Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

gq.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 244 posts

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#201

Post by biafra »

hguant wrote: post #50
cnp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's an interesting study that seems to counter this claim: http://psychedelicfrontier.com/psychedelics-reductions-suici... http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/01/08/026988111456... Classic psychedelic use is associated with reduced psychological distress and suicidality in the United States adult population "Psychedelic users showed a significantly lower likelihood of recent psychological distress, as well a…

An article from the psychedelic frontier talking about a paper published in low impact journal (Impact Factor of slightly more than three) does not seem like an unbiased source. To be fair, I'm hardly an unbiased source, as a good friend of mine jumped out a window an hour or so after taking a rather large dose of LSD.

Did he jump out of the window because he wanted to end his life, or because he thought he could fly?

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#202

Post by PastaMonster »

BookmarkSaver wrote: post #69
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 agree with just about everything you said, except the "in nature" part. Don't get me wrong, tripping in nature is awesome, maybe the best place to trip. But it isn't necessary and might not even be the best for your first time (depending on what you are doing). They real key is to not have too many stimuli out of your control, particularly having lots and lots of strangers around. Especially if you have to interact…

If you're going to do it "in nature2. Don't do it near cliffs, steep hills or with a river of fast moving water. You'll thank me later.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#203

Post by tezza »

Before anyone rushes to try LSD or increase your dose significantly, please do your research[1].

Please speak to people who have used it (like me) and can assess how you personally will handle it. I will say LSD is a broad-sword drug and should be used with care. It is not playful. It will last as long as the dose, which may be longer than you had planned to trip. Generally only sleep will stop you tripping, and if you are tripping hard, you will not e able to sleep. One does not 'sober up' like beer.

A lot of the effects depend on your personality, id, self confidence and any bad experiences you may have locked inside. Your biological reaction may be the lesast of concerns.

LSD takes you on a journey, and you may not come the same person. It may give you a bad-trip, where your worst fears and memories manifest x 1000.

I have seen many stable friends flip out, even when having the same dose in the same environment.

Always have supportive straight friends who understand each time you are experimenting. Bear in mind you may be up for 36 hours as a result and they need to lead their normal lives.

LSD starts as a liquid. Eating a drop or two is sometimes is how you take it. But frequently that liquid is dropped with an eye-dropper onto cardboard. This cardboard is perforated and torn into tiny squares.

Roughly one drop per square [also called a Tab of Acid ].

But there you go.

1. How concentrated is the liquid acid?

2. How much was put onto the little square?

3. How long ago was this all made?

4. How accurate was the (illegal) chemist who made the LSD in the first place?

I will say that one TINY drop of acid is enough to make you trip for 24 hours. And on the square of cardboard the LSD is not necessarily evenly distributed, so a corner of the square can be where 90% of the active ingredient is. The effects vary wildly: Some LSD is quite visual, some has almost no visuals but plenty of mind-messing.

All of these factors combine to mean it is EXTREMELY difficult for anyone to estimate what a low dose is. Especially someone experimenting for the first few times.

Please research carefully, and if you still decide to experiment, ensure you are in a safe environment with understanding people.

-------

"I've read that if you take an extremely low dose it's non-psychotic but still has a number of positive cognitive effects"

Non-psychotic depends a lot on who-you-are: not the dose. I don't know you, and further I don't know anyone else reading this in the future.

Depending on the type of person you are, you could flip out badly on any dose.

LSD can unleash things inside you. People who you love... you may see them as snakes/undead. You may see your face melt off. More importantly you will feel horrified when this happens. It takes a lot of training to overcome the horror (if it happens).

I am not going to give the green light for experimentation with something that has such power when the downsides are so grim.

All my friends who flipped out were sold on the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds version of events. But the variability of the ingredients, their situation and their personality sometimes made it awful.

