Health - Dr. Abraham: On the cutting edge of HPPD.

[Lobsang]

I am sure everyone has heard of the "disorder" called HPPD. It is mislabled as "flashbacks". Actuall HPPD is a perceptual change that is long lived and related to use of LSD and sometimes other psychedelics. It involves seeing things like visual snow, trails and afterimages. For example someone may see a trail or almost like multiple images after and object is past before the visual field. People may also see for example a light in their after the light is turned off. The may get macro/microscopia. There may be changes in the manner thsat some colours are perceived.

Ths important thing to note here is that HPPD is a perceptual problem. Not a psychosis or delusional problem. It is often misdiagnosed and patients are labled as "mentally ill". It is no more a mental illness than epilepsy. It a visual problem that is in the brain. It is unknown what the etiology of the problem is with respect to brain changes. It could involve a number of factors on a functional level. But it would be highly unlikely that it involves "killing" brain cells.

Many times patients with HPPD have high levels of anxiety. This is because they become disturbed by the changes in their visual awareness. Just wanting to be "normal" again. High anxiety over a long period of time can lead to other problems. But we must remember that HPPD is a visual perceptual problem. Not an emotional or mental disease. It is totally unknown what the percentage of people that take LSD and other psychedelics is that get HPPD. It is however small. In the final analysis not a lot is known about the problem. HPPD can last for a short time or for years. It has been reported with individuals who have taken LSD once and people who have used it many times.

People who have had HPPD and reported it to physicians in the past have been labled as having "mental disease". There is a man I am extremely impressed with as a scientist and a person. He understands HPPD well and realizes that people who have it are not "crazy". His name is Dr Abraham. He has done ground breaking research into it. If you are interested in learning more about his work. Try checking out his website.
http://drabraham.com/html/hppd.htm He is not by any means an advocate of LSD use. But he functions in a very non judgemental fashion. WE have to accept that HPPD does exist as mature thinkers. It is pretty rare I think but it does happen. My cat had HPPD for two years when he was very young. But never got it again when he tripped as an adult. This makes me think that it may be unwise for young kids and teenagers with developing brains to trip. This is speculation. But my cat says he feels that in his bones. And when my cat something in his bones it is usually correct.

Reputation Comments on this post:

great post and link

[RaverHippie]

SWIM looks at his HPPD as just an after effect of an extremely educational and rewarding experience (albeit fun as well). He doesn't really suffer any anxiety over it or so he tells me. But he can empathize with the situation and can understand where some would feel alarmed with the changes.

He feels bad because those that do suffer anxiety over HPPD are more likely to report it to a general practitioner and when the doc sees a patient with anxiety resulting from psychedelic use the first thought would be "psychedelic-induced psychosis" and this is the last thing such an anxiety sufferer would need. As bad as a negative-feedback loop as I've seen.

[Jatelka]

And for some of Dr Abraham's work in our very own archive: See here...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...=2242&catid=68
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...=3922&catid=32
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...=3253&catid=32


and while not by the esteemed Dr A there are also these...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...=1142&catid=68 (excellent review article)
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...=3922&catid=32
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...=3236&catid=32

[Songcycle67]

SWIM is pretty sure he has it. He started taking LSD when he was 21 and after two years of experimentation slowly developed the disorder. At first it scared him, due to the fact that it is perceived as a mental disorder and sometimes disrupts thinking. Now he considers it just part of being "turned on" and enjoys the show, as it were.

Thanks to posters like the OP and professionals such as Dr. Abraham, hopefully the stigma of "LSD psychosis" being given to everyone who reports a minor glitch in their vision will finally come to an end.

[ihavequestions]

there are forums for people with hppd. the best one swim knows of is hppdonline.com

those people however have it bad and are REALY freaked out about it. i guess it depends how a person handles it. htere visuals came on along with depersonalization, derealization and intnese anxiety.

[Lobsang]

htere visuals came on along with depersonalization, derealization and intnese anxiety.

It is very important to note that the DP, DR and anxiety are co related conditions. They are not HPPD. HPPD is perceptual/visual. Like trails, afterimages, repeaters, visual snow, macro and microscopia, color changes, halos ect...

