Tryptamines Tell us about your psychedelic elders

[fromuponpoppyhill]

A friend of mine has just informed me that their 81yo Nan has just started microdosing shrooms for suspected dementia and she is absolutely loving it so far. Apparently she enjoys the "come up" feeling and wishes it could last all day, she is feeling much more social around her friends. I imagine she'll be interested in doing a macrodose soon.

It got me thinking, does anyone have any tales of psychedelic elders? Whose the oldest psych fan you've met? What did you learn from them?

 

[arrall]

I believe that Alexander Shulgin was still experimenting with psychedelics not long before his death at age 88.
Aldous Huxley tripped on his deathbed at age 69.
Plenty of other famous psychonauts who tripped in old age.
In terms of first time experiences, probably the patients for those studies that used psychedelics for people who had terminal cancer or were recovering from cancer remission to treat the anxiety around death.

 

[JackARoe]

A friend of mine has just informed me that their 81yo Nan has just started microdosing shrooms for suspected dementia and she is absolutely loving it so far. Apparently she enjoys the "come up" feeling and wishes it could last all day, she is feeling much more social around her friends. I imagine she'll be interested in doing a macrodose soon.

That is awesome. And the work with dementia that John Hopkins University is doing has changed my mind on microdosing. I think the whole regeneration concept and results are fascinating. Even a minor reversal of some of these illnesses is a big leap in medicine.

Don't quote me on this. I could have sworn I read that Albert Hofmann also microdosed late in life. I have no literature to refer for that but I thought I had read that one day. Maybe it was in the Mountain Girl and Albert Hofmann meet up. It is a good article at least.

I am almost 60, had my first trip in 1978 and ever since always got at least a few in a year. I also just finished Bill Kreutzmann's book and he said he still doses, sometimes lightly for shows too. I mean to be at the Acid Tests and trip ever since is long time so the topic interests me.

I think Nick Sands also tripped till the end. I can't know for sure. But yeah tell us the what you know about age and tripping.

 

[Xorkoth]

That's so cool your friend's grandma is using psychedelics at such a late age (sounds like probably she is new to them?) I know another use for them in the literature is for people to come to terms with impending death so I can imagine that could be another way for her to benefit given her age, if she has any anxiety about that. Of course that's if she decides to take a full dose.

I know a number of older people in their 60s and 70s who I know from being a musician and/or the festival scene, who still trip. I always enjoy hanging out with them and hearing their stories.

 

[JackARoe]

Aldous Huxley tripped on his deathbed at age 69.

For me, to date that is one of the coolest things anyone on planet Earth did. I love that story.

I am always interested in people that will still trip as they get older. So when someone that has tripped says they stopped and no way can they trip anymore (like it was a phase) my stomach drops. I had some joker at work that lied about everything say he use to trip on peyote buttons in the 60's. I told him flat out it sounds like all he did was read a few pages of a Carlos Castaneda book, that is all. People make up a lot of stuff. The serious one usually don't talk about it. Except like here. No one but a few friends and my wife know I will still trip. I have an older cousin that likes to talk about his tripping days but has not touched anything in years. Yet even in his tripping days he only dipped in and never got the value. I do like telling some of them yeah I will still take acid on occasion. Mushrooms even more.

@pupnik is sort of someone I read with interest. I like some of the older people chiming in.

 

[Chris Timothy]

IRL I've hung out with people in their fifties still tripping. They liked my presence and input, because I have the experiences under my belt they feel their age should have lent them by now, heh. It's cool, but it's also tricky, because old age has one set in one's ways. And approaching the novelty of say dissociatives expecting the warmth of their MDMA experiences has lead to trouble before.

I suppose the psychedelics can help keeping the mind open to new experiences, but the rigidness of age needs to be acknowledged and carefully factored in if new frontiers are to be crossed later on in life.

 

[G_Chem]

IRL I've hung out with people in their fifties still tripping. They liked my presence and input, because I have the experiences under my belt they feel their age should have lent them by now, heh. It's cool, but it's also tricky, because old age has one set in one's ways. And approaching the novelty of say dissociatives expecting the warmth of their MDMA experiences has lead to trouble before.