-----------------------------

[1] This is from my 2009 HN post

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=654676 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=655559

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#204

Post by Fordrus »

earlz wrote: post #95
BookmarkSaver wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with just about everything you said, except the "in nature" part. Don't get me wrong, tripping in nature is awesome, maybe the best place to trip. But it isn't necessary and might not even be the best for your first time (depending on what you are doing). They real key is to not have too many stimuli out of your control, particularly having lots and lots of strangers around. Especially if you have to interact…

About 90% of the stories I've heard of LSD ca be summarized by "I spent 3 hours watching a story unfold on my wall"

And, to be fair, as someone who has never done LSD and will likely wait until it is legal and can be prescribed by a physician- that sounds like an AMAZING experience. :)

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#205

Post by Fordrus »

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 wish I had two lives, so that I could dedicate one of them to the work of the doctor in the article- legitimizing psychedelic therapy by testing it properly and publishing the results. I've never tripped, but reading about tripping makes me wistful- I would go to a clinician and schedule the 2-3 months of therapy sessions before a clinician-guided trip right now, today if I could do so legally.

That said- I'm also quite pleased with who I am, like the author here, and I worry about losing that to the drug's effects. Eh, it's all fascinating stuff. :)

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#206

Post by ice303 »

BookmarkSaver wrote: post #69
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 agree with just about everything you said, except the "in nature" part. Don't get me wrong, tripping in nature is awesome, maybe the best place to trip. But it isn't necessary and might not even be the best for your first time (depending on what you are doing). They real key is to not have too many stimuli out of your control, particularly having lots and lots of strangers around. Especially if you have to interact…

And please, get some trusty test kits. I've seen lsd blotters with 2C-I

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#207

Post by kaitai »

biafra wrote: post #201
hguant wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An article from the psychedelic frontier talking about a paper published in low impact journal (Impact Factor of slightly more than three) does not seem like an unbiased source. To be fair, I'm hardly an unbiased source, as a good friend of mine jumped out a window an hour or so after taking a rather large dose of LSD.

Did he jump out of the window because he wanted to end his life, or because he thought he could fly?

One of those cases where it's not really the thought that counts in the end, either way.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#208

Post by purplerabbit »

Ygg2 wrote: post #178
purplerabbit wrote: post #34

//my experience var self = (function LSD(self) { if (self) { return { ontology: new Ontology(), ego: null } } else return self })(former_self) edit: spacing. But seriously though, LSD can encourage/force you to re-think things you've taken for granted or never really understood. Like what time is, or how empathy works.

So its basically just like dealing with bureaucracy? Reduces your ego to null and forces you to rethink things you've taken for granted, while contemplating your existence within rules of it.

That's an interesting comparison... Definitely some merit to it. The difference with LSD is that the rethinking occurs on more of a physical level than a social one.

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#209

Post by fukusa »

purplerabbit wrote: post #34

//my experience var self = (function LSD(self) { if (self) { return { ontology: new Ontology(), ego: null } } else return self })(former_self) edit: spacing. But seriously though, LSD can encourage/force you to re-think things you've taken for granted or never really understood. Like what time is, or how empathy works.

Just return self, no else, no?

Re: LSD: My Life-Saving Drug

#210

Post by 8d7a8 »

colordrops wrote: post #18
kahoon wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I had a similarly dragged experience, but with mushrooms (5g dry cubensis, chopped and boiled, solo).

At first I felt that I was perceiving the chaotic source of the projection that is our reality, which was interesting. This turned into a super vivid nightmare in which I went through previous points in my life in which I had in fact died and all the following memories were just imaginations made up in the moment of death. After this I regained some awareness of where I was but was convinced I had stabbed myself in the stomach for quite a while.

The dose was quite high, but I didn't feel that I had control over any of this at the time. I wouldn't trip without a sitter again (or a long playlist queued up - only had one CD which ran out).

Afterwards I noticed that other tryptamines I tried (DMT, LSD) risked flashbacks to that experience, although this could have been placebo. I have since had positive trips :)

Post reply on HN