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LSD: Not Even Once
241–250 of 352 posts
Re: LSD: Not Even Once
#242Fairly interesting post, especially for those who weren't aware that hallucinogens sometimes cause minor hallucinations indefinitely, but arguments like the conclusions section are why we need to, as a society, beat "the plural of anecdote is not data" into every single person's head. Some people have a negative reaction to LSD. Some people don't. Some people have a positive reaction to LSD. Some don't. What's missin…
> hallucinogens sometimes cause minor hallucinations indefinitely
The author definitely did not think those were minor side-effects.
> What's missing, crucially, is the only useful information- how many of each there are. There is nothing else that is relevant!
the evidence that a bad trip can potentially cause permanent damage is useful and relevant.
> If "some guy had a bad time" was a robust argument for "never ever do this thing", it would be a bad idea to do anything ever.
"some guy got permanently fucked up doing something" is a strong argument for me to very carefully consider the potential benefits of "doing something" and whether they are worth it; in the case of LSD, for me personally, the benefits don't outweigh the potential downsides, and anecdata is more than enough for me to make this decision.
Re: LSD: Not Even Once
#243Had a similar experience, but with the much more tame marijuana. It was a 6-hour long panic attack for me. Similar to the author of this, I read for years of how "the only way it could ever harm you is if you were crushed by 100 lbs of it" on sites like Reddit. It wasn't until after getting high that I heard about marijuana amplifying stress tendencies in a minority of people. I've always been high strung, and maybe…
I had this buying some weed derivative edibles (marketed as delta 8) in a state with full on prohibition.
I've smoked weed, I've had edibles (both homemade and from fully legal dispensaries), and at most got kind of spaced out and overly talkative. Whatever this stuff really was, it presented as a wholly different experience; strong hallucinations, time felt like it was slowing, inability to focus, loss of motor control (like unable to get down a flight of stairs), even unable to operate my phone enough to send a text message. Ultimately it led to panic and fear; I was completely unprepared and basically incapacitated until the next day. It ranks as one of the worst experiences in my life, and it felt as if it would never end.
There's a wide range of experience possible from this stuff, even things that (should you believe the internet) are as harmless as weed.
After this, I feel like I'm done for good. Whatever nebulous and unproven benefits that might possibly exist don't seem to be worth the very real risks (that I now am aware of first hand).
Re: LSD: Not Even Once
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think I know the feeling exactly. I had recurrent dreams like that as a kid, that somehow always involved a large yellow sphere / ball. For some unknown reason I HAD to move that sphere, but I also knew it was impossible. It evoked this odd and terrible sensation emerging from two opposing mental forces: there was something I HAD to do at all costs but I also knew it was entirely impossible at the same time. My “ba…
Fascinating. When I had fever dreams as a kid, I would have a sensation that was similar. It was the need to do find/choose something infinitesimally unlikely. Like finding a single coin dropped anywhere in the Pacific ocean. And if I failed the universe would cease to exist.
Yes! This is the feeling. And I've also experienced while sick. It happened sometimes while I was not sick as a kid though. Then I didn't feel it for decades until I tried certain drugs.
Re: LSD: Not Even Once
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think I know the feeling exactly. I had recurrent dreams like that as a kid, that somehow always involved a large yellow sphere / ball. For some unknown reason I HAD to move that sphere, but I also knew it was impossible. It evoked this odd and terrible sensation emerging from two opposing mental forces: there was something I HAD to do at all costs but I also knew it was entirely impossible at the same time. My “ba…
Fascinating. I experienced something very similar as a kid, with huge grey spheres in a black void. They felt implacable, indifferent, yet malicious. And I had a sense of futility and utter insufficiency. I also experienced these feelings later on psychedelics and in some other circumstances of adult duress. I really do wonder what to make of the similarities.
I wonder if this is a universal feeling that everyone experiences at some point. I feel like it's most common as a child (from reading other's experiences) and may have something to do with the developing brain.
Re: LSD: Not Even Once
#246The popular LSD and psychadelic advocacy online and elsewhere is an expression of the mainstream ideology. The foundation of our collective ideology tells us these drugs should have some profound life-altering and improving effect. Obviously, when examined critically, the premise is ridiculous on its face. Everyone I know who regularly does these types of drugs is not really doing much else with their lives. As for S…
Is it possible that people just don't want to talk to you about their medical treatment? I know perfectly productive, happy people that use marijuana for a variety of purposes, both recreational and medical. But in general, people don't share their medication list with the world, so it doesn't surprise me you're not running across them, especially with this view.
