tomvillen

@AF44 This is horrible and I am sorry, but don't blame yourself, it's not like you were offering him drugs, you couldn't know that. At least he has the luck of having someone in the family who knows what it is and what it is like! To be honest, if it was triggered by a hairspray, it would come anyway later in life, probably triggered by some medication. I am sure it won't be serious and he will learn to be careful, I mean it definitely saved him from drugs.

@AF44 It got already better about 90 % fortunately... but in the future I will be careful. This was on the company event (yeah...), so I "could not" leave, but next time I will and I won't care.

Be aware that with this on and off using, you might get into what is called "kindling". I suggest you some reading on benzobuddies.org, everything is perfectly described on that forum. I am in protracted withdrawal btw., I was a short-time user, but I still ended up in the hospital and later in protracted withdrawal, as I did not go through the proper taper according to Ashton Manual (stupid doctors as usual).

They are for sure. However, the car accident happened AFTER the start of my HPPD. On this website, I have encountered a few cases where people developed it after like 6-12 months after taking MDMA/LSD - they took cough syrup/DXM and it started, even though they were clean during the previous 6-12 months. Or maybe it can be linked to St. John's Wort which made some people worse. I really don't know. I remember that I saw very mild visual snow in my room at night with lights off in the months after taking MDMA, but that's actually what many people see - at least in my family. VSS runs on my mom's side of the family on top of that. But I have been free of any symptoms till 2021.

No weed, no substances, alcohol yes but not during the last month before the start of my HPPD, as I started taking St. John’s Wort and I did not want to mix it with alcohol. From what I know, it acts similarly as SSRI, but I took it without problems in 2017-2018 and I also did not have any problems at that time (in the last month before the start of HPPD) in December 2021. I stopped taking it about a week before taking valerian root. When I wanted to take St. John’s Wort again in January 2022, I couldn’t. Even just one dose worsened my HPPD for the next few months. My HPPD started going away quite quickly, but it was permanently worsened by gabapentine in April 2022. It started with all visual symptoms, especially the wavy text in the beginning. The snow itself + tracers went away, but I struggle with very severe ghosting and palinopsia. Now after the second hand smoke of weed that happened last week, even the wavy vision and tracers came back and I felt like the world was not real. All benzos except clonazepam also make me temporarily worse. I have not tried SSRI thanks to the advice on this forum. I have severe OCD-like anxiety (it was very mild before HPPD), regarding DPDR… well, I suspect that my other vision problems are part of DPDR. I have also had colourful migraine auras and problems coming from cervical spine (but I have learned to distinguish HPPD and visual snow coming from the spine, which is rather mild). Sometimes it is still hard to say what causes which though, as my vision is influenced due to a car accident. But I think that DPDR caused me moments when I thought I was going blind.

My HPPD started after taking valerian root (with prior use of MDMA but that was 6 months before! and no signs of HPPD until that moment). But it can be highly individual, I am not sure why this triggered HPPD for me.

Hi everyone, I found this old thread - I have been dealing with a very bad flare up from second-hand smoke since yesterday (trails, objects moving, the whole perception is weird, very severe ghosting). I am looking for some reassurance... did it go away/back to the baseline in your case or any case that you know about?

They really are creating new patients... I don't want to imagine what would they tell to the subjects that got HPPD after the official session with psychedelics... I bet they would tell them that it's just anxiety.

Hi, I was prescribed hydergine (a.k.a. secatoxin/ergoloid/dihydroergotoxine mesylate) for an unrelated issue (after hand injury). This medication affects migraines (prescribed to help with them, but I think that the mechanism could also cause them), tinnitus and brain vessels. People reported changes in vision (better vision) and some people apparently wondered about trying it for HPPD treatment. In conclusion, I think that it could potentially have an influence on HPPD and I am afraid of negative changes (as it is usually the case with me and medications - gabapentin etc.). Do you think it would be safe to take it? Context: I have HPPD since 2021, my baseline is stable (palinopsia, severe ghosting, otherwise it's "not that bad"), just have a flare up since Monday (first flare up this year) due to a stressful period in life

