Dissociatives Magic

[plumbus-nine]

For me, DXM is pure magic. It makes mundane events feel important and boring tasks interesting, my mind is stimulated yet more relased than usual at the same time and it's without to turn into full mania like with the arylcyclohexylamine dissociatives. I was using DXM a lot during my teens and early twens and the magic never really went away until I abused deschloroketamine and opioids. Developed a psychosis with hearing voices from them together with sleep deprivation and thought never again to be able to use dissociatives but the day before yesterday I did a low dose (240mg) of DXM again and the magic was back there, after 2 years of abstinence.

Do you know what I am referring to with magic? I wonder about the mechanisms behind too. It's the perfect remedy for me, as somebody usually bored by everything and in a restless ADHD like mood. If I just could convince my gf for letting me do cough syrup without the cold, sigh..

 

[Kaleida]

I know you specifically said it doesn’t turn into full mania for you but I have to say that I personally think the way they simulate mania specifically is where a lot of the ‘magic’ of dissociatives comes from. Full-blown psychotic mania itself even when experienced without drugs feels like literal magic, it’s strongly associated with sensations of synchronicity as well as delusions of grandeur and reference, which all together combine to make it so that it feels like what’s happening to you is the single most important thing ever and literally the entire universe is tuned in to watch it happen to you. While not as strong as my manic episodes, these sorts of subjective experiences are things I have also experienced from dissociatives, largely significantly more so than any other drug or type of drug (although cannabis does some very wacky things to me sometimes especially when I already am manic). Even psychedelics do not do this to me reliably or almost really at all, I can pinpoint the times they have to very specific memories of certain less surprising drugs for it like LSD and largely at particularly high dosages.

Not every dissociative trip is as intense as that and that’s obviously not what you were describing, but I think the qualities of the experience you described basically sound like the less intense and disorienting versions of these effects. Maybe there’s something about DXM that happens to let you in particular enjoy these sorts of effects more with it specifically too, such as its potent serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition (just a guess with that, there’s not that much known to really differentiate it readily from other dissociatives).

I don’t personally find DXM to be much different from other dissociatives, and I haven’t enjoyed it as much as the others due to its side effect profile, though I have tripped impressively hard off of it before. I also like the fact that it seems relatively non-toxic compared to most other types of dissociatives even given its temporary side effects, but I never find myself using it despite its availability.

 

[plumbus-nine]

Yeah, DXM and other dissociatives share many similatities, and I described them before as 'shifting the mental state towards the manic spectrum' or similar. I got manic on deschloroketamine but I was also abusing the hell out of that for escapism purposes, something which the dissoverse didn't like and it eventually turned against me. But what puzzles me is that DXM (+bupropion) has recently been approved as a rapid acting antidepressant under the trade name Auvelity so there must be something into it. In my teens I happened to do this combo with bupropion and despite its 2D6 enzyme inhibition, it didn't abolish dissociation but rather potentiate the DXM. Was on it for a couple of months and, unlike e.g. stimulants, the effects didn't subside by any perceivable amount. I stopped because of tinnitus and because I didn't feel depressed anymore. In fact, this combo was the most antidepressant effect I ever experienced, it even made my social anxiety to go out for holidays.

I don't know what to think about. I love this effect, not the mania which made me do stuff I regret afterwards, but the 'first plateau' which is most similar to a dissociated, low MDMA dosage probably. It's so lovely, I become at peace with the world and myself and stop having all those intrusive thoughts from which I have to actively distract myself all day long. But my gf won't let me do the DXM because of some stupid shit she read on one of those anti-drug webpages on Google's page 1 and because it causes a bit of mydriasis which she sees as a sign of intoxication (well, it is, but not that intoxication, hell it's just a side effect caused by a spike in serotonin like nausea or vertigo etc). I do have cravings for DXM but it's much milder than what I experienced in cravings for nicotine. (Err, did I say much milder? I am thinking about DXM all day long currently and would take a dose if I had some but it's not that desperate I-need-a-fix-now like nicotine causes)

DXM does have a 2-3 days long, serotonergic-y afterglow for me which other dissos lack btw. This makes it easier not do dose every day. Wonder why I get this but not the prolonged antidep effect from e.g. ketamine.

