Effects - LSD nightmares: Time loops

[psyde_effect]

Has anyone ever heard of a person on LSD have their entire night repeat over and over, like the movie "Groundhogs Day," but with a shorter time frame of like, 10 minutes? Described as "Everything just keeps repeating, i dont know, we did this already, why do we keep repeating?" Swim described later that she thought she was screaming, but she was barely whispering.

[lineartransform]

This is where a sitter comes in very handy for SWIM.

While obvious to a third party, these types of thought loops seem very reasonable at times to an intoxicated subject.

Something as simple as having a sitter suggest you watch a cartoon for a bit (ie something engaging, light, and a significant change of environment) can pull you out of this perception.

[Bajeda]

Swim experienced something like this during a mushroom trip.

His train of thought would progress in cycles, continually repeating itself. The conversation during the comedown also kept repeating itself, as did the actions of the two trippers. It isn't conveyed quite so thoroughly in the trip report, but I did mention what swim told me of it in the excerpt below. Still, no words can truly convey what its like to be stuck in a time / thought loop.




Excerpt:

"Swim stumbled down the stairs to the futon again and pulled the cover over himself, pushing his head into the pillow as hard as he could. Exhaustion overwhelmed him, and the nicest thing in the whole wide world he could think of was to sleep. For the trip to stop. For his mind to just stop working and for every single neuron in his body to stop firing and just sit silent. Unfortunately for swim, it wouldn't stop, and couldn't stop. The trip had been started and couldn't be stopped, and swim knew this. He felt doomed. Doomed to a lifetime and insanity and inability to perceive or communicate with the real world. He thought about Syd Barrett and how this must be how he feels, and that swim would soon end up like Syd Barrett. Insane to everyone he meets, but trapped in an alternate reality where nothing can be perceived as it should.

Swim wrestled with his sanity for another hour and a half. It was the most mentally gruelling experience of his life. He kept going through cyclical rounds of thinking that always culminated in the same conclusion but was constantly forgotten so swim had to begin the cycle again. He would start by justifying his existence and that he was alive, and then go on to prove to himself in his head that he was sane and that it was only a shroom trip and he would be ok. By the time he got to the point where he could understand that it was only a shroom trip and he only had to wait it out and he would be ok again his mind would go blank, he would forget what he was thinking about again, and the whole process would begin again. This happened countless times, over and over and over, swim kept justifying his own sanity and exisitence in this world to himself. Probably one of the most horrible and exhausting experiences swim has been through in his life, and definitely the worst experience with drugs he has ever had.

After the peak of the trip was over swim started coming back somewhat to reality. He understood where he was and while he was extremely tired and confused, he knew he was going to be ok. Tom had come to his senses as well by this point so the two of them headed up to the balcony area again to smoke some pot to calm down. They rolled a large joint and started talking about the trip. They went over what they experience and why and tried to come up with an explanation of what happened. This started getting freaky after a while though, as it was ALL they could talk about. Swim found himself experiencing things in cycles again, just like during the peak of the hellish trip. Swim and Tom would talk about the trip and reach a conclusion and then pause for a minute or two, and then start talking about the same thing all over again. It reached the point where after talking about the same subject for the umpteenth time either swim or Tom would exclaim "why the fuck are we talking about this again?!?". However, when the conversation died down both of them realized that talking is infinitely better than not talking, as when they stopped talking their inner mind would take over and they would start thinking again and the trip would begin to creep back towards its earlier terrifying state. Swim and Tom quickly agreed that talking about the same shit over and over for another four hours was way better than starting to trip hard again so they continued to smoke pot and make idle conversation about the trip experience that they had said numerous times before. Another topic that would be repeated continually was that John was still asleep. It was quite funny actually, in that swim and Tom had tripped insanely and then talked constantly for about two hours while repeatedly smoking joints and John still didn't wake up, even though he was lying right next to them."




I don't know if this is the same phenomena swiy experienced, as swim felt it was more of a thought loop (cyclical thinking patterns where both logic and conversation would take the same path over and over again) where he couldn't establish any sense of time whatsoever. Then again, the peak of the trip was solely in swim's mind and the come-down was only repetitive conversations and joint smoking, so maybe he would have experienced more of a sense of deja-vu if other people had been there or there was some sort of other action going on to give a sense of reference.

[Songcycle67]

There is a phenomenon that has a fair bit of literature dedicated to it, called "the loop," unfortunately I can't find any of that literature at present. It has been observed in SWIM on several occasions, usually during early experiences and high dose experiences. SWIM's friends all encountered this loop during their first experiences which he guided them through. Most of the time when it became apparent to the individual that they were "stuck on repeat"--thinking of the same things over and over or doing the same things over and over--it ceased. The person could then consciously take over and drive the experience to a different place.