[ihavequestions]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

It is very important to note that the DP, DR and anxiety are co related conditions. They are not HPPD. HPPD is perceptual/visual. Like trails, afterimages, repeaters, visual snow, macro and microscopia, color changes, halos ect...

that is exactly what i beleive too. and ive posted my arguments with hppd sufferes with links and sources of my info but they insist they are part of the disorder. we know its not though but they persist.

[Lobsang]

that is exactly what i beleive too. and ive posted my arguments with hppd sufferes with links and sources of my info but they insist they are part of the disorder. we know its not though but they persist.

That is funny. Because they did the same thing with me as well. They get very pissed off when you say that DP, DR and anxiety are. I think that they fail to recognize that a person can have more than one thing going on at once. They also do not realize that there may be another syndrom of which HPPD is one part. Also I think they may equaint HPPD with being "not crazy" and DP/ DR with being "crazy". I am not saying that they are "crazy" but I think they are defensive about it. I just do not know. There are a couple of vids on Youtube if you search HPPD. A guy is talking about his "HPPD' and seems to believe all his symptoms are HPPD. And it is interesting that he never really took LSD, mescaline or mushrooms I believe.

[ihavequestions]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

That is funny. Because they did the same thing with me as well. They get very pissed off when you say that DP, DR and anxiety are. I think that they fail to recognize that a person can have more than one thing going on at once. They also do not realize that there may be another syndrom of which HPPD is one part. Also I think they may equaint HPPD with being "not crazy" and DP/ DR with being "crazy". I am not saying that they are "crazy" but I think they are defensive about it. I just do not know. There are a couple of vids on Youtube if you search HPPD. A guy is talking about his "HPPD' and seems to believe all his symptoms are HPPD. And it is interesting that he never really took LSD, mescaline or mushrooms I believe.

yep. there are also many sufferers however who have gotten actual hppd from substances other than LSD. the second most common culprit is mushrooms. and sometimes even ecstasy. i dont beleive MDMA can cause it, however ecstasy is cut with so many things including DXM and RC's which act heavy on the 5HT-2A recepors which are beleived to be a component in HPPD. HPPD seems to be neurological. and that i beleive considering its consistent. and its what makes the disorder. however only some HPPDers suffer from DP/DR and anxiety. which must mean that DP/DR isnt neurological, which means its not part of the HPPD. its known that anxiety can cause DP/DR. and if a person has HPPD and doesnt know what it is, that dp/dr and anxiety can easily be seen as symptoms as RESPONSE to HPPD but not part of the disorder.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good observation...

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by ihavequestions

yep. there are also many sufferers however who have gotten actual hppd from substances other than LSD. the second most common culprit is mushrooms. and sometimes even ecstasy. i dont beleive MDMA can cause it, however ecstasy is cut with so many things including DXM and RC's which act heavy on the 5HT-2A recepors which are beleived to be a component in HPPD. HPPD seems to be neurological. and that i beleive considering its consistent. and its what makes the disorder. however only some HPPDers suffer from DP/DR and anxiety. which must mean that DP/DR isnt neurological, which means its not part of the HPPD. its known that anxiety can cause DP/DR. and if a person has HPPD and doesnt know what it is, that dp/dr and anxiety can easily be seen as symptoms as RESPONSE to HPPD but not part of the disorder.

Well I am 100% sure that HPPD can cause marked anxiety. It is interesting to note that what the kid in one of the vids describes if I recall correctly is that he started getting "Really high" and depersonalized and derealized when he took any drugs. Then he goes into a talk about visual snow. So from what I can gather in his case the DP/ DR came first. I don't know. But personally I think that HPPD at least some of it sounds almost like some kind of sensory epilepsy. I would wager it has something to do with an alteration in the gates of neurons and the permiability of the cell membrane. But in any event we know that by definition HPPD is visual. What is interesting is my cat (Kid Charlemagne) got HPPD from a single very high dose of mescaline. Well not only did he get the visual changes classic for HPPD but also at night when he was in the dark he would see large moving halos even with his eyes closed. This leads me to conclude that it involves the discharge of neurons. Kind of epileptic so to speak.