(4-HO-MET / 25 mg) - Minor exp. - Frequency Collision (a multimedia report!)

[TheAppleCore]

Previous psychedelic drugs taken include 2C-E, 2C-C, 25I & 25C-NBOMe, LSD & prodrugs, DMT, DPT, DiPT, 4-AcO-DMT, 4-HO-MET, 4-HO-MPT, 4-HO-MiPT, 4-AcO-MiPT, 4-AcO-DET, 4-HO-EPT, and 4-AcO-DPT.

This trip continues a series of reports on various tryptamines taken at roughly 9.0x10^-5 moles in a comparable, solitary setting. Previous reports in the series:

4-AcO-DET: All in a Single Brushstroke
4-HO-MPT: Psychedelic Anaesthesia
4-AcO-MiPT: Bird of Prey

~~~

Although I had taken 4-HO-MET prior to this occasion, I had only ventured up to 16 milligrams of the fumarate. At 25 mg, not only did 4-HO-MET fully live up to the hype for its DMT-like visuals, but considering its reputation as a relatively shallow psychedelic centered on eye-candy and euphoria, I was blown away by its ego-dissolving power, the likes of which I've only seen in 4-AcO-DMT and base DMT. However, I must admit, at present I'm skeptical that 4-HO-MET can deliver anything which can't be easily found in psilocin.

Full Report

Within twenty minutes of dosing, my visual field was swimming with crisp imagery. Edges and lines were emphasized, like a form of rotoscoping, except they all somehow coalesced into organic yet mathematically perfect geometry, and danced with a mesmerizing flow. My environment was personified, radiating the aura of a playful entity who was attempting to show me the inner mechanics of the human visual processing systems, like an enthusiastic science teacher from another universe. "Check that out," it seemed to implore me, "your brain always does that, but you never knew it!"

The typical ego death process occurred: I became increasingly aware of my own mortality, and correspondingly I clung to my existence, becoming more and more terrified, until, sensing the absurdity of my fear, I relaxed into a state of blissful acceptance. Rejuvinated, I went outside to explore the moonlit world. My state of mind was marked by an intense childlike curiosity, as my ordinary understanding of reality was broken down, leaving me to pick up the pieces and put them back together. I was especially baffled by the concept of perception: because there was no longer any conceivable "outside world" to perceive, nor any "mind" with which to perceive it, I found it especially difficult to imagine what was meant by words like "see" and "know".

Although the closed-eye visuals were equally impressive to the open-eye show, I barely even paid attention to them, because I was so intrigued by the auditory hallucinations. Luckily, they were simple enough that I was able to easily create a faithful synthetic replica: a handful of pure tones, beating as they drifted past one another in pitch. Unlike the acoustic hallucinations of 4-AcO-DET, which consisted of looping music projected from my memory, this seemed to represent some basic physiological activity. I wonder if I was somehow hearing my own brain waves?

I had always scoffed at the hypothesis that psychedelics and dreams could share any significant overlap, but this trip sharply turned me into a believer, and I'm now quite convinced that psychedelics can precipitate the neural functions involved in dreaming. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it took me over an hour to perform the simple task of packing a bowl of cannabis and turning on some music, because for the life of me I couldn't stay focused for more than five seconds before slipping back into a dreamlike trance, in which an endless sequence of interlinked memories vividly replayed in my mind's eye, and then branched off into various hypothetical scenarios.

I noted an array of bodily symptoms which were distinctly reminiscent of 4-HO-MPT, but to a lesser degree: movement felt slightly labored, and my senses were somewhat muted. On both of these substances, I feel as if I'm looking at everything through a narrow tube, and listening through cotton stuffed in my ears. Now that I've been made aware of these symptoms, I wonder if I'll find any trace of them in psilocin? I didn't notice them in 4-AcO-MiPT. I took my blood pressure at T+2:40, which read 132/87 mmHg, a slight hypertension.

I woke up with a headache the following morning, but it eased throughout the day, and otherwise I was in an excellent mood, deeply thankful for both the trip and my life in general.

Conclusion

Despite 4-HO-MET having proven itself as a top-tier psychedelic replete with gorgeous visuals and a deep cerebral high, my tentative conclusion is that it is largely redundant with psilocin, at least for my purposes. Unlike 4-AcO-MiPT, which was impressive for its ability to crack into the depths of my soul and transform my perspective in a totally novel way, I couldn't distinguish any qualitatively unique aspect of 4-HO-MET.

Exactly as you'd predict, it appears that 4-HO-DMT, 4-HO-MET, and 4-HO-MPT fall along a single axis: the step from 4-HO-DMT to 4-HO-MET is roughly equivalent to the step from 4-HO-MET to 4-HO-MPT. All three substances have a very similar overall trip style, but with adjustments to the ratios of their various effects. In my 4-HO-MPT report, I described it as a "stencil" which occluded parts of psilocin, and now I can say the same for 4-HO-MET: it largely retained the hallucinogenic power of psilocin, but maybe softened the ego-shattering blow just a touch, which made for a slightly easier, more recreational trip, although still clearly not lacking in depth. And, as I mentioned earlier, there was some degree of 4-HO-MPT's peculiar body load.

