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Health Used to enjoy shrooms / LSD, now every time I try them I get extremely unpleasant bodyload / involuntary grimacing. Why?

B

buuuurps

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Mar 8, 2021
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I have done mushrooms / lsd maybe a dozen or so times throughout my life, mostly low to mid doses, though also one 4g and one 5.5g shroom trip. The latter of those was absolutely horrible, but not in the traditional "horror trip" kind of way. Rather, I felt extremely physically uncomfortable all the time: First too hot, then too cold, and a constant sense of an immense strain on my body, as if having to carry heavy weights while already being really sore from a workout. Also, I was constantly involuntarily grimacing, literally for hours. All this was way beyond any "normal" body load, and these unpleasant physical sensations completely ruined the trip and eventually had me panicking. For those interested, I wrote a much more detailed trip report about this on Bluelight at the time, which can be found here.
That was 2.5 years ago and I still haven't touched shrooms since then. I have, however, tried small doses (like a third or maybe half a blotter) of LSD on three different occassions, and each time, I developed the exact same symptoms described above, except of course much less intense. The grimacing in these lower doses is mostly around the lips (pursing, puckering, smacking, etc), which is really weird, because that is usually associated with tardive dyskinesia, which is a completely different psychiatric condition that I have never seen connected to psychedelics before anywhere.
Obviously, I will not be taking any high or even intermediate doses again so long as this problem persists. I never had this issue before the 5.5g shroom trip mentioned above, but I seem to be getting it every time since then, although that is now over 2 years ago. Has anyone had similar experiences? Any idea what might be causing this / how to fix it? Before anyone asks: My diet is great, I work out and get outside plenty, don't take any meds, and my bloodwork always comes back fine.
 
It's unlikely to be anything physical tbh. I've found that once a psychedelic (or any drug) goes "bad", it can be hard to recover from. You've built up an association between certain physical sensations and negative outcomes, and under the highly suggestible psychedelic state, this can be hard to walk back. Time may do it, but maybe those two substances just aren't for you anymore. That said, if you were to have an experience and were able to focus on accepting and understanding the difficult sensations, you may actually find they start to abate. Of course, with psychedelics, you could make this whole thing worse.

For me, if I smoke weed, I get a particular range of feelings- racing thoughts, elevated heart rate, lethargy- that is basically instant anxiety. I can't tolerate it all. Same with benzos- I get a certain feeling of dull apathy that feels so close to depression that I cannot even slightly tolerate them or most GABAergic drugs anymore.
 
swilow said:
It's unlikely to be anything physical tbh. I've found that once a psychedelic (or any drug) goes "bad", it can be hard to recover from. You've built up an association between certain physical sensations and negative outcomes, and under the highly suggestible psychedelic state, this can be hard to walk back. Time may do it, but maybe those two substances just aren't for you anymore. That said, if you were to have an experience and were able to focus on accepting and understanding the difficult sensations, you may actually find they start to abate. Of course, with psychedelics, you could make this whole thing worse.

For me, if I smoke weed, I get a particular range of feelings- racing thoughts, elevated heart rate, lethargy- that is basically instant anxiety. I can't tolerate it all. Same with benzos- I get a certain feeling of dull apathy that feels so close to depression that I cannot even slightly tolerate them or most GABAergic drugs anymore.
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Weed turned sour for me that way as well at the end of my 20s (though, now approaching 40, I recently tried it again and was fine that time, so maybe I can now tolerate it again after almost a decade of being unable to).

But this thing with acid / shrooms certainly feels more physical than psychological. It's not that I am in a bad mindset and then my body starts feeling weird. It's that my mindset is fine, I go in expecting a good / normal trip, and then out of nowhere I start getting these physical symptoms that are so irritating / uncomfortable that they then put me in a bad space mentally as well.

It's not the end of the world if I just can't do psychedelics anymore (at least not shrooms/lsd, I haven't tried others yet so don't know if the issue would carry over to those as well). I just find it kind of strange that I have never heard of anyone else developing this particular problem. Also, the fact that on lower doses of LSD, my lips move precisely the way they do in people with tardive dyskinesia is, at minimum, interesting, and does feel kind of worrisome, even though I display no signs of TD whatsoever when sober, so I guess it's no big deal.
 
buuuurps said:
I just find it kind of strange that I have never heard of anyone else developing this particular problem
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I know a lot of people who, for one reason or another, can't tolerate the effects of psychedelics anymore tbh. For most, it's the psychological stuff, but I would posit that for you, it's the same thing to some extent. Both drugs are stimulating in their own ways and you are describing what sounds like pretty classic stimulant physical effects. If you find it uncomfortable or worry that it's some neurological condition like tardive dyskenesia, all of that gets grossly magnified in the psychedelic state. Forgive my armchair psychologisting here, but I do think it's anxiety being generated by physical side effects ie. psychological concerns. I mean, it's pretty unlikely that these drugs are actually causing such a condition. Like you, I've never heard of this happening- but uncomfortable levels of stimulation are relatively common place or at least possible with most psychedelics. At the end of the day, if you dont feel safe or feel like your health is at risk, it's probably best to avoid these substances.

