rafiki

Don't do it. Coming off benzos destroyed me - it was worse than the hppd symptoms. After a year or two I weaned myself off, but I went through hell.

Posted this in Jan, hope it helps

I drink regularly and excessively! I don't really notice anything - maybe a little more symptoms the day after.

Hell, alcohol and opiates are the only things I can enjoy anymore! Weed, tramadol, pills - they all send me loopy for a long time after.

I took this for about a month and didn't see any difference at all

Hi mate,

I hope you're feeling a little better. Meth can cause its own cognitive defects, which makes your case particularly difficult. I'm not sure anyone on here is a medical doctor either. 

What medication are you currently taking? A few of us might be able to give you pointers if we know this. 

Klonopin/clonazepam feels great for a short while, until it doesn't. I was addicted to it, and stopping it was worse than the HPPD itself. If you're suicidal though, you might get benefit from it. You really need to find a psychiatrist with some knowledge of HPPD and sympathy towards it. Maybe try this thread:

You need to tell them that you're suicidal also - that's really important. Be totally honest with them. 

The best thing you can do in the long term is to get clean! Stop taking coke. No occassional weed when a cone's being passed around. Get fit, hang out with people that don't care that you're a little messed up. Underneath it all you're probably not as messed up as you think you are - especially if you held down a job. 

Keep marching, there's light at the end of the tunnel. 

I recently had quite a serious dog bite to the face, and was taken to hospital. I've never had a general anaesthetic before, and I was absolutely terrified of being given benzos, or reverting back to full HPPD after an anaesthetic.

They asked me if I wanted co-codamol or oxycodone. Easy answer there! I spent about 3 days on oxy, pestering the nurses constantly.

I've never had my HPPD medically diagnosed, as I'm worried it would interfere with my career. I had someone come in to ask me about drugs that I'm sensitive to. I asked my wife and (in particular) my mother in law if I could have some privacy. I told her that I'd had an addiction to valium and clonazepam 8 years ago and that I absolutely didn't want to have them again. I also told her that I'd taken tramadol a few years ago without prescription for back pain (given by a friend), and that I had rebound anxiety for a week.

At induction I asked them what they were going to use, and they said propofol. I had no idea what that would do to me, but went with it. I don't know if they did use it in the end - I think I might have been masked down.

I woke 4 hours later, threw up, took some more oxy, and kept going.

My HPPD has not changed a cent. Unlike the last time when I smoked weed and could barely function for 2-4 weeks, I would say I'm normal. I had 2-3 days of mild depersonalisation after stopping the oxy, and that was it.

I thought it was worth putting this out there anyway - don't be afraid to have an anaesthetic with HPPD. Tell them what drugs you don't want to have, and I hope you'll have as uneventful an experience as I did!

Ordered some of this today:

http://au.iherb.com/Source-Naturals-Coenzymated-B-1-60-Tablets/1077

I'll report back next month! I'd say I'm a functional HPPD'er - I take no recreational drugs any more other than regular coffee and alcohol. I also take no medication for HPPD any more. Fingers crossed.

This medication is being used to safely treat epilepsy in dogs, without the addiction or other side effects associated with benzos. As anti-epileptic medication seems to help with HPPD symptoms, it could be something to keep an eye on in the future. As far as I know, it hasn't been tested yet on humans.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24357084

About 2 months into dating my girlfriend we both got drunk and I told her about my HPPD. She had her own issues with depression that I'd helped her with. Six years later we're married.

You just need to find someone as messed up as you and make each other right

Coming off benzos was worse for me than any other aspect of HPPD. It's a rocky road, but it's worth it. Good luck!

methylcathinone - 7 of them in one evening. Totally stupid looking back on it. My heart rate rose to 400bpm, and I lay down in bed unsure if I'd wake up. In some ways I'm just thankful to be alive.

Found a link to this video on youtube. I've no idea how it works, but it reduced my symptoms for a couple of minutes. Not a cure, but it's nice to be able to see normally again for a short while!

I took 200mg for pain a few months ago - I had rebound anxiety for a week. Tread carefully.

One month on now since smoking it, and while the dp/dr's mostly gone, my visuals are similar to the first few years. Massively regretting doing it! I'd almost started to think that I was just getting used to the HPPD, but over time it had definitely improved. I still had mild static and after images when watching TV, but that was mostly it.

The good news is that I know that it gets better with time, and that I just need to put up with it for a while. The whole "poor me" attitude is much worse for symptoms than ignoring it and getting on with life. It's also much easier recovering without the benzos - the withdrawal from them was worse than any symptom I've come across so far.

Local anaesthetic doesn't go into your system - it targets nerves at the site of your surgery. I had my wisdom teeth out with local and I could drive home after - no adverse effects at all.

After a 6 year hiatus I tried smoking pot again 2 weeks ago. I'm starting to feel normal again now, but had major brain fog and some dp. It made my job difficult and my life hellish.

What makes you so sure we have at least a decade to go before we see some form of help?

Isn't medicine making leaps and bounds that regulators can't seem to keep up?

Drug companies are much more intersted in profit and avoiding liability than in actually treating our condition. The testing process for any medical treatment is arduous, and clinical trials in humans only happen for a tiny percentage of all drugs discovered.

This avenue of research has merit. I will see the original paper, I knew this technique was under investigation with seizures. It is an excellent find by both users who posted it today.

We have a friend in Gene Therapy research connected to Hallucinogen research. Also, one of the most accomplished MD/PhD/MBAs I can think of who you would never guess by their modesty. (They have an MD, PhD & MBA from schools Stanford, Harvard, MIT-Sloan.) He visited the web site. Did I mention our friend in cause is a Global Executive for major pharmaceutical company? Was CMO at Genzyme? Even to get thoughts on use for HPPD would be very valuable and convincing to me because he knows both worlds.

Sorry if I re-posted it, I didn't spot it anywhere else. That's fantastic to have a gene therapy specialists on board. I personally can't see beyond gene therapy as a treatment - I find medication to be counter productive, particularly to a group of people with pre-existing addictive (and sometimes compulsive) personalities.

The sooner it becomes mainstream in human medicine the better. I get a feeling that's not going to happen for another decade or two though.

I spotted this article on the BBC News website earlier:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20297386

With suggested links between epilepsy and HPPD this looks promising to my untrained eyes! We'll have to wait a few years and see.