The problem is that most of the time the loop hits while the mind is digging deep into the unconscious and the person often feels as if they are not in control. They notice it happening, but are too inebriated to realize that it's happening to them, as often the separation from the ego disallows associations to be made between the self and the brain/body.

SWIM says it's a fairly unavodiable situation, but if one doesn't dose high and becomes familiar enough with "LSD consciousness" they shouldn't encounter it beyond the occasional half-hour loop. When it is realized that the person is caught in the loop, it's up to them to act and get on with something else. Usually something as simple as a change in music or setting can stop the loop.

[Euthanatos93420]

Hmm...Swim experiences this with heavier salvia trips in shorter intervals of about 10-20 seconds. Very interesting. The first time he actually was stuck in a loop he kept saying the same nonsense words and phrases over and over again. His sitter thought it was cool and chimed in at impeccably timed intervals with his own nonsense words and phrases. The second time he got stuck in this loop he KNEW it wasn't repeating itself but he'd be damned if it didn't feel like it....again...lol.

[Wierd Logic]

Monkey once accidentally consumed four drops of acid (he thought it was going to be two, but it turned out that the cubes were double dropped) at an absolutely mental party. For a couple of hours he was convinced the world was on loops. He went through a rather horrible loop which involved being naked in a sauna, and when he saw his (sober) friend go in and come out of the sauna he assumed that he must have just been through the same thing!
He didn't really get it when Monkey tried to explain to to him though...

[calmurphy17]

The last time that SWIM tripped (about a month ago) he experienced being stuck in a loop. The trip as a whole wasnt particularly enjoyable and to be honest it has put me off a little. It is perhaps worth mentioning that this was a high dosage scenario. It took SWIM quite a while to notice that he was stuck in a loop but once he did notice, he realised he had been sitting there, stuck, for quite some time. He eventually snapped himself out of it but bad stuff just kinda kept happening. SWIM thinks he had a bad kinda trip because when he dropped the acid he was just starting to rattle (SWIM is a H addict) as he hadnt scored all day and couldnt that night, this must of put his mind in the wrong place and shaped/disrupted his trip...

[drugchemist]

Swim has tripped twice. Both times he was stuck in the loop and both times he managed to get out of it by figuring out he was in the loop. This is very hard if one is tripping solo without a sitter. Swim kept a trip log and noticed he was thinking about the same thing multiple times and recognized he was in the loop. To get out, Just change a few things. Swim changed the movie he was watching, turned some lights and some music. It worked like a charm

Reputation Comments on this post:

Thats a great suggestion!

[MindNRA]

Freaking loops, we have all been there. Acid and Loops are like coffee and cigarettes. Annoying as sh|t but you can definitely realize you are in a loop and then force your way out of it. Usually on second, third attempt you can get out of any acid loop if you try.

Everything in life goes in a circle. Loops are a lesson so just observe and learn.

[Jatelka]

Certain loops can be quite fun. Synaesthetic orgasmic ones, for instance

[psyde_effect]

I appreciate your help with that scenario, but this next one was way more serious.

Swim took 4 hits of liquid. After 4 hours of fun, Swim decided to smoke a bong, which Swim said threw him over the edge. Swim recalls looking at the others in the room and seeing there faces melt off, then Swim attempted to read. Swim said the reason for reading was because nothing else made sense. 30 minutes later, i went to check my laundry. Swim followed me along with the others. while in the laundry room, Swim started freaking out. My friends who were also on 4 hits, were speaking spanish, and Swim said he thought he fell into insanity because nothing made sense, my friends didnt realize Swim didnt know Spanish.

Swim began freaking out hardcore. He began spitting old testament biblical passages, though Swim has never been religious. He was convinced he was gay, due to the phallic nature of the room we were in [banana paintings, plus the rainbow poi that was present] had convinced him of this. He then began speaking of purgatory and hell as if that was his destiny, and when confronted, Swim slapped one of the other guys in the room, hard. This is not typical behavior of Swim, for he is a good friend. Swim then began to speak to the guy he slapped, calling him God. "God, why are you punishing me like this?" he would say, pointing and talking to the friend. Swim eventually came out soon after, but could not recall any of the biblical part nor the slap, but he said he couldnt remember much thanks to the loop. Swim said he thought that the loop was in hell, so he thought that to get outta hell, he had to admit what he thought was what the said "hell" wanted him to. Swim said he thought he was either gay or he had killed a gay person which is why he was scared of the phallic items.

Swim said he eventually said "fuck this" and began treating the loop as if all emotion and all characters in the loop would reset after 5 seconds. He justified the slap in this manner, but Swim was so frightening on his trip i was curious if anyone had any friends who had similar experiences.

[Songcycle67]

Just sounds like a trip gone horribly awry due to a combination of things. The person seems to be very intolerant to psychedelics (or high dose experiences at least) and SWIM would suggest no more drugs of this kind (including marijuana) for as long as possible. Also set and setting played huge roles in this obviously (although one could hardly predict the type of reaction that a banana painting and a rainbow poi produced in the individual).

