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Psychedelica drugs & damage to eye-sight . . ?

PhyllipThylamine

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Joined
Feb 5, 2011
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322
I was wondering, given that most psychedelic drugs such as the 2c series & the substituted tryptamines seem to have very little impact on physical health on the whole, if perhaps there might some effect, long term, on eye-sight. Does hallucinating vigorously for hours on end do any damage to the eye-sight? I often get headaches after long trips but put it down to pupil dilation & then I got to thinking there could be more than just a minor headache & could be damaging me eyes...

Does anyone with more experience & knowledge than I & can answer my query?
 
but put it down to pupil dilation

Why would it have anything to do with pupil dilation? You get headaches when your pupils arn't dilated on drugs too don't you?
 
You probably get headaches due to vasoconstriction.

Psychedelics doesn't cause any damage to eye&eyeball, but they can make you sensitive to visual distortions to the such extent, that it'll become a disorder, known as HPPD.
 
i sincerely doubt that there is any potential for eye damage from psychedelics. The visual alterations occur in the brain, and not the eye. I suppose if you trip every few days & don't wear sunglasses while out in daylight there could be a minor potential for some damage, but honestly, who trips in the daytime without sunglasses ;)
 
I'm under the impression that dilated pupils can damage eyesight because you lose the ability to control the amount of light hitting your retina. Going outside on a sunny day with dilated pupils is not a good idea unless you're wearing sunglasses.

So if you spend a lot of time high on psyches, your pupils will be dilated a lot of the time. It follows that long-term damage to your eyesight could become a real issue.
 
You probably get headaches due to vasoconstriction.

Psychedelics doesn't cause any damage to eye&eyeball, but they can make you sensitive to visual distortions to the such extent, that it'll become a disorder, known as HPPD.

why would you think the headaches are from vasoconstriction? The triptan class anti-migraine drugs cause vasoconstriction in cranial blood vessels thus relieving headaches. However when these drugs wear off there is a not-all-too-uncommon phenomenon that can occur known as "rebound headaches" which is basically the symptom returning once the drug has worn off, not terribly surprising.
 
I always wondered..

Drugs that make your pupils dilate, in the wrong light conditions / done too much / for too long could cause minor damage to the retina, no? Your pupils constrict for a reason.. to protect your inner eye from being damage by too much light exposure.. So if your eyes can't do that, surely some damage will be being done?
 
Obviously no one should go about staring at bright objects for long periods of time with dilated pupils. But most people who are tripping during daylight hours already wear sunglasses to both hide their saucered pupils from others as well as preventing uncomfortable levels of light going into their eyes, so it seems as if it should be a non issue.

Please don't let this thread go all "LSD users go blind staring at sun."
 
^^^ Well, phenethylamines don't have affinity to 5HT1 receptor, which is key receptors class for anti-migraine medication. PEAs cause vasoconstriction, and vasoconstriction causes headache.

Also, OP told he got headaches from long trips, and phenthylamines are usually longer-lasting than tryptamines.

Okay, I can be entirely wrong, because I am far from chemistry and pharmacology.

^^ Pupils are to prevent your eye from too much light, but are you sure that additional amount of light that passes through dilated pupil is able to harm your eye?
After all, oculist drops mydriatic medication into your eyes and tells you nothing about harm or necessary precautions.
 
2 carbon phenethylamines do have significant affinity for various 5-HT1 receptors, including but not limited to 1a, 1b, 1d, & 1e. At least according to the en vitro binding studies i've read. If there's some en vivo data out there i'm unaware of do tell.

I'm not sure about the vasoconstriction causing headaches logic, as vasoconstriction in cranial blood vessels is the purported MOA for reducing headaches, at least of the migraine & cluster variety. If the OP has headaches frequently I suppose it could be a "rebound headache" type phenomenon like is seen with triptan type headache medication, however i'd put a low probability on that.

More likely culprits would be low blood sugar (likely from not eating much or at all for the duration of the trip) or dehydration. Or even it could just be your garden variety headache
 
^ Hm, interesting, never hearead that 2Cs have significant affinities for 5HT1 receptors, could you please post some links?
 
Thanks people!

