Is this likely to be considered an LSD flashback?

[Jackeh]

I took LSD a few days ago (230ug), the trip began at around 9PM. I had a very enjoyable trip although there was some irrational paranoia involving thought loops towards the end but it didn't last long. I definitely enjoyed the experience.

The next day I was feeling an afterglow, I had a feeling of new appreciation for life and a kind of warm tingle over my body. At about 1PM I was sitting at a bus shelter when suddenly a white light started at the top of my vision. This light grew like a frost slowly building from the top and spreading down towards the bottom of my vision.

The very bottom of my vision was slightly visible, the rest was completely whited out. I had basically gone blind. At the same time a static-like fuzz began to grow in my hearing while simultaneously the external world was beginning to get muffled out.

Not only had I then got blind and deaf, but a euphoric like feeling spread up through my core and built until it felt like my pores were being opened and were venting this euphoric energy.

I was in public, and panicked a bit (I didn't want random members of public to judge some guy just tripping out at a bus stop) but decided to close my eyes and ignore trying to see the world until it had passed. This took about 15 to 20 minutes before it faded back to normality.

Does this seem like an actual LSD flashback or could something else health based be at play here, and is it likely for any flashbacks to be recurrent. It would be very dangerous in my job if I suddenly went blind again...

 

[FunctionalOlfactio]

Several questions:

Has this or something similar happened before?
Ireland is in the northern hemisphere. How hot is the weather? (Summer is here and the first few hot days might knock you back some.)
Did you reagent test the chemical?
How many hours after you dosed did this occur?

 

[Solipsis]

Flashbacks are specific, they are not specifically about psychedelics but about any super intense or traumatizing event that can be 'replayed' when something triggers it. It is a hardwired reaction that warns us to do or not to do something (again) by reliving a little what happened last time. IME there is a deja vu like feeling of remembrance, it is not only resemblance to a trip... and there is most always a trigger, seeing smelling or hearing something that you associate directly with that intense / traumatizing event.

That doesn't mean your experience is in any way invalidated, jackeh. There are just other forms of 'recurrent' psychedelic effects. One type is called HPPD and it mostly focuses on sensory effects like patterning / visual or auditive artifacts, any of them without having taken a drug. But there are also more pervasive phenomena, where not only the senses are 'hallucinating', but trippy feelings and thoughts may be had as well to make a transient but complete psychedelic / hallucinogenic experience.

Some people seem to have a sensitivity to have a low threshold for those kinds of experiences, and using psychedelics may make people even much more prone to get them when sober. Hell, some people have it without ever having taken a drug. Hallucinations are not something exclusively for inebreated or physically and mentally ill people, just read Oliver Sacks' book.

Nowadays I find it much easier to have a 'profound moment' with psychedelic and meditative psychological qualities and also sensory distortions... but they never bother me, and I consider them valuable. I have felt similar things when going on long meditation retreats, the exact same thing happens. I don't take it as a bad sign as long as I can switch and keep my feet on the ground most of the time.
I get that it might be scary or confusing to others though... and sometimes it is not that inoccuous at all and may be the first signs of mental illness. Important there is to keep clear in your mind what is constant, verifiable and real and what is entirely dynamic, wispy and fleeting... the latter are more likely to be the mind's projections and interpretations.

 

[Ballz_Trippington]

I get a very similar experience before the arrival of major migraine headaches. The visual phenomenon usual appears as swirls of colour in my peripheral vision which then overtake my field of vision and usually I become much more sensitive to sound. This is accompanied by a semi psychedelic state (almost like a psychedelic sickness feeling). Then the excruciating migraine comes about 30-60mins after this.
After the headache is over I often am in an extremely euphoric state for another hour. Do you have a history or migraines at all?

 

[Jackeh]

Has this or something similar happened before?

This has never happened before. I have taken LSD and other psychedelics before and never experienced this, but this time it was a much more intense trip which may have lead to a flashback being a possibility the next day.

