Meds for Bad LSD Trips?

[Mass08]

One time I was at my house with my parents and my sister asleep upstairs around midnight. I was bored and had an 1/8th of shrooms so I figured what the hell and ate them. As soon as they kicked in I realized that this was a terrible idea as I was so confined in my house and I couldn't risk waking them up, all I wanted to do was talk to people on the phone but everyone was asleep at that point so I started to geek out thinking that I was an idiot and should've just kept the shrooms for a more ideal situation. I had 5 1mg xanax footballs and ended up taking 3mg without a tolerance to benzo's at all. This allowed me to calm down and eventually go to bed and fall asleep within an hour. Benzos are a god send for a bad trip man.

 

[Toz]

^^I've known people who've had candy flips go wrong man. suggesting adding another recreational drug that isn't a sedative is not good HR for bad trips.

^ this, bad trip anxiety can be alot worse than benzo withdrawal anxiety even, adding another psychedlic drug to the mix would be stupid. Also, MDMA can cause anxiety just by itself.

 

[lightforce]

When I had a freakout on a 5-meo-dipt/mipt pill (I'm not sure which it was) and weed they gave me 2mg of resperidol but can't remember if they gave a benzo or not. At the time I had asked if I could take some seroquel I had to help me and the medic said it would work but suggested I not take it with the resperidol.

 

[effie]

This thread makes me uneasy.. while popping a benzo is generally a good idea if someone is having a bad trip, giving anyone lots of benzos, or opiates, or worse still a combination is asking for overdose.. and even a close call while tripping could be pretty horrific and cause some serious psychological trauma! Benzos won't stop a trip, but they will calm someone down, so giving a low dose while employing other measures such as creating a safe, comfortable, quiet space, with people the tripper feels comfortable with, is about the only advice I would be prepared to give meds-wise.. I found that things like cushions and blankets, support and reassurance from friends I trusted and who understood the situation, space away from other people, calm music, cup of tea and watching something soothing like a Blue Planet all help me hugely

The only other drug I would consider is hydroxyzine as it has 5HT-2A antanonist properties and may well stop a trip dead in its tracks, with minimal side effects; benzos merely reduce anxiety, not stop the trip. I have no experience or evidence for the use of this, however. Antipsychotics may also stop the trip, as other have mentioned, but I fear there are too many drawbacks to safely recommend them for unsupervised use

If you do give benzos, give the lowest dose possible along with a lot of reassurance about how this will help calm the person down - the power of suggestion can augment the effects hugely IME. Stay away from antipsychotics. They may be used in a medical setting (over here, benzos would be first line, then antipsychotics second) but they have a whole hoast of unpleasant and even dangerous side effects:

• Acute dystonia - intensely painful spasm of the neck and eye muscles causing contortions and extreme eye movement; this is a medical emergency and you would need to take you friend to the ER IMMEDIATELY. Obviously this could turn a bad trip into a hellish nightmare. It is a rare complication, but it is more common in young adults and I wouldn't want to risk it while tripping...
• Akathisia - unpleasant and unremitting restessness, to the point where it becomes intolerable if the patient doesn't move their joints. Patients are constantly writhing and shifting position, and describe it as being an incredibly uncomfortable sensations. Again, not something I would like while having a bad trip. This one is more common, especially amongst older agents such as Haldol (haloperidol) - as are all the movement disorders or "extra-pyramidal side effects".
• Over-sedation - while sedation may be a good thing, if your friend becomes unconscious after giving them a medication such as an antipsychotic you should seek medical help.
• Paradoxical reactions - people can hava paradoxical reactions to both benzos and antipsychotics, where they can actually increase agitation
• Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome - this is a potentially life threatening medical emergency caused by antipsychotic medication. The exact mechanism is unclear, but I would be very concerned if the patient had been taking other drugs which interfere with the dopamine or serotonin systems, even if they do they apparently do the "opposite" to antipsychotics - it's just not something I would risk. Symptoms include muscle rigidity and pain, very high temperature, confusion, incontinence, agitation, tremor and decreasing consciousness. You need to call an ambulance if you suspect this.

I certainly would not add in something like MDMA, or any other stimulant drug!

I dont with to scare-monger at all - antipsychotics are excellent drugs when used correctly and in an appropriate sitting, and the more unpleasant/dangerous side effects (except perhaps akathisia) are really pretty rare, but I am not comfy at all with people handing them out to bad trippers you're better off with a blanket, a mug of tea, lots of reassurance and a small dose of benzos if you have one IMO.

I'm going to move this to Psyechedelic Drugs now - there have been an array of answers in here, but tripping is their territory and I am sure they have a lot of excellent advice for handling a bad trip. I'm not sure if this thread will stay open or not, and as I said I am uncomfy with advising people to take medication for a bad trip (I'll concede low-dose benzos as long as you are careful and stick to low-dose, and preferably in a non benzo-naive person who has given full consent - never spike someone with anything, even if it's for "their own good"!)

