After Drugs Have Changed Their Character On You Can They Change Back?

[GRNBTTSTY]

I've been thinking about this rather intensely today, and finding no answers abroad I bring my questions to the community at large:

Once a drug has changed its character on you is it possible that it will change back? Let me give you some examples.

I enjoyed my fair share of weed back in the day but there came a time when its subjective effects on me altered and became much more sinister and that is how it remains to this day. Initially I would have all the regular marijuana effects, and it was very pleasant but at some undefinable point every time I would smoke more then the tinsiest amount I would find myself thrown into a morass of madness, where I would be bombarded with half insane scenarios completely out of my control until I came down or went to sleep. Frankly, nowadays a good dose of pot makes me feel quite schizoid. But that doesn't really bother me that much, as pot was never one of my favorites. What annoys me is the way stims and empathogens treat me now.

There was always some part of my sexual side that had the potential to be activated by uppers, but it never used to dominate or be a bother, but at some point it took over. Now most of the time, when I do an upper of any kind I can't stop thinking about fucking. It is very annoying. I cannot make it go away and it usualy ends up dominating and smothering the experience and can be very akward when people besides my wife are around, as they will get roped into my deranged fantasies. At least in my head.

Pretty much every other type of chemical still acts as it used to for me, and I can think of no solid reason for these drugs to have changed their character on me. It seemed like on day we were good friends and then they decided to stab me in the back. One theory I like to consider is that something changed in my brain as I aged and that is why these chemicals act so differently upon me now, but if that is the case then why does everything else act more or less as it always did? Is there any way that these drugs could be made to act as they used to? I have heard of stuff like this happening to other people, I know that people who have had a problem with MDMA describe it as "losing the magic", although that makes it sound more like a burn out or tolerance than a shift in tone.

Has anyone had similar experiences or heard of this happening before? Does anyone have any advice or opinions?

 

[r3n3g4d3]

This has happened to me recently with two notorious psychedelic tryptamines. The experience had shifted toward a more stale, bland and frankly unenjoyable time. I expect the enjoyable aspects to come back eventually.

 

[Psychedstoner]

Nowadays weed just makes me paranoid and isolated, whereas it used to be my doc. It used to make me relaxed and euphoric. I've chalked this up to be the fault of LSD. Ever since I had an extremely traumatic trip weed has never been the same. I can still find some enjoyment in minimal doses but it's very mild and has an echo of paranoia. If anyone knows if there is a way to fix this I'd love to know because it's affecting my relationships with my stoner friends.

 

[Rewphythelazerkidz]

I think it depends on your body chemistrLasnd the drugs in question. Some years ago I did acid very frequently; eventually it got to the point of being not so magic and evermore sinister in character. I was convinced egos could be shed and replaced like clothes. Every time I dosed I world become convinced I would disappear and my general consciousness would move in with whoever I was with at that time. I quit for a while and now use LSD occasionally with no ill effects.

After doing between 3-5 grams of meth weekly for over a year I became insane every time i used it. Being super clever to hide what I was doing and saying from cameras and trying sooo hard not to think about the escape plot from the thought police I would have to go through with at any moment. Every time I got high i could not stop staring at the floor thinking, "WTF theres dope everywhere!!!!"
I quit three years ago and have attempted meth twice with similar results. Last time I drove 40 miles at 3 AM to do surveillance and I could not watch the road. I spent the whole drive watching the rearview mirror like it was a security monitor.

 

[Keif' Richards]

Hey OP, just so you know, this really doesn't constitue Harm Reduction. I'm going to move it to Drug Culture.

 

[MissBoo]

I've been thinking about this rather intensely today, and finding no answers abroad I bring my questions to the community at large:

Once a drug has changed its character on you is it possible that it will change back? Let me give you some examples.

I enjoyed my fair share of weed back in the day but there came a time when its subjective effects on me altered and became much more sinister and that is how it remains to this day. Initially I would have all the regular marijuana effects, and it was very pleasant but at some undefinable point every time I would smoke more then the tinsiest amount I would find myself thrown into a morass of madness, where I would be bombarded with half insane scenarios completely out of my control until I came down or went to sleep. Frankly, nowadays a good dose of pot makes me feel quite schizoid. But that doesn't really bother me that much, as pot was never one of my favorites. What annoys me is the way stims and empathogens treat me now.

There was always some part of my sexual side that had the potential to be activated by uppers, but it never used to dominate or be a bother, but at some point it took over. Now most of the time, when I do an upper of any kind I can't stop thinking about fucking. It is very annoying. I cannot make it go away and it usualy ends up dominating and smothering the experience and can be very akward when people besides my wife are around, as they will get roped into my deranged fantasies. At least in my head.

Pretty much every other type of chemical still acts as it used to for me, and I can think of no solid reason for these drugs to have changed their character on me. It seemed like on day we were good friends and then they decided to stab me in the back. One theory I like to consider is that something changed in my brain as I aged and that is why these chemicals act so differently upon me now, but if that is the case then why does everything else act more or less as it always did? Is there any way that these drugs could be made to act as they used to? I have heard of stuff like this happening to other people, I know that people who have had a problem with MDMA describe it as "losing the magic", although that makes it sound more like a burn out or tolerance than a shift in tone.

Has anyone had similar experiences or heard of this happening before? Does anyone have any advice or opinions?

You need to refrain from using them obviously your body can't handle them. I can't tell by what your saying if you have already quit or what... If you stop and stay off then your body and mind should be able to heal. At least somewhat. It really depends on how much damage you did.

 

[GRNBTTSTY]

That is a good guess at what is going on MissBoo. But I doubt it. I only smoke or do stimulants once in a blue moon nowadays. I only did one stim this entire year, and it actually went pretty all right, but then again it wasn't that high of a level of intoxication so, idk. And I now only smoke weed in tiny amounts, every long once in awhile, usually just to help me sleep. I'd say I might have smoked upto a dozen times this year, and that is being extremely genorous.

It would seem that whatever has changed in me may have changed for good. But I am loathe to call it damage. I admit that it is possible that I did too much and fucked myself up in some way, but honestly, I have never had a running addiction in all my years of use, and I try my hardest to use safely and responsibly so I just don't see that being the case.

One thing that I was considering: speedballing the next time I want to try a stimulant or empathogen. I know that this ups the danger level, but in my research it seems that this is mostly due to the fact that the opposite effects of the drugs can give you a false impression of how high you are. And as I have said i try my hardest to practice harm reduction whenever I use, so I don't see that being much of an issue. The reason why I would consider this is because opiates/oids are my drug family of choice. They always have a very strong anxiolytic effect on me and really help me to relax, therefore I feel that combining the up and the down could potentially leave me with quite a pleasant, and most importantly, non-manic experience. This is just one possible solution and only to my own issue mind you, I am not claiming that everyone should go out and speedball, I was just considering it as a possible solution to my own problem.