Jump to content

Does HPPD often resolve itself on its own?


Ghormeh Sabzi

Recommended Posts

I had a consultation with Dr. Abraham. As expected, he believes I have HPPD. My problems are mainly visual, although I've been feeling generally not well for a couple of months as well - headaches etc - but I am slowly getting this under control with exercise, eating right, sleep, supplements ... and of course, zero drug use (alcohol included).

He said that I have a 50% chance of it going away, although it may take a few years. I was under the impression that, usually, once you get HPPD in the form that I would consider not to be 'flashback' related (i.e. visual snow, ghosting, after-images, etc, etc), then you are stuck with it (benzos etc aside).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There have been reports of people getting HPPD then having it go away. Then with continued drug use, it came back even stronger.

So, yea, it can go away. Lifestyle is important. If Dr A says you have 50% change of getting well, believe him - he has been studying the disorder and is not a fool.

Do you try the drug trial? And, if so, did it have any affect on you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I live in the UK so I just had a phone consultation - mainly so that he could diagnose me and then get in contact with my doctor/neuro over here so that they can understand that my problems are as a result of drug use.

However, he told me that he had recently received funding to publish the trial, which we will then be able to take to our doctors etc. So the full details will be available in a few months I guess. He said about a third responded positively to the medication, with about a 75% improvement in symptoms.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I live in the UK so I just had a phone consultation - mainly so that he could diagnose me and then get in contact with my doctor/neuro over here so that they can understand that my problems are as a result of drug use.

However, he told me that he had recently received funding to publish the trial, which we will then be able to take to our doctors etc. So the full details will be available in a few months I guess. He said about a third responded positively to the medication, with about a 75% improvement in symptoms.

Hello I'm from the uk and would LOVE a phone consultation. How did you get in touch with Dr Abraham and how long does it take to set up? How long were you on the phone for? Did he tell you anything that has helped you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got in contact with him via his website (drabraham.com). It doesn't take long to set up, you just agree on a date/time.

The phone consultation lasts 45 mins.

I didn't much time to ask many questions because a lot of the time was spent describing my symptoms.

I did it mainly so that I could he could then write to my doc/neuro over here so that they can understand that my problems are as a result of drug use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He can advise on medications, but you can probably find all that info on here (and more). For example, he didn't sound too positive about Keppra, even though it has helped a lot of people on this site. He also didn't mention dopamine boosting drugs, something that has helped a few. But dopamine increasing meds were used in the above study he is conducting. He didn't tell me about the meds but told about the study, and I found out the info of the meds on here from members that had participated in it. He said Klonopin and valium are two drugs which can help, which I already knew, but he can suggest these things to my doc, even though I'm going to avoid benzodiazapines if possible.

I told him that I have cut out all drugs, alcohol, have been exercising, eating lots of fruits and veg, taking supplements, etc. He seemed very positive about these things. Basically giving myself the best possible chance of recovery. These things have helped the non-visual aspects a lot (headaches, generally not feeling well, etc). I still do not feel 100% - but I am getting better. No change in the visuals, though, but that is likely to take far longer, if it happens at all.

As I say, the main reason was to get the diagnoisis, because no one I have spoken to so far in England knows anything about it and it is diffcult for them to take my word for it. Even with Dr. Abraham's help it may prove difficult.

He has a lot of experience, and if you have a lot of specific questions, it may prove useful. For me, it took too long to describe the symptoms and I didn't have enough time to ask him things. Maybe if you had a consultation you could write down and describe all you symptoms beforehand and send it to him, thus allowing more time for questions. The other option is to have more than one consultation - but for me that's not really an option for reasons of money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I no longer consider myself to have HPPD. I have visuals about 95% of the time, at less intensity as when they first occurred 17 years ago - mostly multi coloured visual snow, afterimages, occasional 'breathing walls' - the usual stuff. These cause me virtually no problems at all now, I mostly don't even notice them. The only slight visual complaint I have is that my night vision is rubbish, cuz I see as much of what isn't there as what is there!

The main area of my recovery has been dealing with my emotional issues; anxiety and dissociation. In my experience, HPPD is predominantly an emotional/spiritual disorder; and I have become more accepting of myself and put a lot of energy into working through my emotional issues. I think that the LSD experiences that triggered 'HPPD' basically opened up my consciousness to a degree that I was not expecting, I had a huge amount of emotional stuff about myself that I was not ready to deal with and I think that my mind's response was to dissociate and go into a PTSD type state.

I think that for me learning to live with HPPD has been basically:

1 - sort out my drug use

2 - learning to accept the visual changes and not be afraid of them

3 - adopting a healthy lifestyle

4- working on my emotional issues.

Everyone is different of course, but that has worked for me :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Gormeh Sabzi, for me the main issue with the visuals is that they were triggers for all kinds of negative thoughts and feelings; 'ive fucked my brain up with drugs' 'im going crazy' 'im never going to stop tripping' etc etc, which just reinforced my anxiety and negative feelings about myself. Over time I learned to interpret the visuals as just - how I see the world, and not as something that could harm me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't help but chime in here... There was much posted on this on the old forum I think , but yes, it can go away. I have known people in my real life who had HPPD. And for most of them, their symptoms resolved with time. Some took as little as 3 months others as long as a few years. I'm talking about visual symptoms, but they all had anxiety due to HPPD and I didn't know about DP/DR but they had symptoms of as well in describing it to me (micropsia/macropsia).

