• Psychedelic Drugs Welcome Guest
    View threads about
    Posting RulesBluelight Rules
    PD's Best Threads Index
    Social ThreadSupport Bluelight
    Psychedelic Beginner's FAQ

paraplegia / paralysis and psychedelics

sekio

sekio

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
21,994
as a recent paraplegic (fell out a window, t4/5 complete, paralyzed from the lower chest down), is there anything I should know about or expect with regard to psychedelic use? I've done some ketamine without issue but I'm a little cautious over LSD / mushtoom use, given their sense-amplifying effects.
 
sekio said:
as a recent paraplegic (fell out a window, t4/5 complete, paralyzed from the lower chest down), is there anything I should know about or expect with regard to psychedelic use? I've done some ketamine without issue but I'm a little cautious over LSD / mushtoom use, given their sense-amplifying effects.
Click to expand...
I am sorry that this happened to you. Ask your doctor this question.
 
I'd rather not, given that many of the doctors I am seeing are not well versed in psychedelics, and moreover the rehab facility I'm at is not the kind of place that tolerates drug use. The answer would likely be "I don't know" or "LSD is a bad drug, don't do it". I was more interested in personal experiences from anyone in a similar situation - there are some people who have taken LSD after a spinal cord injury.

I would expect that it would not be too different but I want to err on the side of caution. I feel a LSD voyage would help me come to terms with my situation, but I don't want to have a 12 hour period of strange pains in my lower torso/legs that I can't do anything about.
 
sekio said:
I'd rather not, given that many of the doctors I am seeing are not well versed in psychedelics, and moreover the rehab facility I'm at is not the kind of place that tolerates drug use. The answer would likely be "I don't know" or "LSD is a bad drug, don't do it". I was more interested in personal experiences from anyone in a similar situation - there are some people who have taken LSD after a spinal cord injury.

I would expect that it would not be too different but I want to err on the side of caution. I feel a LSD voyage would help me come to terms with my situation, but I don't want to have a 12 hour period of strange pains in my lower torso/legs that I can't do anything about.
Click to expand...
I am truly sorry to hear that. I found this (and a few other interesting comments on the same page) :

...intezam has suffered intravertabral disc herniation (L3,L4,L5). It protruded into the spinal cord - nearly strangling it off. Others protruded towards the sciatic nerves...etc. At times we were unable to walk and our lower limbs went all numb, we could not lift our legs, feet, wiggle our toes, and there was some damage involving the deeper functionalities as well. We spent up to a year (India) in pre WW II style quack traction - sleeping on a tilted door blade with brick weights suspended from a hip belt - which worsened the condition.

Then, we learned that peganum harmala can miraculously cure the pain condition and tell the nerves not to over-react (by fighting just 'ANY' pressure/external cause/stimulus with an inflammation type reaction, and swelling/blood/lymph accumulation). This also works with severe, sudden toothache. And maybe that's not how it works. We can't explain it. It's a wonder. The effects last permanently or, until the next time the nerve gets pressure/external cause/damage.

Spinal Cord Injury and Psychedelics - Health & Safety - Welcome to the DMT-Nexus

www.dmt-nexus.me

There are, BTW, some pretty interesting articles on psychedelics and neurogenesis here.

<3
 
Last edited:
No answers for you, but just wanna say lotsa love your way and hoping you can trip again safely. Who knows, maybe this is a serious area that needs serious research, as yes, neurogenesis is likely.
Sorry to hear this, Sekio.
 
I would say you are good to go.
a quadraplegic cousin of mine used to do tons of acid after he was stuck and it was good for him.
 
sekio said:
as a recent paraplegic (fell out a window, t4/5 complete, paralyzed from the lower chest down), is there anything I should know about or expect with regard to psychedelic use? I've done some ketamine without issue but I'm a little cautious over LSD / mushtoom use, given their sense-amplifying effects.
Click to expand...

How long ago are we talking? Are you still recovering in any way?

I majorly feel for you man :( Assuming your still recovering wait until you are completely healed up before taking psychedelics like LSD..

I took LSD too soon after surgery this last winter while still in recovery stages and as you said pains were exacerbated and while in some ways it was therapeutic for my current situation it was still too soon. I remember having some heavy feelings looking at my wound.

-GC
 
Last edited:
I had a pneumothorax on the night of June 10th, causing me to go flopping out the window I was standing near, for those who are wondering how/when this happened. Currently I'm in a rehab facility for spinal cord injured patients. As for pain, the muscles in my back are still inflamed but the cocktail of meds I'm on controls it pretty well. And none of them interact negatively with LSD as far as I know.

I'm certainly not going to drop acid any time soon but I was wondering if it would be possible in the near future. (I actually did some ketamine while still in ICU... that was actually fun. The nurses were suitably confused by my behaviour lol)
 
I see very little contraindications except for the odd symptom of neck and back tension/pain which can sometimes accompany LSD experiences. It seems this only affects certain individuals and may only be related to less than pure LSD.

If your at all worried about that, tryptamines like mushrooms, 4-AcO and DMT may be easier on your body.

Start with a lowish dose on your first one, there will be more to come on this road of recovery but for now keep the doses lower than normal so the feelings are manageable. Obviously prepare for some possibly heavy experiences.

Wish you the best and fast healing.