Again, this experience was useful in putting 4-AcO-MiPT into perspective for its uniqueness. After being reminded of just how impressive the visuals can get on tryptamines like psilocin and 4-HO-MET, I feel a bit silly for praising 4-AcO-MiPT's visuals in my last report, which were rather shallow by comparison. But nonetheless, 4-x-MiPT stands in a category of its own for its hallmark emotional catharsis, which is often compared to empathogens, and also at times GABAergics like alcohol, GHB, and kava. (Not that it's superior to the psilocin-style trip — just different.)

In order to confirm that 4-HO-MET is redundant with psilocin for me, I'd like to make a direct comparison with an equimolar dose of 4-AcO-DMT, which I'm planning to do in another couple weeks. Until then... keep your brainwaves in tune!

Tagged by Xorkoth
substancecode_4homet
substancecode_tryptamines
explevel_inexperienced
exptype_positive
roacode_oral

 

[Kaleida]

However, I must admit, at present I'm skeptical that 4-HO-MET can deliver anything which can't be easily found in psilocin.

You and Shulgin.... I guess we just aren't wired the same. 8) Psilocin and 4-HO-MET could never substitute for one another for me, they have strong similarities but also strong differences. To each their own, however....

Thanks once again for writing up this report, it was very thorough and enjoyable to read. There's definitely a lot I can relate to, particularly when you use words like radiating, playful, enthusiastic, and teacher, and I certainly do get many beautiful and intense visuals and also some interesting audio distortions (nice clip, by the way) when I take a decent dose of 4-HO-MET, and also am a very strong supporter of the psychedelic-dream overlap and do find 4-HO-MET particularly tasty for that.... Thanks for measuring your blood pressure and talking about the body load too; so far 4-HO-MET has felt totally clean for me, but I have seen some evidence that it is a higher efficacy psychedelic by at least some 5-HT2A pathways, so it's good to know what kinds of effects it can have on the body even though it seems to be relatively safe nonetheless.

I will say that I am surprised by how strong of a ego dissolving effect you got from, just because it seems less common, but I would also like to comment on something, particularly in this line: "...but considering its reputation as a relatively shallow psychedelic centered on eye-candy and euphoria...." I don't think this is actually the case; I know many people who would describe it as very lucid and in control, but the majority of them would not describe it as shallow, with myself included in both of those. I've always found it to be very deep emotionally and hallucinogenically, and I mean truly well-crafted and meaningful, not just overwhelming by either means, with the lack of psychological effects not making any dent at all in its significance, just turning it into a different kind of trip. It's generally not been the kind of thing I have sought out as much before, but I do treasure it, and think of it much in the way that I imagine I may of mescaline after I finally get to try it, clear but still rich and full-bodied. So I'm not surprised at all that you find it quite worthwhile in that way, I'm just a little surprised by the means in which it came through... but, that is just part of the beauty of these molecules. Anyway, just some food for thought....

I'll be very much looking forward to that upcoming 4-AcO-DMT trip to see how it compares to the rest of these for you as well.... It should be quite insightful I'd imagine for you to return to it after all your recent experiences.

 

[TheAppleCore]

Thank you for your kind words; I love writing these things, so I'm always very happy to have an audience!

You make a good point that lacking ego-dissolving psychological effects doesn't necessarily equate to a shallow trip, although when I wrote that sentence, I wasn't really distinguishing between depth and ego-dissolution. But, even if 4-HO-MET is relatively easier on the ego than psilocin, I still found it much heavier in that respect than virtually any other 4-substituted tryptamine, even 4-AcO-DET, so I am still a bit surprised that it has a reputation for being relatively lucid. I wonder if this comes from comparing it mostly to psilocin, or if people generally find 4-HO-MET to be an outliar, producing less boundary dissolution than the majority of research tryptamines?

You and Shulgin.... I guess we just aren't wired the same. 8) Psilocin and 4-HO-MET could never substitute for one another for me, they have strong similarities but also strong differences. To each their own, however....

Do keep in mind that 4-HO-MET's redundancy with psilocin is only my tentative initial conclusion. I'll need to make a more direct comparison between the two in order to pass a more confident final judgment. And, while I'm sure 4-HO-MET does have something unique to offer, the question for me is whether it's significant enough to justify using a research chemical over a classic psychedelic with well-established safety.

P.S. I'm quite curious, would you or anyone else happen to know what causes those layered-sinusoid auditory hallucinations? The fact that they exhibit mutual phase interference is pretty much hard proof that they actually exist as competing physical oscillations in a common medium, which is why I wondered if they were brain waves. But, after a little research, the highest frequency brain waves observable in humans still don't crack 100 Hz, which is more than an octave lower than any of the tones heard in my clip. So I'm flummoxed.

 

[Volsam]

Great report with clear understanding, TheAppleCore! Thank you for posting it! :D

I too agree with most of your observations on 4-HO-MET. I also notice a headache with both 4-Aco and 4-HO-MET's, similar headache was observed after smoking MET all day.

