketamine harms the bladder, so frequent use is asking for trouble.

A DMT vape cart could fit the bill as well, as those allow you to titrate your way from barely any perceptual distortions, to full blown out of body trips, with a very short duration.

Another thing that can help with tripping in general is having a few activities planned, so that you don't get caught trying to find something to do. Things that engage the body in a repetitive manner can really facilitate ritualistic trance states.

My repetitive movements is dancing, whenever a trip gets too rough it can ground me. That’s why I take my largest doses at festivals or out in nature. I’ve had times where I’m losing it and go off by myself to dance for an hour or two until I’m doing better.

Hiking is good too, or walking around out in nature at least.

-GC

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

My repetitive movements is dancing, whenever a trip gets too rough it can ground me. That’s why I take my largest doses at festivals or out in nature. I’ve had times where I’m losing it and go off by myself to dance for an hour or two until I’m doing better.

Hiking is good too, or walking around out in nature at least.

-GC

reading that I'm thinking some of my finest moments on the planet have been while dancing in a perfect setting when tripping