Hello everyone and Happy Friday! So yesterday I tried the craniosacral therapy for issues with my cervical spine and spinal cord. I have to say that I was sceptical about how this method works and that it could do some major changes in the body, as the therapist only uses a gentle pressure and it is rather an alternative healing therapy with an explanation that is a bit controversial. Well... I was wrong. People usually need up to 10 sessions, the standard is between 4 and 6 sessions, but my therapy was completed after only 1 session, according to the person that did the therapy, I reacted so quickly and the response of my body was so strong, that it has been done in only 1 session. In the middle of the 60 minutes long therapy, I started seeing faces in everything - and those of you who have this symptom will now understand me - that was a strong sign, that something is happening and it is not really a good thing. I had very strong burning sensations in my legs and a lot of pressure on my heart. Then I saw a few very vivid images - I was not sleeping and I would not consider it to be a kind of hypnosis, but some resources describe that your brain goes into the REM phase as if you were sleeping, but you are completely aware - it was more like in a paralysis. I think that this is what people experience on some kinds of trips, those vivid images. After the session, I felt a lot of euphoria - some Redditors compare the feeling from craniosacral therapy to MDMA (or even do MDMA after craniosacral therapy... people have weird ideas, really). To be honest, it felt like 20 % of the feeling that is on MDMA. At this point I became scared, I still felt euphoria and urges to laugh, but I knew very well, that this is not good. After an hour an unbearable head pressure occured and I am still experiencing it today, it is as intense as in the beginning of my HPPD. I have only found one mention of this therapy on this forum, one user stated that it helps them. I hope it will get better...

Klonopin (clonazepam/Rivotril) helps, but it is not worth it in the long term (I consider the withdrawal a bigger problem than HPPD itself now). I know what it is like to feel like you can only focus on one word… but it will get better. Time heals. Not everyone, yes, but there is hope.

Now I am stuck with the strong ghosting and with the deformed text (but the text will get better) and blurred vision. The rest is not present if I abstain from the caffeine and certain medication.

I am sorry that this happened to you, I know how it’s frustrating when it happens after using a product from pharmacy and months - or in your case years - after the drug use… I was told that this is even not possible after such time that the reason is the drug (in my case, after 6 months). I get you as I have been experiencing something similar but probably in a greater extent with the colours and colourful lines, well in my case I call it persisting (migraine) auras. Three weeks before the onset of my HPPD I received my first benzo in an ER and I am sure now that this was the beginning of my problems, I just can’t handle alprazolam in high quantities. After that I saw the colourful lines, auras, for the whole week. And it has never actually fully stopped, it got worse after another 3-days use of Xanax. The doctors put me on Klonopin to stop those auras which were actually caused by Xanax. Now I am almost healed of this, after long months of nonstop seeing colours, but with complete abstain from any medication and caffeine. So I don’t know if this is really connected with HPPD, the brains are really complex. Have you ever had a migraine or any condition like that?

No, it’s Tussical (European)

@Akshay deformed straight lines (deformed and wavy text), strong ghosting

@Akshay In my case it’s a bit complicated, I took what I thought was MDMA, but I think it was rather PMA. Then I didn’t experience any problems until I took a supplement with high-dose valerian and then it all started.

No, but I had significant worsening after the cough syrup with butamirate / butamirati citras, I didn’t find any information about it on this website, so I thought this is worth mentioning

I do, squinting helps indeed. And ghosting is the symptom which bothers me the most now (and my probably least or second least favourite symptom, so… it’s annoying :). In my case it can be related to clonazepam withdrawal though. And the blurred vision can also be caused by the muscle tension (problems and tension in cervical spine, temporary problems in eye muscles), there are also GABA receptors in the eyes, so there could be several reasons for that.

Hi, doing fine, thanks;) And it’s nice that new people are joining the community! I learnt that it is absolutely possible to enjoy the life with HPPD. I even went to my first post-covid and post-HPPD party (in Berlin) and it is refreshing to actually enjoy being there without the alcohol. It’s different, but this is the benefit that I can see, that HPPD made me quit alcohol and do something with my life. However I am dealing with a really bad clonazepam withdrawal and bad flare up from Gabapentin… I got especially bad ghosting and tracers which were never issues for me before, I experienced another symptoms in the past. So that was my last attempt with medication. I truly believe that natural healing is THE way and solution for this disorder, which was caused by drugs in the first place.

Yes, I know personally that the doctor’s advice “try to ignore it” and “take magnesium” can be annoying, but it actually works for the visual snow (just for the “snow” unfortunately, not for the other visual symptoms). I occasionally get intensified snow but it’s only temporary and then it goes back to the mild baseline. Still can’t figure out the shaky/waving text though.

Currently being ill and it’s at its worst, even with new distortions and symptoms… though this is rather still due to the enormous exacerbation from stupid St. John’s Wort. I was basically symptom free only two weeks ago and now it’s so bad. Don’t know if it’s covid though, the tests are not so good for the newest variant.

In addition, small review what helped and not so far: Positive impact: Ibuprofen - seems like it’s at least a bit migraine related, but I don’t consider it persisting migraine aura Magnesium Negative: Cola/Pepsi, regular coffee St. John’s wort Gingko - perhaps? Neutral: Omega-3 Q10 ubiquinol Alcohol - doesn’t affect my visuals but creates anxiety after