When I take 4-HO-MET by itself without combining it with something, it leaves me a bit unsatisfied at the end, wanting to trip more or something along that lines... I liked it mixed with 4-Aco-DMT, Proscaline, 6-APDB and MDA. For some reasons it doesnt mix well with *-MiPTs for me.

Special thanks for replicating auditory hallucinations - now I must try to do that too, I really liked the idea!
As for why they were the way they were - some sort of synastesia of bodily functions perhaps, and perceiving some kind of wave overlaying artifacts. Would be interesting to perform an EEG while tripping on different drugs...8)

 

[TheAppleCore]

You're welcome, Volsam! I'm happy that you found it clearly understandable. I can't be certain whether the headache was related to the 4-HO-MET, but it is noteworthy that you get consistent headaches with the METs. Kaleida tells me (correct me if I'm wrong) that 4-HO-MET might overlap with phenethylamines in certain ways that most tryptamines do not, and I found headaches to be a consistent after-effect of the 2C-X phenethylamines as well. I wonder if there's a connection?

Glad you dug the audio clip as well. I had fun making it, and I kinda feel like I'm tripping when I listen to it again.

 

[Kaleida]

Thank you for your kind words; I love writing these things, so I'm always very happy to have an audience!

You're quite welcome, I enjoy having an audience for my reports as well so I'm happy to play that role when my turn comes, especially for such well-written and thoughtful reports as yours.

You make a good point that lacking ego-dissolving psychological effects doesn't necessarily equate to a shallow trip, although when I wrote that sentence, I wasn't really distinguishing between depth and ego-dissolution. But, even if 4-HO-MET is relatively easier on the ego than psilocin, I still found it much heavier in that respect than virtually any other 4-substituted tryptamine, even 4-AcO-DET, so I am still a bit surprised that it has a reputation for being relatively lucid. I wonder if this comes from comparing it mostly to psilocin, or if people generally find 4-HO-MET to be an outliar, producing less boundary dissolution than the majority of research tryptamines?

This is definitely the case for me and many that I've talked to who feel the same way. Personally, I find mushrooms, 4-HO-DET, 4-HO-MPT, 4-HO-MiPT, and 4-HO-DiPT all more ego dissolving than 4-HO-MET at normal doses, and 4-HO-EPT more so at higher doses. I tend to think of 4-HO-MET as somewhat uniquely comparable to the base and 5-substituted tryptamines of the 4-substituted tryptamines, largely because those classes by default also seem to be less ego dissolving even when they are still cognitively and hallucinogenically heavy.

Yeah, 4-HO-MET is definitely less deep for me in that particular way, I just try to avoid the word shallow because it massively undersells it, unlike some other genuinely shallow psychedelics like 2C-I in my experience or from what I understand certain NBOMes. For me, 4-HO-MET's focus on euphoria and visuals isn't a downside, it's part of what makes it so special for what it is.

Do keep in mind that 4-HO-MET's redundancy with psilocin is only my tentative initial conclusion. I'll need to make a more direct comparison between the two in order to pass a more confident final judgment. And, while I'm sure 4-HO-MET does have something unique to offer, the question for me is whether it's significant enough to justify using a research chemical over a classic psychedelic with well-established safety.

That's fair, though I honestly doubt there are any significant safety issues to worry about with 4-HO-MET. I'm definitely curious to see what you'll have to say about the more direct comparison to psilocin/4-AcO-DMT, though I will go as far as to say that I also think you should try the comparison again at a higher dose based on your reaction so far. This makes a difference for me.... 20 mg of 4-HO-MET is admittedly fairly similar to mushrooms for me, whereas at 25 mg I'm confident I could never confuse the two.

P.S. I'm quite curious, would you or anyone else happen to know what causes those layered-sinusoid auditory hallucinations? The fact that they exhibit mutual phase interference is pretty much hard proof that they actually exist as competing physical oscillations in a common medium, which is why I wondered if they were brain waves. But, after a little research, the highest frequency brain waves observable in humans still don't crack 100 Hz, which is more than an octave lower than any of the tones heard in my clip. So I'm flummoxed.

Unfortunately, I don't even understand this paragraph or why it means you think these audio effects were real, much less the reason why they might occur.

I can't be certain whether the headache was related to the 4-HO-MET, but it is noteworthy that you get consistent headaches with the METs. Kaleida tells me (correct me if I'm wrong) that 4-HO-MET might overlap with phenethylamines in certain ways that most tryptamines do not, and I found headaches to be a consistent after-effect of the 2C-X phenethylamines as well. I wonder if there's a connection?

Well, I do feel that way about 4-HO-MET, but I don't feel it necessarily has anything to do with the headaches. Many indole psychedelics give me headaches after the fact, to the point that I think of it as just a normal property they have, and this includes DMT when I smoke it all day like Volsam said for MET. In fact, psilocybin dose-dependently causes delayed, transient headaches in healthy volunteers, so I'd say this is pretty tryptamine typical myself. Of course, phenethylamines may also cause them through the same mechanisms, as serotonin itself is known to be significantly involved in headache regulation.