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My last was also a nightmare. There was a point about 3/4 of the way through where I started to have panic attacks and started sweating so much that it looked l

My last was also a nightmare. There was a point about 3/4 of the way through where I started to have panic attacks and started sweating so much that it looked like I stepped out in a hurricane. This was while I was in a very cold basement in winter. It's absolutely wild how much your brain controls, and how fast it can lose control. My dosage was much too high and while I'm not going to deny any of the benefits, it was a very traumatic experience for me that made me seek therapy. For a while I would have some lingering visual hallucinations (a few months past the incident) when I would close my eyes and it would trigger panic attacks. That's mostly subsided, but I wish people would put a higher emphasis on the mental damage it can do.

washadjeffmad 3y ago
I've heard of that happening with people on beta blockers, oddly. When I tested it, I felt like I was "on fire" (uncomfortably flushed and overheated, not burning or in pain, though), sweated, and took off clothes to cool down to no effect. I've also failed more than once to realize how much adrenaline was in my system on beta blockers... until they wore off. That's a harrowing enough effect sober that I approach them and all potential interactions with caution.
iancmceachern 3y ago
I've had one similar experience, and many many great ones. In mine, it was because I was in a dark, isolated, cold physical space. In my experience one really heeds to be in a "warm", comforting, bright if you want it, space where you are free to roam and explore safely. It can't be a little box. These are ingredients for a stressful life, so why would they be ingredients for a good trip.
- pathartl 3y ago
  Mine was actually initially triggered because I thought the house we were in was going to burn down. I absolutely had some other anxiety issues at the time, but I still wanted to highlight that people shouldn't minimize how much a bad trip can affect you.
  - iancmceachern 3y ago
    Good advice. The best thing I've seen that captures this is the trip montage in 21 jump street. On one side the one guy is having the time of his life, the other guy is in hell listening to creed.
FractalHQ 3y ago
Glad you’ve managed to make so much progress on your recovery! As someone with a baseline dopamine deficiency (permanent nihilistic depression-like symptoms), my trips were always “bad trips”, but I used to enjoy them akin to how one might enjoy a horror movie or haunted theme park. I like to think it changed me for the better, but I’m not certain there weren’t lasting negative effects. I was used to darkness, but they magnified it by orders of magnitude… and you can’t “un-see” stuff like that. Just a word of caution — when planning on trying them for the first time, i suggest making sure the first dose is smaller than the recommended starter dose, and work your way up — you can always take more mushrooms, but you can never un-take them.
- pathartl 3y ago
  Actually, this makes a lot of sense. I've really been struggling with my ADHD over the past couple of years. And yeah, this time it was a much higher dosage than I had done in the past... like 2-3x. It had been a few years since my last trip and I had forgotten what dosage I was used to. The residual effects from this last one left the impression that the entire thing felt like a nightmare that you just can't shake. Either way, I may revisit in the future, but yeah there's a lot of healing that needs to happen first.

washadjeffmad 3y ago

I've heard of that happening with people on beta blockers, oddly. When I tested it, I felt like I was "on fire" (uncomfortably flushed and overheated, not burning or in pain, though), sweated, and took off clothes to cool down to no effect. I've also failed more than once to realize how much adrenaline was in my system on beta blockers... until they wore off. That's a harrowing enough effect sober that I approach them and all potential interactions with caution.

iancmceachern 3y ago

I've had one similar experience, and many many great ones. In mine, it was because I was in a dark, isolated, cold physical space. In my experience one really heeds to be in a "warm", comforting, bright if you want it, space where you are free to roam and explore safely. It can't be a little box. These are ingredients for a stressful life, so why would they be ingredients for a good trip.

pathartl 3y ago
Mine was actually initially triggered because I thought the house we were in was going to burn down. I absolutely had some other anxiety issues at the time, but I still wanted to highlight that people shouldn't minimize how much a bad trip can affect you.
- iancmceachern 3y ago
  Good advice. The best thing I've seen that captures this is the trip montage in 21 jump street. On one side the one guy is having the time of his life, the other guy is in hell listening to creed.

FractalHQ 3y ago

Glad you’ve managed to make so much progress on your recovery! As someone with a baseline dopamine deficiency (permanent nihilistic depression-like symptoms), my trips were always “bad trips”, but I used to enjoy them akin to how one might enjoy a horror movie or haunted theme park. I like to think it changed me for the better, but I’m not certain there weren’t lasting negative effects. I was used to darkness, but they magnified it by orders of magnitude… and you can’t “un-see” stuff like that. Just a word of caution — when planning on trying them for the first time, i suggest making sure the first dose is smaller than the recommended starter dose, and work your way up — you can always take more mushrooms, but you can never un-take them.

pathartl 3y ago
Actually, this makes a lot of sense. I've really been struggling with my ADHD over the past couple of years. And yeah, this time it was a much higher dosage than I had done in the past... like 2-3x. It had been a few years since my last trip and I had forgotten what dosage I was used to. The residual effects from this last one left the impression that the entire thing felt like a nightmare that you just can't shake. Either way, I may revisit in the future, but yeah there's a lot of healing that needs to happen first.