Hi, this is rather long but hopefully someone can point me in the right direction:
I have had some physiological issues associated with psychedelic use and I have been unable to find a satisfactory explanation. I will try to keep it brief, I'm curious to hear any input from other people on the board and I am also looking to see if anyone can suggest a doctor in the NYC area (probably a neurologist) who is comfortable with the use of psychedelics (i.e. they won't just write off the problems as being typical side effects of drugs). Also, the obvious solution is for me to not use psychedelics which is fine with me but I still want to understand what is going on.
Two other points:
1) I am not trying to disparage psychedelics in any way, I know that they are generally safe and beneficial for most people under the right circumstances. Part of the reason that I want to figure this out is because I want to know why these relatively benign substances affect me this way.
2) I am familiar with the psychological impact on seemingly physiological symptoms. I do not think I am somehow beyond this influence but based on my history, I strongly believe that there is a primary "physiological" problem. This is not a case of "I took acid and I think I ruined my brain". This whole period of experimentation has gone on for several years and I am not currently upset or distraught, I am just concerned as well as curious. I think that solving this problem may help others, even if they are in the minority.
Anyway, I am a 35 yo male, I don't drink alcohol, do not smoke cigarettes/marijuana, no caffeine, etc. I'm fairly healthy although I seem to have some mild auto-immune/gi problems, mainly celiac and some intestinal inflammation as well as some other related, minor symptoms. Most of my experience is with pure vaporized nn-dmt, ayahuasca and on one occasion, LSD.
- Vaporizing DMT was fine for the better part of a year (~1-5 times a month). The DMT was from a very high quality extraction. At a certain point, I felt difficulty breathing, pressure in my head and overall discomfort. I discontinued use but a feeling of shortness of breath, pressure in head and hot flashes persisted for several months. This eventually went away, this was about two years ago, I never vaporized it again and completely recovered.
-I took one hit of LSD from a trusted source, straight from the bottle onto a piece of paper. I tested it with ehrlich's reagent, it came back a deep blue/purple indicating that it was an indole compound. The experience was rather intense but quite positive however in the subsequent days, I again developed shortness of breath/hot flashes/pressure in head, sleep disturbance, numbness in facial muscles/difficulty forming words. This persisted for nearly two months but i completely recovered. I will not be taking LSD again although I appreciate the insights that I had.
- I have drank ayahuasca in various forms and settings over the years, maybe 12 times, sometimes in the amazon and other times in the US in ceremonial settings. I tolerate it well except for a recent experience which involved a "Peruvian" style ceremony (ayahuasca with lots of vine materials/tannins as well as a great deal of mapacho(tobacco) smoke in the room during the ceremony). The ceremony was amazing but about two days later, I again developed, pressure in head, shortness of breath, especially when laying down/sleeping, hot flashes, numbness in hands etc. I am still feeling these effects over a month later.
I have gotten general bloodwork with nothing completely out of the ordinary. My hormone levels seem OK. I have had a chest xray and ekg, both were OK. I have experimented with supplements at different points in time to see if they have any affect, these include:
-5htp
-Murica puriens (very small amount)
-B6
-B12
-n-acetylcysteine
-acetyl l-carnitine
-iron
And some others. Some of these help sometimes but it is hard to tell so I don't take currently take anything since I don't want to complicate matters. It seems that at least some of the problems could be associated with gastric reflux so I sometimes take a ppi as well as gasx and digestive enzymes. These seem to help a little but again I have a feeling that it is not the primary cause. My current theories are:
- GERD: this can in theory explain some of the problems, especially if triggered by smoke/vaporization but would one hit of LSD cause nearly two months of debilitating symptoms?
- Underlying autoimmune problem: could these compounds have triggered some inflammation in spine/cns/meninges/elsewhere?
- serotonin issue: I know that 5ht2a receptors specifically affect smooth muscle contraction related to GI and bronchi, maybe there is some issue with the receptors?
Also, when I use daime (ayahuasca that has less vine material, it is sweeter and lighter and typically causes less vomiting) I tend to have almost no problems, even when it is very very strong. That is also the same when using oral DMT (with pure harmine).
Thanks, and again, if anyone can suggest a doctor in the NYC area who is comfortable with psychedelics, I would appreciate it. I have several doctors appointments coming up but they won't be for several months. Although I have no problem telling the doctor that I have used psychedelics, it basically gives them a way out of having to try to figure out what is going on, they just blame it on drug use. I find it easier to not mention it.