Honestly, a lot (most) of drugs stopped agreeing with me over time (I'm 40 now). It was with some sadness that I stopped using some things but such is the price of aging. 😎
 
Interesting how for me it’s the other way around. First couple times I did shrooms I really didn’t like it. At that point I already had quite good experience with a lot of psychedelics. After years and a lot more experience with a lot more psychedelics I had a few really nice experiences. Both in mini doses (usually I hate small doses of psychedelics) and during one 10g trip. I guess explanation might not be in the way I changed but in the fact I don’t really like middle ground with shrooms. Small doses of shrooms are kind of like benzos (that’s description from my ex and she ain’t totally wrong), medium doses feel heavy (both on mind and body) while high doses, well you’re blasted into some very interesting places.

EDIT: O you mean LSD too. With LSD and all other psychedelics I found, from the very beginning of use of named that body-load mostly has to do with my general health, well-being, food I ate etc. So if I’m not too well even smallish dose of 2c-b HCl will produce strong body-load and on LSD come up will be hellish while if I’m fine and dandy than I’ll feel hardy any on even pretty high doses of something like nbomes.
 
buuuurps said:
I have done mushrooms / lsd maybe a dozen or so times throughout my life, mostly low to mid doses, though also one 4g and one 5.5g shroom trip.
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swilow said:
I've found that once a psychedelic (or any drug) goes "bad", it can be hard to recover from. You've built up an association between certain physical sensations and negative outcomes, and under the highly suggestible psychedelic state, this can be hard to walk back. Time may do it, but maybe those two substances just aren't for you anymore.
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This is so true. I had an extremely difficult 7g mushroom trip when i was younger, and while everything was bad, i had this very strong and clear sensation of constantly pissing my pants. Probably the next 3 or 4 mushroom trips I had I the same sensation, and almost gave up on mushrooms. I'm not sure what broke that cycle, but eventually I started having good trips again.
 
buuuurps said:
I have done mushrooms / lsd maybe a dozen or so times throughout my life, mostly low to mid doses, though also one 4g and one 5.5g shroom trip. The latter of those was absolutely horrible, but not in the traditional "horror trip" kind of way. Rather, I felt extremely physically uncomfortable all the time: First too hot, then too cold, and a constant sense of an immense strain on my body, as if having to carry heavy weights while already being really sore from a workout. Also, I was constantly involuntarily grimacing, literally for hours. All this was way beyond any "normal" body load, and these unpleasant physical sensations completely ruined the trip and eventually had me panicking. For those interested, I wrote a much more detailed trip report about this on Bluelight at the time, which can be found here.
That was 2.5 years ago and I still haven't touched shrooms since then. I have, however, tried small doses (like a third or maybe half a blotter) of LSD on three different occassions, and each time, I developed the exact same symptoms described above, except of course much less intense. The grimacing in these lower doses is mostly around the lips (pursing, puckering, smacking, etc), which is really weird, because that is usually associated with tardive dyskinesia, which is a completely different psychiatric condition that I have never seen connected to psychedelics before anywhere.
Obviously, I will not be taking any high or even intermediate doses again so long as this problem persists. I never had this issue before the 5.5g shroom trip mentioned above, but I seem to be getting it every time since then, although that is now over 2 years ago. Has anyone had similar experiences? Any idea what might be causing this / how to fix it? Before anyone asks: My diet is great, I work out and get outside plenty, don't take any meds, and my bloodwork always comes back fine.
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If the road has pot holes, spending more for a car with a softer suspension wont help.

I think the grimace is like a pot hole in the body, wear and tear by usage.
The usage is in how you approach matters that might be serious.

Really, if you have a habit of "getting serious" when matters require attention, then you will be getting serious a lot as stuff keeps changing on psychedelics.

Unwinding that habit takes time and effort, but at any age, it is worth it to fix the potholes that make the ride a drag.

