Health - Wanting to try LSD But Anxiety Disorder

[Lizardd]

hello everybody.
I have some concerns with Acid. I really want to try it but their are a few things that stop me. I need some help deciding.

I have problems with anxiety and ocd like things. Bad panic shit. But i was wonder how not to Freak my self out, and if its smart ( i thought of not sleeping for like 24 hours, taking a sleeping pill then doing acid, so that i slepp forl ike 24 hours or more and i just have REAL trippy dreams.. does that work?)

Reputation Comments on this post:

i respect the fact that you are trying to make an informed decions, concidering your medical cond.,

[Nature Boy]

First of all, you shouldn't be thinking about taking acid at all considering it's a controlled substance but SWIY (Someone Who Isn't You) might be thinking of it.

It's impossible to whole-heartedly recommend LSD to an individual who suffers from anxiety. LSD can work as a catalyst for people with anxiety and they might easily get a panic attack. Tiring oneself out would only make things worse seeing as physical exhaustion can cause bad trips. Trippy dreams aren't likely either seeing as someone on acid usually can't sleep until peak effects wear off due to the hyperactivity of the thought process it causes. Sleeping pills should never be combined with LSD either.

[zera]

Originally Posted by Lizardd

hello everybody.
I have some concerns with Acid. I really want to try it but their are a few things that stop me. I need some help deciding.

I have problems with anxiety and ocd like things. Bad panic shit. But i was wonder how not to Freak my self out, and if its smart ( i thought of not sleeping for like 24 hours, taking a sleeping pill then doing acid, so that i slepp forl ike 24 hours or more and i just have REAL trippy dreams.. does that work?)

Yeah sleeping pills (benzos) are actually used by people as a "parachute pill" to bring people down when they're having a bad trip. I doubt swiy will have trippy dreams with this combo, more than likely the effects will cancel each other out and you'll just be back to baseline minus whatever you paid for the hit of acid and the sleeping pill.

If you do manage to fall asleep while on acid the experience may not be pleasurable at all. Swim slept for about 6 hours on the tail end of a dose of DOB, a similar compound, and hardly remembered any of his dreams. On the peak of DXM, although not a psychedlic it's still a hallucinigen, swim had a terrible experience sleeping on it, and swim very rarely has bad trips.

What happenned to swim when he was trying to sleep was that the peak of the trip kept waking him up and the grogginess of sleep made him very confused about what was going on, which only added to the anxiety of the trip. Swim had terrible thoughts and premonitions, and swim tends to be a very laid back person, if swim had sufferred from panic attacks I can only imagine what he would have done.

Swim recommends that if swiy may want to try a shorter lasting psychedlic first if he hasn't, maybe shrooms. The reason why acid tends to cause anxiety is because once you take, man you're gone for the 12 hours, with shrooms swiy will have a much shorter trip and hence tend to be less anxious. Shrooms or mescaline (San Pedro or Peruvian Torch cactus) also tend to be a easier on the mind, and the user feels more in control according to swim. So swiy may want to start with them first and test their effects before trying LSD.

If swiy does decide to dose I'd do it in a setting where swiy's comfortable (at home, somewhere with no parents or authority figure) and only if swiy is feeling calm that day and his OCD doesn't feel too bad. Naganog gives some good advice, never having an absolute plan to dose with psychedlics, if swiy doesn't feel in the right mood then postpone. Also get a sitter, but make sure it's someone who won't freak out, because his freaking out will freak swiy out (anti-drug people tend to make bad sitters). If swiy starts getting bad make sure the sitter knows to talk swiy down and remind him things will be over soon. Marijuana may either calm your nerves or enchance the experience and make you more paranoid, depending on it's effect on swiy.

