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LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

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Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#11

Post by kshahkshah »

There is a lot going on in this article and I won't comment on all of it. I'll just address people who are perhaps curious about psychedelics. May I highly suggest that those wishing to experiment with psychedelics do it only in a place where you feel absolutely safe. That is, no risk of police, parents (if that is an issue), or neighbours to bother you. Additionally and I do think this is very important: in nature. Not in Times Square.

When done right and with the right people it can be a truly profound experience which I firmly firmly believe all humans should participate in. I've heard just as many people though turned off to them permanently though through bad experiences which I (who am likely biased) chalk up to bad settings. I'd also say properly grown mushrooms may be a better option for most people. Finally, maybe mixing drugs isn't the best thing to do either.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#12

Post by danharaj »

EC1 wrote: post #8
danharaj wrote: post #4

It's a tired cliche to share one's fundamentally incommunicable drug experiences in the comments when the topic comes up, is it not? Let's have a go at it. The author paints an image of conflict between himself on lsd, and himself off lsd. Himself the perceiver, and himself the analyzer. I don't think these are integral to the experience. He mentions perceptions like '...the notion of “teetering” was meaningless too—…

What by Laozi did you read?

Dao De Jing. I read then Ursula Le Guin's rendition. since then i have also read Waley's translation and fragments of some others. i would say that reading widely and thoughtfully a variety of interpretations is worthwhile. The only 'layman' interpretation i find satisfactory is Le Guin's, but perhaps that is nostalgiac bias? I find other unscholarly attempts to be a bit vague and artificially 'mystical'. Scholarly translations are great because they really try to put the work in context and preserve its delicate meanings. That's rather important considering that the text, like many ancient writings has been corrupted through transmission and interpolation, and translation is fundamentally lossy.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#13

Post by danharaj »

edpichler wrote: post #6
colordrops wrote: post #5

> When a freak brain hemorrhage struck out of nowhere a couple of years ago, I became a little depressed, stuck in a rut, and strangely fearful of death. So when I heard about people (in my neighborhood, even) using hallucinogens to push beyond their preoccupations, to help them live without fear, I decided that was a trip I had to take. Ironically, I had a bad trip on LSD where I thought I had a brain hemorrhage, an…

I believe on you. I read the those bad trips can be really bad. Using LSD when you are depressed is dangerous.

It's a shame to see this comment in gray. You're right. It's not as if LSD has an intent to be therapeutic. It's a molecule that primes a brain for strange experiences. There's no reason why those experiences have to be good. They can be terrible.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#14

Post by [deleted] »

colordrops wrote: post #5

> When a freak brain hemorrhage struck out of nowhere a couple of years ago, I became a little depressed, stuck in a rut, and strangely fearful of death. So when I heard about people (in my neighborhood, even) using hallucinogens to push beyond their preoccupations, to help them live without fear, I decided that was a trip I had to take. Ironically, I had a bad trip on LSD where I thought I had a brain hemorrhage, an…

[deleted]

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#15

Post by jwdunne »

colordrops wrote: post #5

> When a freak brain hemorrhage struck out of nowhere a couple of years ago, I became a little depressed, stuck in a rut, and strangely fearful of death. So when I heard about people (in my neighborhood, even) using hallucinogens to push beyond their preoccupations, to help them live without fear, I decided that was a trip I had to take. Ironically, I had a bad trip on LSD where I thought I had a brain hemorrhage, an…

Funnily enough, it's possible to have such experiences on a trip that is otherwise very positive. I panicked a few times that I may have severed my genitalia and been unable to feel it due to LSD - my partner was helpful in calming me down and making the experience truly great.

It can definitely understand why it can be so damaging.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#16

Post by kahoon »

colordrops wrote: post #5

> When a freak brain hemorrhage struck out of nowhere a couple of years ago, I became a little depressed, stuck in a rut, and strangely fearful of death. So when I heard about people (in my neighborhood, even) using hallucinogens to push beyond their preoccupations, to help them live without fear, I decided that was a trip I had to take. Ironically, I had a bad trip on LSD where I thought I had a brain hemorrhage, an…

How did it damage you? Did you continue to think you had a brain hemorrhage even after you became sober or was it "just" very traumatizing while it lasted?

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#17

Post by cnp »

kshahkshah wrote: post #11

There is a lot going on in this article and I won't comment on all of it. I'll just address people who are perhaps curious about psychedelics. May I highly suggest that those wishing to experiment with psychedelics do it only in a place where you feel absolutely safe. That is, no risk of police, parents (if that is an issue), or neighbours to bother you. Additionally and I do think this is very important: in nature .…

I would like to add that the safest set and setting is your own own home, with a sitter. There's simply no substitute for it if you're just getting started. Call a friend up and ask; trip sitting is fun! Save nature for later, when you're familiar.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#18

Post by colordrops »

kahoon wrote: post #16
colordrops wrote: post #5

> When a freak brain hemorrhage struck out of nowhere a couple of years ago, I became a little depressed, stuck in a rut, and strangely fearful of death. So when I heard about people (in my neighborhood, even) using hallucinogens to push beyond their preoccupations, to help them live without fear, I decided that was a trip I had to take. Ironically, I had a bad trip on LSD where I thought I had a brain hemorrhage, an…

How did it damage you? Did you continue to think you had a brain hemorrhage even after you became sober or was it "just" very traumatizing while it lasted?

I had decided to meditate and watch my breath at the peak of the experience, and felt my consciousness separate from my full body, and move upward into my brain (similar to the visual in the intro to Fight Club). I felt like I was a singular point floating around the blood vessels in my brain, and this freaked me out, so I took a sharp turn, which burst a vessel at the top of my sinuses. I felt the blood rush into my throat, and then I got tunnel vision and lost the ability to talk, and felt like I was passing out. A friend of mine said something that seemed like an incantation at the time, which pulled me out of it, but I was left with the belief that I could kill myself with my own thoughts. I was in a mental prison, constantly guarding myself from thinking certain thoughts. It took me years to break out of this prison, and I'm still scarred by it.

I have taken hallucinogens since and have been fine. I've never had anything nearly this bad on mushrooms, if that says anything. Mushrooms seem to guide you to a place, whereas LSD drags you there, whether you want to go or not.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#19

Post by kendallpark »

kurage wrote: post #7

LSD helped me significantly; it alleviated my ADHD symptoms, and helped me get over my substance dependency issues over few low dose trips. Psilocybin helped bring clarity, motivation in my life, love for nature, and helped purge out some negative emotions by crying. Ayahuasca has been the most therapeutic; it allowed me to revisit very early childhood memories I've completely forgotten about, which later helped my i…

> it alleviated my ADHD symptoms

What ADHD symptoms did it alleviate?

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