-GC
 
Holy shit dude, I remember you talking about being in hospital in another thread but didn't realise it was that serious. Hope you're doing well in your mind - that's got to be a lot to process, no getting around that. I don't have anything to offer in terms of your actual question although reading through the responses it sounds like you should be OK. I'm glad that you're still with us - your Human Family. And I hope that the rest of us (smarter ones than me, for sure) can figure out a way to heal your body in the future. In the meantime though I'm glad we still have your mind in the Human Collective, for sure that's an incalculably more valuable asset for all of us in the Great Hive of Humankind.
 
Sorry to hear i hope things recover. From people i know who are in wheel chairs and take psychedelics they had zero feeling in their arms and legs and in some trips LSD managed to bring back feeling. I also saw a post this year where a guy managed to feel his first born child while been paralyzed at the peak of his LSD trip.

I would avoid a trip for a little while to give your body time to recover and to avoid any focusing on the pain. Though opiates and LSD are fine together expect Tramadol. I would probably be wary of mushrooms due to the stomach pains that can occur in a trip.

My friends uncle loved taking salvia divinorum due to been quadriplegic he could get sent into the multiverse and beyond with no ill reaction physically wise just blown out of his mind while his body didn't move around like most users due to the paralysis.

DMT will be fine aswell.
 
Maybe you need to be looking at the psychological effects rather than the physical ones.

You are not even out of rehab yet, very early in your new life - unless you are a remarkable being (far superior to 99.9999% of the rest of us) you will not be anywhere near coming to terms with what is going on and what the future holds. This is, in my opinion, not a great Set to begin with and you may be setting yourself up for a bad trip - I know it would be for me anyway.

I'd hold off the acid for the time being and maybe enjoy the Ket a little longer - I'd imagine it would be less likely to produce a bad experience.

As regards the opioids - I find they blunt the whole experience and avoid my prescribed drugs and rely on Kratom when I trip. I was on Tramadol for a few years and trip a number of times on it and never experienced any negative effects despite the supposed interactions - goes to show how our differing chemistries leave it that bit more difficult to predict how things work out.

I wish you the very best for your future recovery and hope if you do trip it is an exiting and fruitful experience. All the best.
 
cannot give any advice on your specific question, but sorry to hear about your injury. I hope you recover well best of luck adjusting to it in the future. :)
 
sekio said:
I'd rather not, given that many of the doctors I am seeing are not well versed in psychedelics, and moreover the rehab facility I'm at is not the kind of place that tolerates drug use. The answer would likely be "I don't know" or "LSD is a bad drug, don't do it". I was more interested in personal experiences from anyone in a similar situation - there are some people who have taken LSD after a spinal cord injury.

I would expect that it would not be too different but I want to err on the side of caution. I feel a LSD voyage would help me come to terms with my situation, but I don't want to have a 12 hour period of strange pains in my lower torso/legs that I can't do anything about.
Click to expand...
Ask a neurologist or medical doctor instead of random drug users or strangers online. Be honest about any drugs you once used, are considering of using, etc. You will not get into legal trouble for doing this.
 
^ Usually I would agree with the sentiment for almost any other health related advice.

However this is quite clearly not a typical health question, and that kind of cookie cutter response seems jarringly inappropriate to the topic at hand, especially given that the substrate of this forum is random drug using strangers asking for and giving advice.

OP did not have a brain injury, and the question obviously is not "is taking a psychedelic going to be physically harmful to my health" (answer is almost certainly no, I'm sure OP is well informed enough to realise this, and I'll respect everyone else's intelligence enough to assume that they realise this also). The question is about whether there are likely to be any other non-obvious concerns about taking a psychedelic as a recent paraplegic.

The average medical doctor or even the average neurologist - even one with experience taking psychedelics personally - will likely not be equipped to answer this question because it is not a commonly discussed and definitely not a well studied scenario.

Respectfully also, I don't think the issue is whether or not one would "get in trouble" for this. This advice is just embarrassing... Again, please have some respect for the intelligence of your fellow members.

We're not teenage stoners worried if we should be honest with our local GP about a weird cough we've picked up since our first few toking sessions (I'm assuming).

Your advice is about as helpful as "well, you won't be able to walk while you're tripping."
 
For some people with spinal cord injuries, serotonergic psychedelics can cause strong tremors, muscle tensing, and other involuntary movements in paralyzed extremities. My friend gets this. No idea why it happens, but it's hella annoying for them.
 
^ A guy I briefly knew who was paralyzed from the waist down would tremor quite severely in his legs (mostly) when he took LSD. They would actually be moving, though he had no control over it. It was very alarming-looking and everyone around kept asking if he was okay, he insisted that he was fine and that he actually liked it because his legs were moving, but it did look like he was going to have a seizure.
 
So my friend who was in a wheelchair said that the doctors told him not to use lsd/psilocybin. He didnt listen as a youngster and said he had the worst trip ever and his legs went into a tremors quite severely. He said he tried it again with mushrooms and it had that exact same effect with strong leg tremors which made him have a horrible trip.

I have never read any reports on this only this last poster which is strange but what would be the reason for the leg tremors?
 
I too am fascinated by the past two posts and if this is really an issue I’d like to know about it. Hopefully we get more posters to corroborate such info.

-GC
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top