VastIllumination
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2023
- Messages
- 10
Hi perpetualdawn,
Thank you for the kind words, glad I can help provide insights from the large scale success I've experienced experimenting with LSD as a nootropic. Happy to answer your questions and any others you may have.
Q1 Why have you settled on LSD as your go-to (vs other psychedelics)?
In college I never tried LSD. Although, I did trip of mushrooms 40+ times and dosed 2C-I about 7 times. Other than that I've used MDMA/MDA 5-6 times a year or so at festivals, raves and as a therapeutic tool. After trying LSD I prefer it 100:1 over mushrooms and have barely dosed on shrooms since discovering LSD 9 years ago. I find that LSD is a lot more clear headed, emotionally stable and manageable where its less of a potential emotional rollercoaster compared to 2g+ doses of mushrooms. With LSD I remember all of my breakthroughs/epiphanies long after the experience, where with mushrooms I would have breakthroughs but would struggle to remember it all and come back with 50-60% of the memories. Where with LSD I retain 90-95% of everything. Also LSD's long history of safety research and recent studies re-validating that its one of the least toxic psychoactive substances (See LSD Safety Studies in my 2nd post).
With LSD I feel an incredible cognitive performance boost in the afterglow for the week after dosing, solutions are instant, solving problems that used to stump me are a breeze. I can focus and work nonstop for 10-12 hours on a work day, something that would have been impossible with my ADHD prior. I no longer hit that drained mental state wall at 6pm where I couldn't focus anymore or felt burnout, the ideas and productivity are like a water tap I have access to whenever I need. This is what lead to the once a week dosing regiment. I would start to feel the LSD afterglow effects wear off after 8-9 days, so dosing once every 7 days kept me in the sweet spot of the afterglow effects all the time. Truly a stable baseline that lasts all week, each time.
In contrast, with mushrooms I wouldn't get the same productivity and clarity of thought for the next week like with LSD. In some ways I would be a little more spacey, I would find reading was a little harder due to some left over effects where text would move or stretch a little bit the days after tripping on mushrooms. Although I have to say mushrooms can be even more intense experiences (with reasonable doses). On shrooms I've had experiences where the world started spinning in circles while I was on a grass field and I fell back into a void where my entire body disappeared. I was left floating 5 feet off of the ground with no body, just my consciousness and breath hovering above the earth completely at peace. I also had an experience where laying in bed, I flew out of my body 100+ times in a row, 3 seconds apart - which was unsettling. Not that mushroom trips are always this intense, but in contrast I find LSD trips to be a lot more predictably positive and reflective without the rollercoaster stomach drop effects, which lends itself to being more tolerable for weekly usage.
Overall for me mushrooms seem to be a lot less emotional stable and forgiving than LSD. Negative thoughts on mushrooms would make my stomach sink, something I would never get on LSD - where even a few days after more difficult mushrooms trips I would still feel that emotional stomach drop. It seems like the emotional impact of mushroom trips stay with me longer for good or worse, where LSD is much more analytically balanced, generally happy, fun and manageable even if I'm dealing with concerning issues. On the times when I would get negative rollercoaster feeling from mushrooms it would seem to linger the next days and there wasn't the mental performance boosts afterwards like with LSD which was the main reason for using LSD as the nootropic.
Q2 You mention occasional MDMA use. I'm pretty shy of it myself because it has always seemed very artificial, temporary, recreational and little to no long-term benefit. But I always wonder if I'm missing something there. Do you find MDMA confers any kind of long-term benefits to you, similar to what psychedelics can do but in different domains, or do you use it purely recreationally?