Ireland is in the northern hemisphere. How hot is the weather? (Summer is here and the first few hot days might knock you back some.)

The weather isn't very hot. Raining most days but recently we have had some nice weather. I've handled far hotter weather before no problem, it was sunny but not unbearably hot. I remember a slightly cool breeze throughout the sunny periods of that day.

Did you reagent test the chemical?

I didn't reagent test sadly, although I can rule out any NBOMe related substances as I've had them before at high and lower doses and I'd like to say I can at least differentiate between an NBOMe trip and whatever it was I had on Friday (which I assume to be LSD).

How many hours after you dosed did this occur?

I dosed at 9PM on Friday. This flashback occurred at 1PM the next day, so about 16 hours after my dose. The effects had worn off long before this.

Flashbacks are specific, they are not specifically about psychedelics but about any super intense or traumatizing event that can be 'replayed' when something triggers it. It is a hardwired reaction that warns us to do or not to do something (again) by reliving a little what happened last time. IME there is a deja vu like feeling of remembrance, it is not only resemblance to a trip... and there is most always a trigger, seeing smelling or hearing something that you associate directly with that intense / traumatizing event.

I believe some memorable stimulus may have had a part here then. I had smoked a joint about 30 minutes before hand. While sitting at the bus stop I put Bonobo on my iPod to listen to. Bonobo was played during the real trip during my panic part/thought loop experience (I find Bonobo to be very soothing to me if I ever have panicky or anxious moments).

I have since smoked weed and listened to Bonobo together (without the "flashback" reoccurring), so it may have been a one off experience as it was so close in time to when I had the actual trip, the thoughts were still present in my mind and I was experiencing an afterglow throughout the whole day.

After the headache is over I often am in an extremely euphoric state for another hour. Do you have a history or migraines at all?

I do have a history of what I believe to be occular migrains but luckily I don't get any headaches or pains after, just the visual onset. When I have a change of pressure in my head I will occasionally see white sparkles dance about my vision for about 30 seconds or so. This is something I've had for years but it was nowhere near the extent to what I described in the OP.

Luckily I didn't find this scary or worrying at all. I was just worried that something like this was happening in public when I had no friends with me, just in case something happened where other regular people could see. I say I would have enjoyed it if it happened in the safety of my home.

 

[FunctionalOlfactio]

Ocular migraines sometimes cause partial loss of vision. I think your experience was something else.

I haven't had ergolids since I began documenting my bodies psychedelic response. I do have experiences with similar tryptamines. I normally experience a sensation of "loosing it" starting about 5 hours after dosing (your body might react slower than mine) for others there is another bump. When it begins to go that way the felling is sometimes startling and I notice suddenly. After this I feel great and it fades completely by the next morning. During the next several days I let go of all types of problems and remember to be grateful.
You might have had some good bud and smoked while your body was transitioning towards the afterglow.

These are my direct observations and I lack qualifications to give you medical advice. If this happens again you should consider abstinence or a doctor visit.

 

[Jackeh]

I don't think it would have been ocular migraine related though. It just doesn't seem anything like it. The majority of my vision, apart from maybe 5-10% that the light didn't reach was completely blinded out.

I'd maybe believe it was related to the ocular migraine if it wasn't for the other effects, specifically the euphoria. I don't believe an ocular migraine would have caused the euphoric build.

It was like pure euphoric energy building in my stomach at the same rate as I began to go blind and deaf. The blindness and deafness seemed to peak at the same time, and then it felt like all of my pores had opened and the euphoric energy started venting out. No ocular migraine I've had has ever caused an actual body feeling, nevermind actual euphoria I could feel spreading from my core and radiating outwards.

Note, if it helps at all I am susceptible to dissociative episodes. Although dissociation and this experience are different, my sensitivity to dissociation could also be related to any kind of susceptibility to what happened me that day.