China

I think there is a difference between raw and cooked. Those vital nutrients are what you're going for on the vegan diet. I'm not saying go total hippy and eat everything raw, but you should definitely eat more raw than not. When you cook foods, you're not only releasing nutrients, but changing the chemical structures of some of the shit in the food. Remember chemistry, (I just graduated a few months back and I barely do XP, shoulda paid more attention) how when you added heat you would create a new substance, same thing applies to cooking. You're also losing antioxidants, and that shit's good for stress. I would take supplements too like Vit B, C omegas, all that. I couldn't find much on vegan dieting curing disorders, but from what I did find it did help make them more manageable. Pus, a vegan diet is way healthier than a traditional American diet (cheeseburger, large fries, and a coke). I say go for it! It will definitely diminish in your symptoms in my opinion.

Also, I have the weakest will power out of everybody I know lol. the only thing that kept me going was the thought that it would cure my hppd. THAT's pretty good incentive. If I can do it, literally ANYBODY can, especially you!

Yeah it definitely has to do with detox. I have a pretty vague understanding of it myself, but from what I do know, the body heals itself at a much quicker rate when fasting. Most of the energy consumed through food goes back into digesting more food. With the absence of food, all of that energy can go into healing the body. That's why when you're sick, you tend to not have an appetite. So when you fast, your body starts restoring itself. This also applies to the brain. Fasting has been shown to cure schizophrenia, and help battle cancer through autophagy, which means the body starts eating away bad cells for energy. It produces neurogenesis by restoring older pathways the brain used to use. This is a caveman instinct the brain utilizes to help find food, because it thinks that without food it will die, and it also knows that it used to get food when utilizing these older pathways. It's all really confusing XP, but there have been studies on the topic of fasting and neurogenesis. I posted one on the first page, and I also posted a success story an ex-hppd'er shared with me whom I chatted with on Bluelight.org. If you search "fasting to cure hppd" you'll find his post all about it. This guy is the first person I've come across that claims he got rid of his hppd without the use of medication, and he had it for like a few years or something like that! Haha, you totally have the power Alice, I believe in ya! Like I said, it didn't cure me, but I didn't do it right. It helped ALOT though! You should definitely try it during the summer, I highly recommend it. I'll post on your topic in a second, I'm going to do some research on it first Even if it doesn't cure hppd, it's still really good for your overall health.

It's honestly really easy after day 3 or 4, that is if you have time off. I couldn't imagine working an 8 hour shift every day while fasting. I wouldn't have the energy. But after 3 or 4 days the hunger pains subside, and it's just smooth sailing from there! you do get bad cravings, you just gotta be zen about it, and know that you'll be able to indulge in those cravings after the fast. Idk, 20 days is so short relative to the rest of your life, ya know? You just have to muscle through it. I believe fasting can cure me, I just have to be able to quit the ciggs. I'm getting there I'm really shooting to fast again in a week. If you have some free time, you should try it out Alice do some research first though, and eat really healthy prior to your fast, if you choose to do it. It'll really help with your anxiety if you still are having panic attacks

I'm going to stop fasting. My symptoms have gone down to a point where they're more than manageable, and I can't quit smoking cigarettes at this point. I'm going to eat for two weeks so I gain some body mass back, while simultaneously weening off ciggs. I didn't realize this, but reading further into it, my body is actually using the chemicals found in ciggs as fuel, which in my opinion is why my hppd wasn't cured. So 2 weeks where I can eat, accompanied by quitting ciggs, and then I'll be back at fasting again for 20 days. Let's see how it goes. For all of the skeptics out there, fasting really did wonders for me, I'm just not ready to completely stop eating and smoking. I ask that if some of you have the time, and can get a week or two off work, to try this method to heal your hppd. IT might be worth it.