[Nature Boy]

Anxious thoughts don't seem to become an issue on relatively low doses. One must tread carefully in order to understand what kind of dose suits them. A decent way of doing this would be to take a very small threshold amount on SWIY's first occasion. If this is satisfactory, a slightly larger dose can be taken the next time. Experience and building up a good idea of how the drug works is an effective way of controlling more intense trips. One should be free of anxiety before undertaking a trip even if they long for the experience very much. SWIM couldn't recommend taking LSD to someone in SWIY's situation to be perfectly honest.

[Powder_Reality]

SWIM also suffers from OCD and anxiety. SWIM has never done LSD before, but he does have some experience with mushrooms, both positive and negative.

SWIY should make sure that they don't have anything important or negative on their mind before dosing (bad break-up, health problems, etc.) as SWIY may get into a negative thought loop (especially if SWIY has OCD). They should go into the experience free of any commitments or responsibilites for the day. This can sometimes mean the difference between a good and bad trip.

SWIM would also recommend reading up like crazy on all the effects of the substance so that they don't get too freaked out by them and know what to expect. SWIM had a bad experience the first time he ate a large amount of mushrooms because he wasn't expecting or prepared for the effects, especially the mental effects.

Lastly, SWIM would recommend that SWIY should start out with a small dose instead of diving right in with a larger dose. Personally, SWIM enjoys a smaller dose much more than a larger dose. Eating 1 to 2 grams of dried mushrooms gives SWIM a very pleasant experience including euphoria, slight visual distortions, deep thinking, an increased appreciation of music, a pleasant body high, etc etc etc. Eating 3.5+ grams can send SWIM into a terrible trip including negative thought loops, paranoia, panic attacks, etc etc etc. Keep in mind that 3.5 grams is a not really a huge dose, and some people enjoy eating much more than this and have a great time. SWIM personally could not even imagine how terrible he would feel on a dose larger than 3.5 grams. SWIY needs to know what their body and mind can handle.

[Riptone]

That person should trip if they choose to do so, if it becomes too intense then let them know that to pop a xanax or drink some gbl will help relieve the anxiety.

It won't affect the duration but will take off the worst of the intensity.

Swim told me . . .

[Regretamine]

Swim also suffers from ALOT of anxiety, but he has done acid 3 times now and they've been among the best drug experiances of his life. Swim thinks the reason for this though is that they've all been when he was around close friends only. There were parts in the trip where he was around alot of people who wern't very familar, and he was ok but was starting to feel a bit anxious. But then he and his friends left and everything was fine. So yeah just make sure you're with people you know/like/can have a laugh with and you'll be fine.

[MrG]

SWIM remembers his 'cid days with fondness but he also recalls three times that he had bad trips. And trust me, 12 hours of a bad trip is an absolute fucking nightmare. All three times were because he was somewhere he wasn't entirely comfortable *and* the type of 'cid consumed was the same (Purple Om's - very heady).

SWIM's with Nature Boy on this one. If SWIY really can't put off experimenting until he is past the anxiety stage then he really should ensure the following:

1. Take a smaller dose (1/3 of a tab - it may seem tiny but it can pack one fuck of a punch) - SWIY can save the rest for later in the trip or another time, there is no hurry.
2. Make sure SWIY is somewhere comfortable and can stay there with people who make him feel comfortable for the entire duration
3. Make sure SWIY's buddies will let him go lie down curled up in a ball in peace and quiet if things get too much for him. (Nothing worse than mates who constantly bug SWIY with "you ok dude?" every other fucking minute!)

Saying that, 'cid never seemed to negatively affect those types of people who have no problem with unplugging themselves completely. SWIM can *never* let himself lose total control of the situation and he found himself fighting against the trip. He lost.

Still, he soon got over it and eventually figured out the play safe rules and had some grrrrrreat fucking times with it!

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good advice.

[machine_elf]

All cases are different and swim isn't condoning the use of a controlled substance BUT swim has had innumerable benefits from the consumption of psychedelics including greatly reduced anxiety and the obliteration of OCD. However, there is still chanced that the use of psychoactives could complicate massters so if you do lsd, stick to a small dose first to stay safe.

