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They´re good, but I get more sideeffects from them than I get from lorazepam (Temesta). Lorazepam doesn´t cause a lot of ataxia and is generally nicer to the body. But the main effects are of the same potency IMO.

1: Dump the fat burners. Their mechanism is usually to raise the metabolism, and with that heart rate. Which wears down your heart fast. Just dump them! 2: Raised dopamine levels: good with HPPD. I´m on 300mg Wellbutrin, no negative effects on HPPD. The "setting in period" increased my visuals a lot temporarily though. Raised serotonin levels: bad with HPPD. They can mess up visual a lot for long run (SSRI´s etc) but what they mess up most is the sense of being sober and in reality. When I was on Zoloft I could hardly distinguish it´s mental effect from a bad acid trip. Even mild substances such as wort can make DP/DR go through the roof. 3: This chart answers this question best: http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/SP/SP.236/S09/lecturenotes/drugchart.htm 4: Excessive levels of caffeine: Increases visuals and DP/DR. Food containing wort: Increases DP/DR mainly but can also increase visuals. Foods with excessive levels of refined sugars and fat, in any ways foods with an excessive level of nutrients. Low and medium nutrient levels works best IMO. 5: I´ve only used diazepam and lorazepam. Don´t think they reduce visuals much, but they definately reduces comorbid symptoms such excessive thinking about visuals (OCD), anxiety, mood swings, muscle tension and DP/DR. 6: Both yes and no. I use lorazepam very seldom, only when I crash (I call it meltdown) i. e. go hysteric, suicidal etc. One down the hatch and 20 minutes later I´m calm and relaxed. But be warned: use benzos too often and you´ll become tolerant and severly addicted. All positive effects will fade and side-effects increase. In the end you´ll only take them to avoid the nasty withdrawal. But with correct use (seldom and only when nescessary) they can be a true benefit. 7: Varies from country to country. In Sweden it´s: If they make you drowsy, dull, and decreases your ability to think and react fast, it´s not legal to drive. Which benzos are known to do, atleast when they´re in effect. From what I know, it´s up to you to make the judgement if you´re fit to drive. Hope my answers were beneficial to you, bigron 7!

No antihistamine affects HPPD in any way in my experience. I have been through them all (I think): hydroxyzine, propriomazine, alimemazine, prometazine. The main reasons that I ceased using them is that they gave me horrendous constipations and made me feel zombified. But hydroxyzine (Atarax) is the most ok of them. So don't worry about any HPPD effects.

SNRI's and SSRI's make things worse. Actually, the serotonin system seems to be particularly sensitive in HPPD'ers. Such drugs will rather INCREASE DP/DR in a HPPD'er. I had Zoloft (an SSRI) once and it was a god awful experience. Like having a bad trip without visuals. Since I got a supervisor doctor who studied the disorder (HPPD) and diagnosed me with it, he said that all serotonergic drugs were an inapropriate medication to use with HPPD. DP/DR seems to be an inescapable companion to HPPD, which in the end only can be coped with, not medicated away. So I would not recommend Effexor. Ask your doctor to research about HPPD before throwing meds at you.

I have it. For me it´s like a electric buzzing kind of sound. Have had it since HPPD onset, and it has not waned in any way. But after 6 years, I´ve gotten really used to it.

I have done two EEG´s, one CT and one MRI. The EEG´s revealed nothing abnormal, but the MRI detected a scarring in the right ventricular wall in the brain (most surely not related to HPPD in any way). I´m still trying to get a qEEG done, which seems to be the only method of detecting abnormal HPPD brainwaves. But anyway, I finally have a HPPD diagnosis. This due to the unwavering persistance and nature of my visual disturbances (had it for 6 years now). And of course, the drugs that caused them.

