18 ms·

I did ecstasy and i did LSD. Ecstasy is like a lie in this quote comparison. You get high in the beginning and it brings you down at the end, really awful feeli

by lossolo 11y ago

I did ecstasy and i did LSD. Ecstasy is like a lie in this quote comparison. You get high in the beginning and it brings you down at the end, really awful feeling at the end. LSD is different, i experienced world differently even for couple of days after i took LSD. World seemed different. I knew what was important in life and what not, very clear. I can't describe how you feel on LSD, and people that didn't took LSD or ecstasy are not aware what their brain is capable off. When i first took ecstasy i didn't believed that you can feel that way. So different from alcohol, weed. You feel love. LSD was even weirder experience. On LSD you can shape reality, you can feel reality so well, like you are part of it, connected. I saw snail on the road, everything was blurry around him, but he was visible, so sharp, i could feel him as part of me, connected, in this journey called life. Everything was so obvious, answer for question "why?" was known, even if i couldn't say it out loud, i could feel that answer for this question was somewhere in my mind, but i just couldn't access it. Feeling that it's there made everything clear, i felt peace. Everything that i did in life before and what i would in future seemed such trivial and not important. That connection with reality, understanding different forms of it, changed me. I feel like LSD can give you answers, answers for questions that you would not find without it.