[Henfer]

just don't forget.. acid can release an underlying psychic disorder, which could be the cause of your anxiety...

however, acid could be extremely helpful on the other hand, to ease your anxiety in general and show you beautiful aspects of yourself.... that would be best with good set&setting and professional assistance - but at least the last is not possible in our world...

be fond of yourself, be in a comfortable room... don't go out! going outside can be beautiful and is if you are free of anxiety, but can strengthen it due to paranoia (police... other people.. the wideness of the world you're experiencing), but is not the particulary best idea if you're tripping and anxient.

if you want to be alone, have at least someone know what you're doing, best would be having someone ready to help you out and give you support if you flip out. have some benzo's around, they can help to relief you of bad feelings (but can also "dumb" the experience) and a bad trip - however this is not an automatical thing. if you're together with someone, be aware that other persons will look dramatically different and potentially frightening to you, and behave not logical to you (actually, you won't behave logically to them, but it's all a point-of-view-thing). this can be frightening.

don't force yourself into anything during a trip. don't try to force away bad things, accept them as they're coming and they'll eventually loose a lot of their frightening appearance and can even turn out positive.

make yourself clear that nothing you will experience will be real in the usual sense - and that everything you see is just intensified and to a certain degree a creation of YOUR mind. nothing of this can hurt you really, and it WILL go away after several hours - so you can just as well enjoy it.

don't delude yourself, you WILL be in a state of insanity, technically seen, but this is not necessarily something bad as it is induced by yourself and WILL go away after a certain time.

hold the next day free, so you won't be frightened if the trip is taking longer, especially if you have to do something important the next day and the trip just won't end and you want to force it away - this can also lead to unhappiness and therefore to bad feelings, as everything including your feelings and thinking, will be greatly intensified beyond anything you've experienced yet.

and, last but not least... do it at your own will, on the time you want to do it, and have time to do it, and because you want it really and feel prepaired - a bit of anxienty is something swim thinks everyone had before their first trip.

hope this is helpful to you and most important is really to not do it if you don't want it and are afraid of it much. at least, you're facing your own self, and that can lead to fear or to deep insights. it's your choice!

Reputation Comments on this post:

very good post :)

[kareena]

SWIM has wanted to try acid for a long time but is very concerned. SWIM suffers from anxiety in certain social situations- SWIM supposes you could tag SWIM with the whole social anxiety tag (a nasty thing SWIM will tell ya). Absolutley no psychosis though.

Anyway, dropping acid seems like a ridiculous idea for SWIM yeah? Just wondering. (BTW no 'yeah go and do it' is just gonna make SWIM drop so dont worry about responses making SWIM gung-ho, just wants to hear others opinions.)

It gets worse. SWIM doesnt even enjoy maryjane anymore as it makes SWIM too anxious.

SWIM has heard so many excellent reports from friends and it sounds amazing if all goes well. SWIM even imagines a good trip could sort the psyche out quite nicely. SWIM understands a bad trip could fuck SWIM right up.

So what do you reckon? A big no-no?

n.b. SWIM has used virtually all other drugs including other psychedelics such as shrooms generally with good results

Thanks

[Nahbus]

Well, SWIM has pretty severe social anxiety, and is even prone to minor bouts of psychosis (along with, what doctors tell him, bipolar disorder)
Most of it comes and goes, though.
Anyway, he has no problem taking LSD (never has had a bad trip, and has eatten mushrooms and taken LSD, DMT, Salvia, and I'm sure DOx RC's.
He always makes sure, though, that his environment is absolutely to his utmost comfort zone.
There have been times, yes, that something would go not as planned, like maybe many people showing up, or having to talk to his landlord, etc that makes the trip difficult for a little bit, but if you're an intelligent person and know your mind, and a lot about the drug itself then you can usually get out of it.
SWIM has witnessed people going into bad trips and it seems that usually it could have easily been avoided taken certain precautions (most of the bad trips he's seenwere inexperienced users just looking to get effed up).

