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Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

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Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#111

Post by jackmodern »

nicoffeine wrote: post #46

Low doses may also prevent Alzheimers from progressing.[1][2] Ayahuasca/DMT[3] and psilocybin[4] may have similar effects. It's fascinating that a monthly visit to your local shaman may still be more safe and effective for depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline than anything western medicine has been able to produce. [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/abbierosner/2020/02/21/microdos... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.…

I take 1-2 doses per month (in the 25 microgram range) with 2.5-5mg THC (via mint edible) and that has done wonders for me both in terms of mood, acceptance, and empathy towards others around me. I don't know if it will fix someone with severe issues, but for me it is sort of a maintenance thing that keeps my cognitive health flowing in the right direction and my overall sense of well being positive. It's certainly not for everyone, but definitely a net positive for many.

Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#112

Post by jackmodern »

nurettin wrote: post #85
nicoffeine wrote: post #46

Low doses may also prevent Alzheimers from progressing.[1][2] Ayahuasca/DMT[3] and psilocybin[4] may have similar effects. It's fascinating that a monthly visit to your local shaman may still be more safe and effective for depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline than anything western medicine has been able to produce. [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/abbierosner/2020/02/21/microdos... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.…

visit to your psychiatrist will get you addicted to ritalin and valium. Visit to your local shaman will get you addicted to acid and shrooms. Your local dealer will get you addicted to meth, heroine and coke. Your choice. [ https://omitted.useless.links ]

In over 12 years of using psychedelics intermittently, I have never met a daily user of any of them. It's just not possible. I have met people that abused them slightly for sure, but not like the other drugs you listed. Those are all extremely high risk in the daily abuse category of addiction. This simply isn't a fair comparison. Fiendy/physically addictive drugs =/ Psychedelics

Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#113

Post by almostdeadguy »

nefitty wrote: post #82
almostdeadguy wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Utterly pretentious, dweeby reason to take acid

Different folks have different goals. There’s nothing inherent about any chemical or tool.

Taking acid to "improve your productivity at startups" is a tool for people with no appreciation for leisure or mind expansion. There's also a difference between taking something to cope or function and taking something because you think it makes you the Rembrandt of startups or whatever. I mean do what you want, and I'll reserve my right to clown on goofballs like this.

Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#114

Post by w33n1s »

iamgopal wrote: post #2

Anyone with first hand experience of LSD ?

The most interesting thing that happened to me was that I looked at my hands — they were my hands but I was seeing them as they appeared when I was a kid. Hard to explain. But I was looking right at them with my own eyes and seeing my hands as I remember them from around 4 years old. I realized how much of my perception is filtered through memories and preconception, rather than just raw visuals from my eyes.

Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#115

Post by GuB-42 »

nicoffeine wrote: post #46

Low doses may also prevent Alzheimers from progressing.[1][2] Ayahuasca/DMT[3] and psilocybin[4] may have similar effects. It's fascinating that a monthly visit to your local shaman may still be more safe and effective for depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline than anything western medicine has been able to produce. [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/abbierosner/2020/02/21/microdos... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.…

As a side note, LSD is a product of western medicine, psylocybin an DMT, while both present in nature have been characterized by western medicine and you are linking to western medicine papers.

Western medicine, which I would rather call scientific medicine is not against psychedelics and natural remedies, but instead of telling you to eat the funny shaped mushroom, it will study what exactly is in that mushroom, extract the good stuff, remove the bad, maybe try to improve it. It will then test it, with accurate dosing and if everything goes well, produce a treatment that is similar to what the shaman did but better.

I'd say the only thing the shaman has over a registered doctor is that he can spend more time with you, and hopefully have a positive influence on your lifestyle. But it is not a shortcoming of scientific medicine, in fact, it recognizes it. It is more about doctors being too few and overworked.

Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#116

Post by torified »

dvduval wrote: post #45

For me, I don't believe I really ever saw anything that was different than reality, but the attention to my senses was heightened. It was a new curiosity about everything I saw or heard. if you wave your hand in front of your face there's a trail behind it. This sort of thing is heightened. I remember going to a racquetball court and it seems like they were many balls in the court when there actually there was only o…

I was in the passenger seat of a car, and my mind wandered while watching the car in front of us - I 100% watched it lose control and drive off the side of the road into the blackness.

It was just my imagination as confirmed by the sober driver and other passengers.

I was aware that my mind was wandering though - at a higher dose I might not have been aware of that.

Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#117

Post by 25mph »

malux85 wrote: post #15
iamgopal wrote: post #2

Anyone with first hand experience of LSD ?