I'd say it's the classic case of someone "overdosing" and subsequently not being able to handle their environment.

[Greenport]

Ahhhhhh swiM's stove knows exactly what swiY is talking about! Damn time loops they're so utterly confusing yet so utterly interesting yet so utterly god damn what the fuck is this shit kind of thing.

Another thing the stove experienced was when it would think of a sentence, the words would be all out of order and stuff.

It was as if the whole surrounding world was out of sequence to the stove.

That stove has had some good times. Yeahhh...

[entheogensmurf]

Originally Posted by psyde_effect

Has anyone ever heard of a person on LSD have their entire night repeat over and over, like the movie "Groundhogs Day," but with a shorter time frame of like, 10 minutes? Described as "Everything just keeps repeating, i dont know, we did this already, why do we keep repeating?" Swim described later that she thought she was screaming, but she was barely whispering.

SWIM has never experienced a repeating event.

SWIM has thought that hir was being excessively loud -- only to find out that SWIM was completely silent

[Greenport]

SwiM feels that LSD's effects can cause one to see into all different times and places around the universe, like looking into a wormhole. Weird stuff it is.

[psyde_effect]

SWIM thinks the setting might have been the problem, and where Swim was at in life. Swim has no problem with psychedelics, for they have done a lot of them. SWIM is starting to believe that the setting is the main reason for the bad trip

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

swim has experienced "looping" on LSD, Salvia and even once when he was simply ill with a fever. the LSD looping was similar to the ones described here... nonsense words and nonsensical concepts repeating over and over in swims mind...

the Salvia looping was the most interesting one, for swim. it was swim's first time trying salvia and swim was (stupidly) alone and using x40 concentrate... anyway swim started feeling crazy and worried about having to wake his parents and them being angry with swim. swim remembered thinking about blaming someone else, and then looked over to the door thinking "was it you?" and then looking over to the window and thinking "or you?" and kept doing this for several mins until swim broke himself out of it by laughing nervously to himself while thinking "it was no one"... was damn weird.

i was once ill and had a fever but was bored so decided to read some philosophy books. i remember reading about two opposing concepts, repeating them in my mind to make sure i understood them, and then suddenly my consciousness started to sway back and forth violently between the ideas of the concepts (as i understood them in my mind, not as words) and this kept going back and forth violently... it certainly felt like a psychedelic loop...

[msmogadon]

wHEN swim WAS LOOPING. tHE SAME THINGS KEPT CMING INTO CONVERSATION OR THE SAME THINGS WOULD BE PLANNED. She def never felt in control and it what she would describe as a proper near enough freak out. Dose was also very high.
At one onepoint SWIM could actually picture her brain looping fucked up man

[Jasim]

Originally Posted by Jatelka

Certain loops can be quite fun. Synaesthetic orgasmic ones, for instance

Lol, very true. If swim ever found himself in a loop, swim would use it to his advantage. enjoying every moment.

Swim once experienced a strange loop on salvia. The world seemed like it was constantly 'flipping' and was 2-dimensional. Swim tryed to stop the flipping and hurt his hand because time/space was 2-dimensional and slapped against his hand as it was spinning around. Those that have done salvia may know what swim is referring to by the feeling.

[Songcycle67]

Most of the time when one is caught in the loop on acid they don't know that they're in it. SWIM's first few loops were absolute chaos. I mean, it's funny and exciting now for him to think back on times like that and know that he's experienced them but at the time it was absolutely nutters. Definitely not one of his favorite features of LSD.

[dimichaeltryptamine]

Originally Posted by MindNRA

Freaking loops, we have all been there. Acid and Loops are like coffee and cigarettes. Annoying as sh|t but you can definitely realize you are in a loop and then force your way out of it. Usually on second, third attempt you can get out of any acid loop if you try.

Everything in life goes in a circle. Loops are a lesson so just observe and learn.

He's right, very nice concept on "loops".

[Jasim]

Distractions. A trip becomes whatever is in swiys mind at that moment. If a negative thought comes in, push it away and quickly try to fill it with a more positive thought, then do something to distract swiy. Deep breathing can help one focus, but when one is caught in the intense sensory bombardment, nothing works like another distraction. Swim thinks most loops occur from trippers dwelling on a particular thought/topic. In swims experience, dwelling on thoughts is generaly bad during a trip.

[Jatelka]

If loops are distressing, the flamingo has always found that smells are a gorgeous way of breaking the cycle: Chanel No 5 is deep turquoise, fading into purple: Distracting as hell.

[Samadhi]

swim has been tripping with people who experienced this... swim has never experienced it, even on very high doses...

cool to read about though, sounds a little nervewracking if one doesn't know how to play it right....

[Songcycle67]

Distractions, definitely a good idea. Good, pretty music always got SWIM out of em. He hasn't had them since his early trials, but they can be real hectic.