The Big & Dandy Flashback Thread

Welcome to the Big & Dandy Flashback Thread

To clear up a common misconception right off the bat, which is also stated at least 2 other times on this first page, is that a flashback is not HPPD !!!

A flashback is actually a symptom of PTSD, basically meaning that when a sensory stimulus is repeated that deeply and unconsciously reminds you of a traumatically intense experience you can relive (part of) this experience because of this trigger.

HPPD has nothing to do with psychological trauma but all the more with physical CNS trauma. Your sight and other senses can be more or less permanently disturbed by psychedelics.

Both flashbacks as well as HPPD symptoms do not have to be horrific or unpleasant by definition, but both can be.

On a personal note: my second trip ever was a total ego annihilation, I have had mystical experiences after that but that second trip was something else: temporary enlightenment. It was also completely unexpected and unknown to me and it caused a trauma. It was both the best and the worst that ever happened to me, beyond that, it initiated my awakening - something I don't take any credit for at all by the way. Point is, I have had one single flashback of that experience, it lasted less than 10 minutes and was - although super weird - not negative at all. It was hyper remembrance. Being back there again.

Solipsis

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[original post:]

Being the self-titled drug guru that I am , I've always been the first to repeat the cardinal fact about "flashbacks" which is that what people are actually experiencing is PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) of discomforting/traumatic trips, and that this is not because of any effect of the chemical itself. I still believe that, but last night, for the first time ever, I had my first legitimate "flashback" in that I went to sleep at 1:00, and woke up at 2:30 watching walls melting, books changing places in the bookcase, etc. Certainly wasn't traumatic, but definitely caught me by surprise. I have had much more minor versions of this before, and I am basically curious what to attribute to... I do not consider this in any way to be "permanent effects of the chemicals", and it certainly doesnt feel trauma-related in that my only semi-traumatic trip was on LSD and was one of those "mindfuck" bad trips, not a hallucinatory hell, and the visuals in my flashback most strongly resembled those of mushrooms (though they had some completely unique qualities of their own that I can not actually recall from any psychedelic drug I have done)... my general feeling at this time is that my repeated use of psychedelics and the great time i have spent thinking about the "greater questions" in life has basically elevated my mind to one of those semi-tripping levels, and that this is a natural manifestation of this.
i will also note, for detail's sake, that I had smoked a copious amount of ganja before going to bed (and that previous and much more minor versions of this flashback phenomenon have always happened after pot consumption), and that I feel like the combination of THC and the hypnagogic falling-asleep halfway-dreaming halfway-sober state combined to produce this surprising psychedelic event...
well i'm rambling, tell me your thoughts.

Well I suppose this could be called a flashback but really it could have just been some wacked out dream which you had because of all tha ganj you had before you went to sleep. seeing how lsd is mainly psychological you could have just been dreaming about it and induced some sort of flashback. It is possible to induce the state of mind which you had during a psychedelic experience through meditation.

ive had a real flashback once before, too. i was sittin in bead trying to go to sleep but i wasnt very tired, so im sitting there staring at my wall with my eyes completely open, when all of a sudden 3 dancing santa clauses appear in my vision and start dancing in a circle, for about 10 seconds and then it went away. really fucked with me.

I'm really spacing on the term right now, but there is a documented condition having to do with persisting hallucinations. The acronym is HIDS or something I think, I'll look around for it and post more when I find it. There was a great page somone linked me to once regarding the condition after I asked in a post why I often have very subtle, but persisting hallucinations.
EDIT : here we go. HPPD. Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder
http://www.stormloader.com/hppd/
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"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you ca'n't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here..."
[This message has been edited by evangelon (edited 05 September 2001).]

Been there, a very interesting site. Wouldn't say I have "HPPD" because I do not hallucinate all the time, I just have episodes like the one I described. And I guess I should correct myself, I can't really call it a "flashback" as it did not resemble any particular drug experience I had, it was more of a "non-drug-induced psychedelic state".

in regard to cidrop, i don't think that wasn't a flashback at all. IMHO a flashback should consist of the bubbling and melting and swirling found with acid and such, not the "oh i see santa" aspect.. That was most likely your brain starting to want to fall asleep so you saw those santas because your mind started venturing into the realm of sleeping and dreaming.
i had an experience like yours a cou
ple weeks ago..
i was trying to fall asleep and with my eyes closed, i started seeing words flashing and rotating.. i really forget what the words were.. i think some were like "POWER" and "EXPERIENCE" and then, one of them was "GAP" with the Gap logo (as in the clothing store).. very odd, but i swear to god i saw the words as if they were CEVs.. although i wouldn't really call it a flashback.. bexcause before that night many a times, i've started keeping my mind awake and i have actually seen myself start dreaming, then i'll open my eyes and see my dream image morph into the room i am in, no joke. one night i started to dream that i was looking in a mirror. .at that point i opened my eyes.. i then saw my own face morph into my room as the dream image subsided and i gained my normal vision..
Oh and the very next night (after the word thing), while staring at the wall paper in the hotel room i was in, it was covered with flowers and shit, dark in the room, could somewhat see them.. they all turned into eyes (something i see a lot on shrooms).. then a big body rush came over me and my heart accelerated for about 2 minutes... after that i ran up into the bathroom to check my pupil size but they were normal.. very interesting..