 

[Kaleida]

Yeah, DXM and other dissociatives share many similatities, and I described them before as 'shifting the mental state towards the manic spectrum' or similar. I got manic on deschloroketamine but I was also abusing the hell out of that for escapism purposes, something which the dissoverse didn't like and it eventually turned against me. But what puzzles me is that DXM (+bupropion) has recently been approved as a rapid acting antidepressant under the trade name Auvelity so there must be something into it. In my teens I happened to do this combo with bupropion and despite its 2D6 enzyme inhibition, it didn't abolish dissociation but rather potentiate the DXM. Was on it for a couple of months and, unlike e.g. stimulants, the effects didn't subside by any perceivable amount. I stopped because of tinnitus and because I didn't feel depressed anymore. In fact, this combo was the most antidepressant effect I ever experienced, it even made my social anxiety to go out for holidays.

For what it’s worth, I consider my first manic psychosis and some of its recurrence events that have happened since to be one of the most therapeutic things that ever happened to me. Unfortunately, it just also makes me disoriented for a very long time compared to any drug and can really disrupt my life and lead to poor choices as a result. It cleared out a huge amount of my past trauma though and maybe at least nearly all of my repression. I have a love-hate relationship with my mania which seems relatively normal. It’s actually a fairly notable altered state if you ask me.

A decade ago or so before I had ever experienced psychosis, I met a woman with schizophrenia who told me she had learned to treat her psychotic episodes like a trip, recognize they’re coming, get somewhere safe, and treat it as a solo event, and she was actually able to have pleasant and therapeutic experiences with it as a result, at least when managing all that successfully. That’s pretty much been my goal with my stuff too.

I don't know what to think about. I love this effect, not the mania which made me do stuff I regret afterwards, but the 'first plateau' which is most similar to a dissociated, low MDMA dosage probably. It's so lovely, I become at peace with the world and myself and stop having all those intrusive thoughts from which I have to actively distract myself all day long.

That sounds similar to methoxetamine for me. I wish I got effects even close to that nice out of DXM, it would make for a great option.

 

[fastandbulbous]

Yeah, DXM and other dissociatives share many similatities, and I described them before as 'shifting the mental state towards the manic spectrum' or similar. I got manic on deschloroketamine but I was also abusing the hell out of that for escapism purposes, something which the dissoverse didn't like and it eventually turned against me. But what puzzles me is that DXM (+bupropion) has recently been approved as a rapid acting antidepressant under the trade name Auvelity so there must be something into it. In my teens I happened to do this combo with bupropion and despite its 2D6 enzyme inhibition, it didn't abolish dissociation but rather potentiate the DXM. Was on it for a couple of months and, unlike e.g. stimulants, the effects didn't subside by any perceivable amount. I stopped because of tinnitus and because I didn't feel depressed anymore. In fact, this combo was the most antidepressant effect I ever experienced, it even made my social anxiety to go out for holidays.

I don't know what to think about. I love this effect, not the mania which made me do stuff I regret afterwards, but the 'first plateau' which is most similar to a dissociated, low MDMA dosage probably. It's so lovely, I become at peace with the world and myself and stop having all those intrusive thoughts from which I have to actively distract myself all day long. But my gf won't let me do the DXM because of some stupid shit she read on one of those anti-drug webpages on Google's page 1 and because it causes a bit of mydriasis which she sees as a sign of intoxication (well, it is, but not that intoxication, hell it's just a side effect caused by a spike in serotonin like nausea or vertigo etc). I do have cravings for DXM but it's much milder than what I experienced in cravings for nicotine. (Err, did I say much milder? I am thinking about DXM all day long currently and would take a dose if I had some but it's not that desperate I-need-a-fix-now like nicotine causes)

DXM does have a 2-3 days long, serotonergic-y afterglow for me which other dissos lack btw. This makes it easier not do dose every day. Wonder why I get this but not the prolonged antidep effect from e.g. ketamine.

Methoxetamine doesn't lack the serotonogic afterglow and is why, if you look at peer reviewed journals, it's being seen as the possible gold standard antidepressant. It's not just me bigging up mxe, pharma companies are starting to look at it...