I'm on day 18 or 19 now...I've lost count lol, and I have to admit, fasting has almost cured me of every non-visual symptom I had, besides a little brain fog, and sometimes a slight itching in my brain(lol that sounds weird). The visuals simply annoy me now, however, and it's pissing me off that they won't go away. They've calmed down, and I'm very thankful for that. But these rails and after images, accompanied by floaters, just make my eyes feel like a 2001 phone camera. Damn....hopefully they go away, I'm almost 4 months into hppd now.

XD Wayyy too much, almost 20 pounds. I'm keeping it sexy with my shoulder bones popping out lol

Thanks syntheso! I really hope so too man, and no, I'm bumping it up to 30 days. I still have enough fat on me to last another 2 weeks or so, or so I assume, I haven't done a bmi. Fingers crossed my body doesn't star eating away the little muscle I have lol. One thing I've noticed though...during a fast, sleep should come natural. You're body is on hoarder mode, you know what I mean? It knows it's not receiving any more calories and so it tries to conserve, lately, however, I've been finding it increasingly difficult to sleep, like on a day-by-day basis. I'm almost positive this isn't a side effect of fasting. In fact, I've been up for more than 24 hours. This shit is legitimately crazy, I've tried to sleep for hours, but I simply can't. I'm not stressed at all or thinking about anything. This brings me to belive, and someone whose smarter than a third grader (so smarter than me lol) should research this: That hppd sufferers have very abnormal theta wave frequencies. Theta waves are the brain waves responsible for sleep, they induce a calmness, such as when grooming, eating, or attempting to sleep. Instead of the synapses themselves (as ssri's don't seem to work for many) maybe it's the way these waves are produced. They stem from the hippocampus, which is the middle section of the temporal lobes, and in initial onset of hppd, my temporal lobes were aching terribly. Idk, just an epiphany I had that I couldn't wait to share...it might be common knowledge, it might be derived on some wild sleep-deprived thoughts...I'll let ya know I how my sleep patterns progress. But seriously, someone should really look into the theta wave side of this hppd-theory...for some reason I like to call it the string cheese theory...lol I'll shut up now

Day 16 So far so good, only smoked 3 or 4 cigarettes today. I'm really anxious though, I think it's just from nicotine withdrawal. Even if this fast doesn't work, it's still really helping moderate my life, keeping me from developing lung cancer and shit. I'm not complaining, I'll probably end up appreciating the little things in life, which is what I think this world is seriously lacking in.

Now that's using MDMA the right way! If I'm not mistaken wasn't MDMA first uses in psychotherapy? Or was that LSD? Either way I believe this is a great way to work through past experiences.

Day 15: Alright so, up until this point I've been smoking cigarettes. I'm not talking a few a day, I'm talking about a pack. Now this is progress because I use to smoke 2 packs a day. I know, I know, cancer's real, and I'm a totally addicted idiot. I'm a chronic chainsmoker, and I believe that cigarettes are the reason I haven't been getting my desired results. I feel as if they are deterring my progress 7x. I feel like an asshole, in 15 days I could've been so much more healed, but noooo, I've got to be cigarettes' bitch and smoke like 4 every hour. So today, I treated myself to a cup of coffee. My reason in doing this is because everytime I drink a cup of joe, I smoke like crazy. So if I can drink a cup or two and not smoke, it'll give me the strength to carry on when I don't drink. Kind of confusing, I know. I don't expect anybody to understand this logic, lol. So today I'll drink coffee. I don't care if I'm technically breaking my fast. I've been breaking my fast everyday since I started this with cigarettes. So, I've teared up every cigg in my apartment (my parents are paying for it because I'm a total loser and can't get a job), except for one, which I'm smoking right now as I type this. I don't even want to give a rating today. I want to wait until tomorrow or the next day so I can accurately show you guys the true healing processes of fasting. I am not saying my progress thus far has been in vain, I do feel more grounded, have a clearer mind, lowered anxiety, etc. but I could've been so much better....idk, I'm just ranting now. I'm sorry for the totally negative post, I'm just really tired of being HPPD's bitch...

