Low doses of DXM as a smart drug / antidepressant

[DementiaSavantPlus]

Commentators keep reviving this thread, and I'm compelled to follow suit with my impression of DXM as an anti-depressant.

I too was taking DXM for a cough that I absolutely had to rid myself of in order to teach my classes at the university here. I took the recommended dose listed on a bottle of DelSym. Then I began to use the cough drops that contain 5mg of DXM in addition to a numbing agent. The numbing compound was seductive enough to soothe my wrecked throat that I continued to use them thinking that they would not take me to any serious psychoactive threshold.

What I experienced felt like a psychedelic flashback (in a good, productive way) with increased mental energy and even visual enhancement. (The latter served me quite well as I was teaching a studio art course). I had a solid afternoon, spinning around the studio listening to Hindustani classical music on its great sound system and addressing the students' needs as well or better than I ever have.

Anyway, I probably ended up taking 30-35mg that day, and my belief is that this small dose somehow dislodged a learned mechanism that was initiated long, long ago when I might have drank a bottle or two of cough syrup in high school, even though these new, more subtle effects were more like LSD or psilocybin than a dissociative.

DXM, in a dose almost equal to that of its intended purpose, could be beneficial as a functional tool if the user is pre-conditioned in some way to biologically accept psychedelic activity.

Sorry to excavate an old thread, but it has me interested in trying this again, and I wanted to contribute to this body of info.

 

[Hodor]

Commentators keep reviving this thread, and I'm compelled to follow suit with my impression of DXM as an anti-depressant.

I too was taking DXM for a cough that I absolutely had to rid myself of in order to teach my classes at the university here. I took the recommended dose listed on a bottle of DelSym. Then I began to use the cough drops that contain 5mg of DXM in addition to a numbing agent. The numbing compound was seductive enough to soothe my wrecked throat that I continued to use them thinking that they would not take me to any serious psychoactive threshold.

What I experienced felt like a psychedelic flashback (in a good, productive way) with increased mental energy and even visual enhancement. (The latter served me quite well as I was teaching a studio art course). I had a solid afternoon, spinning around the studio listening to Hindustani classical music on its great sound system and addressing the students' needs as well or better than I ever have.

Anyway, I probably ended up taking 30-35mg that day, and my belief is that this small dose somehow dislodged a learned mechanism that was initiated long, long ago when I might have drank a bottle or two of cough syrup in high school, even though these new, more subtle effects were more like LSD or psilocybin than a dissociative.

DXM, in a dose almost equal to that of its intended purpose, could be beneficial as a functional tool if the user is pre-conditioned in some way to biologically accept psychedelic activity.

Sorry to excavate an old thread, but it has me interested in trying this again, and I wanted to contribute to this body of info.

DXM is an NMDA antagonist, a Sigma agonist and a serotonin re-uptake inhibitor. It's entirely possible for such a drug to exert anti-depressant effects at sub-psychedelic doses, but it'd probably be safer to get your Sigma agonism from Opipramol and your serotonin boost from... take your pick out of the dozens of SSRI's, SNRI's and Tricyclics on the market. As for the NMDA antagonism, guess we'll have to wait for Ketamine treatment to become mainstream

 

[DementiaSavantPlus]

Yeah, I suppose DXM would be unsafe if taken daily, even at low doses. I was surprised, however, that such a small dose affected me this way since it hadn't any time before. I also anticipate that tolerance would rise very quickly.

I have never taken an SSRI, but have always thought that if I were to go the anti-depressant route under a doctor's supervision., it would have to be when ketamine infusions are more affordable.