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Tripping the older you get.

TripSitterNZ said:
For LSD when your younger you have more energy to be able to stay up for over 24 hours as you get older takes longer to get back to full energy after such a long trip which is why i ended up liking short acting psychedelics these days.
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Ya staying up long hours isn't healthy. Take LSD in the morning and honestly you should be able to sleep.
 
G_Chem said:
I believe it all has to do with how you are living your life and if your truly happy with it. As I get older my trips have actually become more euphoric while simultaneously being more enlightening as well.

When your young your full of dreams that you can change the world, if you follow in those dreams you’ll have nothing but happiness and joy when the mirror gets shoved in your face.

I have to ask OP, did you see yourself working the job you do as a young boy/man? Did you accomplish things in your life you dreamed of in the early years?

-GC
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Absolutely not. Nothing has turned out as I thought it would in my youth.
 
lamanogaucha said:
@ chrispche - You're probably experiencing the beginnings of a mid-life crisis. Many people -- probably most -- go through this at some point in their 40's and the experience can last years. For me, the most intense part was between the ages of 45 and 48. I'm now in my early 50's and things are fine.

Typical mid-life crisis themes include questioning and re-evaluating one's purpose in life, ambitions, values, beliefs, relationships (intimate or not) and work. A sense of mortality can become pressing (or even oppressive), especially if one feels unfulfilled. At this time, people often lose others due to aging or disease (e.g. family members, older friends, heroes) -- the odds of experiencing loss and bereavement increase as we age. One's sexual drive tends to somewhat diminish; being skilled at expressing intimacy in non-sexual ways becomes more important. And so on...

It's normal for psychedelic experiences to have a more introspective and emotional character during this period of one's life. Such experiences can be difficult, but they can also be particularly instructive.

In your case, things are potentially even harder, because you have cyclothymia and take several medications to treat it. While cyclothymia isn't as debilitating as most other mental disorders, it will still impact the character of a trip, usually negatively. This is especially true if psychotropic medications are involved.
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WOW! You sir have explained exactly what I'm experiencing. I mean it, you have given me pause for thought.
 
chrispche said:
Just a quick observation and something I wanna put out there. I'm almost forty one. My question is this. Does tripping become harder as you age? What I mean is when I was in my late teens early twenties tripping was fun. Now if I trip out, it gets all very introspective, I start to dwell on past failures and fear the future. Now, two things could be going on here. First I have been diagnosed with bipolar cyclothymia and take meds for that. Particularly, Lamotrigine, Aripiprazole and Mirtazapine with Diazepam as needed.

However what I think is more likely is that the older you get the more life experience you have and with that responsibility. I have kids, been divorced and find work hard and stressful. Leading to anxiety and self doubt and depression. As well as a good dose hypomania from time to time. Due to this I don't trip anymore. The only exception to that would be, a bucket list item of wanting to try smoked DMT before I move on from this world.

All that aside, do others find tripping harder the older you get? Or is this just me?
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To be perfectly honest now on my 20th year of taking psychedelics I feel I can channel the experience better and direct that energy. This is an addition to various meditation and mind focusing exercises Ive put into use as well. I also went through a few very dark patches which in the end turned out to be blessings in that I feel stronger from. Although I still look at my younger experiences with nostalgia, it feels like these days I feel a richer abundant fullness to my tripping that I didnt have when I was 16 or so years old.
 
Body is different when older, the parts which had load before still have load, and may alert earlier, while new ways of moving have become habit, and some of those ways of eating, being and moving cause less body load, or a different shade and shimmer to it.
Visuals go mandala-ish with less provocation, but mostly floors, concrete, tiles, walls, clouds, get faces more easily, and sensations become colored mental forms in a parallel universe with lower doses.
 
sin_is_synthetic said:
To be perfectly honest now on my 20th year of taking psychedelics I feel I can channel the experience better and direct that energy. This is an addition to various meditation and mind focusing exercises Ive put into use as well. I also went through a few very dark patches which in the end turned out to be blessings in that I feel stronger from. Although I still look at my younger experiences with nostalgia, it feels like these days I feel a richer abundant fullness to my tripping that I didnt have when I was 16 or so years old.
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I can relate to this a lot.. I just feel like I’ve learned how to utilize the lessons taught which in turn allowed for smoother experiences. I feel a lot less fear these days because I know the only thing to fear is fear itself in those moments. If a trip starts going the wrong way I can reign it back in through meditation, music/dance, etc..