Day 14: Anxiety: 4, I'm beginning to think that all of my visuals are really just in my head...lol no shit. But what I mean is, I was just so discombobulated after my bad trip I just became hyper aware..there's been tons of posts on the message boards about this, but I never paid them any mind until now...idk, for some reason it's slightly spiked my anxiety. I think it's because of the thought I've been fasting this long to alleviate visual 'anomalies' that are actually natural and will never go away..but I honestly never noticed these after images prior to my hppd... Lol FUCK Visuals: 7 Concentration: 4 Lethargy:6 Memory recall: 6 Also, I'm now bumping up my fast to 30 days...I'm not seeing the improvement that I want, and my 20 days are 6 days short of being over. FUCK FOOD....I'm really agitated today.

I would argue theory one is correct simply because so many people, including myself, garner visual snow relief after staring into the static video. I'm no doctor either, however, so my opinion is just that, an opinion.

Anxiety: 7 Visuals: I don't wanna quite say 9, so like 8.6, everytime I would wake up, my walls would look like this http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1425333!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/article-gaga14f.jpg Concentration: 9', I would almost be inclined to say I didn't have concentration at all Lethargy: 7, nowadays, it's not that I don't feel like doing things, it's that I don't have enough fuel to do them. Memory recall: non existent, probably 8 It should be noted that my anxiety fluctuates throughout the day, at some points it's a 3, but in others it's a 4 or 5. Idk, it's progressively fluctuating less and less as the days go by

Day 13: scale ratings 0-10 (0 being as close to baseline as I remember, 10 being very aggravated symptoms) Anxiety: 3 I'm not that anxious per se, but I'm not totally zen Visuals: 6 Concentration: 4 still a little hazy Lethargy: 5 Memory recall: 6 I hold a very high bar for myself, so some of these ratings may be a little harsh

BigPapaChakra, either you're intelligent as fuck, or I'm really undereducated lol, I had to look up about half of those words XD, I live In Texas, and as you can guess, 'the good ole boys' are quite lacking in the intellectual department. I would really like to hear about the results of your ketogenic fast after you get the KetoForce. Maybe you could jot down your daily progress on here or on a separate thread, but if in fact a ketogenic fast can attribute to the same amount of healing that a water fast can, I would much rather do that. Let me know man! Seriously!!! I'm starving over here! Haha I'll rate my symptoms later today, as I just woke up and feel the ratings would be skewed.

Oh okay, sounds good. That could help me map out my own progress too. I'll start doing that tomorrow accompanied by a couple of anecdotes.

Yeah that's something I should be doing, you're totally right, I've just been running on E for a while and don't really have much to say these days. BUT I'll try my best to log it out. Though I'm not too sure what you mean by scale rating, a little elaboration would be a-okay -I've been feeling more like myself lately, whatever that means. I've never been too good at being in tune with myself, but I feel way more like me than I have for the past three months. -I don't really have crazy, intrusive thoughts anymore..well, maybe one or two a day, but I've always been a little bat shit crazy -I feel more in control of myself, I.e my body, my mind. Too further explain, I use to get these images in my head while trying to sleep that would loop constantly. Not too sure if anyone can relate on that, but now-a-days, I can actually stop myself from looping these thoughts...though it takes a little effort. This Is leaps and bounds better mental control than I had. -mental clarity is still improving -I feel as though my visuals are slowly dissipating, I no longer think about them to great extent (more of just a , "damn! Fuck youuu after-image!") still see them. I wouldn't doubt if the visuals were e last thing to go. Floaters are still there, starbursting, tracers, the whole shebang -I am more than likely skinnier than your dick, which I'm not too proud of. I really don't like this bulimic, tooth pick figure I've got going on, but whatever, I can always gain the pounds back. -not as emotional as I used to be, and I use to be a psychedelic mess..well I still am, lol. But I'm mood swinging less and less these days. Not really depressed or anxious anymore, these emotions have transmuted into agitation. I'm really agitated almost constantly lol, but that should be expected when you haven't eaten for more than a week. All-in-all I feel way better than I did. I feel more zen with my condition and shit. I'll keep ya posted! Sorry for flaking out on the progress lately!

