Taking drugs to stimulate dreams

[The Dreamer]

SWIY has posted in the appropriate section I believe. Dream Herb, Xhosa, and African Dream Nut are all reported to increase vividness (colorful, realistic dreams), recall (ability to remember in the morning) and lucidity (knowing that you're dreaming and being in control).

My cat has actually tried dream herb and it was very mild and VERY bitter. He noticed a pronounced increase in vividness and a moderate increase in recall but didn't seem to be any more lucid. He only tried it for about a week and then his supply ran out. Overall he would try it again but is thinking about growing his own and perhaps extracting it to avoid the taste. SWIY may want to try Xhosa first as it is supposed to be the most effective and my cat has not heard that it's taste is a problem.

Salvia, while not directly effective in dream stimulation does appear to increase vividness and recall when done consistently. My cat smokes raw foliage (1x) often and found that occasionally he has a very stimulating and quite enjoyable dream that he's on some sort of adventure. Before salvia he hadn't had a single dream that he remembered since childhood. He's heard whispers around the forum that other peoples cats experienced this as well.

In addition, good sleep produces more dreams so any mild sedative (not a strong one as these tend to knock you out entirely) should improve your chances of dreaming. Kava, Dagga or a little alcohol do the trick for my cat. If you're looking for a more lucid slay-the-dragon type experience try some hallucinogens (shrooms, Flys, or LSA containing herbs) in slightly lower doses right before bed; allowing yourself to fall asleep before the effects take hold. My cat has heard that these will cause very vivid and very lucid dreams and is in the process of acquiring them.

Ideally a good dreamer monitors his diet, exercise and mood during the day. Strength training is especially effective as this forces your body to sleep off the damage you've done to muscle tissue. Good Dreamers are healthy happy and they medicate their depression (but not to the point of feeling like a zombie as this will produce even less dreams) if they have even a mild case; they try to stay active but clam and stress-free. These are the things that have helped my cat the most in the past few months. But this last paragraph is a bit off-topic as it is not a drug as you had asked for. If SWIY is interested look up articles about insomnia and most of the info will apply to a normal person's sleep.

Please post SWIY's experiences if he goes on to procure any rewarding plants as they are of great interest to my cat.

[Nodnarb]

Swim's had remarkably vivid dreams on Syrian rue on several occasions. He was testing the rue on its own before using it in combination with DMT containing plants and found that he had enhanced, highly involved dreams. The images felt nearly real. He could pull a bow across the strings of a violin in his mind and play songs he knew from the waking-world in the dream.

The body load of Syrian rue is such that swim would not use it for recreation but still thinks the experience might be worth a once or twice over in the event that it is even more magical for some.

[tryptamaster]

taking 200mg of 5-htp can really help make your dreams vivid and easy recall.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

This is absolutely one thing swim looks for when he picks his drugs of choice.A first on his list would be opiates but if one is looking for just simply heightened dreams and not being completely out of it and a risk of addiction this is not the way to go.Swim would have to say chamomile,skullcap,carisoprodol,cannabis to some extent,swim has been reading on dream herb but is yet to experience it.

[Bajeda]

My monkey finds that consistent cannabis use reduces the frequency and quality of his dreams. He doesn't tend to dream much when he doesn't smoke either, but then again, he has been a very frequent smoker for so long now and the breaks haven't been for more than a month or so at a time usually, so he isn't sure if it takes time for the dreaming to come back. He remembers having more dreams when he was younger before he started smoking.

The number one substance for generating dreams in my monkey's sleep is melatonin. The chance of him having a dream skyrocket when he takes a melatonin supplement, though if he takes more than his usual phase-advancing dose (.5mg) the dreams can become very bizarre (but also vivid) and freaky, though less realistic so often less scary, just very confusing.

I have written about reports from various lab animals on mexican dream herb in the Calea Zacatechichi Effects thread. Take a look if you are interested in this substance. It isn't the most consistent dream aide, but it has produced interesting results at times for my lab animals.


Tried some other oneirogens with varying success, and noticed that dreams could be affected by some other substances (salvia being a very notable one), but nothing else I think I could mention atm in this thread due to lack of conviction concerning their utility. Maybe will discuss them at a later time.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

The problem swim finds with melatonin is that while it does create vivid dreams they tend to be of the nightmare variety.The same goes for trazodone.

[Bajeda]

Lowering the dose may help, as my panda find that his dreams tend to get increasingly insane as he ups the amount of melatonin, particularly if he goes over 3mg. Maybe combining with a bit of Kava beforehand could help. Kava doesn't help enhance my panda's dreams but he has found them to be more pleasant and relaxing sometimes when he has drank kava earlier in the evening and takes melatonin close to that time to help shift up his bedtime.

[enquirewithin]

My cat dreams vividly every night, always has done, but it's interesting that some animals find that melatonin gives them nightmares. Maybe that's the cause of some his weirder dreams? He often takes melatonin, because it seems to make him get to sleep more quickly, in doses of 3 to 6 mg (with 25 to 50 mg of theanine, which came with the pills).