I suppose the psychedelics can help keeping the mind open to new experiences, but the rigidness of age needs to be acknowledged and carefully factored in if new frontiers are to be crossed later on in life.

This seems to be my biggest hurdle with older individuals. Their perceptions of certain drugs is somewhat instilled. Especially older generations view on LSD.

-GC

 

[JackARoe]

This seems to be my biggest hurdle with older individuals. Their perceptions of certain drugs is somewhat instilled. Especially older generations view on LSD.

-GC

G Chem, Chris T, I sort of know what you are talking about. But if you have a for instance that could help. The only instilled thing I can think of in me is music. I grew up in the 1970's and 1980's, so of course I like rock and roll. So I went to a lot of concerts. Grateful Dead, Santana, CSNY, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc.... So I am for sure rigid in my late 50's on what music I can listen to when tripping. I can listen to Live Dead and classic Jazz. I have tried techno (I totally don't get it) and some of the stuff posted by some of the younger folks but yeah, I am rigid. lol But I do give it a shot when you all post music and some it was awesome.

I have to listen to the younger folks as they are the future. All the music I like had young people creating it too. So I have to check in once in a while.

 

[Chris Timothy]

A for instance? I could let you in on one of my trainwrecks if you want. A couple of years ago I tried to tie my life together into a vision of a psychedelic Aldous-Huxley-esque commune on an actual island with the financial help of a 50yo lady I met through Lorenzo's (yes, the Lorenzo) forum. If you're interested I could privately tell you the tale. It's not pretty, but it is what it is.

 

[G_Chem]

A for instance? I could let you in on one of my trainwrecks if you want. A couple of years ago I tried to tie my life together into a vision of a psychedelic Aldous-Huxley-esque commune on an actual island with the financial help of a 50yo lady I met through Lorenzo's (yes, the Lorenzo) forum. If you're interested I could privately tell you the tale. It's not pretty, but it is what it is.

This needs to be told here for us all to see That story sounds too interesting for me not to hear it.

-GC

 

[Chris Timothy]

Erhm.. wanna look at my bollocks while you're at it?

Edit: I can't do that in public, it would start a gender war and the 50yo female vision on this stuff would incinerate me, I can imagine the patriarchy being taken down with this shite... we've all had our flaws and messes and absolutely unspeakables.. oh my oh my..

 

[Atomic_Decay]

IRL I've hung out with people in their fifties still tripping. They liked my presence and input, because I have the experiences under my belt they feel their age should have lent them by now, heh. It's cool, but it's also tricky, because old age has one set in one's ways. And approaching the novelty of say dissociatives expecting the warmth of their MDMA experiences has lead to trouble before.

I suppose the psychedelics can help keeping the mind open to new experiences, but the rigidness of age needs to be acknowledged and carefully factored in if new frontiers are to be crossed later on in life.

This seems to be my biggest hurdle with older individuals. Their perceptions of certain drugs is somewhat instilled. Especially older generations view on LSD.

-GC

I only got into psychedelics in my 50s after an almost 30 year break. I had maybe 1/2 a dozen LSD trips in my late teens and early 20s but they mostly ended badly and I can’t say I really enjoyed them much.

These days I prefer acid to any other kind of drug and the only reason i take anything else is the problem of tolerance. And maybe because I sometimes need to professionally functional…

I certainly feel like I have been transformed over the last 3 years but I am hesitant to attribute all the changes to LSD. I also spent a long time in therapy, had ECT, and spent a few years on Abilify which is neuro-generative. As well as consuming lots and lots of stims, MDMA, and ketamine.

But I am certainly feeling much calmer, kinder, gentler, generous, loving, forgiving, understanding, compassionate, tolerant, creative, and open-kinded than I ever have previously in my life.

It’s interesting that my elderly mother now often remarks how often I now remind her of my 5-7 year old self. At age 7 I entered a traumatic period thqt lasted many years and that probably shaped my outer self for most of my life.

 

[Mr. Krinkle]

A friend of mine has just informed me that their 81yo Nan has just started microdosing shrooms for suspected dementia and she is absolutely loving it so far. Apparently she enjoys the "come up" feeling and wishes it could last all day, she is feeling much more social around her friends. I imagine she'll be interested in doing a macrodose soon.

