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Help! Vitamin B3 helps with Bad Trips, Anxiety and Panic Attacks: Holotropic Breathwork and LSD Psychotherapy

Asante

Asante

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B3 Will Set You Free
A grounded look at niacin, niacinamide, and calming the nervous system

If you’ve spent time around communities like Bluelight or Shroomery, you already know the vibe: people are trying to understand their minds, reduce harm, and navigate intense states—whether those come from substances or just from being human.

This post is about something simple, accessible, and often overlooked: vitamin B3.

Not as a miracle cure. Not as a replacement for medical care.
But as a useful tool in the toolbox—especially when it comes to anxiety, overstimulation, and “I’ve gone too far” moments.


The Basics: Two Forms of B3​

Vitamin B3 comes in two main forms:

  • Nicotinic acid (niacin) → causes the classic flush
  • Niacinamide (nicotinamide) → no flush, more neutral feel
Both feed into the same underlying system: they help your body produce NAD⁺, which is essential for energy metabolism and brain function.

In plain terms: your brain runs better when it has enough B3.


B3​

People report slightly different effects depending on the form:

Niacinamide (100–500 mg):

  • Subtle calming effect
  • Takes the edge off anxiety
  • No body “rush”
Niacin (50–500 mg):

  • Warm flushing sensation (can be intense if you’re not used to it)
  • Increased body awareness
  • Sometimes grounding, sometimes uncomfortable
The flush is harmless for most people (though it can feel dramatic), but if you hate that sensation, niacinamide is the easier entry point.


A Bit of History (Yes, This Was a Thing)​

Back in the day, high-dose niacin/niacinamide was explored in psychiatry—especially in anxiety states and schizophrenia. This is associated with orthomolecular approaches.

It’s controversial, results are mixed, and it’s definitely not mainstream treatment.

But it’s part of the reason B3 pops up in older discussions about mental state stabilization.


The “Bad Trip” Angle​

In 60s/70s psychedelic circles, there was a simple protocol some people used when someone was having a rough time:

  • ~500 mg niacin or niacinamide
  • Calm reassurance
  • Breathing guidance
It wasn’t a guaranteed fix, but sometimes it helped shift the experience.

Important context:
This wasn’t about “killing the trip” like a benzodiazepine. It was more about helping the person regain a sense of control and grounding.


Panic ≈ Accidental Psychedelic State​

Here’s where things get interesting.

A lot of what people call a “bad trip” overlaps heavily with panic attacks:

  • Racing thoughts
  • Derealization
  • Visual weirdness
  • Fear loops
One major driver? Hyperventilation.

Breathing too fast drops CO₂ levels, which can cause:

  • Dizziness
  • Tingling
  • Distorted perception
  • That “I’m losing it” feeling
This overlap was explored by Stanislav Grof, who worked with both LSD psychotherapy and breath-induced altered states.

Bottom line:
You can push yourself into a very “trippy” state just by breathing wrong.


How to Ground Someone (or Yourself)​

This is the part that matters most.

If someone is spiraling—whether from psychedelics, weed, or pure anxiety—this is what actually helps:

1. Slow the breathing (don’t force it)

  • “Try breathing in slowly through your nose…”
  • “Long, slow exhale…”
  • Keep it gentle. No commands.
2. Normalize it

  • “You’re okay.”
  • “This feels intense, but it’s temporary.”
3. Bring attention to the body

  • Feet on the ground
  • Hands touching something solid
  • Sit or lie down
4. Keep input low

  • Reduce noise/light
  • Too much stimulation makes it worse
5. Stay calm yourself
If you’re helping someone: your tone matters more than your words.


Where B3 Fits In​

Think of B3 as support, not a solution.

A moderate dose (say 100–500 mg niacinamide) may:

  • Take the edge off physiological anxiety
  • Help the nervous system settle
  • Make it easier to “ride it out”
But it won’t override a full-blown panic or a strong psychedelic experience on its own.

It works best combined with:

  • Breathing control
  • Reassurance
  • A safe environment

“Do I Need This Instead of Benzos?”​

Short answer: not really a substitute.

Benzodiazepines (like diazepam) act quickly and strongly on GABA receptors. B3 doesn’t do that.

But:

  • If you’re trying to avoid benzos
  • Or want something mild and accessible
  • Or just need a bit of extra stability
B3 can be worth trying.


Practical Notes​

  • Start low (especially with niacin if you’ve never flushed before)
  • Take with food if you’re sensitive
  • Don’t mega-dose without knowing what you’re doing
  • If you have liver issues or are on meds, check first

Final Take​

B3 isn’t magic.
It won’t “fix” a bad trip or cure anxiety.

But it’s one of those simple, low-key tools that can make a difference—especially when combined with basic harm reduction:

  • Breathe slower
  • Stay grounded
  • Don’t fight the experience
  • Let it pass
Sometimes the most effective interventions aren’t dramatic.

They’re just enough to help you come back to baseline.