I have had some physiological issues associated with psychedelic use and I have been unable to find a satisfactory explanation. I will try to keep it brief, I'm curious to hear any input from other people on the board and I am also looking to see if anyone can suggest a doctor in the NYC area (probably a neurologist) who is comfortable with the use of psychedelics (i.e. they won't just write off the problems as being typical side effects of drugs). Also, the obvious solution is for me to not use psychedelics which is fine with me but I still want to understand what is going on.
Two other points:
1) I am not trying to disparage psychedelics in any way, I know that they are generally safe and beneficial for most people under the right circumstances. Part of the reason that I want to figure this out is because I want to know why these relatively benign substances affect me this way.
2) I am familiar with the psychological impact on seemingly physiological symptoms. I do not think I am somehow beyond this influence but based on my history, I strongly believe that there is a primary "physiological" problem. This is not a case of "I took acid and I think I ruined my brain". This whole period of experimentation has gone on for several years and I am not currently upset or distraught, I am just concerned as well as curious. I think that solving this problem may help others, even if they are in the minority.
Anyway, I am a 35 yo male, I don't drink alcohol, do not smoke cigarettes/marijuana, no caffeine, etc. I'm fairly healthy although I seem to have some mild auto-immune/gi problems, mainly celiac and some intestinal inflammation as well as some other related, minor symptoms. Most of my experience is with pure vaporized nn-dmt, ayahuasca and on one occasion, LSD.
- Vaporizing DMT was fine for the better part of a year (~1-5 times a month). The DMT was from a very high quality extraction. At a certain point, I felt difficulty breathing, pressure in my head and overall discomfort. I discontinued use but a feeling of shortness of breath, pressure in head and hot flashes persisted for several months. This eventually went away, this was about two years ago, I never vaporized it again and completely recovered.
-I took one hit of LSD from a trusted source, straight from the bottle onto a piece of paper. I tested it with ehrlich's reagent, it came back a deep blue/purple indicating that it was an indole compound. The experience was rather intense but quite positive however in the subsequent days, I again developed shortness of breath/hot flashes/pressure in head, sleep disturbance, numbness in facial muscles/difficulty forming words. This persisted for nearly two months but i completely recovered. I will not be taking LSD again although I appreciate the insights that I had.
- I have drank ayahuasca in various forms and settings over the years, maybe 12 times, sometimes in the amazon and other times in the US in ceremonial settings. I tolerate it well except for a recent experience which involved a "Peruvian" style ceremony (ayahuasca with lots of vine materials/tannins as well as a great deal of mapacho(tobacco) smoke in the room during the ceremony). The ceremony was amazing but about two days later, I again developed, pressure in head, shortness of breath, especially when laying down/sleeping, hot flashes, numbness in hands etc. I am still feeling these effects over a month later.
I have gotten general bloodwork with nothing completely out of the ordinary. My hormone levels seem OK. I have had a chest xray and ekg, both were OK. I have experimented with supplements at different points in time to see if they have any affect, these include:
-5htp
-Murica puriens (very small amount)
-B6
-B12
-n-acetylcysteine
-acetyl l-carnitine
-iron
And some others. Some of these help sometimes but it is hard to tell so I don't take currently take anything since I don't want to complicate matters. It seems that at least some of the problems could be associated with gastric reflux so I sometimes take a ppi as well as gasx and digestive enzymes. These seem to help a little but again I have a feeling that it is not the primary cause. My current theories are:
- GERD: this can in theory explain some of the problems, especially if triggered by smoke/vaporization but would one hit of LSD cause nearly two months of debilitating symptoms?
- Underlying autoimmune problem: could these compounds have triggered some inflammation in spine/cns/meninges/elsewhere?
- serotonin issue: I know that 5ht2a receptors specifically affect smooth muscle contraction related to GI and bronchi, maybe there is some issue with the receptors?
Also, when I use daime (ayahuasca that has less vine material, it is sweeter and lighter and typically causes less vomiting) I tend to have almost no problems, even when it is very very strong. That is also the same when using oral DMT (with pure harmine).
Thanks, and again, if anyone can suggest a doctor in the NYC area who is comfortable with psychedelics, I would appreciate it. I have several doctors appointments coming up but they won't be for several months. Although I have no problem telling the doctor that I have used psychedelics, it basically gives them a way out of having to try to figure out what is going on, they just blame it on drug use. I find it easier to not mention it.
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