Like a salt cleanse? Lol no I would rather starve myself for a month than have massive diarrhea. Maybe I should've done a salt cleanse prior though, it probably would have sped up the healing process. I'm on day 12 and I'm still smoking damn ciggs! X( fucking nasty habit....my symptoms are dieing down slowly....and by that I mean SLOWLY. I bet if I quit the ciggs I would notice a leap in my progress...ehh idk

Also, most of the energy we get out of food goes right back into digesting more food. Abstaining from chowing down allows more energy for healing the body rather than being focused on the gullet.

Nah, Taco Bell is life.

Go for the gold Mr.50, I'm not trying to push you into doing something at a time that isn't convenient for you, but you should really try to do your water fast as soon as possible. I recommend getting your body ready for it prior to the fast though. By that I mean 2 or 3 weeks prior to fasting, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and take as many supplements as you can get your hands on (vitamins c and b, omega 3's, the works) I'm telling you, with the medicine out today, and lack there of for hppd, I firmly believe fasting's our best bet. I'm on day 7, and I feel WAYYY better than I did. Though I feel like a shrinky-dink ( who remembers those?! Coolest shit ever, haha), weak and shriveled, I can tell that my visuals are being reduced, to the point where they do still happen, but to a much lesser extent and have very little power over me. I can dismiss tracers and afterimages easily, not creating any emotional attachment to them whatsoever. So anxiety, depression, etc. NONE of that due to visuals. To reiterate, I still see them, I just literally don't care about them. Last night I went out and looked at the stars....and for the first time in three months I didn't see static! Haha, I was so relived. I started looking at the sky harder and then noticed the static, but I've never in the 3 months I've had this shit had a second where static wasn't in the night sky. Mr.50, how bad do you want it?? I'm telling you, go the full 20 days man. It may seem impossible, but fuck it, it's gotta be done. I don't know if this fasting thing is going to cure me, and I would be ignorant if I said I had 100% faith that all my symptoms would be healed after 20 days, but it's worth a shot. I'll keep ya posted if you keep me posted man. Good luck on your fast!

I've reached day 5 of my "anti-trip".,...that word should be coined in the field of hppd, and I'm going full on Gandhi-levels of badassness and attempting to push myself to not eat for 20 days. Pray for me lol. I'm probably going to weigh as much as Gary Coleman by the end of this.