I definitely feel that MDMA has a limited / shallower ceiling of transcendental potential compared to LSD and other psychedelics although it does have many values within the range of experience it provides. MDMA can be incredible for processing trauma and providing a strong reset for feelings of unease, depression and anxiety. MDMA is mentioned for its neuroplasticity abilities in Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity (Study Link 2018). MDMA in part down regulates the Amygdala, which allows individuals to think about traumatic or hard to process memories or concepts without having the Amygdala fear or flight/fight response that can repress the ability to work through traumatic experiences. This allows individuals to talk about concepts or experiences that they potentially couldn't normally as a means of therapeutically addressing the issues. MDMA also upregulates the Prefrontal Cortex (Cognitive & Executive Functioning) and Hippocampus (Memory Storage). It allows individuals to access memories without their negative associates or fear responses given the Amygdala downregulation, but the upregulation of the Hippocampus <-> Prefrontal Cortex allows individuals to reconsolidate (Store a new version of original memories) their memories without the amygdala association of fear, anxiety, pain. It basically detaches the emotional trauma from the memory and stores the memory that way so when you think about it in the future - it's just the memory without the negative emotional association.
My finance was able to overcome a lot of childhood trauma with 2 therapeutically focused and 'pre-planned guided meditation exercises' sessions of MDMA. She wrote out a guided meditation and symbolically released the trauma she was holding on to and has been substantially transformed since. She thought through the visualizations of the trauma and how to release it while on LSD, and then planned out a MDMA session where she spent an hour releasing the traumatic visualizations. At the end of the first MDMA session she found herself in her mind as a child in a ballroom dancing freely clear of the traumas. It completely redefined her self environment when she thinks about her self in relation to the traumas. It seems, she was able to re-write a new memory and association in-place of the trauma charged memories by MDMA's ability to downregulate the Amygdala and allow her to replace emotionally charged memories with non emotionally charged memories. (See images below).
She had previously taken MDMA recreationally, but this was the first time she thought out an entire therapeutic plan and dedicated all her thoughts for an hour on MDMA to resolving the traumas. She followed the dose used in the Nature Journal MAPS study referenced below. She also has a background in psychology and psychoanalysis, so it may have given her an advantage in preparing for the benefits.
I enjoy MDMA as a reset. Like during Covid, after taking MDMA or MDA all of the stress and uncertainty would disappear and it would feel like I was completely reset prior to the stress I built up for the year. In that way I find tremendous value. I also enjoy MDMA for recreational events like festivals or raves. One thing to note, I've found that the 3-4 times a year when I'm at a festival and dose LSD one night and MDMA the next night (The only times I ever do this), I experience even greater nootropic boosts. Likely because they both activate 5HT receptors with neuroplastic effects. Although I've found this increases my tolerance more than just LSD use weekly, which is another reason I avoid doing it more than a couple times a year. Although, I haven't had any negative side effects from the few times I take LSD (first night) and MDMA (next night). I find substantially more cross tolerance if you take MDMA the night before LSD.
Also a huge recommendation is to take the supplement NAC 1 hour before MDMA sessions, it reduces the potential of toxicity and I always feel incredible the next day/week.
(Amazon NAC Supplement Link)
- Protective Effects of (NAC) N-Acetyl-L-cystein on 3,4-Methylene Dioxymethamphetamie-Induced Neurotoxicity in Cerebellum of Male Rats (Study Link)
- Attenuation of ecstasy-induced neurotoxicity by (NAC) N-acetylcysteine (Study Link)
"After only 2-3 MDMA sessions 91% of participants experienced significant reductions in PTSD and at the 12-month follow-up, 68% no longer had PTSD. Most subjects received just 2 or 3 sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. All participants had chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD, and had suffered from PTSD for an average of 17.8 years."
Q3 You've talked a lot about how you've seen this dosing really enhance your performance professionally and intellectually. Have you seen changes in your social interactions, happiness, romantic life, other soft things like that?
Yes, I've seen benefits in all aspects of my life. Social interactions are much better due to the complete removal of any social anxiety. Although, I'm generally a happy person, my happiness has been as good as its ever been in my life during this entire period. Romantic life has been wonderful. I got engaged this year and am in a truly caring, supportive and loving relationship. We go for 7 months at a time without minor arguments and don't ever verbally fight. We have the ability to talk about and through anything that comes up and softened egos where we always take responsibility and never engage in tit for tat. Truly everything I've looked for in a partner. She also doses with me every couple weeks and we share great trips of intellectual conversation and laughing for hours on end.
If anyone else is considering trying this regiment, just make sure you take a neutral look at the positives and negatives you see in yourself each week after doing it. For me it was all positives, but always listen to your body if you experience any negative results of concern.
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