-GC
 
It's not due to your age that tripping is difficult. It's because you've never learned how to properly deal with stress.

When we are young, we have very little problems (on average) to deal with. It's easy to be happy and free and fun when your body is a fountain of youth and you have next to zero issues.

As you get older, problems become more and more common. ANd sometimes they are chronic, lasting years or even decades. On top of that, your body starts to get worn out too. ANd your mind too.

So when you don't know how to deal with the issues you already have, and more keep piling up, your quality of life goes down. Or you repress the fuck out of everything, and feel OK, but secretly you are just a ticking time bomb.

So yeah man, it's not about age, it's about stress management. Take a couple months out to get all your shit in order. And when you begin to start having weeks and months of feeling great the majority of the time, then you can trip again because it means your overall stress levels are down to a manageable level.
 
chrispche said:
Just a quick observation and something I wanna put out there. I'm almost forty one. My question is this. Does tripping become harder as you age? What I mean is when I was in my late teens early twenties tripping was fun. Now if I trip out, it gets all very introspective, I start to dwell on past failures and fear the future. Now, two things could be going on here. First I have been diagnosed with bipolar cyclothymia and take meds for that. Particularly, Lamotrigine, Aripiprazole and Mirtazapine with Diazepam as needed.

However what I think is more likely is that the older you get the more life experience you have and with that responsibility. I have kids, been divorced and find work hard and stressful. Leading to anxiety and self doubt and depression. As well as a good dose hypomania from time to time. Due to this I don't trip anymore. The only exception to that would be, a bucket list item of wanting to try smoked DMT before I move on from this world.

All that aside, do others find tripping harder the older you get? Or is this just me?
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All the medications you listed will majorly mess with the effects you will have from psychedelics.
Not sure if you can quit for a while before tripping, but most likely it is unadvaisable to do so.
Until you are able to get off the medications you should discontinue the use of psychedelic drugs.
 
Tripping is all about your state of mind and the state of your life. When I started tripping, by and large my rips were much more difficult than they are now, at age 36. Of course, my life is also a lot smoother now, in almost every way, I am happier and more fulfilled. I'm living in a great place, and living the musician life, and I have a ton of friends that like to trip, I go to a lot of music festivals, etc. I did not do any of this when I was younger. Tripping has gotten much more easygoing and recreational for me, and also easier to understand how to get something from it on the rare occasions I choose to go for a profound, deep experience. But I think if I had slowly descended into a worse state of mind, or had kids, or was still with my abusive ex, it would be a different story.

Interestingly, I get virtually zero bodyloads from anything now, and no nausea ever, whereas when I was in my early twenties, I felt poisoned until the come-up was done (and sometimes after) and would puke a lot from psychedelics. I feel like psychedelics are more at home in my brain ad body than ever. I also get less visuals than I used to, usually at least.
 
My trips have become different since i was young because my whole life was practically shit but I use them along the way to see into steering my life in a brighter light and not remind of all the horrors I been through. Processing my past problems is something i rather do without drugs. medical conditions can alter things, especially when they are mental problems and you take likewise meds for them. You can use your trips for insight on your mental problems because many people like to label a sickness on someone like bipolar desease although after being many years in psychiatry i have never been able to diagnose them with a certain problem.
 
Fitness plays a role for me, for sure. If I’ve been really active in the days leading up to a trip, I tend not to get crazy body loads. But if I’m going thru a lazy phase, that is when my nausea and leg restlessness etc kicks in. When I was younger, my outdoor jobs kept me in shape. Now I have to fight for every pound/inch!
So the potential for good tripping is giving me that extra motivation to eat better and keep active.
 