It got me thinking, does anyone have any tales of psychedelic elders? Whose the oldest psych fan you've met? What did you learn from them?

i love it - that's really good to hear - i wanna know if it really helps tho - i'd like to watch that all in action

im making every attempt to trip until the end

 

[Robi]

A for instance? I could let you in on one of my trainwrecks if you want. A couple of years ago I tried to tie my life together into a vision of a psychedelic Aldous-Huxley-esque commune on an actual island with the financial help of a 50yo lady I met through Lorenzo's (yes, the Lorenzo) forum. If you're interested I could privately tell you the tale. It's not pretty, but it is what it is.

 

[Robi]

Erhm.. wanna look at my bollocks while you're at it?

Edit: I can't do that public, it would start a gender war and female vision on this stuff would incinerate me, I can imagine the patriarchy being taken down with this shite... We've all had our flaws and messes and absolutely unspeakables.. oh my oh my..

i do appreciate yah not publically sharing really horrid crimes against people, youre cool

 

[JackARoe]

Yeah maybe some stones are better left unturned.... LOL But I agree, CT probably has a great story. Probably defies anything I could imagine.

 

[fromuponpoppyhill]

Loving this discussion, please tell any and all tales that you feel comfortable and safe telling I'm sure others are enjoying this too.

I will be sure to ask for updates from my friend about his nan. She's getting over cancer therapy right now so please keep her in your prayers, she sounds awesome.

 

[Nas47]

A friend of mine has just informed me that their 81yo Nan has just started microdosing shrooms for suspected dementia and she is absolutely loving it so far. Apparently she enjoys the "come up" feeling and wishes it could last all day, she is feeling much more social around her friends. I imagine she'll be interested in doing a macrodose soon.

It got me thinking, does anyone have any tales of psychedelic elders? Whose the oldest psych fan you've met? What did you learn from them?

I often smoke a joint with my grandmother.She was nearly 90 then in the beginning of new milenium.She also likes a cup of poppypod tea,when it was still available.A great woman.Almost a second mother to me

 

[arrall]

A for instance? I could let you in on one of my trainwrecks if you want. A couple of years ago I tried to tie my life together into a vision of a psychedelic Aldous-Huxley-esque commune on an actual island with the financial help of a 50yo lady I met through Lorenzo's (yes, the Lorenzo) forum. If you're interested I could privately tell you the tale. It's not pretty, but it is what it is.

I’d like to hear it.

 

[Chris Timothy]

i do appreciate yah not publically sharing really horrid crimes against people, youre cool

Just to be clear though, no crimes were committed. In fact, people were annoyed with my insistence on that. Being far from home on a foreign island with a complicated mission was already stressful enough, I did not want the additional headache of worrying about any run-ins with the law. I do not appreciate your baseless allegation. The fact things went horridly wrong does not imply maliciousness, nor legal transgression, on my end, and there's no good reason for you to assume so. It's sheer ignorance, giving you the benefit of the doubt that's not maliciousness of intentional slander on your end.


Edit: To be fair, I reckon you indeed didn't have ill intent as you end the sentence with "youre cool". Still, it's not OK to shoehorn in a serious accusation with that. I do not want to talk about it because I feel deep shame I haven't been able to live up to the goals we had set, not because I'm trying to hide failure to comply with the local judicial system, or worse, with morals, universal ethics, or worst of all, because of having intentionally posed a threat to others.

Nor were people unintentional put in any actual physical danger, for that matter. The problem was failure to prevent consistent bad trips, with their terrible psychological complications. And moreover, this wasn't solely due to stupidly overestimating my own skills, it was also due to poor logistics on others' part, and their failure to correctly provide the necessary psychometrics, not taking my inquiries into their psychological make-up seriously enough to forgo providing answers trying to merely please the trip conductor. These weren't ignorant kids, there were full grownups. At fifty years of age you simply should know better. No doctor who's being lied to about their patient's medical history would be as unreasonable to hold themselves accountable for that either. I still regret I didn't see their stupidity coming, but I refuse to land the responsibility purely on myself, and I resent you publicly suggesting otherwise.

Let's love, live and learn together.