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Stimulants Quick onset of stimulant hallucinations - warning sign?

AngelusDiaboli

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Messages
4
Hi,

I'm quite new when it comes to stimulants. I used to be a more opiate kind of guy, but recently I've mostly been playing around with stimulants, mainly amphetamine sulfate.

I'm aware it's common to start hallucinating and becoming paranoid after staying awake for too long on stimulants. The thing is, these side effects seem to come on way too early for me. The first time I tried amphetamine sulfate, I had only been awake for maybe 7-8 hours when I took my first dose and I had gotten plenty of sleep. I made sure to eat a small snack every now and then and drank plenty of water. After having been awake for a mere 16 hours, I started experiencing hallucinations. Almost every time I've taken a stimulant since then, the hallucinations kick in after only 18-24 hours of awake time. The hallucinations I get from stimulants express themselves as for example:

* Shadows or flashes of colored light zipping through my field of view.
* Grainy vision, like in an old movie.
* Shadows tend to act weird, "morphing" and such.
* I sometimes have a tendency to see various bugs, often spiders. Almost never close to me, however, and when I move in closer, they disappear.
* Colors sometimes tend to look "off", especially on my computer screen. This one is hard to explain, but it's kind of like when you're tripping on a very light dose of a hallucinogen.
* When in a very, very dark environment, I tend to see silhouettes of people, animals (I often think I see my cat) and objects that aren't actually there.

The hallucinations can express themselves in many more ways than what I've described above, but those are the most common things I perceive off of the top of my head. Most of the hallucinations are only present (or at least obvious) when in a somewhat dark environment. When outside during the day for example I don't really hallucinate, although I have a general "feeling" of changed perception.
I also tend to get kind of paranoid around the same time the hallucinations kick in, although it's far from "full-blown" paranoia. I think I'd rather say I get a bit edgy.

Anyways, I'm sure all of this is pretty standard stuff. What worries me is the quick onset of the hallucinations. From what I've gathered when talking to friends, reading on the internet and so on, it usually takes some serious bingeing before most people start experiencing hallucinations on stimulants. Could this be indicative of some kind of latent mental illness? Or maybe just some sort of vitamin/mineral deficiency? Or is it simply completely normal to have such quick onset of hallucinations on stimulants, and I'm worrying for no reason?

I'm pretty sure it's nothing to worry about, but I want to check just in case, as I'm sure can be appreciated on a harm reduction forum. :)
 
Sounds like you could be hyper-sensitive to stimulants, or it may be and indicator of an underlying mental disorder, such as schizophrenia. If I were you I would just avoid stimulants.
 
Sounds like a really good reason to avoid stimulants to me. I used to love hallucinogens, i always had a great time on them, but then one day i took mushrooms and had a psychotic episode and got arrested, lots of drama etc.. ever since then whenever i take hallucinogens i experience psychosis - so i don't take them anymore - i suggest you do the same.
 
You know, I have this exact same thing. Exactly what you describe.
I take Adderall in its prescribed dose daily and sometimes, long after the therapeutic window has expired, I find myself still feeling much too speedy. It's not entirely unpleasant but it certainly feels odd. Then I will start to notice the odd peripheral flash, grainy vision and the occasional appearance of the strange creature, the shadow fly. At this point I know its time to take a benzo and go to bed.
I have asked about this before and someone said it may be triggering a latent manic state. I have never had a full on episode of mania, but I do believe I have had some hypomanic episodes so this makes sense to me.
Funny thing is, since I have started taking hormonal birth control to regulate some emotional issues, this phenomenon has totally ceased.
 
You need to eat before and lower dose bud I just started seeing shit and I've done a bottle of 30s and 10s in 3 days .
 
I just recently started taking Ritalin a couple months ago, then switched to Adderall and back to Ritalin. I get all the same symptoms you just mentioned from both of them at the normal prescribed doses almost always just at night. And i get a normal amount (if not more than enough) sleep daily although my sleeping schedule is severely off (normally 4:30 AM to 1:00 PM).

If those are symptoms that indicate something bad, then i must be in the same boat as you are but those are all of my favorite effects from the drug. I also sometimes get fractals in my vision when i close my eyes. Am right now actually. But i love the animal hallucinations you mentioned, i always think i'm seeing cats and puppies walking behind me in my periphereal vision when doing homework on my computer. And i think all my music is saying my name in the drum beats.

I wouldn't be worried though. Just enjoy it like i do. Lol
 
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