How to trip sit

[Rocksteady3232]

It seems like there are a lot of resources for trippers on BL, but not a lot for trip sitters. Undoubtedly this is an important job, and I think even experienced drug users could use some info on how to properly deal with drug users. Post your stories of successful and unsuccessful attempts at sitting. Any tips for calming people down, set and setting, spotting/dealing with trouble, or anything you can think of that may help the common trip sitter to be more informed, and thus better at their duties.


I will start it off with how to spot a stroke: As drugs can mimic the effects of a stroke at times and even cause them, it may become important to know how to distinguish a stroke from drug reactions if someone u are sitting has an incident. Identifying the stroke and getting them help could save their life/ brain function. I have actually encountered a stroke victim at a rave, and while all the other ravers stared at him or ran away so they didnt have to see it, I was able to get him help due to this knowledge.

First you have to know the symptoms your looking for.

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg (especially on one side of the body)
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden severe headache with no known cause

Now that you know what you might be facing, there is a simple test to distinguish a stroke from drug symptoms. If you think someone may be having a stroke...

1. Ask them to smile...this will show if they have lost muscle function in facial muscles.
2. Ask them to raise both hands above their head...again this tests for loss in muscle function.
3. Ask them to repeat a simple sentence such as "I love lamp"...This will test their ability to speak, or understand speech.

If you find evidence that you are dealing with a stroke, call an ambulance or get an EMT ASAP...a stroke victim is in a race with the clock, the longer it takes to get medical attention the more chance they could die, or lose brain function permanently.

If they can pass the test, just keep an eye on them and if symptoms persist you can retest regularly, or use your best judgement if they need medical attention. Just because it isnt a stroke does not mean they are ok.

 

[cryptix420]

Are you trip sitting for viagra users? I don't see many of these being problems for people using psychedelics, albeit healthy ones.

 

[Rocksteady3232]

Im not saying that a lot of people have strokes from drugs, but the symptoms can be easily confused and it is important to spot it just in case. Like I said, I have had an experience with it and possibly saved that kids life. The signs of a stroke could be easily ignored my someone thinking that it was just an effect from the drugs. If the information can help one person avoid death or serious injury, i would say that it is very relevant.

Also that was just a starter for the thread, an example of the type of thing that could be shared here. If it could happen, it is relevant to know about it...it can only hurt you not to know. I hope other people will share anything that could help trip sitters, especially things pertaining to preventing/controlling disasters.

 

[Foreigner]

I appreciate this write up. My experience as an "angel" (what others call a trip sitter) and an outreach worker is that most of the issues you will deal with are psychological, and minor physical problems like overheating or dehydration. Serious medical issues can often be foreseen by the person's physical status prior to the trip. i.e. if someone has known cardiovascular problems, why would they be tripping? I won't get involved with the trip of a person who has clear medical issues and should not be tripping in the first place because it is a legal liability to me, and it would be irresponsible of me to be an accomplice to someone I know is not healthy.

The most common problem I've seen from people tripping is their dose was too high or they inadequately prepared for the trip (a busy stressful day, lots of worries, not enough sleep, not enough food or the right type of food, etc.). As a result, the "crisis" becomes that they think they are dying, or that they have seriously fucked up their lives, neither of which is true. This can often be remedied with food, fluids (especially electrolytes), and calmly reminding the person that they're ok.

The point of a sitter is to ensure safety in the environment and to try and restore balance if the person's psychological state is taking a bad turn. Aside from rare cases where a seemingly healthy person becomes very ill or has a bad interaction, the early signs of a physical medical crisis during the trip could have been foreseen. This is my experience. Though, I'm a trained doctor so maybe spotting those signs is easier for me.

A stroke from psychedelics would be rare. That's the territory of amphetamines IMO.

 

[Rocksteady3232]

A stroke from psychedelics would be rare. That's the territory of amphetamines IMO.