Some stopped doing drugs, some didn't. I never understood why I continued to have symptoms until I found the HPPD community and saw that there were others like me, too. Even then, I can recall some who posted on the forums stating it went away..

Personally I wouldn't and couldn't recommend continuing drug use after the onset HPPD but I've seen it happen (resolve, go away, etc) in real time. There is always hope :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just ran across this on Wikipedia:

"Neuroplasticity is a non-specific neuroscience term referring to the ability of the brain and nervous system in all species to change structurally and functionally as a result of input from the environment.[1] Plasticity occurs on a variety of levels, ranging from cellular changes involved in learning, to large-scale changes involved in cortical remapping in response to injury. The most widely recognized forms of plasticity are learning, memory, and recovery from brain damage..."

I'm not saying HPPD is brain damage, by the way. In fact, I think it is more likely a sort of brain disorganization. But in the case that it is, or that it could be classified as brain damage, there is reason for optimism.

Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia....Neuroplasticity

It goes on to mention something about the most easily recognizable form of neuroplasticity has to do with visual sensory neuronal systems, so perhaps even stuff like visual snow and after-images will repair themselves via this plasticity. There have also been studies done to induce neuroplastic events. They've done it in rats and cats and probably a billion times. I know very little about this at the presetn, as I am just beginning to study it. More in the future.

I'm doing a class presentation on a form of neuroplasticity. I'll put interesting stuff on here. The more I read, the more hopeful I get.

Hope you all are well. Peace.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

About five years of HPPD for me without much improvement, pretty much none. Granted I was using everything other than psychedelics for pretty much 4 of those years. My symptoms did get much better up until about 2 years ago at which point I accidentally took an exceptionally large dose of 2C-E... Since that point it has been worse by orders of magnitude. Been clean for the last 6 months... Visuals are the same, however, my little kernel of mental clarity is growing. Neuroplasticity working it's magic! At the same time, if HPPD is indeed not related to physiological brain damage, then the brain could have problems identifying which areas and systems to change. It seems to me that the disorder is a complex manifestation of many neurotransmitter systems being altered in some way. As well as regional irregular chemistry in different lobes. In situations of typical damage, I would think that the brain knows what to fix... But maybe in the case of HPPD, abnormalities are concurrent with irregular brain function. I haven't gotten better in a while so I guess I'm cynical, trying to justify why my mind won't get better while others are having better luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know someone who had HPPD who has made full recovery. Never knew she had it until we met up and she commented on me no longer smoking weed and i said in not to much detail that i had fucked up visuals probably from taking to much mandy, and she was telling me she had the same thing for about 6 months after taking acid. She says she is now absolutely fine.. No visuals, no paranoia etc...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just thought i would add, a few years back i got alopecia which for those who dont know is a disease where you hair falls out.. Started on my beard, then my hair (which is long and i love)... Started to get really bad, looked pretty fucked up and i remember going on a forum to ask some questions about it.. The outlook which was painted on there by the people i spoke to was less than sunny with people saying "it will all fall out could lose your EYEBROWS AND EYE LASHES AND PUBES!!!!!!!" As you can imagine i was not a happy bunny... Stopped going out, thought my wife would definitely leave me first thing i thought about every morning etc etc... Many of the people i spoke to said... "Not many people on this site who have got better".... Any way my point being, it all grew back i have a full head of hair (touch wood) absolutely fine, still married and all that worrying was for nothing... and i have never been on the website again to say "Hey im fine dont worry mine all grew back"

I know HPPD is different but you get my point....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I had a consultation with Dr. Abraham. As expected, he believes I have HPPD. My problems are mainly visual, although I've been feeling generally not well for a couple of months as well - headaches etc - but I am slowly getting this under control with exercise, eating right, sleep, supplements ... and of course, zero drug use (alcohol included).

He said that I have a 50% chance of it going away, although it may take a few years. I was under the impression that, usually, once you get HPPD in the form that I would consider not to be 'flashback' related (i.e. visual snow, ghosting, after-images, etc, etc), then you are stuck with it (benzos etc aside).

Did he give any indication whether meds such as Klonopin help in this recovery?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think he said something along the lines of 'clonazepam and valium can help with anxiety, which in turn can make the visuals back off a little bit', which would suggest he believes the visuals are related to anxiety. However, that's not my experience.

He didn't mention any meds that actually help permanent recovery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Likewise with myself - there is absolutely no connection with visual symptoms and anxiety (or other emotional states).

Yet some on the forum experience a strong connection.

Either way, if a person has chronic anxiety - they have got to get rid of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I should probably have mentioned it at the time of my last post - but never late than never :)

... someone on the visual snow forum some time ago reported permanent improvement of visual snow following use of Keppra. However, it later returned during a panic attack.

Just thought it may be of interest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Likewise with myself - there is absolutely no connection with visual symptoms and anxiety (or other emotional states).

Yet some on the forum experience a strong connection.

Either way, if a person has chronic anxiety - they have got to get rid of it.

There is a strong connection between visuals and anxiety for me. I thought there was for most other people too, but I guess not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.