...had to resort to using pharmaceutical grade racemic ketamine from the pharmacy for my monthly adventures. Worst thing that's ever happened to me, to give you an idea how much I love this stuff.
MXE changed my life, and was my favorite (and main drug) for about 7 years. When it went away, and I had to resort to K, things went to shit as well.
It was ok (though inferior) for a while, but then after some life events when it was more "needed" it became hard to manage.
I still use K, but only get a gram at a time. Any more just turns into a destructive binge and any benefit is far overridden by turning into a fiend. Easy access has it's downsides.
O-PCE is the only thing I've found in the ballpark of MXE for treatment resistant depression and compared to K, I don't find it fiendy at all. Yes, it calls to me, but I won't continually do it until it's gone.
Unlike MXE, where I've gone into some very far out places, I've kept the dosage pretty low with O-PCE, around 12-14mg, with minimal re-dosing (I have a decent tolerance to dissos).
Partly it could be from getting older and being less experimental, but I tend to think this compound shines in the lower dosage. Reading this thread has also made me more cautious.
One main difference with MXE, is for me, I find the effects happen in reverse.
MXE is a dissociative state followed by an extremely clean/clear mental stimulation, whereas O-PCE is the opposite,
Both have advantages/disadvantages. One of my favorite things about MXE, especially by itself, is that I usually feel better, and more clear-headed at the end of a night. At Shambhala (back in the day), I only took MXE 3 nights in a row, and it was perfect. Taking anything else just seemed like a downgrade.
But when I've taken MXE after alcohol, the initial dissociative effect makes things very sloppy. I'm a non-smoker (totally now), but at the time I socially smoked and a few puffs of a cigarette with MXE/alcohol would have me unable to stand and in a different world.
In contrast, I find alcohol, then low dose O-PCE very synergistic, almost "magical" as the alcohol loosens the mind and inhibitions, but O-PCE makes it razor sharp. But make the mistake of re-dosing O-PCE as more alcohol is kicking in, and the initial dose is fading to the dissociative aspect and shit can go downhill really fast.
Another issue with MXE and likely O-PCE is that it's pharmacologically more complex than ketamine (NMDA only for the most part). The problem is that the NMDA tolerance builds first, which leads to re-dosing, and the secondary (serotonergic, etc.) effects seem cumulative. I've experienced some scary states when re-dosing MXE and mixing with other monoamine releasing/re-uptake inhibiting substances (my sample size is large). Sometimes, even when I'm comparatively sober something just clicks in my body and I quickly get confused and panicked (not just a panic attack). Trippy states I can handle, but this feels physical. I got some cyproheptadine (serotonin syndrome antidote), which seems like a very useful tool for the "toolbox", but as I've had similar states with K, I have a hypothesis it might be due to a change in the body's potassium/sodium balance (some research seems to support this). I went to the ER one time (thanks universal health care), and the only thing I remember was something related to potassium. In these confused states when I know I have little time to think clearly I've instinctively eaten a banana. A confounding factor in my case is possibly adrenal fatigue from long-term kratom use, stress/trauma (and minor amphetamine usage) causing a dysfunction of aldosterone which regulates potassium/sodium balance and fluid balance. Total "bro-science", but I'm posting this for posterity, in the off chance I'm on to something.
My appetite for experimenting with random RCs has significantly reduced since my early days, so I could be missing out on some great new chems, but for me, MXE in 2010, and O-PCE in 2017 have been my last great discoveries.
I really hope this one hasn't gone the way of MXE. MXE is banned in China and also by the UN so unlikely to make a comeback (synth is too hard to scale), and while O-PCE hasn't been officially restricted as far as I know, it's possible that it became popular in China (as the obvious successor of MXE), and a domestic crackdown will lead to it's demise. The Chinese government even tried to remove Ketamine from the UN's essential medicine list, so they won't hesitate to take action when something becomes "popular" domestically (another random theory).
(Btw, if anyone's experienced this very distinct state I mentioned, let me know, I really want to understand it from harm reduction/pharmacology perspective...)