I agree, it is important however being as a large number of drug users like to mix all sorts of things...the person I helped had taken a large number of pressed ecstacy pills that he purchased at the rave from a stranger, so he didnt even know what he had taken. I wasnt actually sitting this guy, i just thought it could be relevant for people to know what to do since it is possible to come across when your in places where people do drugs, like a rave.

I agree about most issues being psychological, and that is probably the most important thing for a sitter to be able to deal with because it happens alot. That brings up my next story...It is important to control your own reaction to the persons anxiety. One time while sitting for a group of friends I had an incident which I was able to help. We had gone to a concert early in the night to make an appearance. Everyone dropped LSD and/or MDMA depending on their moods. The main character "C" had taken both. He was somewhat experienced with both drugs alone and together. Everyone dropped about a half hour before we planned to head back to C's house for the trip. I advised C to take his LSD first then take the MDMA after he came up, but he didnt take my advice. He started to come up very quickly and we were forced to make a quick exit to head home. When we got to the parking lot and started loading everyone into the car, a police car drove past the parking lot...no big deal right? Wrong! C lost his shit! He began to have what I can only describe as a panic attack. He was sweating and breathing heavily, frozen in place, standing in the parking lot leaned against the bed of the truck. I tried to reassure him that the cop was gone and didnt even look at us, and that he was just coming up hard and needed to just relax until he got over the initial hump. He still could not move, so I said
"thats fine...we can just kick it here for a minute until you feel like you can make it." I try and talk to him about another subject to get his mind off the cop, but he is fixated. He manages to explain that he has some MDMA on him still and I realize that is probably why he is so panicked. I take the drugs from him and reassure him that its no problem and I would hold the drugs just in case anything happens. I think this made him realize that I really knew that there was no problem. My lack of fear, helped him to see outside his fear. Small things like this, can really help someone who is trapped in a thought loop. I was able to get him into to car and all the way home safely...he was still coming up hard though and having a rough time of it, so i took him into his bedroom so he could lay down (he chose a pile of clothes to lay in rather than the bed, but whatever) At this point he was rather nauseous and sweating through his clothes (like soaking wet shirt) so I got him a bucket, a towel, a glass of water, and a new shirt. At this point another one of the trippers came in and immediately says "Damn dude, are you alright? You dont look so good!" He looks at me with a look of sheer terror, and after informing the other tripper that he should never do that again, I assure him that he is fine and just high as shit. It helped that the "Other tripper" was kindof a tool anyway and C didnt take much of what he said to heart ever, but it is important not to add unnecessary anxiety to the situation, and perhaps would even be wise to separate the person having an issue from the other trippers for everyone's sake...The other trippers moods can also be effected negatively by someone in a dark place, so its best if they can work it out separate from the rest of the group. Once i got him to calm down a bit and drink some water, i just sat with him for a while and talked about other unrelated stuff. keeping the mind busy can help a lot, its good to divert attention away from their problem. After i got him to come around, I brought his dog into the room which instantly changed his whole outlook. He was now ready to return to the group and enjoy the bulk of his trip.

 

[bunnyhentman]

Here are some things I have found helped people out of bad trips:

Reminding the person they took a drug and the drug is causing the bad feelings. Remind them of how they acted before they took a drug, what their state of mind was, and ask them to think back to how they felt earlier that day or the day before -- retrace sanity's steps. This helped to break up thought loops. Sometimes it takes a while because your friend might be very confused, like mine often are.

Remind them that they are not going to feel this way forever and in a little while they will be back to normal. I think almost every bad trip has a note of "Something happened to me and now I'm insane/the world is evil forever and no one else knows." Once I didn't realize I was having a bad trip until my friend said that to me and I overflowed with relief.

Separate from the group, since so many bad trips are triggered by social anxiety. Change scenery. Don't give people having bad trips a choice (Do you want to stay here or go somewhere quiet?), it's much easier to tell them what to do calmly and set expectations for them (Let's go somewhere quiet, you will feel better).

I agree if you take someone away from a party or social group because they are having a bad trip, it's important to bring them back when they are on better ground and give their friends the chance to accept them and affirm their love. Times when I haven't been able to do that for someone seem to leave a little more emotional baggage behind. It's the kind of thing that can turn a bummer into a life-affirming experience.