Yes, I have tried it. Only micro-doses. It takes about an hour to kick in, and for me, lasts about 6-8 hours. It feels like it silences any inner critic in me, so I am a lot more free thinking. I have used it several times to overcome getting stuck on a programming problem, but I have to write the solution down because I usually get too distracted while using it to be able to focus enough to implement. The problems i…

Interesting. Mind is often divided into two halves: the lower concrete mind that constructs specific thoughts with shapes and the upper abstract mind that sees ideas. From your story it sounds like LSD suppressed your lower mind, so you could see ideas better, while the lower mind was still functional enough to materialise these ideas into 10 pages of writing.

There is an interesting exercise for people with somewhat functional upper mind and I wonder what's going to happen if you try it in that LSD-elevated state. The exercise is just focused thinking about the relationship between sound and space. Before the exercise begins, the "trainee" needs to get a good understanding of the two concepts. First think about what the general idea of sound is: what really makes sound a sound? Then think of space as the spacetime in the GR theory: it's some kind of fundamental structure that obeys wave-like GR equations, so it naturally has all sorts of quantum-scale ripples and large gravity waves. Once you have a grip on the two concepts, the exercise begins: combine the two thoughts and stare at the "mix" with your mind.

For average folks this will produce no effect. But for those with somewhat working upper mind and well functioning lower mind, this produces one specific effect. I basically wonder if LSD allows you to skip a very long training process and enter the mode, at least temporarily, to make this exercise useful.

P.S. As to what that effect is, I'd say it doesn't matter. If it works, you'll see it. Turning on lights is a matter of flipping a switch, not the knowledge of electricity.

Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#118

Post by torified »

__blockcipher__ wrote: post #62
tprice7 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There isn't necessarily a contradiction there, e.g. you could just see a single ball at any given moment but feel like it was a different ball than the one you saw a few seconds ago. Ditto for the sounds. So you aren't literally seeing anything that isn't there but you may still form higher-level impressions that are not accurate.

The specific visual they’re describing, at least if it was the effect I’ve experienced while actually tripping, is you see the same ball forked into a number of balls that end up merging back together. That was on like 200ug, probably with some cannabis thrown in for good measure. More broadly you are right, they’re not “hallucinations”. Huge pet peeve of mine when people call them that. I was telling a friend who’s…

>word they’re using to describe the notion that getCurrentTime() is returning null rather than a fixed number.

Can you explain what you mean by this? I've never had the time-dilation effects.

Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#119

Post by pmoriarty »

gavinray wrote: post #96
zadler wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was the cause of the bad experience?

This is such a difficult question -- I honestly wish I knew the answer outright and could give it to you. I don't think I can do that much, but what I can do is offer some theories and context. (Note: I wrote at length about this experience, and my general experiences with both psychedelics + MDMA here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22991744 ) I'll write the following under the assumption that you/the reader d…

"Psychedelics are a fundamentally neutral substance. What I mean by that is, that they and the experience, are neither good nor bad."

There are a significant number of people who view the psychedelic substances they use as teachers, as sacred, as emissaries of gods or other supernatural beings, or as those beings themselves.

Though such views are often dismissed as superstition or magical thinking by many who consider themselves part of "advanced", "civilized" societies, and who view these substances more as neutral tools, such societies' confrontation with these substances is relatively young, and I suspect that as they gain more experience with them their views will change.

Use of these substances have already been the wellspring from which multiple religions have come, and the potential for them to spawn more major religious movements, and with them a much more deferential attitude towards and view of these substances, will only grow as their use increases.

Re: Low Doses of LSD Acutely Increase BDNF Blood Plasma Levels in Healthy Volunteers

#120

Post by pmoriarty »

bb88 wrote: post #72
Enginerrrd wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly a fair number of studies have been done and the problem with all that stuff is there's always been a relatively high rate of complications and adverse outcomes. Responses/experiences are hard to predict. I get that in some people it can be a wonderful thing, nearly a miracle cure. I've done plenty of psychedelics myself, but I always find the insistence by proponents that any harm done is the fault of the us…

I do absolutely agree on that. What would be nice is that you get the benefits of the drug without any of the "bad trip" experiences, in a controlled way.

If you look at every trip as a learning experience, even a bad trip doesn't have to be all bad.

Now, I wouldn't wish my own bad trips on anyone, but I've found I learned far, far more from them than I did my good trips, so in that sense they were actually beneficial.

Also, the term "bad trip" may be a misnomer. They might be more fittingly called "difficult trips" or "challenging trips". It is possible to draw meaning and even wisdom from such trips.

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