Help! Lingering side effects after poly-drug use—seeking support and understanding

[goodfortuneeveryone]

Hello

Last September I took some LSD gummies, then dissolved mdma crystal at the back of my throat in microdoses over about eight hours. Puffing away at a joint every know and again to top things off.

That night I tripped pretty hard - and ended up with a swollen uvula at the back of my throat.

I called the paramedics, who told me just to go home and take some ibuprofen. I did this, and the swelling went down in around three to four days.

Since that time I have had an irritated raw feeling at the nasopharynx at thr back of my throat, over September to November it remained and I would wake up with bad breath. The doctor just told me to suck a lozenge. Thinking nothing of it I continued on with my poor habits - smoking, coffee drinking, eating lots of spice or nutrionally starved meals. Over the course of November I basically lived off of homemade weed brownies and cereal and bacon sandwiches, overdosing on weed for the first time when I ate the weed butter I had made. Took like 24 hrs to come down.

Flash forward to December and I keeled over with exhaustion, after a few days in bed I got a warmth across my chest, then a doctor gave me some throat spray and alginate.

Over Xmas and Boxing Day I had a burning in my abdomen and lower throat, I woke up on the 27th with my epigastric region feeling weird - pressure inside, pangs in my abdomen, and a continual sour taste in my saliva all the time. Weirded out I saw a doctor again, who gave me PPI’s. I took them for three months, then weaned off them as I began to speculate I had some sort of GERD or LPR related issue.

Since the new year new symptoms emerged - cobblestone throat, lie bumps, white coating on the tongue, tooth erosion, dizziness when I stand, I had nausea over December to February / March but that is less now. I also bring up splurts of acidic saliva and stuff.

While I am taking the steps to help with reflux in terms of diet and lifestyle, I have no actual diagnosis and am operating off my own homework. I speculate the drug use directly fucked something up, or maybe break the straw in the camels back from a prior lifestyle of inadequate self-care (less than ideal diet, weed daily for six months over ‘24 and six over ‘23 during summer breaks).

I’m really reaching out to see if anyone has any advice or insight on the possible substance use and what’s going on with me - maybe the mdma eroded my throat or throat sphincters? Or maybe weed smoke weakened my throat? Or maybe drugs and diet janked up my microbiome?

I don’t know.

I study all the videos and papers related to GERD and LPR (Silent reflux) and aim to get cash together for a functional doctor and test, I just can’t help but wonder that that night I took that stuff and then all the issues with my throat started and grew from there.

Thank you

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

Unfortunately nobody can really answer you question beyond speculation - you need further medical examinations as you are already aware of

I am gonna say the obvious though that dissolving mdma in the back of your throat as reckless and also completely unneccesary but I guess it's not something you'll be repeating

Wishing you all the best - plenty of people on this site have injured themselves with impulsive/reckless use myself included

 

[iom]

I expect that any damage done by your LSD/MDMA trip ought to have healed up by now, provided you are otherwise healthy. Likewise, your use of cannabis (as described) is unlikely to have caused any serious problems, especially if you're eating it instead of smoking it.

Your symptoms sound a lot like GERD/LPR, and the most likely root cause of the problems is poor eating habits possibly compounded by chronic stress. Insufficient physical activity can also contribute. Just to be sure, it may be a good idea to get checked out and screened for things like ulcers and possible digestive cancers. Colon cancer is unfortunately much more common among young people than it used to be.

Very likely causes of GERD are Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and possible yeast overgrowth. Immune dysfunction is also a potentially contributing factor, and this dysfunction could be caused by either malnutrition or by chronic inflammation such as what may be caused by eating an irritant like gluten or lactose if you are susceptible to these.

Many microbes in the gut ferment the food you eat, and this produces gas. This is generally ok (even if occasionally uncomfortable and embarassing) when it occurs in the large intestine, but in the small intestine, it can cause a lot of problems. The pressure from the gas can cause various kinds of abdominal pains, and it can cause backwards flow to occur in which the contents of the small intestine are forced back into the stomach and even forced back up your esophagus and into your throat. This can produce many of the symptoms you describe.