I know it's not very original, but those are the tricks that work for me on the field.

 

[ethermonkey]

This is a great thread. It is good if your going to trip-sit, to be a bit armed at the possibilities. These days, with all the new-fangled substances, ranging from psychedelics, to uppers and downers, etc, a well balanced trip sitter should be prepared to deal with any sort of weird interaction.

Having said that, its better if the people they are sitting are not going to do something ill-conceived. So part of being a well balanced trip sitter is to listen in advance, and try to help those participating in the trip to set the scene appropriately. IE - try to not mix drugs when consuming. And if going to mix things, research as much as possible, and advise a lower dose than normal. I would think that a lot of the complications of bad trips generally are from mixing substances together.

Be ready for panic attacks of all kinds. Some psychedelics combined with fragile ego's when shattered can cause them, as well as over-dosing. Drugs that are good for dancing, often speed up the body in many ways, both mentally, and physically. Some users that might be the type that worry about their health a lot (or took way too much) can easily get into a dark mental state that causes one to worry so much about their health (i.e. - heart rate, blood pressure, sweat) that they have a panic attack and that in turn causes the heart rate, etc to go up even more.

When in doubt, if someone is panicking, its better to call for help than to be the friend who is responsible for something worse! However, a lot of times, especially with people in good health, that didn't consume way too much, it can be mitigated without professional medical intervention. Especially with the help of something like a xanax or equivalent benzo. If in doubt about the interaction between that and what they are on, don't risk it, just seek professional help.

Anyways, being a trip sitter can be super fun, if approached right. Don't forget to laugh

 

[Rocksteady3232]

For some people it is probably a good idea for the sitter to hold onto the extra drugs for everyone. I know I have a tendency to just eat and drip stuff randomly when I'm tripping, also being that the tripper isnt exactly of sound mind...it could be smart to have someone else calculating doses and keeping track of just how much you have already had. I know I have taken hits of things and then forgotten if I took it or not, which could be dangerous if I decide I didnt when I did, and take another. If I have liquid LSD, watch out! My first time with liquid, I dropped 12 hits of really good stuff through the day because I thought it was sooo much fun to drop the drops on my tongue! So times like that, maybe I could have used a sitter, or someone to protect my drugs from me at least!

 

[kingme]

this thread is a great idea (though i agree that the first post is a bit too specialized, as the first reply points out).

for me, in my experience as a trip sitter, it is important that the sitter be an image of stability and safety for the tripper. as such, a sitter should be adaptaing to the situation at hand. if this is your trippers first time, dont trip as well, be sober and responsible. read and know as much about the drug at least as much as the tripper, and have some help at hand (a telephone for instance, some benzos, some aspirin/ibuprofen)

when things go bad, dont over react right away, and if anxiety seeps in, just go for distractions. these can take many forms, from a simple change of topic, to driving to a different venue, to turning off/on the lights....

and have fun. sometimes when i sat people, i had as much fun as they did, only sober. interacting with a person that is in a psychedelic state is in itself an experience, and can be quite fun and mind opening.

 

[BluLait]

Are you trip sitting for viagra users?

Hahahaha, I'm just imagining that=)

 

[Rocksteady3232]

this thread is a great idea (though i agree that the first post is a bit too specialized, as the first reply points out).

for me, in my experience as a trip sitter, it is important that the sitter be an image of stability and safety for the tripper. as such, a sitter should be adaptaing to the situation at hand. if this is your trippers first time, dont trip as well, be sober and responsible. read and know as much about the drug at least as much as the tripper, and have some help at hand (a telephone for instance, some benzos, some aspirin/ibuprofen)

when things go bad, dont over react right away, and if anxiety seeps in, just go for distractions. these can take many forms, from a simple change of topic, to driving to a different venue, to turning off/on the lights....

and have fun. sometimes when i sat people, i had as much fun as they did, only sober. interacting with a person that is in a psychedelic state is in itself an experience, and can be quite fun and mind opening.