BDD > PD

 

[TangerinO]

^^I've known people who've had candy flips go wrong man. suggesting adding another recreational drug that isn't a sedative is not good HR for bad trips.

Yep I've seen this exacerbate and even cause a bad trip on more than one occasion.

 

[I<3Hallucinogens]

one of my friends was having a horrible trip on salvia, and all we could do was follow her around and assure her that whatever she was seeing or thinking was not happening, and i almost had a bad experience on salvia untill i saw the piece that i had just hit, then i remembered i had just done salvia, and it was not permanent, though it sure felt like it. i know salvia is different just my 2 cents.

also i heard someone say something about zyprexa, is this true? zyprexa can help stop/calm down a trip?(id only be taking a low dose, of course no more then 5mg, probably even just 2.5) any validity to this statement though?

 

[kwhat]

i had a lsd trip that lasted a month, started at summerset music festival. i brought a strip fo sum legit L n ended up gettin sum ""acid" that was sum RC after the second day cuz i was outta dose n thats when it all began. confusion, mad paranoia thinking people were out to kill me and the police were after me, had blackout hallucinations (wouldnt be able to see or hear things anywhere from a cpl hrs to days or i would be able to see and not hear n vice versa, didnt know who i was. so when i got back to my parents they obiv knew something wasnt right i would ask them if i was dead or alive, if they were really my parents. so they sent me to the psych ward where i was there for two weeks n then gave me ativan and haldol during that time n i snapped outta it but i still suffer from extreme aniexty from that episode.

 

[Solipsis]

Be careful with benzo's, I lost 3 days once because I took alprazolam on a considerable dose of LSD. But I can't be sure it was not a psychosis... Avoid those known to be amnestic (the ones that make you feel like a bomb went off in your memory), midazolam (Dormicum), flunitrazepam (Rohypnol) and temazepam can be ones - although the hypnotic effects could overrule with those, and I guess clonazepam (Klonopin). Generally every benzo can apparently cause anterograde amnesia if I am not mistaken but if at all possible choose a benzo that is primarily anxiolytic because that is most important... not knocking you out.

An antipsychotic seems like it would be better because it blocks effects instead of modulating them through a whole other pharmacological mechanism like a downer.

I wonder if mirtazapine (Remeron) is an option for this? It is a serotonin antagonist so shouldn't that work?

 

[Thorns Have Roses]

Related thread in ADD (old)

I wonder if mirtazapine (Remeron) is an option for this? It is a serotonin antagonist so shouldn't that work?

I keep it around specifically for that purpose. I've never had to use it, but i did a trial to see if it would knock out a decent sized 2c-e trip. It did, and at <10mg. Well, honestly, i don't know that it totally killed it, but i definitely felt like i was stopping tripping before i passed out. I quit taking it (and all anti-depressants) several years ago, but I gave up on remeron before the SSRIs as i was sleeping about 12-18hrs a day, kept it though b/c i read it was a 5-HT2a antagonist and thought "hey, i bet i know what that'd be good for." I think 5mg would probably kill a bad trip for me, though the last time i had one i chose to ride it out for some reason. Not sure what my logic was there... apparently i wasn't thinking clearly.

 

[CrimpJiggler]

According to people on another thread, trazodone (a serotonin antagonist) ends LSD trips. Its a brilliant sleep aid, I can tell you that much. I've been taking it for a few months and once it kicks in, I'm so drowsy I have to go to bed.

Heres the thread:
http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/...p-(on-a-5-HT2a-agonist-like-2c-x-or-psilocin)

I wonder if mirtazapine (Remeron) is an option for this? It is a serotonin antagonist so shouldn't that work?

If trazodone works, I bet mirtazapine does too. It has a less selective binding profile (i.e. it has anticholinergic and antihistamine properties) than trazodone, I don't know whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing when it comes to ending an LSD trip.

As for benzos, I'd go for etizolam because it kicks in so rapidly. I wonder if a moderate dose of ketamine would help during a bad trip.

 

[CrimpJiggler]

This thread makes me uneasy.. while popping a benzo is generally a good idea if someone is having a bad trip, giving anyone lots of benzos, or opiates, or worse still a combination is asking for overdose..

Taking benzos during a psychedelic trip can save your life. A narcotics agent who raided an LSD lab accidentally ingested a massive overdose of LSD (he had small cuts on his face from shaving, and he ingested airborn LSD through them), the doctors thought the best thing to do would be to just put him in a dark room and let him ride out the trip. He was having seizures and nearly died. A nurse made the call that what he needed was "a ton of IV diazepam" and supposedly that saved his life. I saw that in a documentary on LSD, I can't remember what it was called.

one of my friends was having a horrible trip on salvia, and all we could do was follow her around and assure her that whatever she was seeing or thinking was not happening, and i almost had a bad experience on salvia untill i saw the piece that i had just hit, then i remembered i had just done salvia, and it was not permanent, though it sure felt like it. i know salvia is different just my 2 cents.

also i heard someone say something about zyprexa, is this true? zyprexa can help stop/calm down a trip?(id only be taking a low dose, of course no more then 5mg, probably even just 2.5) any validity to this statement though?