Microbe overgrowth in the small intestine can cause a lot of other health problems too. Your immune system is likely perpetually exhausted as it tries to control the overgrowth. Microbes also synthesize many chemicals which can be mind-altering and/or harmful in various ways. Poor dietary habits are often addictive in that microbes which depend on them will synthesize drugs which compel you to continue your poor habits and "punish" you if you attempt to cut back on what they want you to eat.

I'm going to make a few suggestions. With regard to carbs, there are quantitative and qualitative considerations. First in terms of quantity, you should try to eat only as many carbs as you actually use. You have a baseline need for carbs to fuel your brain and a few other processes that are not efficiently fueled by fat or protein. Additionally, any intense physical activity is best fueled with carbs. Beyond those things, any extra carbs you eat are likely to be detrimental to your health. If absorbed, excess carbs increase insulin secretion, which over time can lead to insulin resistant diabetes. If not absorbed, excess carbs feed gut microbes, allowing them to overgrow. You should try to figure out how many carbs you actually need for your level of physical activity, and limit consumption accordingly. It's ok to eat more carbs when you are more physically active. In fact if you are sedentary then increasing physical activity is likely to be at least as beneficial as cutting an equivalent amount of carbs. Your body has evolved to be physically active, and if you are sedentary, it is more likely to become dysregulated in various ways.

Second, not all carbohydrates are equal. Glucose and simple starches are absorbed very rapidly. They are more likely to cause blood sugar spikes (high glycemic index) but are less likely to feed problematic microbes, which can cause worse problems. Fructose and fructooligosaccharides (found in garlic, onions, and in many convenience food products including supposedly health ones) tend to be absorbed very poorly, so even though they don't spike blood sugar, they feed gut microbes and can be a major contributor to overgrowth. Research the FODMAP diet to learn which foods contain fructose and fructooligosaccharides to learn how to limit consumption of these things. For some people including myself, FODMAP isn't enough and any complex carbs (i.e. low glycemic index carbs) can be problematic. Keep in mind too that even simple starches can become difficult to absorb if they are not eaten fresh. For example, cooked pasta is absorbed quite easily, but if you let it get cold and then reheat it, the starches change and are no longer easy to absorb.

Third, immune dysfunction, which limits the ability of your body to maintain a balanced microbiome, can be caused by lack of essential nutrients (vitamins and minerals) or it can be caused by chronic inflammation. A major cause of chronic gut inflammation is eating irritating foods. Some people are lactose intolerant and suffer irritation upon eating lactose rich foods like milk, icecream, and soft cheeses. Depending on how severe it is, they may also have trouble with hard or aged cheeses and/or butter, but these have much less lactose. If you are lactose intolerant, you may be able to temporarily improve your tolerance using enzyme supplements like lactaid. Another common food intolerance is to gluten as in celiac disease. The only reliable way to test for celiac disease is to stop eating all gluten for at least some weeks, and then if you feel better, resume eating it to see if symptoms return. Lastly, chronic stress can contribute to immune dysfunction and allow overgrowth to occur. This can include worrying too much about your past "poly-drug use".

I'm reluctant to give you any specific dietary advice without knowing more about your particular circumstances, but hopefully this information is helpful to you. I personally struggled with bad IBS and GERD for many years. It took quite a lot of experimentation to get it under control. I started by eliminating garlic and onion as they were clearly problematic for me. Later, I cut out all carbs except small amounts of jasmine rice (very high glycemic index---very easy to absorb), and this helped some but also caused other problems including excessive weight loss. Today, I largely adhere to FODMAP. My major source of carbs is a freshly made baguette per day, a few (high fiber) graham crackers, and a few teaspoons worth of sugar. The rest of my diet consists of eggs, aged cheese, butter, meat, and a variety of vegetables. I eat fruit only very sparingly. I tolerate white sugar a little bit better than most fruits. I also don't eat anything for 12-14 consecutive hours each day and on occasion I don't eat anything for 16-24 hours at a time such as when I take psychedelics. Diet alone was not enough for me. I use a particular type of fiber supplement, a partially hydrolyzed guar gum (sold under the brand name Sunfiber). I also now exercise daily, and this made a big positive difference for me. Lastly, I find that occasionally taking serotonergic psychedelics (not MDMA though) seems to help interrupt any chronic inflammatory cycle in my guts, and within a few days after, my guts tend to "reset" to a better state.

I wish you the best in your journey toward better health.