Your very right...its really important that the person you are sitting for sees you as somewhat of a scholar on the subject, or they at least believe that you know what your talking about. I research everything heavily just like Im sure a large number of the people here do...so them knowing that, helps a lot to calm them down. I like to reassure anyone that I am tripping with or sitting for that I study it all and have alot of experience, so they can just ask me if they need to know anything. All of my friends know that they can even call me any time with questions, or for help. Unfortunately there arent a lot of people out there with a good knowledge base of safe interactions and such, so I think it is very important that those of us who do...make sure to make our knowledge available to as many people as possible.

 

[filter2700]

Something you shouldn't do... tell your kid he's "going to die" while overdosing. I had an accidental overdose of AM-2201, and came down the stairs and my mom knew I was fucked up. Right before I had run down the stairs, I had vaporized a huge dose of AM-2201, and it still hadn't hit me all the way. She said "whats wrong?" I said "nothing," and she says "you're on something," and right after she said that the drug kicked in and I was already peaking within a few minutes. She goes "that stuff will kill you," I say "shut up!" and she says "you're going to have a heart attack!" and I start freaking the fuck out. Then she says "you're going to die!" and I start pacing back and forth yelling "oh my God, I'm going to fucking die!" Then I start hallucinating and wasn't able to control my thoughts, and I thought she said "he's hallucinating," but that was probably me hallucinating and hearing her say that. I had lost all control of my thoughts, I lost my sense of self, I was having a terrible high because of her comments. Fortunately, my brother runs down the stairs after a few minutes. He heard me and thought I was having a conversion to God, so he didn't come down right away. But after I started screaming more, he ran down the stairs and immediately knew something was wrong. He goes "whats wrong, what did you take? its going to be ok, I just need you to give me what you took." That helped me calm down a lot, but I was still hallucinating and really fucked up. I got the AM-2201 and gave it to him. While I went to get it, my brother was yelling at my mom saying "what are you doing?! why are you making him freak out?" and she goes "oh I'm not, I'm just teaching him a lesson" and my brother says "now isn't the time to teach him a fucking lesson when he's on some chemical!" I returned, gave the shit to my brother and we drove to the hospital. The peak only lasted about 15 minutes, but an overdose is never good.

My moms the one who made the experience terrible, she made me feel like I was dying due to her comments. I felt extreme anxiety, ego loss, saw/heard hallucinations, and felt like I was dying all because of what she said. If she had said "are you ok? just calm down it will be ok" I would have more than likely been fine. How is this relevant? The words you say to a person tripping out, or overdosing, effect how they feel, what they think, and the mood of the trip. If you say something like "you're tripping out you're gonna die holy shit!" thats gonna make the person tripping FREAK THE FUCK OUT. If it looks like they're tripping too hard, or ODing, the LAST thing you want to do is be negative! Instead, be reassuring. If they're tripping too hard, say "you're fine man. relax and enjoy the music. look at this show on TV." Keep their mind off of the anxiety, make them forget about being worried. If the person is ODing "say its fine, you're alright. just hang on we're getting you help, ok?" Just keep being POSITIVE and help the person.

She's fucking stupid when it comes to this kind of shit, and that really pisses me off. She sees her kid OD'ing, and instead of reassuring me I'd be fine, she was trying to "teach me a lesson." Thats not the time to teach your kid a lesson, mom, when he's OD'ing on a research chemical. If she would have reacted like a normal person, and didn't tell me "that will kill you" I would have been fine, and I probably would have calmed down and wouldn't have had to go to the hospital.

 

[bunnyhentman]

It might also be helpful if people posts resources on the topic too. Here are a few that I have found useful:

This is dated and funny, but I think Lisa Bieberman did a good job of outlining some common negative headspaces and coping tactics in this pamphlet from 1967: http://www.luminist.org/archives/session.htm It's at least interesting as a historical document on trip sitting

MAPS' psychedelic crisis video was also helpful for me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aBjoARwlOY

On the MAPS' resource page there is also a great essay Brandy Doyle on psychedelic crises at festivals and events http://www.maps.org/resources/responding_to_difficult_psychedelic_experiences/

Edited to add that I don't think it's a good idea to hold other people's drugs and make yourself the prescriber. Consider your own liability if something bad happens. That is best left to psychiatrists and shamans.