aaroninsf 11y ago
Worth noting that mileage varies, many people report an after-glow, not 'feeling awful', when coming down from MDMA, which may linger for hours or be present the next day. For anyone interested, I recommend visiting the non-profit Erowid.org – a great source of anecdotal 'experience reports' for various psychoactives, as well as often providing information on legality, chemistry, toxicity, etc. Some other footnoes: The term 'ecstasy' is sometimes used [and sometime used unscrupiously] to refer to mixtures of pure MDMA with other things, or even mixtures devoid of MDMA entirely. DanceSafe.org and others have tested and reported on countless 'brands' of pills etc. and in some the primary identified active ingredients are caffeine or amphetamines. Impurities definitely results in some of the bad experiences associated with ecstasy :( Be safe out there...!
lsd_throwaway 11y ago
For a counterpoint to this - I decided to do 150 micrograms of LSD after reading a lot about it on HN, talking with many friends that had tried it or do it fairly regularly and reading as much as I could find (Sam Harris, Huxley, What the Dormouse said etc.). Nothing can really prepare you for it - the dream like state, the visuals and just the capacity of how different things can be. When looking at things I saw them shift, it felt similar to those computer vision machine learning videos from google. As if I could see my vision attempting to resolve images into objects that fit their parameters. I felt like I got some insight into how consciousness works by messing with it. The trip itself was mostly pleasant - the next day and several months were not. The next day I couldn't stop pacing, couldn't relax - kept hyperventilating. I couldn't eat either, basically kept having panic attacks. Over the next few weeks I felt outside of myself - like it was weird to be alive and in a person. I was terrified that I was going schizophrenic or losing my mind. I thought I might have a psychotic break. All of this paired with insomnia/general sleep disturbances (which scared me too). I thought I might have to stop working, I had anxiety with real physical effects (headache, lack of appetite, extreme fear). Even watching TV was difficult/overwhelming. I had serious existential fear about dying and the inevitability of my family dying (and still do to some extent) - sometimes feeling that everyone else is insane for not being afraid. I didn't end up taking SSRIs, but I did tell people and got help - it's about seven months later and I feel mostly better. I'd caution people against trying it.
- kough 11y ago
  Sorry to hear about that :( The first time I took LSD (not hallucinogens in general, but LSD) went sort of similarly for me. Of course a life provides many confounding factors, but I ended up depressed and anxious for about three or four months afterwards. Took me a while to work my way out of it. I still think it was a worthwhile experience, but my symptoms weren't as bad as yours sound. I hope you're making a good recovery.
  - superswordfish 11y ago
    > I ended up depressed and anxious for about three or four months afterwards Holy shit, that sounds awful.
Jarwain 11y ago
The answer I felt for "Why" was just another question: "Why not?"
nosuchthing 11y ago
*Ecstasy is an undefined product.. it's easy to critique the black market, but even products on Amazon or ebay are known to be counterfeits. It could be caffeine, meth, research chemicals, MDA, MDMA, bath salts... who knows? Who can verify these things? One can only hope even a claim of 'pure' MDMA is what someone says it is. The same issue applies to LSD. How can you be certain it's not DOB or a research chemical? http://pillreports.net/ http://pillreports.net/ http://www.ecstasydata.org/ http://www.ecstasydata.org/ https://dancesafe.org/drug-checking/ https://dancesafe.org/drug-checking/
- T-Roy 11y ago
  You can buy chemical reagent tests that will give you reasonable certainty that what you're taking isn't meth/something else, but you're right that there's always a risk when taking an unknown substance that it could be a as yet unknown research chemical or cut with something else.
  - fapjacks 11y ago
    [0] dancesafe.org
- duaneb 11y ago
  While ecstasy might often label other drugs, people refer to MDMA when they look for it. Also, Dance Safe (which you linked to) can assure you of drug quality. There are also other signs, e.g. ensuring it tastes very, very bitter and smells like licorice.
- collyw 11y ago
  I went to an underground party in Switzerland a few years ago. There was a lab setup in one room to test pills. I am sure it isn't so uncommon.
superswordfish 11y ago
> Everything was so obvious, answer for question "why?" was known, even if i couldn't say it out loud, i could feel that answer for this question was somewhere in my mind, but i just couldn't access it. Feeling that it's there made everything clear, i felt peace. So, what was the answer? > Everything that i did in life before and what i would in future seemed such trivial and not important. That connection with reality, understanding different forms of it, changed me. I feel like LSD can give you answers, answers for questions that you would not find without it. Reality includes the past and the future though. This just sounds myopic. I apologize for not immediately grasping your experience, I've not experimented with LSD.
- colordrops 11y ago
  > So, what was the answer? The poster you replied to specifically said he had no way of finding words to explain his experience. This is common with LSD trips and other such experiences. The very first line in the Tao Te Ching is "The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao." Some things are ineffable. For instance, it's not possible to explain the experience of the color red to a blind person. You can explain metadata like the fact that it is light of a certain frequency, but there is no way to actually convey the experience. > Reality includes the past and the future though. This just sounds myopic. The future and past may or may not exist as physical realities, but that's not relevant to the direct human experience. Unless your brain has time travel capabilities, your experience of the past is just replaying memories and the future is just simulations of potential paths. There is only what is happening right now - future and past are just fafuture. That doesn't mean you can't think about the past and future and make decisions based on those thoughts, but it is impossible to experience the past and future