When things require attention, relax, be receptive, open, and as non-judgemental as possible. There is always more reality beneath the superficial perceptions, and the grimace is a perceptual reflex to experiences that are different.

Grimacing blocks awareness of things as they are unfolding, it is an attempt to control what is not controllable.
 
Sorry to hear this. I have heard many such reports over the years. I wish I had an answer for you, but the only thing I could suggest is to try a hippie flip with the idea of creating a positive experience/association with the psychedelic. I say hippie flip and not candy flip, because the durations match up better with the hippie.

Hope you can come back to them again with care and reverence.
 
pupnik said:
When things require attention, relax, be receptive, open, and as non-judgemental as possible.
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Unfortunately it is not as easy as that. The first time I had this problem, on the high-dose mushroom trip linked in my initial post, I tried following this exact advice for hours and it didn't help one bit. If anything, things got even worse. Only then did I start to freak out / panic.
 
buuuurps said:
Unfortunately it is not as easy as that. The first time I had this problem, on the high-dose mushroom trip linked in my initial post, I tried following this exact advice for hours and it didn't help one bit. If anything, things got even worse. Only then did I start to freak out / panic.
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so the freak out begins when you stop working at relaxing?
 
pupnik said:
so the freak out begins when you stop working at relaxing?
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I only freaked out the first time this happened on a high dose of mushrooms, because i eventually started to think that i had actually poisoned myself. On later attempts with low-dose lsd, i didn't panic, but the experience remained very unpleasant pretty much from start to finish despite my best efforts to keep an open mind, relax, accept everything as it comes, etc
 
buuuurps said:
Unfortunately it is not as easy as that. The first time I had this problem, on the high-dose mushroom trip linked in my initial post, I tried following this exact advice for hours and it didn't help one bit. If anything, things got even worse. Only then did I start to freak out / panic.
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May I ask how do you relax? Instead trying to relax you should try to change set & setting until you hit the sweet spot. Maybe instead trying to relax with some chill music you actually need something fast-paced to go with the vibe of your current trip. Or instead trying to get cozy in bed you need to go on a walk. I’m writing this cuz I can imagine how trying to relax during some high voltage LSD come up can make someone feel worse.
 
SpiralusSancti said:
May I ask how do you relax? Instead trying to relax you should try to change set & setting until you hit the sweet spot. Maybe instead trying to relax with some chill music you actually need something fast-paced to go with the vibe of your current trip. Or instead trying to get cozy in bed you need to go on a walk. I’m writing this cuz I can imagine how trying to relax during some high voltage LSD come up can make someone feel worse.
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I may actually need to try something along those lines on my next attempt, thanks mate!
 
I never think of relaxing by changing what is going around outside of my body, which is still valid, as external signals certainly do trigger reactions, including the tension reactions. However it is an indirect approach to something that feels like an onslaught.

What I do think of for relaxing is
a) locating the most tense parts of the body, and​
b) feeling that loosening up, (breathing through it - if you know what that is like from yoga)​
c) i.e. letting go from the middle of the tension where ever it is (including disembodied tension concepts)​
d) then moving onto the next tension (which could just be a burp that needs to come out)​

when really stoned, the body can become a very unfamiliar place, but the method of relaxing is always the same for me.

Also, if you do not practice this simple thing at least a few times when not stoned, you may not be able to access it when you do get stoned. I recommend lying down for 5 minutes to practice it if you do not yet have the skill. It is also referred to more generally as the body scan technique.

On some stronger trips, this activity, letting go, has been the central activity during the peak experience, it's work, but it changes an apocalypse into resurrection.
 
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That’s all easy once you get a hang of strong psychedelic experiences (and are well versed in mind expanding, exploration, whatever techniques when sober), so you can ride it out easy even alone and maybe even in hellish environment but until than or after not experiencing strong psychedelics for a long time it’s a lot easier to get into right set by simultaneously changing setting too.
 
I think our physiology, neurology, and psychology change over time so that the way we relate to psychedelics also changes.
 
Foreigner said:
I think our physiology, neurology, and psychology change over time so that the way we relate to psychedelics also changes.
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Yes, true. And so significantly that the 200ug I took as a 20yr old is like a totally different drug to the 40yr old me.

I actually find that I tolerate psychedelics much better than I did when I was younger. I guess I am happier than I've ever been and this accounts for a lot, but I used to get nausea of basically every psychedelic, now I just don't. I don't really get any anxiety when I used to just get anxiety waking up in the morning. But other drugs, most of them, have just turned into unpleasantness.
 
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