5HTP - nightmares

[apollo]

This thread always perks up my curiosity to take 5-HTP for the sake of dreams...

I'm told everyone dreams whenever they sleep, but often you don't remember it. I seldom remember my dreams, and when I do it's always a frighteningly bizare world made up of symbols, or graphically violent situation involving myself.

I want to take it to see if I can get into a lucid state, or perhaps just remember more of my dreams. At the same time, my dreams are disturbing and upsetting enough as is...

Guess I'll sleep on it

 

[BigTrancer]

Apollo: I'm the same - I very very rarely dream, and never remember them if I do dream, probably due to smoking choof every night before bed. With 5-HTP though, I do know when I've woken up that I've dreamt, and quite often remember (if only for half an hour) what I've dreamt about. Lucid dreams, though, leave a lasting impression.

At Es: I always take 5-HTP at night, myself, due to the nausea - after taking 100mg on an empty stomach I notice the nausea 30-45 min after dosing. I find that if I chase the dose with some food, the nausea isn't as bad, but is still present.

BigTrancer

 

[phase_dancer]

apollo if you haven't tried it, get some fresh mugwort and throw it in your pillow. If the smell is too strong turn the pillow over. Tryptophan really increases the intensity of the dreams, but mugwort works fine on its own.

Interestingly, I find I'll dream with mugwort after MDMA , but it has much less of an effect after meth, probably due to a post meth lack of REM state.

K and I are so familiar and comfortable with the smell of mugwort that upon laying my head I'm reminded of sleeping out in the bush - a pungent yet rich smell of green vitality. Another benefit is that you'll remember much of what you dream. The dreams I had on my first night of mugwort induced adventure are permanantly etched in memory...or maybe it all really happened

 

[At Es]

Well, I took my first morning dose of 5-HTP today (along with my daily vitamins and a glass of OJ, but no food) and what can I say? I forgot I even took it until I returned to this thread just now, shortly before bedtime! So it obviously didn't make me unduly sleepy. Plus, I also didn't notice any nausea, which - as I noted - I usually do experience while lying in bed, waiting for sleep to come. I'll be curious to see if I get any of those funky nightmares tonight.

In any case, for anyone who has reason to not want to take 5-HTP at night, I offer anecdotal evidence that you will not fall asleep standing up if you take it during the day.

 

[Straylight]

Flipper- I've had EXACTLY the same experiences.

I can honestly state that I never remember my dreams under normal circumstances. (It's wrong to say I never dream I know, because it's very hard to function as a normal human being without entering stage IV/ REM sleep cycles- plenty of very cruel studies on med students have shown this).

I find on 5-HTP I have horrific nightmares that end with me waking up to find someone standing at the end of my bed- a sinister figure.

It's this second nightmare I can't wake up from....

I found reducing my dose slightly had a good result.

Am just about to go O/S and plan on taking melatonin- will be interesting to see what this does.

 

[ravingloony]

My dream experience when using 5-htp for post loading is EXACTLY the same as BigTrancer. And that's without the pre-bedtime choof.

My wife has a similar experience, but her dreams are a bit scarier/bizarre, and tend to spin her out a bit.

 

[jimmyjamz]

all i can say is
get/hire/see/download a movie called "Waking life"

all im going to say is its about a dudes dreams

 

[phase_dancer]

With Mugwort you can also have extremely heavy dreams, so much so that 2 friends who do not have good company with their demons were frightened beyond any expectation. One girl 31 yo, reckons she had never remembered any dreams. Her dream on the mugwort was recalled as terrifying, full of death, fear and loss. I couldn't convince her to try it again with some tips to help master her dreaming. K and I find this is the best way to plan for good dreams, particularly when using mugwort.

• Get an early night
• Don't sleep on a full tummy, let your dinner digest some first
• Review your day. You should do this anyway, as it is amazing what it does for recall.
• Remind yourself as you go to sleep, that you are the director. Any dreams you have are totally within your control
• Don't be concerned about waking, usually you will fall straight back to sleep even if you awake feeling quite alert
• Never run away in your dreams, no matter how scary, unless you are playing hide and seek. I often have dreams where I'm chasing and being chased through a multi-storied building. It's always fun, even if it's slightly scary. I've sometimes even woken up laughing!! Facing things will sometimes wake you, but its usually easy to re-continue where you left off, often with a renewed sense of confidence
• Wake up naturally and gently i.e. not with an alarm or by being disturbed by someone
• Recall your dreams before you get up. Interpret if possible, and look forward to taking up where you left off if there are questions remaining

Apart from the 2 girls mentioned, all our other friends who have tried mugwort have remarked positively and looked forward to the next nights sleep. The fresh herb is good for 3-4 nights, before dropping in potency. If you are really adventurous, take your tryptophan or 5HTP or even a glass of milk, before laying your head on your rich smelling mugwort containing pillow.



I'm very interested in establishing the active ingredient responsible for this remarkable activity. Whatever it is, it is potent. All comments would seem to indicate thujone A, the same active principle in Absinthe, derived from a cousin wormwood. However I have good reasons for suspecting something else, perhaps unique to Mugwort, as most other wormwoods (even those containing higher levels of thujone) aren't reported to produce such lucid dreams.

Any ideas anyone?

After looking through 100's of papers on Mugwort I'm not much the wiser except to have a list of possibilities. Several of the compounds (and it has been well investigated for medicinals) have pharmacological actions including artemether used for Malaria.

If anyone has taken artemether ; did it affect your dreaming?

One thing I'm thinking about, is doing the extractions and attempt to isolate the active dream ingredient. Mugwort isn't classified or scheduled at all in Australia, so working in this area would be possible without breaking any rules. (One of the few psy-active plant left mind you)