Thank you for understanding! It really warms my heart. Like you are telling me here is very close to what happened to me. I´ll keep on living. Mostly because I´m stubborn as hell, and I promised my mom! The debt is now solved. I had to take out my heritage from mom prematurely. Mom told me "what good does these money do in the future, when it can save you from disaster now". So, that´s one big stone lifted from my shoulders. I´ll probably get Keppra soon, my doctor says. Then I´ll have Wellbutrin + Keppra + sleep meds. Maybe there´s a future after all.. Hopefully I can get so functional that I can have part-time, protected job from the municipality. The doctors promised to arrange such a job when I feel better. Otherwise, I´ll get a permanent, non-questionable, pension when I reach the age of 29. Whatever it´ll be, I´ll not give up on my life again.

I´m glad I can contribute to science! OEV= Open eye visuals CEV= Closed eye visuals They´re the type of visual derangement that psychedelic intoxication causes. For some people (including me) these visuals still keep on coming, even though it has been years since the last intoxication. I found this video, which I think best shows what they´re like. Of course, for a person with this type of HPPD, they`re usually not as vivid and colouful as in this video, but sometimes it´s quite close. My visuals are most like the ones in the 0:00-0:46 mark, very strict and geometrical. Found these descriptions on a site called "Magiska Molekyler" (=Magic Molecules). Rough translation from Swedish: OEV Explanation: Open-eye visuals (abbreviated OEV) means in Swedish to have hallucinations with eyes open. Examples of OEV: Objects may appear to move, float, sway. With higher doses allows one to see faces, for example, where the knot holes in the wooden ceiling are eye, other formations of wooden planks makes the mouth nose, face pops up, transformed into other forms. Colorful and fireworks. Degradation of the visual field of fractals and patterns. CEV Explanation: Closed-eye visual (abbreviated CEV) means in Swedish to have hallucinations with eyes closed. Examples of different forms of CEV: Patterns in different colors that are constantly transforming. You travel in tunnels. See faces, animals, shapes. Eyes that pop up in front of you. Landscape as you travel in, we are witnessing events, either in the "camera form" or in a body. Under strong influence becomes CEV landscape more than just lines on a black background, it becomes very extremely detailed and lifelike. Hope this info was helpful!

Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Jay1. Well I guess a little bit of good always comes out of a whole heap of bad, right? I´ll keep on fighting as long as I´m still breathing, indeed we´ll beat this s**t!!

Interesting to know about Patanol. I´ve used 5 types of antihistamines, but I had to quit them because they give me constipation as tough as concrete. I also get the "filmy haze" a lot, consistence is like cortisone salve. I wash my eyes with water many times a day because of the itchiness and the "filmy haze". My eyes itches and are almost always strained. I have very good visual sharpness (tested a while ago) i.e. good eyes, poor visual processing. My visual symptoms (HPPD related) are: Heavy static with patterning and occasional colouring, strong illusory movement/ dimensional distortion (involves micropsia and macropsia too), colour confusion and changes in hue/ tone, long trails from moving objects. kaleidoscopic/ geometrical swirls (usually only CEV´s, occasionaly OEV´s too), pariedolias, faces mostly, but also object assuming shapes of other objects, such as a trashcan looking like a human afterimages (negative mostly) which have a tendency to "clog up" my vision, photosensitivity, difficulty reading and hard to look at sharp contrasts for a longer time, color sparkles and patches, usually neon blue, green purple or orange floaters, "visual sperms" at light objects. Looks like a lot of shiny white dots swimming in a soup. 2D vision (though it might be more DR related) bright white auras around objects, when eyes are closed, bright light suddenly swells up without external stimuli, phosphenes? fast moving pseudohallucinations in the periphery, mostly siluettes objects sometimes (not to often) blend together, very reminiscent of a high dose LSA trip I once took. A kind of "souping" effect. Phew, that was a lot...

The doctors promised to discuss the pension and argue for an increase. And they will not hesitate anymore with perscribing medicines, examinations and treatments. Yes, I think it might be CFS too. All symptoms matches CFS. I guess psychosomatic causes are ruled out since I´ve had the same symptoms for about 5 years, regardless of medicines and anxiety levels. Psychiatrists always try to say that it´s all psychological, they don´t really think "out of the box" often. The doctor who said it seems to be an autoimmune disorder was a supervisor specialist in neuropsychiriatric and anxiety disorders (he was also the doctor who got sick). He was i.m.o ten times more competent than the other doctors, took his time, studied my case a lot. Too bad this type of competent and caring doctors are very rare.. Thank you for being thoughtful, Visual.

