Leaderboard

Thanks for checking in and letting us know the progress... Very happy to hear you are feeling better! I say this a lot, but it really does feel like most people who come to this forum tend to get a fair amount of the way back to a full recovery within 3 months of their first post. It gives a lot of hope for people. I hope you can stay away from smoking weed again... Trust me, there is nothing more boring than being mentally ill for years/decades. Hollywood makes it look interesting and glamorous , but that's so far from the truth. Not being able to do the simple things that people enjoy in life is very, very tedious.

I’m scared I might have it Hey, I’m afraid I might have hppd because the last few days stuff I’ve been staring at looks like it’s been breathing, I haven’t touched ANY drugs since I tried shrooms once last year and had a very very bad trip, it should be important to note that I have anxiety right now because of medication that I was taking that caused anxiety attacks as a side effect which I also stopped taking after the first attack. I also want to add a few more details so I can get a better idea if I do have it or if I’m just stressing out. I took 1.5 grams of Penis Envy (which my friend told me it’s essentially double dosed so it’d be closer to 3?) which the trip lasted 8 hours and it was very bad, it made me really aggressive and paranoid during the whole thing, keep in mind this was my one and ONLY time using psychedelics. I barely smoked any weed before that and haven’t touched any drugs at all since as mentioned above. I was taking doxycycline mono 100mg for my acne and about a week or two ago it caused a panic attack so I’ve been dealing with anxiety since and I also stopped using it after that happened. I have visual snow but that’s definitely because of how much time I spend on screens. I did have depersonalization after my trip but I don’t anymore, at least not as bad as I used to. I don’t see flashes of light or color, double vision, any geometric hallucinations, I just see stuff moving like it’s breathing in my peripheral and floaters but that’s normal for me, I don’t experience any auditory hallucinations either, I’m just worried about the breathing part lol. It only happens if I stare at stuff for a bit, I’ve heard it’s normal but I’m paranoid so who knows. I spend A LOT of time on screens and barely used to sleep but I don’t feel exhausted so this could just be visual hallucinations because of those but I’m working on that now. I’ve also noticed a loss in appetite too. This all could just be my anxiety and how it’s looking for something to stress me out but I just have to make sure because ever since I took those shrooms it’s been my biggest regret in life. Also sorry if I keep updating this, this is a new thing for me and my anxiety is really not helping, I’m getting a psychiatrist and a therapist pretty soon so I hope they’ll help me with this. If there are any questions about anything else please ask me, I’m really scared I have this condition and I just want an answer from people that know about it. I’ve had someone tell me maybe I do or maybe I don’t but either way it sounds pretty mild and I should just stay sober and take it easy which I will. UPDATE: I was just diagnosed with Panic disorder (episodic paroxysmal anxiety) and found out that it’s more likely that it’s caused by that and not HPPD but still if any info or opinion would be appreciated. Another update: I took melatonin only last night to help me sleep because I have been struggling (it said for the serving size it’s 10mg but that’s for 2 gummies and I only take one so it’d be more like 5mg) and maybe I’m just paranoid, maybe it’s because I finally got good sleep, or maybe it is what I think it is and I woke up and colors looked a bit more vibrant, it’s probably because I’m just hyper vigilant due to anxiety but I don’t know I’ve heard melatonin isn’t exactly bad for hppd but don’t get me wrong I’m not using melatonin to treat it either, I just took it one time to see if I’d sleep or not, don’t plan on it again.

@Hall89 maybe you like to participate in some surveys, you can find them here in the forum, since I think it is very important people get to know about this. Especially with the upcoming legalization of cannabis in many countries. In germany we are also planning that, people dont seem to believe the obvios risks and already official politicans are talking nonsense, cannabis as a healing or something (there is no advanced studies on that, only on chronic pain, which doesnt leave out the side effects of course). I think with HPPD a lot of people seem to hide, I think you should accept yourself having HPPD and go on, that also means, giving others advice on the negative effects of drugs. Maybe some users get prevented from developing HPPD if they know beforehand that that could happen.

Hi all Just a plug for our new survey that queries detailed treatment history (along with other risk factors etc.). If you have sought treatment, taken prescription or over the counter substances, or engaged in other practices to help with HPPD symptoms we would greatly appreciate your participation: Johns Hopkins survey on HPPD: Help us uncover new insights into the condition and its treatment Researchers at Johns Hopkins are conducting a survey to better understand the experiences of people with HPPD (Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder). HPPD is a condition where people who have used hallucinogenic drugs experience ongoing visual disturbances, such as seeing halos around objects or seeing colors more vividly. This survey will ask about risk factors, symptoms, treatment experiences, and how HPPD has impacted your life. Your participation in this research study can help improve our understanding of HPPD and lead to better treatment options for those who are affected by it. www.HopkinsPsychedelic.org/hppdsurvey Protocol: IRB00384491, Principal Investigator: Natalie Gukasyan, M.D.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins are conducting a survey to better understand the experiences of people with HPPD (Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder). HPPD is a condition where people who have used hallucinogenic drugs experience ongoing visual disturbances, such as seeing halos around objects or seeing colors more vividly. This survey will ask about risk factors, symptoms, treatment experiences, and how HPPD has impacted your life. Your participation in this research study can help improve our understanding of HPPD and lead to better treatment options for those who are affected by it. www.HopkinsPsychedelic.org/hppdsurvey Protocol: IRB00384491, Principal Investigator: Natalie Gukasyan, M.D.