And from there—you’re already on your way back.



B3 will set you Free

LSD Psychotherapy
 
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This is vaguely interesting although quite hard to read in full, I am finding the stilted, generic language of LLM-generations quite tiresome by now.

I'd be more interested in hearing if you personally have experimented with this, and what the results were? ie, have you personally had trouble with anxiety while tripping before, and applied this theory in practice? If so, what drugs, what was the initial anxiety experience like, what did you do differently when you combined it with B3, etc, etc... without that this just pure slop, basically.

Theoretically interesting, for sure... but, that said, I do have a really hard time believing that for anyone experiencing anything more serious than "slightly elevated anxiety" during a trip, compared to benzos B3 is gonna be entirely useless.

Actually you know what sorry, having thought about it a bit more I just don't buy it at all. B3 isn't gonna do shit for a bad trip or a panic attack and ChatGPT has no clue what it's talking about here, let's be serious about this...
 
You guys can literally shove it. You see it is generated by AI, you guys have not a single clue about what is being said here so you conclude that it is nonsense and you take a shit all over it.

I have been knowing from the 1980s from the High Times Encyclopedia of Recreational Drugs that hippies used 500mg Niacin (the flush version of B3) to abort bad trips in combination with Talk Down techniques, that Niacin was used in the treatment of psychosis by Abraham Hoffer et al and that Niacinamide (no-flush B3) has Benzodiazepine-like properties too.

Supplemental Niacinamide Mitigates Anxiety Symptoms: Three Case Reports

How Much Niacinamide Should I Take For Anxiety?

Niacin for Anxiety: A Comprehensive Guide to Using Vitamin B3 for Mental Health

I have personal experience with the use of B3 in mitigating bad trips spanning more than three decades.

You guys are being a bunch of sheep and you can go flock yourselves. Benzodiazepines work more strongly against anxiety yes but 500mg tabs of Niacinamide have clear effiicacy in anxiety and bad trip management. Holotropic Breathwork? Hypoventilation to counter panic attacks? LSD Psychotherapy? Look into Stanislav Grof .

You guys see AI was used in the making of this post, you therefore conclude I am an idiot with no factual knowledge and shit on me in a dogpile of uninformed skepticism against something that fucking works, is safe when not overdone and which requires no doctor's prescription.

I am sincerely highly disappointed in your complete lack of personal research in shooting this down.

Despicable. Dumb. Contrary to proper harm reduction. Lazy pseudo-intellectualism.

Unworthy of Bluelight.

To think I have no knowledge and shit out AI content without any fact checking because you have zero knowledge in this regard.

Disgusting.

Ciao.
 
Asante said:
You guys are being a bunch of sheep and you can go flock yourselves.
Click to expand...
:LOL: lol this is a good line. Chill though, as I say it is theoretically quite interesting and I didn't have any reason to doubt that B3 does something, I can easily believe it's a fairly mild anxiolytic probably on the same spectrum as magnesium, a little below l-theanine... I think maybe we have different definitions of "bad trip", though. Just when you frame it alongside benzos for some reason, even if you/GPT do say, "no, it isn't a replacement for benzos", it starts sounding a bit ridiculous. Like why even bring that up, then?

Most of the article isn't specific to B3 at all really, it's just very very generic chatter about managing mild anxiety, and breathing exercises. It's not that the entire thing is nonsense, it isn't, it's just using a whole lot of words to deliver the same fairly basic information in a bunch of differently phrased ways, this is the problem with a lot of AI writing, just using a lot of words to say very little, that's what makes it slop.

It's possible to use AI to write informative, interesting articles - but when that happens it isn't slop.

I would still be curious to hear about your own personal experiences using B3 to manage trip anxiety if you would like to share that in more detail.
 
I would still be curious to hear about your own personal experiences using B3 to manage trip anxiety if you would like to share that in more detail.

.
Click to expand...

I'm a big boy, my body currently hovers around 161kg, i lost very much weight and am rapidly losing more.

With bad trips and panic attacks, a single dose of 500-1000mg Niacinamide (no flush B3) has helped me lots, in combination with talkdown and calming down techniques. It really gives you an edge but if your health is good, definitely buy a jar of 500mg Niacinamide B3 pillls if you cannot get or will not use benzodiazepines.

B3 Amide will give you a definite edge, it helps a lot. I have included links to back it. I posted a direct download link to Stanislav Grof's LSD Psychotherapy which explores the structure of the human psyche as exposed by therapeutic use of 200-500mcg LSD in thousands of psychedelic therapy sessions. Included also is reference to Holotropic Breathwork, a technique to evoke the same upsurges of problematic material as Psychedelics can bring to the surface.

The main action for a bad trip is to talk a person into surrendering to the experience instead of fighting it. This resolves most bad trips. B3 Amide gives an edge, however, that can significanyly help.

My apologies for my vivid displeasure with the initial responses this topic got. Lets talk as adults. Niacinamide is a biggie, an anti anxiety vitamin most people can take 500mg a day of.

