Have i permantly fucked my brain in a way

[Shambles]

Fair enough. Think I was mainly focussed on "i can see small cell-like transparent images" which would be floaters, as far as I can tell. Black dots that remain fixed in place and move with the eye could well be something entirely different.

 

[GZero]

Hahahah.

The first time I had this I had just picked up proper acid for the first time. I'd handled it in the morning and then I went to work.

I was convinced that by touching the tabs earlier I had accidentally dosed. Was a very weird experience I can tell you!

 

[DiZzyBonne]

I definitely have floaters, and like I said earlier, I noticed them long before touching any drugs (other than weed.) However, I wasn't a big weed smoker when I noticed them and only smoked maybe 2-3 times prior to that lol.

They're floaters for sure, and as stated earlier, if I close my right eye I can see them out of my left eye. If I close my left eye I can't see them (unless I have a bright light shining at my face, than I'm sometimes barely able to.)

 

[psood0nym]

Cool post...hadn't heard of the blue light entoptic phenomenon before.

I haven't had any spots in my visual field for a while, but I have had them in the past, and they are undoubtedly related to psychedelic use. The spots that I experienced were not black dots though. Rather, they were very small targets. While it makes sense to assume these are due to changes in the visual cortex where there are an abundance of 5-HT2A receptors, I think the event causing the misperception may be misfiring of a neuron downstream from a retinal ganglion cell if not the RG cell itself.

Retinal ganglion cells are responsible for edge detection (detection of contrast) in visual perception. They achieve this through a center-surround response, which makes use of on center and off center retinal ganglion cells. These two types of cells respond differently to a light stimulus. The on center RG cell is stimulated when light hits the center of its receptive field. When stimulated, it simultaneously causes lateral inhibition of adjacent RG cells. The off center RG cell responds in the exact opposite manner.

The targets I see are exactly what I would expect if an RG cell or its downstream neuron were to depolarize in the absence of a light stimulus.

As for my vision, I now experience auras around bright lights at night and I can say without a doubt that the saturation of color in my vision is slightly increased. Neither is a significant distraction, and I often perceive the latter as an enhancement in my visual perception.

So you think the "targets" that you believe were undoubtedly the result of psychedelics use originated in the retinal ganglion cells? I know the retina does a lot more communicating with the brain than once believed, but are you suggesting psychedelics directly or indirectly impact the RG network, too? That would be interesting. Aside from pupil dilation I didn't think they affected the eyes.

Regarding your auras: I see auras around bright lights when tripping in the dark, but I'm pretty sure it's because my pupils have dilated over the edge of a LASIK incision made years ago, causing the light to refract. Could it be that the periphery of your central cornea is scratched and this is causing the auras when your pupil dilates at night, rather than psychedelic-mediated changes?

The color saturation thing sounds like it could be due to psychedelics. However, I have read that the balance of photo pigments shifts in the eyes as we get older, going from more yellow to more blue. One of the earliest memories I have is of riding in a child's bike seat in back of my mom, and the scenery appears as if I'm looking at it through lightly tinted Blue Blocker sunglasses. I always thought it was a false memory effect until I read about the balance shift.

 

[The Smoking Man]

Sounds like floaters, yeah. If you have poor eyesight, even if you're wearing glasses or contacts, they're more apparent than in people with proper vision.

 

[Shambles]

Not necessarily. I've always had 20/20 vision and always had floaters. "Stuff" must like my eyes.

 

[GZero]

My floaters don't really look like that, mine look almost liquid and are very pronounced, but it's certainly not constant

 

[freescale]

I've had floaters since I was a kid, almost as far back as I can remember. Used to spend hours looking at them against the sky. I suppose in a way they were my first encounter with psychedelic effects.

 

[GZero]

I've had floaters since I was a kid, almost as far back as I can remember. Used to spend hours looking at them against the sky. I suppose in a way they were my first encounter with psychedelic effects.

i dont think it's a psychedelic thing, rather something to do with the fluid in the eyeball...

i think somebody explained it further up the thread but i could be wrong.

 

[greenmeanies]

^doesn't mean you can't have a psychedelic experience from them.

i love (stone sober) to just close my eyes against a bright blue sky and watch the light show while i roll my eyeballs around. keeping a slight slit open allows intricate tracers and patters to appear if you move your orbs right. you can even begin to see refraction effects from light bouncing against the side of your eye, they move in the opposite direction as you would expect light blobs to. then you press your fingers against your eyes for quick bursts of light and intensity, and the floaters in this sea of color are just icing on the cake

 

[Shambles]

One of my lil games as a kid was to stare at a lightbulb and blink as fast as possible - used to call it Space Invaders cos the various coloured blobs it produced looked a bit like... well... Space Invaders. Probably not too good for your eyes but did mine no harm. May have been a sign of things to come too as Freescale mentioned - almost like one of those Dream Machines only a wee tad more low-tech. Sort of. Ish.

 

[RubenSon]

Cool post...hadn't heard of the blue light entoptic phenomenon before.

I haven't had any spots in my visual field for a while, but I have had them in the past, and they are undoubtedly related to psychedelic use. The spots that I experienced were not black dots though. Rather, they were very small targets. While it makes sense to assume these are due to changes in the visual cortex where there are an abundance of 5-HT2A receptors, I think the event causing the misperception may be misfiring of a neuron downstream from a retinal ganglion cell if not the RG cell itself.

Retinal ganglion cells are responsible for edge detection (detection of contrast) in visual perception. They achieve this through a center-surround response, which makes use of on center and off center retinal ganglion cells. These two types of cells respond differently to a light stimulus. The on center RG cell is stimulated when light hits the center of its receptive field. When stimulated, it simultaneously causes lateral inhibition of adjacent RG cells. The off center RG cell responds in the exact opposite manner.

The targets I see are exactly what I would expect if an RG cell or its downstream neuron were to depolarize in the absence of a light stimulus.

As for my vision, I now experience auras around bright lights at night and I can say without a doubt that the saturation of color in my vision is slightly increased. Neither is a significant distraction, and I often perceive the latter as an enhancement in my visual perception.

I could not agree more.

 

[pupnik]

that black dot is probably a small flaw in the retina. Sometimes we accumulate a few of these as we age.
if it moves around, it can be blood floating in the vitreous humor. (can be a problem)
if there is a lot of blood you may have recent damage (eg. detached or torn retina - big problem.)
if there is flashing, you definitely have retinal damage so this means you have to go to the hospital to have it reconnected, usually this is done with lasers (it does not really hurt, but it is hot - my last reattachment did hurt because the Doctor was rough in the way he grabbed my eyeball)


then of course after tripping, you may notice normal things that you had learned to ignore such as the microscopic floaters clipped in photographically above in this thread.

 

[Durzo1258]

Props for digging this thread up, it's almost 7 years old.

 

[lildopamine]

you probably are just having mild symptoms of HPPD. dont trip for a lil and give ur brain a rest if it gets worse, but you will be fine