Xorkoth said:
Interestingly, I get virtually zero bodyloads from anything now, and no nausea ever, whereas when I was in my early twenties, I felt poisoned until the come-up was done (and sometimes after) and would puke a lot from psychedelics. I feel like psychedelics are more at home in my brain ad body than ever. I also get less visuals than I used to, usually at least.
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that's interesting but not at all surprising to me I've been thinking about this and was last night I currently have quite some anxiety and fear about tripping because I have serious digestive issues which are largely physical but also very much anxiety-related in a psychosomatic fashion due to a severe anxiety disorder which I have developed over the last 2 years specifically affecting my eating which is the biggest problem in my life due to long-term illness and severe allergy problems and many other complications.

My 69 year old mum recently tried microdosing for the first time ever and had some incredibly intense but interesting and extraordinarily and surprisingly beneficial experiences and outcomes.

In particular she has had terrible pain in her stomach and digestive system and colon for many years and this completely disappeared, along with permanent neck and shoulder tension, proving what I had already suspected that this was psychosomatic in nature.

So when we trip and there is something that is not right about us which is manifesting in some area of our body our awareness is drawn directly to it and I think our anxiety can actually intensify it physically by focusing on it.

So what you describe about not experiencing these negative side effects anymore fits perfectly with your generally freer and healthier and happier mindset and experience of living and being in this life.

I'm pretty sure that makes solid sense anyway I mean it's plain obvious stuff I'm talking really which any dummy could get their head around I'm sure.

Anyway I do find your posts and knowledge extraordinarily interesting and educational to me I don't have a spot or a fraction of your psychedelic experience or knowledge so I really appreciate being able to learn from members like yourself on this forum.
 
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I had the privilege of having my first L trip in over 15yrs yesterday at the age of 38 and I can say it was just as amazing, if only less shocking than before. Set and current life events are probably influencing the trips. Also I noticed that tripping too often turns them negative and introspective. I also got to vape DMT for the first time yesterday but unfortunately didn't get to break through. Oh well, another time.
 
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as I have aged, the body seems more easily impacted, so
to counter the tendency to frailty, I do pushups + sit-ups/crunches + stair climbing daily before meditation.

the load is what it is- the sympathetic nervous system will get stimulated,
I recognize it and expect it.
 
I don't get negative when I trip too often, it just starts to feel too routine, not worth it. Mine tend to be more introspective when I do it less often, but in a good way. Introspection is one of the main reasons I use psychedelics.

Strangely I get far less bodyload as I get older. But I'm only 36, so I can see that reversing again as I reach older age brackets.
 
chrispche said:
Just a quick observation and something I wanna put out there. I'm almost forty one. My question is this. Does tripping become harder as you age? What I mean is when I was in my late teens early twenties tripping was fun. Now if I trip out, it gets all very introspective, I start to dwell on past failures and fear the future. Now, two things could be going on here. First I have been diagnosed with bipolar cyclothymia and take meds for that. Particularly, Lamotrigine, Aripiprazole and Mirtazapine with Diazepam as needed.

However what I think is more likely is that the older you get the more life experience you have and with that responsibility. I have kids, been divorced and find work hard and stressful. Leading to anxiety and self doubt and depression. As well as a good dose hypomania from time to time. Due to this I don't trip anymore. The only exception to that would be, a bucket list item of wanting to try smoked DMT before I move on from this world.

All that aside, do others find tripping harder the older you get? Or is this just me?
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Just wanna throw this out there... You are almost forty one.

To answer Your question... Honestly. If One were not to trip til They were forty one... Their first trip would be quite a clean up, that's for sure.
Spiritual work takes work [several trips]. It's not just a walk in the park. You invest time and money into those experiences, You know?...
 
But chris talks about tripping being fun in the past, some twenty or more years ago. Experience points were earned. The question is more about how aging and life events/history changes the body/mind and its experience in a trip. And we all change at different times, mostly though in our 40s. I tend to agree with the factthat we may have more or less stress in our lives as we age, but we should invariably keep gaining experience. Hard to weigh evenly.
 
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