Me: Hey, not to sound like some creepy guy in an overcoat, but I've been trying to track you, or should I say a more recently active account of yours, down on the internetz. I was wondering if you are still hppd-free? I've had this bullshit for like 3 months now, and have been looking literally everywhere for a cure. You claim that you fasted for 11 days and it went away? Are the symptoms 100% gone? Like tracers, visual snow, after images, etc? I'm on day 1 of my fast, and I was also wondering how many days it took you to see improvement in your symptoms? Cus I'm really fucking hungry right now lol. I see that you haven't been active in like a year, so I really hope you reply to this. Not to sound all cliche, but you're my only hope...X) Bluelighter: Hey ChikitaChina. I actually FORGOT all about my HPPD. Yes, the symptoms are 100% gone. You will notice improvement within about 3 days or so. But it comes and goes in waves, with increasing time spent "non-HPPD" and fading HPPD times. It's sort of like going into an "un-trip." Everytime you go into a trip, depending on intensity, your brain builds new connections/memories/pathways into that state of mind (or any state of mind which you go into). HPPD seems to basically be a "trip PTSD" (regardless of whether you had a difficult trip or not, the sensory experiences and patterns inevitably neurologically imprint on you). When you fast though, your brain starts reverting to a younger state of mind... Because it starts to try to remember "more and more" from the past, because it thinks that it's basically going to starve soon unless it "starts thinking" and "wakes up". Like I said, the way it seems to do this is to go "farther and farther into the past" (but with more mental strength and clarity than you had in the past). You will have vivid dreams, but each time you wake up, you'll feel more healed. Fasting is even used to cure schizophrenics (with a VERY high success rate), and people with psychological trauma. Some even experience "rebirth." Like I said, it's no different than going into any other trip. There will be difficult moments. DO NOT ABORT THE "ANTI-TRIP". It probably is your only hope. Me: Thank you so much for the reply! And I'm really sorry I made you remember the dark days lol , I just really needed some reassurance. I'm on day two of my fast, and I feel like a starving African kid, no racism intended. I'm just super hungry! I've always tried to escape reality, it's so ironic that I'm trying to crawl my way back to it now. Haha I have one more question and then I'll let ya get on with your life, was the full 11 days necessary for you? Or did you just go a few more days for the hell of it? , whoever you are I firmly believe that you are the only person that has figured out how to cure hppd, and there are people with phd's trying to figure this shit out! Haha again, thank you soo much for the reassurance! Bluelighter: I would say yes, the full 11 days mattered. You lose your hunger after the 3rd or 4th day though, so it doesn't drive you nuts anymore. You just get really bored, so you just have to find other ways to occupy yourself, like walking, listening to music, reading. The hunger that you feel is called "toxic hunger" (Google it, I'm serious). It's basically like a drug addiction. You're not actually really hungry. You eat to release dopamine in your brain to stave off stress, boredom, emotional pain, etc. But everytime you release dopamine ("pleasure chemical") in your brain, whatever your current situation is, your brain thinks "life is OK, because I'm getting what I need". So if you've got HPPD AND you're eating a lot, then your current HPPD pathways at the time get reinforced. Once you stop eating, those pathways are quickly reversed, and your brain reverts to firing back up the older "more healthier/less 'effed up" pathways (basically the way you USED to think and perceive things), because during those times, it GOT the pleasure chemicals (food and stuff that kept you alive), and whatever it's doing today, it's not getting it anymore, so it starts thinking "if I don't go back to doing/feeling/thinking like I used to do, I will DIE). That's where the magic happens (the older pathways are reinforced, and the more recent unhealthier ones are torn down). Just a few days is not nearly enough time to reverse years of abuse to your brain's pathways. This eating-too-much concept is really a big reason why people just slowly degenerate and get weirder and foggier until they die/start having mental problems. Also, did you know that obesity and GI tract inflammation has a high correlation with schizophrenia??? A full 11-day fast is probably the minimum you need to shed some real neurological issues. Some people even go 20-30 days. When do you stop? You stop when TRUE HUNGER has come back. Toxic hunger is a "craving" for food as you feel now. TRUE HUNGER is different. It's undeniable when it comes, and it doesn't feel like a really bad itch that needs to be scratched (as you feel now). It literally feels like if you don't find some food, you're going to die (although you can still probably not eat for a month or two past that until you are actually at risk of dying). You HAVE to keep going until you feel the true hunger. It will be very easy to distinguish, like I said, because first you lose your toxic hunger/cravings, and then you're just not hungry at all as you go into your fast, and then all of a sudden you feel hungry again (you'll know it when you feel it). Don't abort the "anti-trip"! You'll get restless and listless at times, but your life depends on it. You will probably feel that it's one of the most transformative and best experiences of your life once you follow through it. But sorry, 3 - 5 days isn't nearly enough! Just... go explore nature. Spend time somewhere different. That's what helps the most. But if you're going to be doing a LOT of walking like hours a day almost every day, then your iron levels might drop, so you need to regularly eat LOW-CALORIE foods high in iron, like kale and lentils (look up vegetables high in iron). The best source of iron when fasting is all-natural beet and/or kale juice. I'm pretty sure you can find some online. I was buying a brand called Rainbow Juice (google it). So actually I did mostly water fasting, with "beet/kale juice" from Rainbow Juice on days I did a lot of walking. But you could always just sit around and find other ways to kill time. Maybe the timeline isn't what you wanted to hear. But 11 days to save your life... may be worth it. All I ask is that if it works for you, please spread the word to other people. In any way you can.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gH476CxJxfg Just keep smiling a smile always makes things a little better