People that have gotten better from HPPD.

[MyExcuse]

It seems like the 2C's are a lot more problematic when it comes to HPPD.

This is truth.

When I was younger we had a friend who had tried mushrooms before and when he tried 2C-E one night, he just never stopped tripping. He contracted one of the worst cases of HPPD I've known about from all the drug users I've had a chance to meet.

My girlfriend did 2C-I with me when we were younger, and at the time it was my "go-to" psychedelic. I used it for years on and off, probably well over 5 grams and she had only used it twice, but we both have the same visual distortions that have persisted regardless of drug use (mine are just more intense than hers).

If you look on some HPPD forums, this is a recurring theme. For some reason, the 2C's are very prone to causing long-lasting visual disturbances.

 

[Styrofoam Jones]

A mod in the Cannabis forum felt this was blog material and locked my topic. I actually was looking for feedback on whether it sounded like an early, mild form of HPPD, and if anyone else who's smoked weed ever gets anything like it. So here it is.

This sounds like derealization to me, something that I have a whole damn lot of experience with. It can effect your vision to some degree, as well as every other sensory perception. And it REALLY messes with your hold on reality and identity. I had a horrific four month period of non-stop derealization and I honestly felt like I had been more out of touch with reality during that time than I have during 90% of my trips. The dissociation is utterly intense. I remember taking my dog for a walk one night around my old elementary school and legitimately questioning all of the memories I had of the place. They seemed so fake, almost implanted. I felt like my life had been a dream, joke, lie, test, or some other bit of insignificance and I was now "waking up" into an unknown, "higher" form of self. It was like a layer of fog had rolled in between my body (and the reality that it belonged to) and my consciousness. And soon the reality I knew would be completely fogged out and I'd just be... somewhere else. And the thought of what that place might be baffled and terrified me to no end. It seems silly talking about it now, but when there's no solid sense of self or reality to ground yourself in for weeks at a time, anything seems possible. At one point I was utterly convinced that "somewhere else" was hell, even though I'm an atheist. It's a really fucked up state to be in, I was sure that I had finally brought my mind to its limit. But, it thankfully went away with time and now I only experience it when I'm really anxious.

Speaking of anxiety, how were you feeling when all of this happened? Because derealization is usually an anxiety or stress response, and it usually first presents itself during or following a traumatic experience (like a bad trip). If this was the first time you've felt like this and it isn't a lingering sensation, then I wouldn't worry about it. Even if it is something that becomes prominent throughout every day life, drug-induced derealization disorder almost always goes away with time. Just don't let yourself think about it too much and try to go about your life like you normally would.

 

[SpecialK_]

I can agree with the whole 2C thing, I know people who are psychotic and have had long lasting problems caused by psychedelics and all of them blame the 2c family as the cause of the problem.

 

[Flickering]

This sounds like derealization to me, something that I have a whole damn lot of experience with.

Thanks for your post. So this is derealisation / DPD? There was a while when I believed I had it. Now I see I was only detached and uniquely depressed. The real deal is far more severe than I imagined.

It was like a layer of fog had rolled in between my body (and the reality that it belonged to) and my consciousness. And soon the reality I knew would be completely fogged out and I'd just be... somewhere else. And the thought of what that place might be baffled and terrified me to no end.

Yeah. The thought kept invading on the fabric of my consciousness: "You realise that whole reality isn't anything much, don't you? It's just you 'feeling' and 'seeing' and 'thinking' things. It's obviously just imaginary. And the real world is..." The real world is what?! On my spontaneous trip on weed, I struggled against this thought furiously, partly for fear of permanently losing my mind, but also because I really, really didn't want to see what this thought pattern beleived the 'real world' was. Because I sensed it was even more empty and unreal, like I was nothing but a thought within a thought within a thought. It also reminds me of my bad DXM trip, third plateau, where my existence was reduced to meta-meta-meta cognition.

Speaking of anxiety, how were you feeling when all of this happened?

On the weed trip, I was highly uncomfortable and nervous. I hadn't expected this effect at all. There were also bizarre distortions of nerve signals all over my body; the one I remember most clearly was feeling like I was biting my tongue, only I felt it in my nose.

I smoked weed again while on acid and it came more subtly, and I was able to just ride through it. Kind of unpleasant, but I was so relaxed I didn't care. And I'd only taken one toke that time.

During this more recent flashback thing, I wasn't exactly anxious, but I was tired and in a very odd, subtly depressed, nihilistic and surreal mood. And then, as I was driving, I just remembered it. Vividly. I was a bit on edge for the rest of the car trip. I didn't want it to kick into gear again while I was on the road, that would've been very disorienting.

Because derealization is usually an anxiety or stress response, and it usually first presents itself during or following a traumatic experience (like a bad trip).

Yeah. People who experience usually get it in episodes, and they were often abused as children. I did dissociate from a long-term ideal of my own as a kid, which is partly why I thought I already had some mild derealisation disorder to begin with. I wonder though if it only set the stage for it to happen in the wrong state of mind. Enough bad trips or weed and it might start to last a lot longer. Not a nice thought. I'd prefer dissociative identity disorder to that.

Thanks for you advice and feedback, it's helped.

 

[Br1tannia]

I totally agree :D

I sometimes wonder what vision was like before HPPD, though.

its one of the only downsides imo, i dont know what 'clean' air looks like anymore without all this shitty static in my way

 

[SpiritualHealing]

I had severe HPPD coming out of this summer. Most of my symptoms were severe anxiety flash backs to a stressful trip involving the law, floaters in the sky like nopipesdfw said.Real depth perception that sometimes effected my driving. And most off "The Shutter Effect". My vision would appear to be like i was watching a 1920's movie.

Mind you i have been eating LSD for the past 2 years totaling in over 150+ hits of LSD, dmt, mushrooms, 2c-i, and a fair share of mdma. So i was due for a break before this started happening.

Marijuana smoking was severely stressful and overwhelming. I was also feeling extreme ego death for over a month. It was like my personality had shattered and i forgot who i was but was still intact. It was one of the most confusing parts of my entire life.

I havent done any psychedelic in about 3 months now and ive been able to comfortably smoke marijuana and my sober hppd has basically gone away. I did alot of self healing through meditation and repaired my soul at about 90% now. Altho when i smoke marijuana it becomes incredibly psychedelic, but i know what to expect now and wouldnt want it any other way.

So from my personal experience, you will get better with proper diet and rest. Meditating was one of the main healers when it came to my hppd. Give it a try and let me know how it works out

I share your experience to nearly 100%. I came into this situation after an experiment with 5-MEO-MIPT and Methylone which turned into a disaster. I used psychedelics and Methylone/MDMA fairly heavy before this event. I needed 2 months to recover my soul and my vision has normalized to a comfortable condition.