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Amnesia during peak psychedelic experiences

nuke

nuke

Bluelighter
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Nov 7, 2004
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4,190
In the past, if I ever took a large dose of a psychedelic, I tended to have amnesia during the peak of the experience. I'd remember bits and pieces of it, but mostly I can't remember a lot of what I was doing or thinking. Tryptamines were especially bad, but it could happen to a lessen extent with phenethylamines too. Is there any workaround for this?
 
Smoking pot during the experience certainly doesn't help the situation, but I don't know if that applies to you.

It bothers me too.
 
Yeah, if you actually spend money on "Focus Factor" you're a silly goose. You can get all of the ingredients (such as piracetam) in bulk for incredibly cheaper than the terribly-inflated product mentioned.

Now to the question... yeah, that has happened to me a lot. It really only happens when I've been tripping enough lately to have a tolerance, and I take a larger dose than I would need without tolerance. The psychedelic effects are lessened but the large dose makes me forget the peak. 4-AcO-DMT is about the worst for that for me. You're right, it does happen much more with tryptamines.

I'd say lower your tolerance and take smaller doses. That might take quite a while depending on where your tolerance is (mine was sky-high).
 
Last weekend I was peaking on acid at the front row of a charlie hunter concert. I remember asking myself "will I be able to remember this later?" I realized there was no way I'd remember (be able to recall) the experience because it was so complex I couldn't perceive it all, even while it was happening. I remember some of the logic but not the feeling of my trips, usually. I think what makes a trip "magic" is mostly brain-chemistry state dependent.
 
If you don't do so already, you could try taking notes of your experience during the peak. I know this can be a pain but it does help maintain some degree of linear thought, which in turn helps recall later - to me at least.
 
This has happened to me a lot, that the peak experience is just not able to be recalled.
I think that some, maybe most, higher level experience, transcend ordinary language and so cannot be recalled in ordinary ways.
They come back to us in future trips, thru non-drug induced peak experiences....such as nice trippy jamband music, thru meditation, thru writing about our past trips, when we smoke weed, in our future behavior and choices.
I think the drug that has shown me the point that higher level experiences are just beyond ordinary memory is DMT.
When i smoked more than a certain amount, i was propelled into an amazing space. But, i just knew that my memory was not able to process wut was going into concrete memories....i gave up trying to remember this space and allow the DMT to take over.
I actually found this part of DMT extremely scarey....also i found drinking to blackout to be scarey too...i guess i dont like giving up control to a drug beyond a certain point
But, I believe that pieces of my DMT experiences are retained in my memory and are recalled, pleasantly, at times
 
This has happened to me a lot, that the peak experience is just not able to be recalled.
I think that some, maybe most, higher level experience, transcend ordinary language and so cannot be recalled in ordinary ways.
They come back to us in future trips, thru non-drug induced peak experiences....such as nice trippy jamband music, thru meditation, thru writing about our past trips, when we smoke weed, in our future behavior and choices.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is very true as well. The overall sensation and power is something that you will never forget, but the details will be gone the next day!
 
That's true... a few blackouts I have come back in that endless Void loop, and slowly regained my sense of self. In those instances I was pretty sure I was so far out that my ego was entirely subdued for a while. Without some thread of the ego hanging on, I fail to see how one could remember it, since the memory is part of the ego (or so I think).
 
well, nuke, considerr that tryptamine are especially good at disabling conceptual capacities. how do we remember anyways? Well, memory is probably a polyadict term, that denotes multiple different (distinct neurophysiological) processes. Certainly there is 'low road' memory that doesn't require conceptualization. But, most of our "and then this happened..." memories I think rely on conceptual capacities. If you no longer have a sense of self, are able to form coherent thoughts, etc, then you probably have temporarily disabled your conceptual centers, and won't remember much.

But, like xorkoth says, this can still be useful, because the 'reborn' effect comes into play as you gain back your mind. It can be extremely euphoric/revealing to regain your thought processes.

I just take lower doses now if i want to be coherent during the experience.
 
Write down your thoughts or draw something. This helped me. If you still have an amnesic experience, then at least it will be cool to look at something you can't remember writing or drawing.
 
This happens to me solely when the experience differs markedly enough from sober experience that it's just "too alien" to call up later.

ebola
 
Memory is sensitive to state. That is to say, you're more likely to remember things that that took place when you were in a state similar to what you're experiencing at the present. If you misplace your keys when you're drunk, for instance, you might actually have an easier time finding them the next time you're drunk. Because the psychedelic experience is phenomenally different from a normal state of being, your ability to recollect memories from your trip is affected accordingly. You might want to try recording your trip, either by taking notes or speaking into a tape recorder. Try video taping it if you're daring enough.
 
I have a hard time remembering about a quarter of my 30 hour ++++ DOB trip. I can remember bits and pieces of the void, and i certainly attained ego death, but i was just frying to hard to have much recollection of anything.
 
IAmJacksUserName said:
Memory is sensitive to state. That is to say, you're more likely to remember things that that took place when you were in a state similar to what you're experiencing at the present. If you misplace your keys when you're drunk, for instance, you might actually have an easier time finding them the next time you're drunk. Because the psychedelic experience is phenomenally different from a normal state of being, your ability to recollect memories from your trip is affected accordingly. You might want to try recording your trip, either by taking notes or speaking into a tape recorder. Try video taping it if you're daring enough.
Click to expand...

^ exactly, state dependent memory is the key.

This article on Neuro-feedback is like a rossetta stone for understanding state dependant memory and the pychedelic state. I highly recommend it.

http://www.enhancementinstitute.com/neuropublishedII.html
 
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hey Nuke, here's a neat idea for you (following up on the state-dependent memory talk above).

try taking a large dose of a tryptamine and then the next day or whenever you're writing a little bit in your journal or whatever take a small dose of the same drug you took. This helped me once get into a 4-aco-DMT/mushroom report and bring out the feeling I had during the peak experience.

peace,
samadhi smiles
 
also, if you're not very keen on that idea, you can smoke a little bit of B Caapi. A large enough dose activates your endogenous neurotransmitters to a psychedelic level and doing it the day after a really intense trip (when you're still feeling a bit psychedelic-headed) can really put you back out there.
 
I also have this problem massively. I have it verified by video evidence by my girlfriend who asks me questions and tries to elicit responses but all I do is babble. This is easiest videod during short experiences such as DMT, and harder with longer trips but if you have a helpful girlfriend and a long video life it could be interesting.

I dont know how to get rid of this amnesia other than by taking smaller amounts (thereby getting little effect) or by going cold turkey for a month or more on the tryptamines.
 
Every time I have a certain dream I recall the whole series of dreams that led up to it.

If there is a way to recall these events, does this seem to happen when you trip again?

IAmJacksUserName said:
Memory is sensitive to state. That is to say, you're more likely to remember things that that took place when you were in a state similar to what you're experiencing at the present. If you misplace your keys when you're drunk, for instance, you might actually have an easier time finding them the next time you're drunk...
Click to expand...

I have heard this before, is this your actual experience?
 
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