  - superswordfish 11y ago
    > This is common with LSD trips and other such experiences. What other experiences? > The very first line in the Tao Te Ching is "The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao." Some things are ineffable. So you're saying the parent commenter was made aware of the Tao? Or that it was a religious experience? I don't follow. > For instance, it's not possible to explain the experience of the color red to a blind person. That's bogus. You're likening abstinence from LSD to a disability. > Unless your brain has time travel capabilities, your experience of the past is just replaying memories and the future is just simulations of potential paths. I didn't say anything about time travel. My point was it's a bit concerning that somebody would refer to their past and future as "trivial and not important." You mentioned using knowledge of the past to plan the future. That suggests you agree that the past and future are connected and important.
ars 11y ago
It sounds like LSD convinced you that you knew that stuff, without you actually knowing it. There are plenty of mental conditions where people are mistaken about what they know. You make it sound like this is a positive thing, I'm not convinced. If LSD actually gave you that insight, then maybe. But to give you the certainty without actually having the knowledge doesn't seem valuable. For example that snail - did you actually see him in sharp focus? Or did LSD convince you you saw him, but actually you were looking at a memory.
- cstrahan 11y ago
  > You make it sound like this is a positive thing Meaning only exists between our ears -- it's not some intrinsic attribute of reality. I, for example, experience bouts of depression, where nothing about the world around me has changed, and yet my perception of (and feelings about) it becomes melancholic and devoid of purpose or meaning. If you walk away from an experience with a renewed sense of meaning or purpose, even if you can't give a rational reason for such changes, I would think that would still be a good thing, no?
  - ars 11y ago
    No, because it's not real. He felt a connection between himself and the snail. There is no actual connection, but he felt it. If he believes that connection to be real he will act on it, but those actions will not be the right ones because their basis is false. The problem is that it's actually possible to have a real connection, even between a person and a snail, but instead of a real connection you have the feeling of a connection, without the actuality of it. > with a renewed sense of meaning or purpose You are saying something different from what he said. I don't argue with what you said, because you are right, how a person experiences things is all internal. But I feel like the drug is giving a fake experience, when the real one is possible. That's where the problem lies - you are fooling yourself, pretending you have something, when you don't.
    - rpearl 11y ago
      What's an "actual connection"? What is the "real" experience?
dzhiurgis 11y ago
> I saw snail on the road, everything was blurry around him, but he was visible, so sharp, i could feel him as part of me, connected, in this journey called life. This happened to me on psilocybin. I could just see snails everywhere in the grass. While nature usually feels somewhat alive, didn't feel any special connection with snails though. Just seemed odd that I could notice them so easily, from fairly far distance. Must be the vortex shape of their shell.
tpm 11y ago
I never had bad feelings on MDMA, or afterwards. No comedown either, on the contrary, plenty of afterglow. The interpersonal variability of these experiences is amazing.
- Synaesthesia 11y ago
  Yeah but if you use it frequently you will.
  - tremon 11y ago
    Why?
    - tpm 11y ago
      Serotonine depletion, or something like that. It's a bad idea to use MDMA frequently anyway because of its neurotoxicity.
- cyxxon 11y ago
  Indeed, my first reaction to that statement was that that is not typical. It happens, sure, but for me it is always so fascinating that the MDMA / Ecstacy trips just kind of switch on and off, and everything afterwards is as it was before. Perception of colors, shapes, people... phases back in, but there is no real down phase. The next days are a little drab, maybe, with the serotonin level being rebuild, but not really down, just maybe less party feeling. I never took too big of a dossis though, maybe that's the reason?
- thoughtpalette 11y ago
  The day after MDMA always is shot in my personal experiences. Very lethargic, feeling worn out and out of it. The day after taking LSD on the other hand was a great. Was very productive and motivated. To each their own. EDIT: Important to note than I'm never active on MDMA, always a couch potato so the feelings of lethargy may differ.
  - 11y ago
RangerScience 11y ago
Your experience with ecstasy and mine are rather different. It may because I seek out the "pure" substance - MDMA, rather than E - but anecdotally it may also be due to differences in our natural serotonin. The "raver hangover" is pronounced (anecdotally) in people with naturally lower seratonin. Take 5HTP. I recently phrased it like this: MDMA is like a colored light source. A little bit, and everything is brighter. You can see the colors of the light, and the things (other people) illuminated by it. A lot, and all you see are the colors of the light. One of the things this means is that it introduces you to the "best" version of yourself. What it feels like to be that person is still a touchstone of mine.

