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Fear, and how to conquer it.

Material541

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 23, 2009
Messages
111
Location
United States
Hello BL.

I would like some advice from you all. I’ll begin with my story. I considered posting this in one of the main bad trips thread, but I figured it deserved its own thread.

I have been using psychedelic drugs since November. On average, I would trip maybe once every two weeks. My drug of choice was mainly 2C-I, but I also tried 2C-E, 2C-D, 2C-C, and 4-AcO-DET.

Three months ago, I took about 16mg of 4-AcO-DET and smoked some JWH-018 about an hour into the trip. Shortly thereafter, I had a severe moment of panic when I looked at my bedsheets and thought I had smeared cake frosting or something (my bedsheets have these penguins with red scarves. The scarves are painted in so they have this smeared artstyle). I realized it wasn’t cake. But then I panicked a little more when I was reminded that I had injected 4-AcO-DET the day beforehand and perhaps I had pricked myself with the needle and spilled blood.

Anyway, I soon realized that it was just my bedsheets and that everything was okay. However, the rest of the trip was spent in this very strange, panicky state. In restrospect, I believe I was having panic attacks (prior to this, I have never had any). Instead of the typical fear of death many people get, my main fear was that time was stopping, or something like that. Or that I was being frozen in this exact moment. You know how when sometimes your computer freezes while you are playing music, and it very quickly loops over the same 1/4th second or so part of the song until your turn the computer off? That is what I felt was happening to my life. Very hard to describe.

For a month after that, I would occasionally get these time-stopping panic attacks. I also experienced uncomfortable depersonalization/derealization for about 2 months after. I was constantly worried about how I was feeling and what I was experiencing. I stopped with the psychedelic drugs since then, with the exception of the occasional joint (no more JWH-018, it was immediate anxiety). I do get occasional flashes of weirdness if I think about my existence too much (as if I am trapped in my own body unable to control my actions, or something) but I am pretty much back to normal.

I’ve been seeing my school psychologist to help tackle anxiety and self-confidence issues I’ve had all my life, which has helped immensely.

Now, I want to indulge in psychedelics once again. Particularly, 4-AcO-DMT. I don’t plan on taking ego-shattering doses or anything, maybe something in the range of 8mg – 16mg.

I think my main fear was/(is?) that of losing control. That I am going crazy and will get stuck in that tripping state. I get overly concerned over what I am experiencing.

So I am writing this to ask for advice on “letting go” and living in the moment during a trip. I read trip reports and posts here often and I can’t help but envy everyone who can do this at ease. After reading various threads on here, I shall start with the basics of having a good set and setting, good music, and a sitter.

Thank you all for your time.
 
Thats hard, my test was sitting on a high dose of 2Cs with a { supposed } coke dealer. Then finding myself in the midddle of nowhere. Freezing cold waiting for a store to open to get something.

Trippin out of my mind in the middle of nowhere.

Won that won, tho....

Inrospective psych, yes.
 
I seem to recommend this for a lot of things, but IME nothing works better for learning to let go than some contemplative practice like meditation or yoga. Sitting (zazen) in particular has helped me pick up better habits of mind, such as appreciating even negative phenomena for what they are: fleeting sensations. The object here is training yourself not to cling to anything, regardless or whether it's beautiful or horrifying. It's all ephemeral and it will pass, and the most direct way of dealing with it is to go through it, rather than trying to dodge around it, if that makes any sense.

Another thing about mediation is that it's allowed me to become more aware of my own thought patterns in general, and I've found that knowing how they're formed is especially pertinent here as this makes it easier for me to nip negative thoughts loops in the bud while tripping, i.e. stopping them before they snowball out of my control.

Feel free to PM me if you want any book recommendations re: meditation. But really, if you find yourself taking sincere interest in this practice, it's better to find a teacher who can guide you through proper breathing, posture, etc.

Also, I'd shy away from combining cannabis and/or synthetic cannabinoids with psychedelics if you aren't a daily smoker. Actually, even when I am smoking on the reg I can still get anxiety from doing so while on a psychedelic, so it could be better to avoid that combo altogether.
 
I just recenetly had a "too many psychedelic drugs induced panic attack", and it was quite a hellish experience. The night this happen, I had taken 3 hits of quite excellent LSD, many multiples lines of ketamine, and 25 mgs of 2C-D, and some nitrous.

I basically thought I had lost my mind and had gone off the deepend so badly, that my worldview and life philosophies and everything I know and can relate to would be totally shattered and that I would not be able to put these pieces back together again.

This spiraled out of control for a while, but there was a definite moment where I was like "WWWAAAAAAAIT !!! I'm ON DRUGS, THIS WILL WEAR OFF !!" and I slowly had my ego return to me.

I think this was my first real experience of ego death. Scary shit. Anyways, I had a panic attack for about and hour and kept trying to reassure myself and so did my girlfriend and friend, and still I just couldn't wind down. I was doing okay, but there was just the nagging fear in the back of the head that would just slowly creep back..

until my friend gave me an ativan, which was HEAVEN. I've never used a benzo before to come down from a hard trip, but I was SOOOOO thankful for the ativan this time. Within 10 minutes of it dissolving under my tongue all the badness and anxiety was gone, and I was able to sleep shortly after that.

After this experience I acquired some phenazepam just for these kinds of emergencies. Thought it would be a good call since the ol' RC collection is starting to get some pretty strong/ long lasting additions to it lately.
 
Interesting that you should say that ikkyu "when I am smoking on the reg I can still get anxiety from doing so while on a psychedelic".

I hate cannabis. It totally ruined my first LSD high {initially}

When the dope wore off the LSD really kicked in and was truly amazing. REALLY.
 
People react very differently to smoking while tripping. I find that it smooths out the trip and increases visuals. YMMV. And probably will.
 
In this particular intstance. No dope would have increased the visuals.

A terrifying landscape which just became 'perfect'.

No other visual deifinition of completeness and perfection.
 
somebody else mentioned it but yeah definitely get into meditation that focuses on the breath.

you would literally be amazed if you took some time to see how directly the rhythm of your breathing effects your emotions.

please PM me if you are interested in this. i guarantee it will really help you and i'd be happy to walk you through some things to do.
 
Or just slowly take more of the susbstance you desire, starting with smallish amounts until you find a comfortable spot. If you understand that you literally have NOTHING to fear- there is no safety issues of note with these drugs, the substance will make you delusional- so any weird happennings are more likely the drugs effects then actual 'reality', and that you will also be back to normal in no time: then you will start to relax... :)
 
The closest I've come to a "face the fear" situation on psychedelics was when on a reasonable dose (can't remember exactly but it felt like 25-30 mg) of 4-HO-MET during a Jethro Tull concert. The music itself is intimidating, Ian Anderson has an enigmatically anxious, aggressive persona and people around me (largely 50+ year old rock'n'roll closet alcoholists) appeared to mutter "drugs" or the like all the time, while my body seemed to dissolve into a mush and flow out of itself, leaving only a tense skeletal structure. Fear, from different perspectives, dominated my thought. I came out all right but I'm not sure if that's a sign of having conquered fear or just a sign of not caring at all, i.e. suppression.

In general, I think psychedelics should be taken in safe settings. You are in no hurry to abate fear and if you do it too fast and with inebriant connotations you might miss out on something.
 
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