I think you were having an intense lucid dream or you half woke up during REM (the only time of the night that you dream) and your dream world and real world were entangled.
peace

HerbinMike, I think that could still be classified as HPPD, here's a quote...
"In its mildest forms, HPPD can be a subtle perceptual incident that occurs every once-in-awhile to someone who has used a hallucinogen in the past."
Just suggesting a possibility. Anyhow, I think that it is a very interesting site and condition. I wish some serious medical research could be put into it.
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"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you ca'n't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here..."

dpp, that might be true, but my eyes were wide fucking open when it happen, all my vision blurred except the cartoon santas

^^^
i would think of that more as a hypnogogic hallucination, ie 'sleep paralysis'.
it's the same reason people think they get abducted by aliens. and no, i'm not getting into that discussion again. i don't believe it and nothing you say will convince me.

Sleep Paralysis is a scary mother y'all.
Happened to me once, and it is honestly a really frightening experiance. I'm just thankful that I had previously heard of it, otherwise it would have been a lot scarier. I swear seconds seem like hours in that state.
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"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you ca'n't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here..."

I do not meet all of the criteria for HPPD, especially criteria B on the website which states "the symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning". What distress? WHOOOAHHHH LOOK AT THE WALL MANNNN....

Mike, i have had an experience exaclty like yours once before. i have noticed that i am much more suseptible to visuals these days, like once in a while when i get very stoned, i'll start to see colors, etc. one night in particular i was in bed after a fair amount of smoking, and i thought i saw the wall pulsate a little (very common sight for me while tripping, acid, shrooms, or otherwise). hmm, i thought to myself, random visuals, i have heard of this before, wonder if i can induce it. after staring at the wall a little longer, it started to intensify. well, i thought, wonder if i can make that book right there come off the shelf...stared for a little while longer, sure enough, the book slid out, just a bit, but definately noticeable. i tried to do more, but that was all that happened. i am sure it must be related to falling asleep, and being in that elusive yet magical realm between awake and asleep.
by the way, don't remember which thread i read this on, but that thing where you're drifing off to sleep then suddenly your whole body twitches and you're wide awake, heart racing. that's called a myopic twitch, and it happens to everyone, not just us!
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I am a drug. Take me.
--Salvador Dali

What exactly is sleep paralyis like? Sometimes if I haven't slept in awhile or I'm really run down I get this really freaky thing that happens to me. It happens when I'm just starting to fall asleep and suddenly I can hear a buzzing inside my head, it gets louder and louder until it sounds like its overwelming. Then my entire body seizes up and I can't move a muscle for what seems like a minute or so. Then suddenly I have the strength to snap out of it and I'm fine after. It hasn't happened in awhile so I havn't bothered seeing a doctor about it. Is this the same thing you guys are refering to?

I get sleep paralysis fairly often (probably three times a month). It's as you described, Switch, though I'm not sure if everyone necessarily experiences hallucination like aspects (?). I'm not sure about most people, but my experiences are usually split between being completely terrifying or confusing enough that I don't realize I was 'in' the paralysis state until the final 5-10 seconds of it.
[This message has been edited by soapd (edited 07 September 2001).]

I have had sleep paralysis before. Nothing hallucinatory or anything, just right when i wake up usually from a dream i am completely paralyzed and unable to move my body for about 30sec. I am familiar with what is happening so it doesnt scare me i just sorta try and fall back asleep and keep trying to move untill I can. I read in a science journal that the reason people get sleep paralysis is that when you go into REM sleep, your brain produces a chemical that paralyses you to keep you from acting out your dream. People who sleepwalk are people that occasionally do not get enough of this chemical in their system so they still move about. Sleep paralysis happens when a person wakes up while they are still under the influence of this chemical so they are unable to move untill it wears off.
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what you know about that muthafuckin sticky icky?

HerbinMike, I had the EXACT same experience.. waking up and seeing my walls melting, objects moving.. But I've never done any hallucinigenic drugs besides mushrooms.. and I've had this experience 4 or 5 times..! i wonder what its from..

Just a a side note, i smoke weed everyday (but seriously doubt that has caused any condition that makes me hallucinate), and these hallucinacians seem to happen when i go to bed after just smoking a large amount of weed.. but it doesnt ALWAYS happen when i smoke a large amount of weed and go to sleep..

I used to trip alot, & I would get this thing where I'd be walking down the street & stop suddendly, I'd turn to whoever I was with & ask them what the hell 'that' was. So after a while I clicked that it was just me, but it just seemed like a giant shadow from above. I decided to really try & 'look' at my shadow thing & I discovered that it was a a bat swooping down from above.Strange as I've never seen bats while tripping, It was'nt scary, but it was kind of dangerous cause I'd stop suddenly in the middle of the road!! So it went on for about 6 months & gradually faded. It was definatley drug induced, cause I chilled out on the trips & the bats stopped( it took a while though!) So I always considered those to be flashbacks even though they'd never been part of a trip.
-I did'nt stop tripping cause of the bats, I actually kind of liked it,It was pretty funny.

this is definitly marijuana induced, these same experiences i have had many times, and from being the weed coniseiur that i am, my body tells me that this is from pot and brain chemicals released during sleep. They are bizarre experiences, but thc is definetly involved for this to happen. Im not saying that u most smoke a shitload of weed for this to happen but a fair amount of thc, say from smoking daily or almost daily should certainly do it. Also to say this usually happens several days after i have done x. ANy comments there
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Im NO greenlighter, my old id wont work! so RESPECT ME!