by lossolo 11y ago

aaroninsf 11y ago

Worth noting that mileage varies, many people report an after-glow, not 'feeling awful', when coming down from MDMA, which may linger for hours or be present the next day. For anyone interested, I recommend visiting the non-profit Erowid.org – a great source of anecdotal 'experience reports' for various psychoactives, as well as often providing information on legality, chemistry, toxicity, etc. Some other footnoes: The term 'ecstasy' is sometimes used [and sometime used unscrupiously] to refer to mixtures of pure MDMA with other things, or even mixtures devoid of MDMA entirely. DanceSafe.org and others have tested and reported on countless 'brands' of pills etc. and in some the primary identified active ingredients are caffeine or amphetamines. Impurities definitely results in some of the bad experiences associated with ecstasy :( Be safe out there...!

lsd_throwaway 11y ago

For a counterpoint to this - I decided to do 150 micrograms of LSD after reading a lot about it on HN, talking with many friends that had tried it or do it fairly regularly and reading as much as I could find (Sam Harris, Huxley, What the Dormouse said etc.). Nothing can really prepare you for it - the dream like state, the visuals and just the capacity of how different things can be. When looking at things I saw them shift, it felt similar to those computer vision machine learning videos from google. As if I could see my vision attempting to resolve images into objects that fit their parameters. I felt like I got some insight into how consciousness works by messing with it. The trip itself was mostly pleasant - the next day and several months were not. The next day I couldn't stop pacing, couldn't relax - kept hyperventilating. I couldn't eat either, basically kept having panic attacks. Over the next few weeks I felt outside of myself - like it was weird to be alive and in a person. I was terrified that I was going schizophrenic or losing my mind. I thought I might have a psychotic break. All of this paired with insomnia/general sleep disturbances (which scared me too). I thought I might have to stop working, I had anxiety with real physical effects (headache, lack of appetite, extreme fear). Even watching TV was difficult/overwhelming. I had serious existential fear about dying and the inevitability of my family dying (and still do to some extent) - sometimes feeling that everyone else is insane for not being afraid. I didn't end up taking SSRIs, but I did tell people and got help - it's about seven months later and I feel mostly better. I'd caution people against trying it.

kough 11y ago
Sorry to hear about that :( The first time I took LSD (not hallucinogens in general, but LSD) went sort of similarly for me. Of course a life provides many confounding factors, but I ended up depressed and anxious for about three or four months afterwards. Took me a while to work my way out of it. I still think it was a worthwhile experience, but my symptoms weren't as bad as yours sound. I hope you're making a good recovery.
- superswordfish 11y ago
  > I ended up depressed and anxious for about three or four months afterwards Holy shit, that sounds awful.

Jarwain 11y ago

The answer I felt for "Why" was just another question: "Why not?"

nosuchthing 11y ago

*Ecstasy is an undefined product.. it's easy to critique the black market, but even products on Amazon or ebay are known to be counterfeits. It could be caffeine, meth, research chemicals, MDA, MDMA, bath salts... who knows? Who can verify these things? One can only hope even a claim of 'pure' MDMA is what someone says it is. The same issue applies to LSD. How can you be certain it's not DOB or a research chemical? http://pillreports.net/ http://pillreports.net/ http://www.ecstasydata.org/ http://www.ecstasydata.org/ https://dancesafe.org/drug-checking/ https://dancesafe.org/drug-checking/

T-Roy 11y ago
You can buy chemical reagent tests that will give you reasonable certainty that what you're taking isn't meth/something else, but you're right that there's always a risk when taking an unknown substance that it could be a as yet unknown research chemical or cut with something else.
- fapjacks 11y ago
  [0] dancesafe.org
duaneb 11y ago
While ecstasy might often label other drugs, people refer to MDMA when they look for it. Also, Dance Safe (which you linked to) can assure you of drug quality. There are also other signs, e.g. ensuring it tastes very, very bitter and smells like licorice.
collyw 11y ago
I went to an underground party in Switzerland a few years ago. There was a lab setup in one room to test pills. I am sure it isn't so uncommon.

superswordfish 11y ago

> Everything was so obvious, answer for question "why?" was known, even if i couldn't say it out loud, i could feel that answer for this question was somewhere in my mind, but i just couldn't access it. Feeling that it's there made everything clear, i felt peace. So, what was the answer? > Everything that i did in life before and what i would in future seemed such trivial and not important. That connection with reality, understanding different forms of it, changed me. I feel like LSD can give you answers, answers for questions that you would not find without it. Reality includes the past and the future though. This just sounds myopic. I apologize for not immediately grasping your experience, I've not experimented with LSD.

colordrops 11y ago
> So, what was the answer? The poster you replied to specifically said he had no way of finding words to explain his experience. This is common with LSD trips and other such experiences. The very first line in the Tao Te Ching is "The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao." Some things are ineffable. For instance, it's not possible to explain the experience of the color red to a blind person. You can explain metadata like the fact that it is light of a certain frequency, but there is no way to actually convey the experience. > Reality includes the past and the future though. This just sounds myopic. The future and past may or may not exist as physical realities, but that's not relevant to the direct human experience. Unless your brain has time travel capabilities, your experience of the past is just replaying memories and the future is just simulations of potential paths. There is only what is happening right now - future and past are just fafuture. That doesn't mean you can't think about the past and future and make decisions based on those thoughts, but it is impossible to experience the past and future
- superswordfish 11y ago
  > This is common with LSD trips and other such experiences. What other experiences? > The very first line in the Tao Te Ching is "The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao." Some things are ineffable. So you're saying the parent commenter was made aware of the Tao? Or that it was a religious experience? I don't follow. > For instance, it's not possible to explain the experience of the color red to a blind person. That's bogus. You're likening abstinence from LSD to a disability. > Unless your brain has time travel capabilities, your experience of the past is just replaying memories and the future is just simulations of potential paths. I didn't say anything about time travel. My point was it's a bit concerning that somebody would refer to their past and future as "trivial and not important." You mentioned using knowledge of the past to plan the future. That suggests you agree that the past and future are connected and important.

