Psychedelics and alike, to self-medicate depression

[edzeppelin]

There is a post in TR dealing with using 3-meo-pcp for depression. I have some experience using MXE. Others(Jamshyd) have posted entire self- medication schedules for ketamine. There are numerous clinical trials in the US at the moment with the goal of getting ketamine approved for Treatment-resistant Depression. I also remember some posts stating people have had luck using DXM for this. (I tried DXM, but it had no effect, at least at that dosage). It hits me that this is very important stuff. Who knows if, when, and how ketamine will finally be available for this purpose, and people are suffering NOW. I would also love to hear if some BL'er could get into one of these trials(with proper diagnosis, of course) and could report what they see in others or at least themselves.

I tried to get into a trial. I couldn't swing it due to my job, etc.(who knows whether I even would have qualified, I felt I had to tell them about my experiences with MXE). They told me it wasn't necessarily a disqualification. For anyone interested, you have to have several documented courses of SSRI type ADs (or earlier types) to be considered "Treatment-Resistant".

Regarding the *--- in the title - It appears there is a letter limit for thread titles. I wanted to type "arylcyclohexylamines" in there.

Merry Christmas BL, hopefully this next year will be better for all of us.

 

[Ismene]

Psilocybon mushrooms cured my life-long depression in about 6 months of weekly/bi-weekly use. It's been a permanent change too even after I stopped using them so regularly. They are a wonder drug.

 

[freedstar]

Is this crossing a line by glorifying drug use? I think some harm reduction definitely has to be taken into account. I can already imagine people coming to post about how their daily MXE use has made their life better.

A lot of this is all subjective. Seems like it will give kids/young adults a reason to possibly abuse drugs.

 

[wayab]

and what if the truth is that they do help... not speak about it because some lsd only guy made a thread 3 days earlier ?

 

[edzeppelin]

Is this crossing a line by glorifying drug use? I think some harm reduction definitely has to be taken into account. I can already imagine people coming to post about how their daily MXE use has made their life better.

A lot of this is all subjective. Seems like it will give kids/young adults a reason to possibly abuse drugs.

Yes, people will pick rational reasons out of their environment to rationalize excessive recreational drug use. People will see things discussed which make them want to try drugs they may have otherwise ignored, but on the other hand, there is much suffering out there in which "official" antidepressants are totally ineffective and I have no illusions that I will live a long life and one day it will all work out.

I've managed to avoid addictive usage, others may not. Jamshyd's regiment with ketamine post got similar criticism, but I am grateful for reading it because it helped me greatly. These are very sticky issues I know, but this information does have the potential to help.

 

[HighonLife]

Is this crossing a line by glorifying drug use? I think some harm reduction definitely has to be taken into account. I can already imagine people coming to post about how their daily MXE use has made their life better.

A lot of this is all subjective. Seems like it will give kids/young adults a reason to possibly abuse drugs.

yea i can somewhat agree with you

i mean i wouldnt be lying if i said using heroin daily relieved me of depression


........until i wasnt high on it


and while i do feel its odd that in our society opiates are perfectly acceptable for treating physical pain yet it is completely taboo to use them to relieve psychological pain, i dont think its wise to advocate self medication on a harm reduction forum.

 

[wayab]

yeah but things like methoxetamine leave much longer antidepressant effects, a single dose can have antidepressant effects lasting up to 2-3 weeks in mineand others experiance. i think depression can do more harm than a dose every few weeks. then comes the hard part how to resist to redose in between this period and that could very well be a discussion suited for a harm reduction forum

 

[Foreigner]

I'm going to be starting jamy's ketamine regimen soon. I've already tried the standard approaches for depression: exercise, healthy diet, balance between being social and time to myself, being productive, not being productive, etc. I think I am just genetically prone to it and my past drug abuse has fucked me up. Seems like jamy never comes online anymore and I don't know how else to contact him... I'd love to ask him some questions.

It's not glorifying drug use. Some people report real relief from illegal drugs.

Psychedelics provide temporary relief for me, lasting about a month or so... then I start to have down days again. I haven't tried mushrooms for that but I'll do some research and then consider. The next stop is ketamine.

 

[Selggurkim]

A lot of this is all subjective. Seems like it will give kids/young adults a reason to possibly abuse drugs.

What is not subjective though? I believe a thread of this type would be very interesting and useful. If people are going to attempt the self medication anyways, they might as well share what they learned. Of course everyone reacts differently and the information from the thread should not be taken as exact dosages for others. However, the more information that is spread the safer others will be (who would have tried the self medication anyways).

If created I would think this thread might need special formatting or monitoring from BL Moderators.

Perhaps Erowid might be a more appropriate location for this ? Even the "Teafaerie" might be interested in writing a monthly blog entry on this.

(For those unfamiliar with Teafaerie check out this link for some interesting psychedelic / life related reading : https://www.erowid.org/columns/teafaerie/ )

 

[Selggurkim]

Psychedelics provide temporary relief for me, lasting about a month or so... then I start to have down days again. I haven't tried mushrooms for that but I'll do some research and then consider. The next stop is ketamine.

Not advising yes or no, but always exercise extreme caution with any substance with addictive qualities. Your mention of "past drug use fuck(ing) you up" could be interpreted as addiction issues. Ketamine as with any substance (even a legally prescribed medication) can be difficult to wean off of (or even follow Jamy's regimen without losing focus and abusing instead of healing).

My last note will be that if you are mid regimen and a source disappears, things can go south very quickly! I suggest preparing for that by either assuring access to proper quantity or multiple reliable sources.

 

[edzeppelin]

This thread would not specifically fit the harm reduction purpose of this forum, but I can't think of any other place(depression forums, etc.) since experience with these type compounds is of great importance when commenting or giving advice.

Also, as a side note, I have come back to read BL again and again after reading other forums because of the lack of angry, ill-informed posters, and the seeming superior mental health of recreational drug users!
(BL reacts with "Aw shucks" embarrassment and a "is he going to ask me out" gaze)

 

[Solipsis]

Well I am not sure of the statistics of people getting addicted to meth or heroin after trying them, but we host discussion of that as well. Everyone considering self-medicating depression with strong drugs like this with little or no external control should realize that there may be some flaws to this approach and chance may not be in your favor.

Having said that, something inside me tells me that I do well using psychedelics once every couple of months or so, even with the problems I have. When shit gets too rough I also intuitively feel that I should not trip. I have lost psychological tolerance to tripping over time and feel heavily scrutinized by knowing the characteristic of psychedelics to amplify a mood intensely.

Dissociatives unlike psychedelics can have a more addictive component if only because of their distinctive pharmacology, that can make self-medicating with them more complicated. Personally I have little faith in that plan, but that may reflect a personal weakness to, in my case, ketamine.

Editing the TT as I think it should be.

 

[annamolly]

I am on SSRI's and don't see any difference in my depression. Whenever I take DXM, I get very depressed to the point of crying for hours.

We don't SWIM here, m'am. Use proper pronouns in the future please.

~Never