If you're gonna use drugs to counteract psychedelic trips, you need to know the pharmacology involved. Salvinorin A is a kappa opioid agonist so it has a completely different mechanism of action to serotonergic psychedelic like psilocybin or LSD. I saw a youtube video of a guy on antipsychotics doing salvia and he appeared to have a bad experience. He was freaking out. I don't know of any easily available kappa opioid antagonists for ending bad salvia trips.

 

[I<3Hallucinogens]

you're gonna use drugs to counteract psychedelic trips, you need to know the pharmacology involved. Salvinorin A is a kappa opioid agonist so it has a completely different mechanism of action to serotonergic psychedelic like psilocybin or LSD. I saw a youtube video of a guy on antipsychotics doing salvia and he appeared to have a bad experience. He was freaking out. I don't know of any easily available kappa opioid antagonists for ending bad salvia trips.

oh no i was asking about lsd trips sorry i didnt make that too clear. IME salvia trips are so short and intense that if your having a bad one there is no way in hell youd be able to take something to calm you down, nor would it actually kick in before the trip is either over, or back to manageable.

 

[Spiral Arm]

This doesn't seem like a particularly good idea. Side effects of Haloperidol include tardive dyskinesia, malignant neuroleptic syndrome and pseudo-parkinsonism. Not something a person would want to experience sober. A bad trip could become a nightmare with long term consequences. Better to ride it out, IMO. I have seen a friend experience pseudo-parkisonism from one prescribed dose of haloperidol, this lasted two days.

Antipsychotics like Zyprexa, Haldol etc are the best I think.

 

[Thanatos]

I would recommend carisoprodal, it won't exactly kill the trip but it will give you anxiolysis along with helping your body relax. I prefer a combo of clonazepam and carisoprodal, but the catch is that you've gotta keep the doses low. Unless you are attempting to abort a trip trip .5mg clonazepam and 500mg carisoprodal. Somas generally come in 350mg units so go for 1 1/2.

Barbiturates work great as well, but they arent exactly easily available. Be careful with GABAergics while tripping, if you get reckless you may blow yourself out of the water and find yourself in a worse situation before you took them.

 

[any major dude]

There are a couple schools of thought on this. If you're just trying to calm things down a bit, benzos are definitelythe way to go. And as soli mentioned, you want a good ratio of anxiolysis to amnesiac effects. Things like diazepam, eitizolam, & clonazepam would probably be preferable. I'd try to avoid alprazolam and definitely stay away from phenazepam.

If you're trying to stop a trip outright, probably wanna go with something like mirtazapine or trazodone. They are both quite sedating and share some pharmacology with antipsychotics, but don't have as many worrying side effects or as narrow therapeutic indices.Most of the side effects from antipsychotics are from chronic administration, so killing a trip with it once probably won't cause many people any significant issues with regard to their common side effects in clinical populations. However I've known a few folks who have been given antipsychotics in a psychedelic emergency that ended up in the ER and I'm not sure if that's the best way to go about things. IMO gentler drugs are more preferable in such situations.

 

[Thanatos]

^ I have EPS, suspected Parkinsonsism from just a few weeks of anti-psychotic use. I will never touch one again in my life, no matter how dire I 'feel' my psychedelic experience may be.
Even cyclobenzeprine can lead to EPS.

Definitely avoid all forms of cannabinoids and maybe take a hot bath to try to calm down, that really helps me.

 

[I<3Hallucinogens]

and maybe take a hot bath to try to calm down, that really helps me.

unless that bath turns to HOT LAVA!!... but for reals bath while tripping does sound kinda fun, not sure why i havnt done that before... just plug my speakers in turn the lights off and let me mind do all the work... haha

 

[webbykevin]

"The mental effects of Delysid can be rapidly reversed by the i.m. administration of 50 mg chlorpromazine."
LSD, My Problem Child (http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/child4.htm)

 

[any major dude]

Yeah, but then you're on 50mg of thorazine. Widely not regarded as a "fun" drug. I'm not disputing that antipsychotics will stop a trip, just pointing out some potentially better options.

And sorry to hear that entheo. Those drugs should really only be used in quite dire circumstances IMHO, but alas I'm not in charge of such things (I work in mental health).

 

[SpecialK_]

I'm not a doctor, but speaking from experience (have had serious anxiety/panic attacks on acid, as in just wanting to crawl into a ball wherever I am and not interact) that valium or clonazepam are the best choices. Valium has a faster onset for me in the situation. If it's just a bit of a bad trip I'll try ride it out, but if I start to get the above I just knock on the benzos as it'll shake me up for days after otherwise but I do have anxiety. I think even having benzos on hand while tripping can give peace of mind to avoid these sorts of things.

Some people suggest weed, I think it can have the opposite effect though and its more of a roulette than benzos.