TheAppleCore
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2007
- Messages
- 5,510
Recently, after about a year-long hiatus, my interest in experimenting with psychoactive substances has been rekindling.
I didn't have to work yesterday, nor did I have any other particularly pressing obligations, and for the past couple weeks I've spent most of my spare time feverishly working on my latest artistic project, so I decided that I deserved to hole myself up in my bedroom, give my neurotransmitters a bit of a tickle, and play Hearthstone (a competitive, online, virtual card game) obsessively. Now that's my idea of the American Dream!
The substance of choice? Pregabalin. I had purchased some 150 milligram capsules awhile ago, taken half a capsule as a tentative initial test, and found the results to be somewhat off-putting, so I set them aside and forgot all about them.
But, judging the drug on the basis of 75 milligrams hardly seemed fair, so I felt that a few more trials at higher doses were due. I woke up yesterday morning, replied to a few emails, swallowed a single 150 mg cap, and went to eat a very light breakfast.
After about an hour, the first capsule had taken nearly full effect. If you'll forgive me for using the Shulgin scale on a non-psychedelic drug, I would rank it as a + at this dosage. It was certainly active, but it wasn't strong enough to really get a clear idea of what pregabalin was all about.
However, I remembered exactly why I shoved the drug in the back of a dusty drawer as soon as I took the first 75 milligrams, months and months ago. It had a remarkably similarity to pot for me, in its way of stirring up anxious thoughts about petty things. I was surprised to find this effect in pregabalin of all drugs, considering how many people praise it as an anti-anxiety and confidence-boosting wonder tonic. For example, I spent what seemed like ages waffling back and forth on whether I wanted to take another capsule. "It's so subtle. I was aiming for something a bit stronger... I should take another. But, well, it's only been an hour and a half. What if it isn't peaking yet? What if I take another and go too far? No, that couldn't possibly happen. I feel almost completely sober. This is disappointing. I should take more." ... and on and on.
In the end, I decided to make a compromise by taking another 75 milligrams. Two hours had then passed since the first dose. Since I managed to survive up to that point without succumbing to some kind of horrible, adverse reaction, my paranoia began to ease, and I was able to notice and enjoy some of the other effects.
I don't know why, but there's a certain pleasure in the sheer fact of altered consciousness. I think it's a basic human trait, which is why even the "anti-drug" squares find themselves drinking plenty of booze and coffee, and smoking tobacco. Perhaps it's just good for your brain to let it do a different dance for a little while. You know, it's very unhealthy to sit in the same position for too long without moving or stretching your body. Maybe it's good to use a bit of chemical assistance to "move and stretch" your brain from time to time?
That is what I was beginning to experience. A subtle, but pleasurable sense of general intoxication. My vision was slightly blurred, and after shifting my gaze, my eyes were a bit slow to focus. I had the vague sense of disorientation that can come from an altered spatial perception, requiring a little extra effort to move around without bumping into the walls. Lovely!
Right now you're probably imagining a kind of drunkenness, and while the above effects were comparable to drunkenness, on the whole it was remarkably different. By far the most interesting effect, to me, was its stimulating property. I felt that I had been plugged into an electric socket. Pregabalin had flipped the "On" switch in my head. I felt intensely motivated.
Instead of doing anything productive, of course, I was channeling all of this motivation into card games. When I first fired up Hearthstone, I was dubious as to whether it would be enjoyable, simply because the game requires a lot of complex reasoning and planning, and I had read reports which described pregabalin as intellectually blunting. Delightfully, my performance in the game was not at all hindered, and possibly even improved. (For anyone who is familiar with the game, I had been stuck around rank 5, and under the influence of pregabalin quickly jumped up to rank 2.) This is probably due to the sheer fascination and energy with which I played the game. I continued to play for hour after hour, tirelessly.
Instead of waning with time, the effects of the drug seemed to transform in character, without getting any weaker or stronger. Nearly eight hours later, the cannabis-like effect was diminished, but the drunkenness and stimulation both seemed stronger than ever. Being inactive, like when I sat in the passenger seat on a car ride that evening, was rather uncomfortable, like there was a bottled-up energy that needed to find some release, but when I was able to express my stimulation in some kind of activity, like playing games or working out, I felt fantastic.