I've found there is quite an arrogance amongst the GPs i've discussed HPPD with... They dislike the idea that someone might be more well read about a topic than them and there is also a drug stigma that still prevails. I hope the move to 5mg isn't too rough on you. Keep fighting, Jay

word

Hindy, while I understand what you mean, I think it's important for people to say if they are feeling suicidal, so that we can try to help as much as possible. Hall, as you can see by the replies re: meds... Everyone seems to be very different, so best to chat to your doctor and, if you do decide to add another med, taper up very slowly. Keep on fighting, all. Better times will come.

You probably have developed about all the tolerance to those medications that you will get by now if you have been taking them for a month or two. I don't know which drugs or amounts would work best so I can't help you with that. There are crisis lines you can call if you are suicidal or other people to talk to.

Also when I was feeling worse, I took the advice of not roaming this forum or looking up hppd. Would only keep my mind on it, give me anxiety, and freak me out. Now, it doesn't bother me so much, but I'd still rather not think about it xD. But if I can help give hope, I'll look back here much more often now.

Scroll down to next paragraph if you just want to know my advice. I have had it for 6 years, got it from ayhuasca presumably. However, symptoms came to me one day when I was completely sober and I had a massive panic attack while eating at a restaruant, and I started feeling myself go into an ayhuasca trip. long story short, I survived and got about 80% better. Last year I felt good enough to try smoking weed again. I did it for 6 months until I smoked one day had a complete panic attack lasted the whole night. I had symptoms come up even stronger than last time. This time way different though. Even though I had strong HPPD, I had a complete detachment between my mind and body, for a second I thought i went into a full blown psychosis. But I was practicing meditation and pranayama yoga techniques prior to this. Long story short I had an awakening experience that night smoking weed. I became directly conscious that the mind is not who "i" am, so the question I was left with was, who am I? This question gave me relentless panic attacks for about 3 weeks. I went to a guy named Jamie Munday, found him from youtube. He helps people who have had spiritual awakenings. My HPPD is around 50% better after a month and a half and I wanted to share some advice/thoughts. Anyone got questions on anything specific here, lmk. Advice: 1. My most important recommendation would be fasting. If you have in-tolerable HPPD symptoms IMO, you try fasting for as long as possible, as often as possible. Two things that this does is fasting can mimic the affects of anti-consultant medication and GABA pathways. (1,2) By reducing the brain's overall activity, which is what we want. Put simply, eating will give the brain more energy and it will cause an increase in HPPD symptoms. Other thing is fasting induces something called "autophagy" (3)(4). This is when the body gets rid of bad brain cells, and recycles them. Put simply, it is cleaning the brain out. Caveat to this is be careful if your on medication or if you are obese, could be some issues when fasting. Also, if you can't stand fasting, then look up "fasting-mimicking diet". 2. The mind is the problem. if you are have intense symptoms, your mind comes in and starts "thinking" or catastrophizing, and it multiplys the problem. You need to find a simple way to get out of your mind, every minute of the day if need be. The way I recommend is what I was taught by Jamie Munday. I recommend actually everyone take his yoga course. It is a spirtual course, not for physical fitness. It does cost $1k however. The first lesson your taught is getting into "stillness" by putting your awareness into your body. We do body scans after each yoga practice for example. Throughout the day I am getting into stillness as often as possible, for example by feeling what my hands or feet are touching or becoming aware of my breathing. This sense can develop overtime with practice. In other words you need to be grounded and take all your energy out of your mind/head and put it into the awareness/stillness of the rest of your body. 3. Whole-food plant-based diet. These things get debated all the time, I'll just post some research and let you come to your own conclusion. https://plantspace.org/health-studies/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9860369/ 4. Check your Vitamin D and your sex hormone's levels, these are the main things that can impact mental well being. Also would consider checking magnesium. (1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32906015/ (2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5153500/ (3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106288/ (4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25139375

Since your HPPD has improved i wouldn't touch ANY recreational or medical drug that binds to the 5HT2-a serotonin receptor, like antidepressants, because in rare cases SSRI's can cause HPPD to begin with. And Lamotrigine helped me ALOT. It took away my brainfog, head pressure, regular visual hallucinations and vivid dreams that many with HPPD gets. It didn't do anything for the vs, halos, glares, afterimages, tracers, floaters, bfep, ghosting and tinnitus though, and from what i have gathered, it doesn't for most.