He thinks that Valerian root may make his dreams more chaotic as well.

[The Dreamer]

My cat has found that a low does of weed will help to alleviate mild fear or paranoia brought on by other substances. Too much seems to have the opposite effect. Then again he is talking about waking fear and paranoia which may be different altogether from sleeping fear and paranoia. He has never taken the drugs the last few posters are mentioning. Perhaps this isn't pertinent.

[lostmente]

a friend couldn't dream since he was a child when he would get night terrors. Not long ago he started taking picamilon (sp?) and began to have intensely visually stimulating dreams.

[Raw-Beets]

Of variety of substance use that SWIM has engaged in he has found, as have other SWIMers, that cessation from regular cannabis use has led to very vivid dreaming. This is not a substance, but simply writing everything SWIM can remember about a dream upon waking and reading over those notes every night before going to sleep has led to the most vivid and memorable dreams he has ever had. In fact he doesn't do this anymore because he just wants to go to sleep, not some wild adventure that he spends all his waking hours trying to understand.

[highganja99]

SWIM found Zolpidem (Ambien) Increased the likelyhood of a dream while sleeping and the intensity of a dream (how vivid a dream was).

[Pope Albacore]

Originally Posted by highganja99

SWIM found Zolpidem (Ambien) Increased the likelyhood of a dream while sleeping and the intensity of a dream (how vivid a dream was).

Funny, SWIM mentioned that Quetiapine(Seroquel) had a similar effect. SWIM mentioned lucid, vivid dreaming with the ability to pick up the dream where one left off after returning to sleep if roused from slumber. SWIM did mention though, a certain "grogginess" upon waking, as if SWIM had not slept much at all but SWIM attributed this to the effects of said chemical.

-Pope Albacore

[Spare Chaynge]

swims most vivid dreams come when swim hasnt used anything for a month or two

[oggy]

Melatonin killed Swims dreams!! Also prevented any sleep paralysis.

Sleep less.

[Lobsang]

Lower levels of melatonin can cause regular sleep. Very high levels of melatonin can provoke vivid dreaming. But of courese different people are different.

[tinytom]

Testosterone is well known for giving persons vivd dreams

Reputation Comments on this post:

very interesting information...

[lostmente]

blue stilton cheese is awesome for dreaming (roughly 20g swim thinks), but in a pinch a good strong blue cheese..not too oily.

Another one to try is mcdonalds cheese slices...swim heard its the dairy opiods that enable them awesome dreams. swim wouldn't put it past Mc'Donalds to fortify their cheese to tweak their burgers satient properties

[Lobsang]

Testosterone is well known for giving persons vivd dreams

Yes and taking aggressive action on those dreams afterwards.

[Richard_smoker]

Originally Posted by lostmente

blue stilton cheese is awesome for dreaming (roughly 20g swim thinks), but in a pinch a good strong blue cheese..not too oily.

Another one to try is mcdonalds cheese slices...swim heard its the dairy opiods that enable them awesome dreams. swim wouldn't put it past Mc'Donalds to fortify their cheese to tweak their burgers satient properties

lol, as on the film, "Supersize Me", where McDonalds' food is accused of being like an addictive drug!
-DICK

[Paracelsus]

No, that was just the first thing that came to mind. But actually, a foaf is expecting some. You might want to look at threads devoted to Calea specifically.

[The Dreamer]

Calea zacatechichi was nice for my cat. It tasted aweful but made is dreams slightly more vivid and a bit more recallable though they were not at all lucid.

Reputation Comments on this post:

i agree completely...except my dreams WERE LUCID!!

[Richard_smoker]

Originally Posted by The Dreamer

Calea zacatechichi was nice for my cat. It tasted aweful but made is dreams slightly more vivid and a bit more recallable though they were not at all lucid.

i agree completely...except MY DREAMS WERE LUCID!

admittedly, this only happened one night...and due to the lethargy experienced the next day, i couldn't keep exploring calea, because i would be tired at work for the entire next day...but i did get several good opportunities to try out this entheogenic plant for its dream-inducing properties.

I will say this to all interested in lucidity during dreams...lucid dreaming takes lots of practice. plain and simple. if you're curious, then do a quick search and you'll find plenty of useful info...if you blindly take calea, then you'll have enhanced memory of dreams, maybe even more dreams than usual...but you probably won't have "lucid" dreams. For that, you will need to read up on activities that have been demonstrated to increase awareness of the dream state.

If one were to COMBINE calea WITH an increased awareness of the awake / dream state, then the chances of lucid dreaming will go up! that's what I did...and it worked for me! -DICK

[Lobsang]

I say 15mg of melatonin and a third of a bottle of tequila.

[drug-bot]

swim notices after he trips on dxm, he has lucid dreams (only when he trips in the evening.