Heavy psychedelic abuse.. how do you handle it?

[Folley]

My only REAL "bad trip" was the one where I did use benzos/anti-psychotics to comedown. It felt as if I went through the hell of a bad trip, but didn't gain any lessons from it. At least if you ride it out you can get some realizations.

 

[phactor]

In the early 2000s I was tripping quite a bit. I had access to LSD (yes even in the infamous "drought) and very high quality MDMA. Eventually, I got tired of it and slowed down big time and eventually pretty much stopped. However, this is when I started to have dependency issues with other drugs start to flair up and down. Honestly, I often wonder if the heavy Pysch use lead to me being depressed which led to the self medication.

Also, I spent quite a bit of time on tour and at festivals around this time... my buddies and I always liked to drink on the comedown of a trip and/or roll, but over time I also started to throw benzos and opiates into the mix. I have never overdosed and was usually pretty conservative, but I think it sowed a seed.

I will trip or take MDMA a few times a year at most and usually only at concerts/events. I have a pretty nice stash of pyschs that I have had for some time now.

 

[any major dude]

Or it's also possible you were using psychedelics in an escapist manner, & just transitioned to drugs more amenable to frequent use. This isn't necessarily a terribly uncommon trajectory. Just my 2¢

 

[Azron]

this may have been said but psychedelics have been used for thousands of years....and their aint that many fucked up people from using said drugs

 

[Psichedelic]

Psychedelic abuse is a very odd thing. My primary area of abuse was "acid"; IE: LSD, ALD-52, 25i-NBOMe, and 25c-NBOMe. I also abused the living hell out of ketamine for a good while. This over the top tripping left me in a state where I've yet to "come down". Even going through periods of sobriety no change is observable in my new baseline. I occasionally get hit by serious depressive waves due to my presumed permanently altered state, but on the average day I embrace it and enjoy it. My mental state is far from "lost", though if the experience is repeated in a similarly short duration I can say safely I'd be another fried out hippie begging for change. I now trip far less often, with my most recent two being spaced just over 2 months apart. When compared to my past use at 3x month is far more safe. I am now on a sobriety break for however long I wish to maintain, with all "acid" chemicals removed from my drug diet for 6 months minimum. Beginning week of 3 of sobriety my baseline remains in LSD "afterglow".

To remedy the damage done I am sober, eating healthier, exercising often, and learning to keep my brain on its toes. I can only hope some change will be made, but I have a feeling none will occur. Living with the actions I've taken can be a living hell at times, identical to a "bad-trip" in one of the many forms they manifest in. Keeping my head up seems to work best. Though whats done is done. Abuse can and will leave long term "damage" on the user. I continually stress to those around me the importance of moderation these days.

I also hate the term "L-Tard", just as I hate the term "E-Tard". It puts a demeaning joke over the heads of those who did damage unintentionally. A cruel reminder of what likely will never change.

 

[Foreigner]

I just read this the other day:

LSD and Other Psychedelics Not Linked With Mental Health Problems, Analysis Suggests

Aug. 19, 2013 — The use of LSD, magic mushrooms, or peyote does not increase a person's risk of developing mental health problems, according to an analysis of information from more than 130,000 randomly chosen people, including 22,000 people who had used psychedelics at least once.
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Researcher Teri Krebs and clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Neuroscience, used data from a US national health survey to see what association there was, if any, between psychedelic drug use and mental health problems.

The authors found no link between the use of psychedelic drugs and a range of mental health problems. Instead they found some significant associations between the use of psychedelic drugs and fewer mental health problems.

 

[EarthBounded]

A healthy diet, exercise, time outdoors. Rebuilding relationships and moving forward in life thats how I handle it.

I will say a permanent addiction to benzos has become apparent, if im not taking benzos I am having heavy CEVs and mild OEVs daily even without alcohol, tobacco or cannabis. This is due to very very heavy abuse however, I tapper off a benzos now and then however I cant stand driving down the road seeing the flower of life connecting to everything im around or feeling like I am crusing through out space at a million miles an hour, its nice to have benzos on hand, my permanent effects are so powerful I can have OEVs and CEVs with benzodiazepines in my system, its not fun at all but the price I have to pay 100+ trips in two years it was fun while it lasted.

 

[dpd_mnk92]

Erm...I hope this is the place to ask this?

I've been having a problem with abusing aMT lately...about two months ago I was using ~50mg 2 or 3 times a week, these days it's once a week around 100mg, sometimes twice. I really do want to stop but well, can't seem able to...and I think it's seriously starting to damage both my mental and physical health. It has certainly improved my life a lot - helped me get clean off heroin, among other things - in many respects, but I feel like I'm really starting to lose my grip on reality, even while sober. I have random sober hallucinations (usually seeing colours/hearing voices) and I just get a constant 'tunnel effect' where everything just feels completely disconnected and unreal. I also feel rather disconnected from myself, as if I were walking in a stranger's body. In fact these days I only really feel like myself when I trip.

Also my body is shutting down a bit (I'm guessing because of how physically intense aMT is), haven't really been sleeping/eating/drinking and my heart is being weird...etc etc. Anyway, I'm really making efforts on reducing my use and I've been doing pretty well so far but if anyone has any tips on how I can recover from way too much intense tripping that really would be great. I'm trying to get my body back in shape as a start but it's also put a ton of strain on my mind (also had a psychotic break a few weeks back while on aMT) and I'm not so sure how to deal with that. Ofc I'm going to stop tripping but if there's anything to speed up the process... thanks.

Hi pagey,

AMT is a dangerously addictive psychedelic for those, like myself, who mainly experience AMTs positive effects (the AMT feeling for me beat everything). A drug that can intoxicate you to that extent, for that duration, and still leave you wanting more a couple of days later needs to be treated with serious caution. I'm very glad to hear you have noticed that your relationship with AMT has become an abusive one and that you are willing to solve the problem.

A short period of AMT abuse followed by longer period of MDMA abuse left me with all sorts of issues, such as cognitive impairment, mood problems, physical problems and permanent mild AMT-type visuals despite having completely quit all drugs except weed and alcohol for the past 7 months. Imo, as heavy serotonin releasers both of these drugs are among the worst to do on a regular basis. If i remember correctly AMT affects the same neurotransmitters as MDMA, but releases larger quantities (including serotonin, amazingly enough). Because of this, and the fact that it's long term effects are not well documented, AMT should ideally be viewed as one of those once-a-season drugs. I'd like to emphasise that I'm not just writing this to scare you, just wanna give you a few more reasons to quit since you are, understandably, on the fence about a drug which you have used to self-medicate to some sort of positive effect (initially).

I would recommend writing out a list of all the positives and negatives you have gotten out of AMT use - read it every morning as a reminder. It's a simple task that definitely helped me put things in perspective when the lines were a little blurred by psychedelic/ MDMA abuse in the past. It is so incredibly easy to fool yourself into thinking that AMT is helping you in some way, long past its "best before date". I would also consider seeking out a professional, or attending NA, to help address what you might call a "hole in the soul", which you have long tried to solve on your own by self-medicating. Exercise (ideally weight-lifting as well as some form of cardio), along with a healthy, high-tryptophan diet will do you a world of good as you attempt to quit amt as they can be, quite literally, anti-depressants in themselves.

Keep us posted on how you get on Pagey. I am confident that you will come out of this experience a much stronger person!

 

[loumacari]

Whenever I've abused LSD, I found that a hit of h will bring me right out it, almost immediately. Walls stop melting and solidify, faces start looking normal.

Probably not to be recommended.