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LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

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Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#101
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bumping into objects, living in my head all day, failure to follow up on appointments, messy room, always lost things, moved around constantly, and more.

How did it affect these things? I have a hard time imagining how it could all of a sudden fix ADHD symptoms like that.

LSD, at least for me, was forced meditation.. you're in a mental state where the present moment is all there is. That was a complete opposite of the ADHD mental state, where I resisted being in the present, but lived in the future to look forward to, the past to avoid things I didn't like or could potentially hurt me, and just uncontrollable urge to understand how everything works.

The truth is, we only have so much time left on this earth, that it's impossible to understand everything that exists.. we can only try our best with the situations we're in and given.

Anyway, once I realized the importance of the present moment, it made it easier for me to do things I've always wanted to do, and neglected to do. I felt like my mind did a disk-defrag, completely nuked my old self, and started with a clean new slate to relearn things.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#102
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 also showed me why I was born, which helped give me a sense of direction, purpose in life. Out of curiosity, can I ask why you were born?

Unfortunately, I'd like to keep that to myself because it's super personal to me, but one of the biggest things I learned is that by healing myself, and leading by example, I can also help my family because they've also experienced some traumas growing up.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#103
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe these drugs are just a shortcut. That's exactly what they are. Few people reach through meditation what these drugs can show anyone, but meditation will get you there as well, perhaps with more control.

I'm still skeptical. I suspect meditation can give something similar, but not the same, as something like heroin, just like running can get you a "runner's high". But the brain just can't produce arbitrary chemical formulas. A fun passage from http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2011/07/dispatc... "The serious heroin aficionado, if still functional, lives his junkie life surrounded by poor dumb muggles who b…

I think, in the context he's saying meditation and drugs are similar, they're referring to psychedelics and their ability to blur reality and perceptions.

Heroin is a whole other animal, I'm not sure you're going to find many people comparing it to meditation.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#104
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…

In your other comments I noticed you referenced meditation. Can you talk about the effect that a 20 minute meditation session has on you?

Yup! I meditate each day, 20 minutes, to help me get back into the present moment that LSD opened up for me. Honestly, for me, 20 minutes is where my mind and breath starts to slow down, and other than a calming effect, it's not very noticeable. I only do 20 minutes most of the time because of time restraints.

If I continue, I start seeing colors swirl around the 30min mark, reminding myself not to get attached to it. After 40 min, the cognitive changes are VERY noticeable when I stop. Food tastes great, colors are vivid, and I can even feel the individual water drops in the shower.. I liken it to cannabis effects without the racing thoughts.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#105
post #66
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask strangers in suitable environments.

Unfortunately it's not that simple. There's a good chance of ending up with some designer drug instead of the real thing. And those are well known to be dangerous. https://youtube.com/watch?v=dYzmZ1IU4zY

There are testing kits [0] that can help reduce this risk. I'm all about harm reduction!

[0]: https://dancesafe.org/shop/

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#106
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a woman who was a junior at Dartmouth. She came home for Christmas. She went to a concert with friends. She allegedly took LSD. She woke up the next day, and didn't recognize her parents. She didn't recognize her boyfriend whom came running over. She finished her degree 25 years later, and she still has trouble functioning in society. She never got back to that high functioning individual. She's still very sma…

> This is a true story Not very reliable, as this is also what old wives tales and urban legends claim too ("I know this guy/gal that..."). In this case for example, you might really know that woman, and she might have been a junior at Dartmouth that had those issues, but unless you were there with her that day, there's no way to know whether she did take LSD that night (or something else, or even nothing), or whethe…

[deleted]

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#107
I love LSD, and I've done a few (<10) full trips in my youth. But as I've gotten older that kind of intense experience just doesn't have the same appeal. One thing my friends and I have discovered is the pleasantness of micro-dosing. Put 1 tab of acid in 4 tablespoons of water, mix it a bit, let it sit for 10 minutes, and then each person takes a tablespoon. In about 45 minutes it comes on but it's not strong at all. No hall of mirrors effect, no out-of-control feeling, just 4 hours of laughing and a heightened sense of being in tune with your surroundings. Highly recommended.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#108
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In your other comments I noticed you referenced meditation. Can you talk about the effect that a 20 minute meditation session has on you?

Yup! I meditate each day, 20 minutes, to help me get back into the present moment that LSD opened up for me. Honestly, for me, 20 minutes is where my mind and breath starts to slow down, and other than a calming effect, it's not very noticeable. I only do 20 minutes most of the time because of time restraints. If I continue, I start seeing colors swirl around the 30min mark, reminding myself not to get attached to it…

Could I email/message you and ask you some questions about meditation?

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#109
I feel research into psychedelic drugs needs to be conducted a lot more. There may be many applications of psychedelic drugs in treating various medical conditions, and only by understanding how psychedelic drugs work can we begin thinking about it's applications.

Personally though, I feel we shouldn't be promoting the use of psychedelic drugs for recreational purposes in any form(such as commenting how awesome the experience of using LSD was) and especially not in public forums.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Brain: Hey! This scary thing I'm now experiencing must be incorporated into my behavior." "You: Yay, I now have a phobia of something!" A profound experience yes. Some substances are more likely to make permanent changes in your head. Be smart and read up - or take your chances and get fucked for life. Even cannabis can cause psychosis.

TL;DR - be careful, don't make the decision lightly, take reasonable precautions. I came here to write something along these lines. About a year ago, I ate _way_ too much cannabis before a party then proceeded to have a terrible trip. The subtle meaning in people's interactions, which I had always been able to respond to intuitively, suddenly became apparent and burdensome. I saw a man who did not receive enough affe…

Your story is interesting.

I can attest to the fact (anecdotally) when you consume cannabis orally, you gain this meta-insight into social situations. But, this new found social consciousness varies from person to person.

Whereas you had a fundamentally negative experience, I've found the ability to discern people's subtle, true intentions in social settings to be quite comical.

It could be possible that you are a slightly anxious person by nature, in which case cannabis is probably not a good idea.

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