Dry eyes, greasy skin at the upper part of the body (particularly face and scalp), increased acne--- have them all. I use Wellbutrin 150 mg, but it has not helped against this. I have also used almost every antihistamine, but they don´t help much. I think it might be some kind of neuroimmune or hormonal disorder which causes it, perhaps related to HPPD?

I´m currently on 150 mg against my ADD. Since it´s a DA, it helps quite a bit against ADD symptoms. A person with ADD has ~60% lower dopamine levels, which means a DA "normalizes" the dysfunction partially. For me, Wellbutrin has lowered my aggression and restlessness, and increased my control over my emotions, impulses and thoughts. The thoughts doesn´t run zigzag in my head anymore, they come one at a time now. I am a lot calmer and collected now, people have said that I speak better also. Before I spoke too fast, shifted subjects to often and stumbled on words. My HPPD has not been affected neither up or down. DP/DR has neither increased or decreased. No side effects apart from some cotton mouth and the expected norepinephrine "creeps". Nothing noteworthy with other words.

Hello! You may have noted that I´ve not been active for a long time, and it has reasons. In the last few months my life had come to a point were it was no longer possible keep on living. I was so tired of the HPPD, DP/DR, ADD i.e. all health problems. Plus having to live on a pension so low that you have to eat almost only oatmeal porridge and beg for food from people to survive. Then also having a debt on ~3563 dollars (calculated from Swedish crowns) which I didn´t really cause. This debt was close to going to repo. And losing one of my best friends, and my mother being terminally ill (not long left to live). Plus that the best doctor I´ve ever had got sick (burnout), and I was left with the same quacks I´ve had the last few years, who have not helped me one bit. Everything (including my likewise s***ty life before these events) just broke my spirit to the point of being suicidal, not having any emotion when I attempted suicide. To kill myself became as natural and needed as eating dinner. I had completely given up. At this point I also drank reckless amounts of alcohol and became very aggressive. Some of my relatives and my GF convinced me to being admitted to the psych ward, which was a very good decision now in retrospect. I spent a week there eating 4+ meals a day and got a lot of meds. I found out that my sleeping disorders were really serious, since they had to use up to 4 types of meds to sedate me (Zopiclone, Theralen, Melatonin and diazepam). I also found out that my neuropsychriatic evaluation was done-- I have ADD with Autismspectrum. And my back is already worn out, have several pain points in the spinal discs. The doctors at the psych ward understood that serotonergic drugs make my condition worse, no more nagging about that. They understand the severity of my disorders, and promised to not postphone any treatment anymore. They also do not doubt that I have HPPD, and I might get Keppra. I already have begun Wellbutrin at 150 mg. Got it to counter my ADD (Wellbutrin is a DA) instead of Strattera, since Strattera is more likely to cause self-destructive behaviour in the "setting in" period. Ritalin is of course contraindicated because of my HPPD. Anyway, I feel a bit better now. Wellbutrin is working well, takes away a lot of aggression and restlessness, and makes me more capable of controlling my emotions in general. And I´m lot less jittery in the body. DA´s have always made me kinda drowsy to, which is not really negative. My HPPD is unchanged, neither worse or better. No serious side-effects either. Wellbutrin is therefore a got option for a HPPD:er with ADD, though of course, DA´s only remove the worst symptoms of ADD, but does´nt cure it. For the sleep I now take Zopiclone/Theralen/Melatonin. They´re only somewhat effective in combination, apart none of them sedates me at all. Have to take these for atleast 6 months, my sleep rythm is so disturbed that I need to use brute force (this drug coctail) to shift it right again. I still have a lot of fatigue, sweating episodes, joint/muscle pain, bowel problems, tender lymphs and aphtae (sore throat) but I still don´t know what causes it. One doctor thought it might be a autoimmune disorder. I have promised my now terminally ill mother to keep on living and try to be happy. Which I will! Even though it feels near impossible..

