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Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans

theguardian.com

41–50 of 97 posts

Re: Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans

#41
post #28

I had never done any kind of drugs in my life or psychedelics, but took Ayahuasca once with friends who were in the personal wellness space circa 2010. My experience: - tastes like mud - it’s recommended to vomit after taking it, but I felt too self-conscious because we were all together in the same room - the first part of the trip was wonderful as I spent 2hours in bliss seeing colored lights, I still remember this…

Do you think you could shift back into that "10x more confident self" consciously without the Ayahuasca?

I definitely tried but couldn't. It always felt like I was forcing it (becoming aggressive) and not natural like after the ayahuasca.

Re: Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans

#42

I've seen two people go down the Ayahuasca path in the past years and both of them have undergone such profound personality changes that I've had to stop seeing them. They've gone off the deep end in ways that are hard to describe. What also bothers me is that they've become incessant advocates for others to join them in their misery.

How old are you all and how long have you known these people?

Just curious

Re: Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans

#43

I've seen two people go down the Ayahuasca path in the past years and both of them have undergone such profound personality changes that I've had to stop seeing them. They've gone off the deep end in ways that are hard to describe. What also bothers me is that they've become incessant advocates for others to join them in their misery.

This is just turning out to be the acid craze of our generation. We need a PSA. If you take a heroic dose of a powerful hallucinogen with little prior experience or preparation you stand a chance of breaking your brain. Doing ayahuasca with some unknown "shaman" in a jungle "wellness retreat" is not the same as going to a spa and getting acupuncture. It's more like going skydiving with an "instructor" that just hands you a parachute and says Jump!

Re: Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans

#44
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awesome experience report, but > it seems the reason it lasted so long is because I couldn’t vomit in the first place, so the “medecine” stayed with me longer I highly doubt that, it was probably metabolized and out of your system in a few days max. What you describe are classical "afterglow" symptoms. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterglow_(drug_culture)

Afterglow is a layman's term but tells you nothing of the science. After the high does of amines (serotonin analog) which results in a drastic change serotonin receptor densities. It takes a while fro these receptors densities to return to normal. DMT behaves as an agonist at both 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors. There is nothing more to the magic than that. P.S. I have the same experience as being on DMT and I do not ta…

If the phenomena is complex even when the mechanism is glossable, you are missing out in descriptive detail when you imply it is "just" an agonist on those receptors. That itself should be mind-boggling. You have those receptors in your stomach.

Re: Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans

#47

Title is a little incorrect, the study was DMT only whose effects only last a short time period. You need the ayahuasca brew which contains other plants including an MAO-I that makes the effects possible via oral administration and also last much longer.

What an important detail to screw up!

Re: Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, using this drug to break down the compartments of the brain will lead to increased creativity (which is all hallucinations are, daydreaming on overload), it will not last. And the more you use DMT the more you will need for the same effect.

Why do you think that you need more for the same effect? Everything I've read states that ayahuasca doesn't induce tolerance

They don't know, they're talking out of their rearend.

Re: Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans

#49

I've seen two people go down the Ayahuasca path in the past years and both of them have undergone such profound personality changes that I've had to stop seeing them. They've gone off the deep end in ways that are hard to describe. What also bothers me is that they've become incessant advocates for others to join them in their misery.

Integration work is really important. Many people don't have the help they need to integrate their experience back into regular reality unfortunately. It's a shame, because the effects can be profoundly helpful, but meaningless if you can't continue to function in society. Many people try to bend every day life to a perceivable achievement of a new way of living for "us all". It's normal to realize certain relationships in your life are not positive, it's unhelpful to try and change others.

Re: Psychedelic brew ayahuasca’s profound impact revealed in brain scans

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Afterglow is a layman's term but tells you nothing of the science. After the high does of amines (serotonin analog) which results in a drastic change serotonin receptor densities. It takes a while fro these receptors densities to return to normal. DMT behaves as an agonist at both 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors. There is nothing more to the magic than that. P.S. I have the same experience as being on DMT and I do not ta…

I'm confused. What are you on disability for? Surely not for using DMT...

Sounds like they are on disability because they experience DMT-like effects without taking DMT.
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