 

[Rocksteady3232]

Edited to add that I don't think it's a good idea to hold other people's drugs and make yourself the prescriber. Consider your own liability if something bad happens. That is best left to psychiatrists and shamans.

The point is to keep the distribution of said drugs in check. I think its a better idea that the sober person in the bunch has some kind of filter on the groups access to things that could kill them. Someone on drugs does not always have the ability to judge if they should take more, and in the case of a personality type that pushes things to the limit...an incapability to make judgement calls, could result in dangerous interactions or doses. Also we are talking about doing drugs here, not selling car insurance...I am not worried about my liability, anything they take would be their own decision. The point of controlling the drugs is to put a sober filter on the decision to take more once they are beyond the point that they can make that decision safely on their own.

This concept is also reliant on the sitter having knowledge of safe interactions and dosing. Obviously there is always a chance of complications. The idea is to limit these chances as much as possible. Also if you are not willing to take some liability, you probably should not be trip sitting anyway. You will after all be the one who has to make decisions, drive, call for help, and explain to authorities/doctors, what has happened in an emergency. Its probably better to be able to tell the doctor exactly what and how much someone has had rather than saying something like "I dont know for sure, he had a bunch of stuff in his backpack". If anything, regulating the usage will limit your liability IMO.

 

[jwrhodes89]

i've had bad trips and luckily i'm strong minded enough to pull myself through

 

[slownerveaction]

This is dated and funny, but I think Lisa Bieberman did a good job of outlining some common negative headspaces and coping tactics in this pamphlet from 1967: http://www.luminist.org/archives/session.htm It's at least interesting as a historical document on trip sitting

MAPS' psychedelic crisis video was also helpful for me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aBjoARwlOY

On the MAPS' resource page there is also a great essay Brandy Doyle on psychedelic crises at festivals and events http://www.maps.org/resources/responding_to_difficult_psychedelic_experiences/

I found the first link pretty interesting. Good guide for the first-timer, but the recommended starting doses at the end seemed a little high. 800 mg of mescaline! Yowza.

 

[MyExcuse]

I think the biggest tool in being an effective sitter is having enough experience under ones own belt to know what another person is experiencing.

The best method and tool in any sitter's arsenal should be simple distractions. Remove the person from what may very well be a hostile environment: If the room is too bright, move to a darker room, if there is music turn it up or down from where it was at originally.

As long as the person you are sitting isn't catatonic, engaging them in a harmless physical activity is always an easy method to avoid disaster. Have them toss or roll a ball, or draw something.

Above all, if you simply treat a tripping person like a mentally challenged child, you're bound to get some headway in easing their issues even if you're not entirely sure why they're freaking out.

Just my 2 cents. I don't think you can train compassion and understanding when it comes to psychedelic trips, you just have to know and do.

 

[Jesusgreen]

My best advice for a trip sitter, is if your friend is not tripping purely for recreation, and they are currently in a good state of mind in their trip, ask them if they'd like to work through any issues in their life etc, talk them through them and give advice. It's a wonderful healing experience, akin to several therapy sessions all at once.

 

[Tryptamino]

0 strokes have ever been caused by psychedelics as far as i know. the best advice for a trip sitter is to help them get what they sought out when they decided to take the drug in the first place. keep them happy, prepare snacks and drinks and such, make the site of the trip look friendly and feel comfortable, and have some benzodiazepines ready in case they have a bad trip. when they start to look anxious, just tell them exactly what is happening, and reassure them, tell them that they're gonna be fine, etc. keep positive thoughts and positive energy in the room, and just try to make them as comfortable as possible. a trip sitter should have more experience with the drug than the person tripping, so that they can explain what is happening when things start to get out of hand.

i'm not saying this from experience, but this is what i feel i need when i'm tripping.