There is a lot of info in the post, also about hyperventilation drving anxiety and panic and hypoventilation decreasing it.. B3 gives an edge.

I chilled. After rage, reason :heart3:
 
Asante said:
You guys can literally shove it. You see it is generated by AI, you guys have not a single clue about what is being said here so you conclude that it is nonsense and you take a shit all over it.
Click to expand...
So reading further or replying just a test to show that A.I. is getting closer and closer to what some posted. Had some add-on that make breathin right pretty simple.

It was just a test. Catched it before reading the whole thing, but honestly had the idea maybe i should try a high dose flush Niacin wondering if that actually happens never tried to get one. Seems like a cool experience. Unless it s harmless, like B6.

Oh and for breathing naturally. Close you eyes and focus on the feeling scracting a not so essential part of your body. leg orso. Maybe i would have felt for it but sometimes scrol through before. Must say nice test and well written AI. Sad you destroy the Earth while at it producing expensive bubble. Hope you pop before Earth does. Will save us from forum clutter.
 
What a weird thread so is it real and looking like but men made or made by A I ?

Confusing situation Asante but what i don t get the breathing technique. By itself would probably work fine. Using the right technique. But this all lead from the goal of the thread. Is Niacin helpful for this. Is it dose, does i insufficiency play a role.

For all it matters not my problem freedom of speech goes hand in had with read. 🤙
 
The original post contains some misconceptions about how niacinamide works. It's an endogenous benzodiazepine (besides it's role in NAD dynamics) with excellent therapeutic value. Doses range from 50-200mg+ and should ideally be combined with carbs/sugar to prevent an adrenal response.

It appears that niacinamide has similar anxiolytic properties to that of the benzodiazepines. This is supported by the fact that the patient did not feel any difference, in terms of response and effectiveness, between the benzodiazepines and niacinamide. He was able to switch with little difficulty from the daily use of a benzodiazepine to niacinamide.
...
While it is impossible to conclude that the effects of niacinamide are due to its interaction upon the benzodiazepine receptor, it does appear to influence neurotransmitter metabolism in a manner that is comparable to benzodiazepines by a route as yet undetermined. Even though most of the studies dealt with animal rather than human models, the results suggest that niacinamide has a potent benzodiazepine-like action on the CNS.
- source
Click to expand...
Nicotinamide is an active compound found in rat or bovine brain that shares several pharmacological properties with benzodiazepines.
It has been shown to facilitate GABA-dependent presynaptic inhibition.
Like benzodiazepines, nicotinamide protects animals from seizures ... and also possesses myorelaxant and sedative activities.
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/nicotinamide
Click to expand...
 
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Allylbenzene said:
The original post has some misconceptions about how niacinamide works. It's an endogenous benzodiazepine with excellent therapeutic value. Doses range from 50-200mg+ and should ideally be combined with carbs/sugar to prevent an adrenal response.
Click to expand...
I’d love to see follow up research done on nicotinamide and anxiety from the past two decades.
 
Asante said:
Studies in mice and in vitro have found that niacinamide has benzodiazepine-like actions. In my experience, niacinamide in doses ranging from 500 mg twice a day to 1,000 mg 3 times per day is beneficial for some patients with anxiety, including patients with anxiety related to alcohol abuse.
Click to expand...
The only paper that was cited in that passage was this one: Nicotinamide is a brain constituent with benzodiazepine-like actions (1979).

Reading the paper on sci hub, there are a handful of issues with it.

This paper is nearly 50 years old, and at this time they did not realize that the “benzodiazepine receptor” exists as a location on the GABA A receptors. There was a section where they claim that nicotinamide is not GABAergic because it did not activate GABA A receptors, though it was reversible (competitively) by the GABA A antagonist bicuculline They also claim that the effects, like of benzodiazepines are mediated by serotonergic effects.

Finally, doses used are quite high, with doses of 4 millimolar used (probably the equivalent to ingesting 10-20 grams). In other experiments mice are injected with 300 mg/kg IV. These doses are far beyond what you would get taking 500 mgs or a gram.

While the paper really doesn’t answer how nicotinamide reduces anxiety to a satisfactory degree, it does make a solid case that it reduces anxiety somehow. It would be interesting to see if it is via a serotonergic mechanism as alluded to in that paper, a (cryptic) GABAergic mechanism, or something else.


Also, I would take pretty much anything that the secondary source who cited that paper says with a quite large grain of salt based on some of the ways the paper was not evaluated critically.
 
However it works, that you can buy 500mg tabs of niacinamide cheaply and that you can in fact buy a kilo for $31 US at Walmart, and that 0.5-1gr will put a dent in your bad trip is pretty amazing. So many people have anxiety issues and it even helps to some degree with schizophrenia. Chronic high dose use is hard on the liver but most people can eat a single gram without any difficulty. Talking about harm reduction! 100mg Nicotinamide tabs are about comparable to a Valium 2mg tablet.
 
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