I dont have headaches often. I do suffer migraines but have ceased intake of those things that give me migraines such as chocolate, cheese, cream, yoghurt, red wine & red grape juice. I hardly ever have every-day type headaches & I dont suffer headaches during trips, only in the hours afterwards.

And obviously I wouldnt go tripping outdoors in bright sunlight without shades & I use my UV in short bursts, coz I've noticed it'll give me a headache even if I havent been on psyches.

I honestly dont think there's any long term risks to eye-sight, but my gf brought the subject up after we spent the day on 4 ho met yesterday & had a cracking trip but ended up both a bit headachey in the evening. Nothing debilitating or anything & we both certainly feel on top of the world today, no obvious hangover.

So... yeah, just thought I'd access the well of knowledge on BL. Thanks again! :)
 
Here's a link to the most recent publication on the subject I've read. Notable excerpts from that paper:

2C-E: 4.00 5ht2b, 3.76 5ht2a, 3.54 5ht1d, 3.44 Alpha2C, 3.38 5ht2c, 3.00 5ht1b, 2.91 Alpha2B, 2.91 5ht1a, 2.77 5ht7, 2.71 Alpha2A, 2.60 5ht1e, 2.27 D3, 2.16 M5, 1.99 M3, 1.93 5ht6, 1.88 D2; 0.00: D1, Alpha1A, Alpha1B, 5ht5a, Beta1, M1, SERT, D4, NET, Imidazoline1, H1, Sigma2, DOR, KOR, MOR, NMDA, M2, DAT, M4, D5, CB2, H2, Ca+Channel, CB1; ND: Sigma1, Beta2

2C-B: 4.00 5ht2b, 3.71 5ht1d, 3.69 5ht2a, 3.18 5ht2c, 3.12 Alpha2C, 3.11 5ht1b, 3.05 5ht1e, 2.81 5ht7, 2.75 5ht1a, 2.64 Alpha2A, 2.63 5ht6, 2.31 Alpha2B, 2.22 M3, 1.80 Imidazoline1, 1.60 D2, 1.28 D3; 0.00: D1, 5ht5a, Alpha1B, D5, NMDA, M1, SERT, D4, NET, Alpha1A, Sigma1, Sigma2, DOR, KOR, MOR, H1, M2, DAT, M4, M5, CB2, H2, CB1; ND: Beta2, Ca+Channel, Beta1

2C-T-2: 4.00 5ht2b, 3.18 5ht2a, 3.05 5ht2c, 2.84 5ht1d, 2.56 Alpha2C, 2.20 5ht1a, 2.16 5ht1e, 1.94 M3, 1.92 Alpha2A, 1.84 5ht1b, 1.79 Alpha2B, 1.79 5ht7, 1.70 Beta2, 1.64 5ht6, 1.60 M5, 1.51 D3, 1.46 Imidazoline1, 1.33 D2, 1.19 Sigma1, 0.81 Beta1; 0.00: D1, 5ht5a, SERT, D4, NET, Alpha1A, Alpha1B, Sigma2, DOR, KOR, MOR, M1, M2, DAT, M4, D5, H1, H2, CB2, CB1, Ca+Channel, NMDA

emphasis mine

fwiw 1b & 1d are the target of anti-migraine medications

Also, the PDSP database has loads of receptor affinity information
 
Going outside on a sunny day with dilated pupils is not a good idea unless you're wearing sunglasses.

The sun would have to be incredibly bright to cause any damage when you arn't even looking at. I doubt that happens very much on this planet, perhaps on a planet which has two suns both several million times brighter than the sun there might be a problem.

It follows that long-term damage to your eyesight could become a real issue.


Only if you start from the premise that the sun causes eye damage even when you arn't looking at it. If you don't accept that premise then tripping outdoors has absolutely no effect on your eyesight.
 
^ How can you be sure? Light is reflected off of everything we see.. do you really know how much light it takes to damage your eyes? (Note. The damage may be so minor it's noticed, but repeated exposure to these tiny amounts of damage could cause bigger problems, no?)

I'm not saying that indirect sun light mixed with unnaturally dilated pupils CAN cause damage.. i just don't see anyway of being 100% certain.
 
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