A lot of water and a replenishment of vitamins (fruits) before going to bed usually helps me.

Yes, I have had such images. Upon studying what caused it I found they were a normal phenomenon a part of this state; Hypnogogia. However, in my case years of stress and burnout had prolonged this "waking/ dreaming borderland" state significantly. Since there was so much stress hormones in my body, it could not kick me off to full sleep properly. Sometimes I spent hours in bed shifting in and out of hypnogogia before finally falling asleep. It has gotten better since my general stress levels has decreased. And these images can be quite disturbing and distracting, I know. Don´t worry too much about it.. It´s more of a signal that something is interfering with your sleep, usually it´s stress or anxiety.

I have really dense brain fog but I´m on disability. Have´nt got any better from the stuff I´ve tried. Since you have HPPD, Adderall is one of the worst options. It´s amphetamine and is known to increase HPPD a lot. Which will cloud your mind even further. Maybe a "brain booster" such as Piracetam or Aniracetam is a better option?

True, mirtazapine is classed as an noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant (NaSSA), which is not a proper medication in a disorder such as HPPD, when the serotonin system is hypersensitive. I know what you mean about potentially dangerous, as in mania and increased risk of psychotic episodes. Like you I´ve had really nasty experiences with such medications. I would advise anyone with HPPD to use SSRI, SNRI, NaSSA or the like since the risks clearly outweigh the benefits.

True! Glad to hear HPPD isn´t bothersome for you lately! May I ask for how long you´ve had HPPD? I´ve had it for a bit over 5 years now, would rate it as severe. I´ve gotten kind of used to it now though. I´m having hard to remember how life was without HPPD.. I use alcohol as a crutch. Does´nt help HPPD much, but takes away a lot of muscle tension and puts the psyche at ease for a while. Still waiting for some proper medication, most surely it´ll be Keppra (from what my doctors think).

I´ll have a look there. The big pharmaceutical companies aren´t much to hope for. If a real cure for HPPD would be discovered, they would as usual say it isn´t profitable. It´s more profitable to keep people stuffed with none- or semi efficient junk drugs. When science is way ahead on many points (I read a lot of research articles). Makes me lose hope for humanity when I think on it. To value a human´s life in how profitable they are is simply evil. Maybe it´s better that the state of each country produces medications?

No, and I don´t think they´ll help. Rather make things worse. Check this list Dopaminergic. Most substances here are known for aggrevating HPPD (and with that, anxiety and DP/DR).

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I get a quite decent dose from my protein shakes, it´s generally relaxing and mood lifting. Compared to anti-depressants such as Zoloft, it´s very mild. Zoloft makes me manic as . Tryptophan is one of the essential amino-acids, which means your body can´t produce it, but needs it to survive. So a steady external intake is required. I have not noticed any increase in HPPD symptoms or manic reactions from tryptophan at all.

I probably would think Keppra is the better option, so does my doctor. Many doctors (including all doctors I´ve had) are reluctant to perscribe clonazepam, due to it´s strong addictive potential. And it does a lot more damage to the body in the long run. Better to stay clear! From what I´ve read here and researched online, Keppra not only seems to be efficient, but also also a very "clean" substance. I´ll get Keppra myself soon. My thoughts about this are: Since my option is a life in hell (my current life), what is there to lose? I might have a chance to atleast partially recover and maybe feel a little "normal" again. Which would do a lot good anyhow!

Yes, QEEG is needed to reveal the deviations in the brain waves. I´ve done regular EEG (twice), CT-scan and MRI. None of them has revealed anything. I´m still waiting for a QEEG test, but it seems to be very hard to get an appointment for it. Here´s a document regaring your question: EEG coherence in post-LSD visual hallucinations