Re: LSD: Not Even Once
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That it’s absurd how much suffering the human mind is capable of experiencing. When I was 8 or 9 I had a night terror that involved some sort of life-sized game of Tetris that was moving terribly fast. My brain wholly adopted the belief that if I were to lose, everyone I loved would die horribly. I was trapped in this night terror for what felt like forever. Afterwards I refused to sleep voluntarily for weeks. To t…
I think I know the feeling exactly. I had recurrent dreams like that as a kid, that somehow always involved a large yellow sphere / ball. For some unknown reason I HAD to move that sphere, but I also knew it was impossible. It evoked this odd and terrible sensation emerging from two opposing mental forces: there was something I HAD to do at all costs but I also knew it was entirely impossible at the same time. My “ba…
Yellow/beige/brown spheres for me as well. Other commenter had spheres also. I never even thought that this might be something others experienced. Sadly, trying to find more information on this only delivers "dream interpretation" BS content.
For me, the feeling of dread did not come from me "having to move spheres but not being able to" however. It came from "knowing that these spheres will be moving no matter what I do", but they would be moving "infinitely slowly", like one of those optical illusions [1] where things seem to move but they're not actually.
[1] https://twitter.com/sebjwallace/status/1384773017717420034
Re: LSD: Not Even Once
#248Fairly interesting post, especially for those who weren't aware that hallucinogens sometimes cause minor hallucinations indefinitely, but arguments like the conclusions section are why we need to, as a society, beat "the plural of anecdote is not data" into every single person's head. Some people have a negative reaction to LSD. Some people don't. Some people have a positive reaction to LSD. Some don't. What's missin…
The tail risk is real though. I do hope someday we’ll have accurate estimates of those risks. In the meantime it seems pretty clear to me that the expected value of these drugs is negative. I think it was Charlie Munger who said “in the best case scenario you feel good for a few minutes. In the worst case scenario it ruins your life.”
This is true for anything though. For example: I dance (professionally), surf and snowboard. All three of them have caused me injuries, though only one of them left me with something permanent (very minor, more of an annoyance thankfully) and people have gotten extremely serious injuries and even death from all of them. Should we stop doing them recreationally because of possible risks?
Re: LSD: Not Even Once
#249I’ve had visual snow since I can remember. I went to the eye doctor as a kid and they ran a bunch of tests which resulted in “it’s nothing”. Dabbled in psychedelics pretty heavily in college. Think it was one bad trip that ended it for me. Dealt with some major anxiety for a couple years afterwards but eventually I went back to ‘normal’. Visual snow never got worse, I did get “seeing stars” though which I never had p…
Same here. I thought everyone saw snow (mostly in the dark). Its never bothered me though.
Also a similar experience with psychedelics in college, although it was actually smoking marijuana a week after a very intense trip that gave me the most terrifying night of my life. I had to have sedatives and suffered major anxiety for a couple of years afterwards.
I still don't regret taking them. I learned a lot about myself and had some amazingly beautiful experiences. But I wouldn't wish the final one on anyone.
Re: LSD: Not Even Once
#250Had a similar experience, but with the much more tame marijuana. It was a 6-hour long panic attack for me. Similar to the author of this, I read for years of how "the only way it could ever harm you is if you were crushed by 100 lbs of it" on sites like Reddit. It wasn't until after getting high that I heard about marijuana amplifying stress tendencies in a minority of people. I've always been high strung, and maybe…
I had a really bad experience with marijuana. I'd tried it a few times before, but it always had literally zero effect on me (as in I smoked as much as everyone else, they got baked and I felt nothing). And then one day I took a single hit in a shop in Vancouver and was almost instantly hit with brain zaps. It got so bad that I couldn't walk without throwing up, had trouble seeing, and this lasted for hours (from 10:…
By any chance was this "one hit" done on a hot knife at the Pain Management Society on commercial drive pre-legalization? Because I've heard a similar story from quite a few people, several of them heavy users. No warning, and sent on their merry way without checking if they had a safe way to get home. Which I mention because getting lost trying to find home is a common theme in their stories. The people who knew what they were looking at report the dose as a generous dollop on the order of .5g.