ars 11y ago

It sounds like LSD convinced you that you knew that stuff, without you actually knowing it. There are plenty of mental conditions where people are mistaken about what they know. You make it sound like this is a positive thing, I'm not convinced. If LSD actually gave you that insight, then maybe. But to give you the certainty without actually having the knowledge doesn't seem valuable. For example that snail - did you actually see him in sharp focus? Or did LSD convince you you saw him, but actually you were looking at a memory.

cstrahan 11y ago
> You make it sound like this is a positive thing Meaning only exists between our ears -- it's not some intrinsic attribute of reality. I, for example, experience bouts of depression, where nothing about the world around me has changed, and yet my perception of (and feelings about) it becomes melancholic and devoid of purpose or meaning. If you walk away from an experience with a renewed sense of meaning or purpose, even if you can't give a rational reason for such changes, I would think that would still be a good thing, no?
- ars 11y ago
  No, because it's not real. He felt a connection between himself and the snail. There is no actual connection, but he felt it. If he believes that connection to be real he will act on it, but those actions will not be the right ones because their basis is false. The problem is that it's actually possible to have a real connection, even between a person and a snail, but instead of a real connection you have the feeling of a connection, without the actuality of it. > with a renewed sense of meaning or purpose You are saying something different from what he said. I don't argue with what you said, because you are right, how a person experiences things is all internal. But I feel like the drug is giving a fake experience, when the real one is possible. That's where the problem lies - you are fooling yourself, pretending you have something, when you don't.
  - rpearl 11y ago
    What's an "actual connection"? What is the "real" experience?

dzhiurgis 11y ago

> I saw snail on the road, everything was blurry around him, but he was visible, so sharp, i could feel him as part of me, connected, in this journey called life. This happened to me on psilocybin. I could just see snails everywhere in the grass. While nature usually feels somewhat alive, didn't feel any special connection with snails though. Just seemed odd that I could notice them so easily, from fairly far distance. Must be the vortex shape of their shell.

tpm 11y ago

I never had bad feelings on MDMA, or afterwards. No comedown either, on the contrary, plenty of afterglow. The interpersonal variability of these experiences is amazing.

Synaesthesia 11y ago
Yeah but if you use it frequently you will.
- tremon 11y ago
  Why?
  - tpm 11y ago
    Serotonine depletion, or something like that. It's a bad idea to use MDMA frequently anyway because of its neurotoxicity.
cyxxon 11y ago
Indeed, my first reaction to that statement was that that is not typical. It happens, sure, but for me it is always so fascinating that the MDMA / Ecstacy trips just kind of switch on and off, and everything afterwards is as it was before. Perception of colors, shapes, people... phases back in, but there is no real down phase. The next days are a little drab, maybe, with the serotonin level being rebuild, but not really down, just maybe less party feeling. I never took too big of a dossis though, maybe that's the reason?
thoughtpalette 11y ago
The day after MDMA always is shot in my personal experiences. Very lethargic, feeling worn out and out of it. The day after taking LSD on the other hand was a great. Was very productive and motivated. To each their own. EDIT: Important to note than I'm never active on MDMA, always a couch potato so the feelings of lethargy may differ.
- 11y ago

RangerScience 11y ago

Your experience with ecstasy and mine are rather different. It may because I seek out the "pure" substance - MDMA, rather than E - but anecdotally it may also be due to differences in our natural serotonin. The "raver hangover" is pronounced (anecdotally) in people with naturally lower seratonin. Take 5HTP. I recently phrased it like this: MDMA is like a colored light source. A little bit, and everything is brighter. You can see the colors of the light, and the things (other people) illuminated by it. A lot, and all you see are the colors of the light. One of the things this means is that it introduces you to the "best" version of yourself. What it feels like to be that person is still a touchstone of mine.