WuWei

NAC was the only thing I tried that gave me really bad side effects.

I'm trying my best to start vaping more and smoking less.  Cigarettes are an expensive way to kill yourself.

I believe HPPD is damage to the neurons... the physical structure of the brain.  I do think these kinds of treatments can be helpful to integrate things psychologically though.

I'm currently seeing a therapist who does EMDR therapy.  I've only had one session but it's interesting.  I'll give my thoughts on it if it's helpful.

Nope... it's changed but not improved.

Damn WuWei. 10 years?

Yeah that was about 5 years ago or so.

Some people are allergic to the dye.  I see it listed as an allergy sometimes at work.

Yeah I can't take antibiotics either ....cognitive is the worst and also perceptual exactly!

So the dye was nothing like having an antibiotic then or a vitamin or supplement?

No I had no issues with it.

That's great it did not affect ur vision! Do most medications affect your vision? What aboit antibiotics? I'm just trying to get an idea if you are similar to me.

Hopefully I will go through with the scan

Antibiotics seem to make my symptoms worse.  Hard to say for sure though.  SSRI's as well.  Honestly I'm not bothered by visual symptoms anymore.  The perceptual symptoms and cognitive difficulties are the most difficult to cope with.

If your depression is due to the fact you got HPPD (understandable) I wouldn't get on the SSRI rollercoaster personally.  Wait and see if it goes away first IMO. 

Did u have hppd at the time when u had the scan and contrast ?

Yes for about 10 years at that point.

I've had a head MRI with contrast.  Had no issues with it other than I got anxious when they injected it but it goes away in like 5 seconds.  I asked the tech about it and she said something like "Yeah that happens... some people feel like they're going to pee themselves.  We don't tell people usually because it makes them nervous about it and it only lasts a second."

I had no issues with it.  Don't worry about it.

Helps mine.  Klonopin helps nearly everything HPPD related for me... to a greater or lesser degree.  It makes it possible for me to survive. 

I take a tiny dose at night to help me sleep and I usually feel pretty good in the morning when I wake up for a few hours. There is a long half life on it.  12 hours I think.

Don't take too much!

Weight lifting also helps.  It's a good natural anti-depressant and it's key to weight loss for men.

Zoloft helped me a lot when I first started it... then caused issues.  I started taking good magnesium and I was able to tolerate a low dose of it but lately it's been making me feel dizzy.  I'm stopping it to see how I do.  I haven't been able to tolerate SSRI's for a couple of years now.

Zoloft has been making me very dizzy all the time in the last few months.  Had a cardiac workup and bloodwork which was all negative so it leads me to believe it's the Zoloft/HPPD combo.  Thinking of trying to get off of it and seeing what happens.

Yep... stress is the biggest contributing factor to HPPD.

My advice is to take Klonopin as needed... not on a schedule.  If you've never tried it take 0.25 mg every 6 hours as needed.  If that doesn't work you could work up to 0.5 mg every 6-8 hours as needed but I wouldn't go much beyond that as it will make your tolerance go up and lower your anxiety threshold.

I would hold off on any other meds and focus on a more holistic approach unless you can't deal even while being on a small dose of klonopin.

Sorry to hear...

I would take the klonopin as needed short term and cease all drug use (obviously).  Take a good multivitamin and wait for your brain to heal.  SSRI's are hit or miss with HPPD but most people report an increase in symptoms.  I wouldn't go that route right off the bat personally.

Good luck!

Wow... um...I highly doubt your headache is from one dose of magnesium... and no you won't notice any difference in your visuals from one pill. Lol.

Yes I am taking 400mg 2 times a day of magnesium glycinate so it's a fair bit for me, also glycinate is a known "relaxant" wonder if that had to do with it. I'm starting to realize it feels A LOT to me like low blood sugar as I've experienced it before. When you had the low blood sugar episode did you feel kind of confused with some head pressure and anxiety?

Yeah I felt dizzy, confused and anxious.  Agitation is common too- and headache.  Mine's a mix of gycinate/lycinate.  I took my blood sugar at work and it was 58.  8/

I bet that's it.  I'd back off a little on it.  800mg is a lot to start.  Maybe 400mg and a magnesium rich diet (with small, spaced out meals) would be better to start with.  I try not to eat a lot of calcium either.  There's plenty in the foods we normally eat without eating a ton of dairy, but the magnesium will balance what you do eat and you will actually absorb it from what I've read/watched.

Not really... I felt a little weird... not unpleasantly so.  I felt like I was sort of "submerged" or "swimming" perceptually..  It didn't effect my thinking (in fact my cognition was better).  I guess that could be sort of interpreted as derealization but I felt better so I didn't care.  I think it's what it feels like to actually have enough magnesium in your system.  It feels kind of like a cocoon... I stopped worrying so much about my HPPD symptoms.  I would notice some perceptual glitches here and there but I had an "OK" reaction to them instead of a "Not OK!!" reaction.  It has subsided mostly or I've gotten used to it.  Not sure if that makes sense to you.

Never had any anxiety with it... the opposite in fact.  I've hardly taken any klonopin after about 5 days in.

Are you taking a multivitamin with it?  You should at least be taking some B complex and D to metabolize it.

What dose are you taking?  How is your mood?  You might need to go a little slower with it.  I had a low blood sugar episode the other day so I'm staying where I'm at for now (I looked it up... apparently Mg is a very strong blood glucose regulator).

I actually haven't felt the greatest the last couple of days, but I'm under a lot of stress right now and I got mandatory overtime a few days ago all night (which always throws me for a loop).

It's only about 4% absorbed and it has a laxative effect.

You're feeling better... and I think you're one of the lucky ones who's HPPD will get better/subside.  That's great!

I think when you're having really bad HPPD symptoms or a panic attack (at least for me) your brain isn't really processing memory in the normal manner.  It's processing it like it would a traumatic event.  Traumatic memory can only be experienced... not remembered.  I think you might not be remembering how "wrong" everything felt when you were having the severe HPPD symptoms (or they weren't as severe as some in the group here) or you wouldn't be posting things like this.

Try saying these kinds of things when you're experiencing full blast HPPD like some of the people here (myself included).  You wouldn't be able to.  It's completely debilitating.

http://www.amazon.com/Doctors-Best-Absorption-Magnesium-Elemental/dp/B000BD0RT0/ref=sr_1_3?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1435896756&sr=1-3&keywords=magnesium

That's the one I've been taking.  I take it about 20-30 minutes before I eat twice a day and before bed.  200mg each time for a total of 600mg a day.

I also try and get a lot of magnesium rich foods into my diet and I'm thinking of ordering a topical spray for bed time. 

I'm trying to work my way up slowly.

Of course it's possible.  12 years in or so for me.  About 8 years on a 4-5 on the hppd scale from one to 10.   2 years on 6... and 1.5 years about a 7.5.

From the spectrum I can gauge on here anyway...  I'm back down around a 5 but it's different...

Knowledge about the condition an how it effects you is a good thing.

It's says a lot of stuff I can't really sum up-

1. We don't get anywhere near the magnesium we need... it's pretty much been farmed out of the soil.

2. We eat a tremendous amount of calcium due to dairy farming that can't be metabolized because we don't get enough magnesium and it causes all kinds of problems

3. Magnesium oxide found in multivitamins and supplements sucks as far as absorption is concerned (about 4% is bioavailable)

4. It's good for a ton of ailments.

Use your google-fu.  Seriously man all I can do is say it's helping me tremendously and encourage people to check it out. I feel I owe that to the HPPD community. Watch the video and order a good formulation.  It's a half hour of your life and a cheap supplement to buy.