Know what you're getting into, maybe try a hit at most for your first time with a very close friend or two, making sure you feel very comfortable and not stressed out. Don't go taking it if you're stessing about school or work or other social situations. It has to be the day where you wake up and smile, look outside, it's a beautiful day, and you just know it's 'the day'.

Just don't be a knucklehead with it, I'm sure SWIY knows his social abilities and comfort zones, so just make sure everything is well and I think everything will be fine. SWIY can even use it to try and get to the root of those problems, but that's another thread entirely.

Be safe, have fun

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good advice

[tk421]

SWIM has suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks for most of his life.

He advises that a anxious would-be psychonaut take 1-2 milligrams of Klonopin with the acid. SWIY probably won't even need it, but it certainly won't hurt. SWIM finds that benzos are great at countering the stimulant-like aspects of acid, too. Keep a couple extra k-pins around for later, just in case.

Pay attention to the setting and people SWIY will be tripping with.
Never in a million years should SWIY take a trip in a group of strangers, or with the kind of "friends" who would find it funny to fuck with someone's head.

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tar for advice

[JDreaming]

If SWIY has social anxiety but really wants to do LSD anyway, make sure SWIY does it in a quiet, peaceful area without a lot of people or sudden movement... maybe a trip sitter in a natural setting and nothing else. But if SWIY isn't sure whether a trip on a particular substance might go well or not, SWIY might want to just hold off on it. Going into a trip experience unsure if it will really go well creates a setting where bad trips are a distinct possibility. Best not to do a powerful hallucinogen until SWIY is really positive it's something SWIY needs in his life.

Up to you though, it's your life... good luck, and play safe.

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tar for advice

[Alfa]

What does SWIY expect to get out of it? Just fun? If so, then think about this. LSD is not just fun. The experience will touch SWIY's issues and give SWIY the opportunity to make things better or worse.
After reading the first part of your post, I had a strong urge to advise not to do it, but reading that SWIY has enjoyed many psychedelics including magic mushrooms made SWIM doubt about this. It may be a good idea, but AFOAF is not certain about this. If SWIY wants to dream about taking LSD then a trusted and experienced sitter or at least having a guide present is VERY advisable.
Consider that the experience of LSD is much longer than magic mushrooms. After the trip sleep may not be possible for some time. AFAOF has dreamed of staring at the ceiling (with or without eyes closed) for many hours while trying to sleep after a LSD session.

Some thoughts handed to me sometime:
Also the LSD experience may feel much edgier than magic mushrooms. Although AFOAF enjoyed this a lot, I know that many do not.

AFAOF has seen many people improve anxiety problems while facing them in a guided trip. On the other hand this has also proven to be a way to seriously freak out others.

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informative advice

[kareena]

SWIM thanks all for their advice. SWIM completely understands the importance of set and setting and would pay much attention to this. Having some benzos at hand is also something SWIM would do, just in case. In SWIMs previous psychedelic experiences they have paid attention to set and setting but as any psychedelic user knows shit happens- maybe 10% of SWIMs shroom trips have been abruptly interupted by a drunken group of knuckleheads which has not gone down well- in fact, it has been very disturbing, but swift recoveries have been made. SWIM will wait until the right occasion occurs if its to be done anyway. SWIAlfa raises some good points: clearly it could help anxiety issues or it could mess them right up even worse, SWIM is unsure quite how it would effect them, so will wait until the time is right: that might be next week, next month or never. The only reason SWIM likes the idea of acid is the good times SWIM has seen by others and the potential improvement it could make in one'self. Although SWIM has used most substances on this forum at times it is not a question of checking off the checklist, it just seems as though it could be a interesting, profound and yes, fun experience. SWIM will play safe. Cheers.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Nice post. Good to see people using their heads.