I'm eagerly looking forward to my next trial, for which I plan on taking 375 mg. I hope to get a better idea of pregabalin's effects and potential uses.
I didn't have to work yesterday, nor did I have any other particularly pressing obligations, and for the past couple weeks I've spent most of my spare time feverishly working on my latest artistic project, so I decided that I deserved to hole myself up in my bedroom, give my neurotransmitters a bit of a tickle, and play Hearthstone (a competitive, online, virtual card game) obsessively. Now that's my idea of the American Dream!
The substance of choice? Pregabalin. I had purchased some 150 milligram capsules awhile ago, taken half a capsule as a tentative initial test, and found the results to be somewhat off-putting, so I set them aside and forgot all about them.
But, judging the drug on the basis of 75 milligrams hardly seemed fair, so I felt that a few more trials at higher doses were due. I woke up yesterday morning, replied to a few emails, swallowed a single 150 mg cap, and went to eat a very light breakfast.
After about an hour, the first capsule had taken nearly full effect. If you'll forgive me for using the Shulgin scale on a non-psychedelic drug, I would rank it as a + at this dosage. It was certainly active, but it wasn't strong enough to really get a clear idea of what pregabalin was all about.
However, I remembered exactly why I shoved the drug in the back of a dusty drawer as soon as I took the first 75 milligrams, months and months ago. It had a remarkably similarity to pot for me, in its way of stirring up anxious thoughts about petty things. I was surprised to find this effect in pregabalin of all drugs, considering how many people praise it as an anti-anxiety and confidence-boosting wonder tonic. For example, I spent what seemed like ages waffling back and forth on whether I wanted to take another capsule. "It's so subtle. I was aiming for something a bit stronger... I should take another. But, well, it's only been an hour and a half. What if it isn't peaking yet? What if I take another and go too far? No, that couldn't possibly happen. I feel almost completely sober. This is disappointing. I should take more." ... and on and on.
In the end, I decided to make a compromise by taking another 75 milligrams. Two hours had then passed since the first dose. Since I managed to survive up to that point without succumbing to some kind of horrible, adverse reaction, my paranoia began to ease, and I was able to notice and enjoy some of the other effects.
I don't know why, but there's a certain pleasure in the sheer fact of altered consciousness. I think it's a basic human trait, which is why even the "anti-drug" squares find themselves drinking plenty of booze and coffee, and smoking tobacco. Perhaps it's just good for your brain to let it do a different dance for a little while. You know, it's very unhealthy to sit in the same position for too long without moving or stretching your body. Maybe it's good to use a bit of chemical assistance to "move and stretch" your brain from time to time?
That is what I was beginning to experience. A subtle, but pleasurable sense of general intoxication. My vision was slightly blurred, and after shifting my gaze, my eyes were a bit slow to focus. I had the vague sense of disorientation that can come from an altered spatial perception, requiring a little extra effort to move around without bumping into the walls. Lovely!
Right now you're probably imagining a kind of drunkenness, and while the above effects were comparable to drunkenness, on the whole it was remarkably different. By far the most interesting effect, to me, was its stimulating property. I felt that I had been plugged into an electric socket. Pregabalin had flipped the "On" switch in my head. I felt intensely motivated.
Instead of doing anything productive, of course, I was channeling all of this motivation into card games. When I first fired up Hearthstone, I was dubious as to whether it would be enjoyable, simply because the game requires a lot of complex reasoning and planning, and I had read reports which described pregabalin as intellectually blunting. Delightfully, my performance in the game was not at all hindered, and possibly even improved. (For anyone who is familiar with the game, I had been stuck around rank 5, and under the influence of pregabalin quickly jumped up to rank 2.) This is probably due to the sheer fascination and energy with which I played the game. I continued to play for hour after hour, tirelessly.
Instead of waning with time, the effects of the drug seemed to transform in character, without getting any weaker or stronger. Nearly eight hours later, the cannabis-like effect was diminished, but the drunkenness and stimulation both seemed stronger than ever. Being inactive, like when I sat in the passenger seat on a car ride that evening, was rather uncomfortable, like there was a bottled-up energy that needed to find some release, but when I was able to express my stimulation in some kind of activity, like playing games or working out, I felt fantastic.
I'm eagerly looking forward to my next trial, for which I plan on taking 375 mg. I hope to get a better idea of pregabalin's effects and potential uses.
