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Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

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Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience doing LSD with a bunch of people over the years, you experience your moods, feelings, and fears. So if you take it and you're not in a happy or content place, it's not fun. I never had a bad trip. Maybe luckily but maybe as a result of having a lot of friends that did a lot of drugs while I abstained. I did research for a few years before trying anything and added in my own anecdotal evidence of baby…

You mind if I ask how old you are? When was the last time you did LSD? Any chance you would have just grown out of the depression anyway? I've always dealt with depression, and it got a lot better naturally when I turned about 30, although definitely a good bit still lingers. I might want to try LSD to beat the last of it, but I feel a little old to get started on a LSD project.

You're not too old. While you're tripping, you might as well be a child.

Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#72

Disclaimer: I probably shouldn't be posting this, even under a throwaway, but I'm on the other side of the international date line, and I've had a few beers tonight. This post is in response to several comments on this thread. I've done quite a lot of LSD, and I feel that I have some anecdotal input that might be valuable to some. First, some background regarding my usage: I've been using hallucinogenic substances fo…

'LSD is the safest option'

Safer than cubensis?

Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience doing LSD with a bunch of people over the years, you experience your moods, feelings, and fears. So if you take it and you're not in a happy or content place, it's not fun. I never had a bad trip. Maybe luckily but maybe as a result of having a lot of friends that did a lot of drugs while I abstained. I did research for a few years before trying anything and added in my own anecdotal evidence of baby…

You mind if I ask how old you are? When was the last time you did LSD? Any chance you would have just grown out of the depression anyway? I've always dealt with depression, and it got a lot better naturally when I turned about 30, although definitely a good bit still lingers. I might want to try LSD to beat the last of it, but I feel a little old to get started on a LSD project.

20 or 21, I'm 44 now.

No chance I would have grown out of it, everyone in my family suffers from it to varying degrees throughout their lives. They've all self medicated and pharmacologically medicated themselves for most their lives.

I still deal with depression, but not as acute as throughout my childhood. Looking back I was depressed from 1st grade onward. Not many kids in elementary school look back at preschool with melancholic feelings, at least not that I am aware of. I lived my life reliving every prior moment and the interactions. I'm on the autistic scale as well, so I'm sure that has something to do with it.

I also did therapy and many other medications throughout my life as well. LSD was the only one that seemingly helped, in retrospect, beyond their initial dosing.

Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#74
post #16

What’s interesting is when LSD was first discovered and popularized with psychiatrists, it was considered a “model psychosis” - inducing a temporary state of psychosis which researchers could use to study mental problems. That theory was discredited in the late 60’s when it got banned (it was one of the reasons why it was supposed to have no medical value). I believe there’s a lot of truth to it, from my experience i…

Psychosis is an umbrella term that covers a wide range of experiences and causes. LSD might simulate some of these experiences, but all it really tells researchers about is LSD induced psychosis.

You're right but that doesn't mean it can't be useful for understanding psychosis in general. Clinical psychologists could, for instance, take lsd to get some sense of what their patients experience. It wouldn't be identical, but would offer at least some reference point for what it means to be psychotic.

Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#75
post #70

The comparison of lsd to overclocking a processor is a pretty good one. Someone I know describes the experience in a similar way: "In normal waking life, data comes into my brain in a singular stream. On lsd my brain feels like it has the ability to process more at once- more streams." Interesting things happen with all this input. Sensations get mixed around and felt in odd ways. For instance synesthesia... You make…

In my experience it feels more like you're underclocked than overclocked. Sensations become so overwhelming at times it's hard to interpret them in ways that can be useful to you. I think in normal waking life, your brain interprets these sensations for you and narrows the amount your conscious mind actually has to deal with.

Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mind if I ask how old you are? When was the last time you did LSD? Any chance you would have just grown out of the depression anyway? I've always dealt with depression, and it got a lot better naturally when I turned about 30, although definitely a good bit still lingers. I might want to try LSD to beat the last of it, but I feel a little old to get started on a LSD project.

20 or 21, I'm 44 now. No chance I would have grown out of it, everyone in my family suffers from it to varying degrees throughout their lives. They've all self medicated and pharmacologically medicated themselves for most their lives. I still deal with depression, but not as acute as throughout my childhood. Looking back I was depressed from 1st grade onward. Not many kids in elementary school look back at preschool…

Have you discovered what it was in the LSD experience that let you break off from those hindrances? Were you fully aware and conscious (meditative) on it or on a rollercoaster 'tripping balls'?

Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#77
post #58

> I was just barely capable of asking my companion to summon our family doctor and request milk from the neighbors. Hah, hah, a sign of the times. That's the last thing I'd want to injest when in the throws of a deep, harrowing LSD trip, yuck. Really the only thing that "helps", I find, is a watch (if you're able to read the watch that is). Time can help ground you in the sense that you know roughly when the peak wil…

We always carried “totems”. Little trinkets that we’d hold while waiting for the effect while silently repeating to ourselves that this would remind us we’re just high. Be damned if you lost that thing though. Mine was a toy kitten holding a cheeseburger.

Something I've gotten into the habit of doing actually involves writing on my arm in sharpie. I notate what I took, how much, and at what time.

I got the idea from a friend, who likes to experiment with some psychedelic RCs. The idea is, if for some reason he ends up in the ER, unable to communicate what he has taken to the doctor trying to help him, it's on his arm!

Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#78
post #70

The comparison of lsd to overclocking a processor is a pretty good one. Someone I know describes the experience in a similar way: "In normal waking life, data comes into my brain in a singular stream. On lsd my brain feels like it has the ability to process more at once- more streams." Interesting things happen with all this input. Sensations get mixed around and felt in odd ways. For instance synesthesia... You make…

In my experience it feels more like you're underclocked than overclocked. Sensations become so overwhelming at times it's hard to interpret them in ways that can be useful to you. I think in normal waking life, your brain interprets these sensations for you and narrows the amount your conscious mind actually has to deal with.

I would imagine it depends on the dose. An large dose of lsd would render just about anyone completely incoherent and possibly, absolutely insane. However, there is a reason many are gathering behind the idea of microdosing lsd for productivity. Here's an article on microdosing: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gv5p5y/a-brief-hi...

Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#79
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20 or 21, I'm 44 now. No chance I would have grown out of it, everyone in my family suffers from it to varying degrees throughout their lives. They've all self medicated and pharmacologically medicated themselves for most their lives. I still deal with depression, but not as acute as throughout my childhood. Looking back I was depressed from 1st grade onward. Not many kids in elementary school look back at preschool…

Have you discovered what it was in the LSD experience that let you break off from those hindrances? Were you fully aware and conscious (meditative) on it or on a rollercoaster 'tripping balls'?

I didn't take LSD for any therapeutic reason. I took it to enjoy the experience. The assistance in fixing my lifelong depression was a side effect I only realized had taken place may years later (in the last 4-5 while reading articles about how LSD/Ketamine? have helped people with depression).

It was never a rollercoaster for me. Outside of auditory and visual hallucinations you can mostly control your environment. In fact, it was always quite enjoyable. Playing music, either myself or recorded was an amazing experience, but most everything was.

Re: Albert Hofmann discovers the effects of LSD (1943)

#80

A peculiar presentiment—the feeling that LSD-25 could possess properties other than those established in my first investigations—induced me, five years after the first synthesis, to produce it once again so that a sample could be given to the pharmacological department for further tests. This was quite unusual; experimental substances as a rule were definitely stricken from the research program if once found to be la…

> As in the first synthesis, this involved the production of only a few centigrams of the compound.

At ~0.1mg per dose, this translates to "only" a few hundred doses.

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