windscar

Oh, thank you, aztec99! OliverW and Visual dopamine has nothing to do with our problem, men. Trust me. I swear. It is used by our entire brain, everywhere, from our motor coordination to hormonal balance. Good luck targetting a specific problem with dope meds. Because we don't know the side effects. Many meds used openly today are slowly killing our brains.

OliverW, a simple reason, nobody knows what those meds are doing with your brain. Isn't that enough? I would only use meds if I *definitely*, being aware of withdrawals, couldn't live without them. Yes, but they are giving names to socially unaccepted behavioral patterns, and blaming physical, scructural problems for them. This is insane! Read about lobotomy. Why should not I belive that our theories today are as absurd as that, just harder to disprove? Throwing chemicals on our brains to cure specific problems. Doesn't make sense. Maybe I'm wrong, but I prefer just to prevent. LSD teached my leasson. I definitely won't be using any med until we KNOW what HPPD is.

You guys should stop believing all that dopamine, seretonin, noradrenaline bullshit. They discover 5, 6 different neuroreceptors and them suddenly they are the cause of every mental disease. "Lack" of a chemical. Seems legit. LOL. Seriously, just think about it. If your computer had a virus and your technician told you the problem was that you were receiving too much spam emails and that you should stop using emails to fix the problem, would you believe him? Well, that's the same. I bet someone can show that people opening too much emails are more susceptible to having viruses. Yet it doesn't have nothing to do with the virus or the solution. The solution is cleaning your system internally, and only a good programmer, who understands the system, can make a antivirus capable of that. Our brain is a software too. It is not because someone can show a relation between receptor quantity and a disease that have a causal relation. Seriously, THINK. The neuroreceptors are just a tool used by it to perform some physical tasks. They are like the diodes in our computer ships. They have NOTHING to do with the internal software and have NO ability to "fix" something broken there. Please just think about it, and stop those meds!

Jay1, 11 years without meds! Why did you use them now? What are you using? Did you symptoms get better during those 11 years?

What visual symptons do/did you have? Can you summarize how your they evolved during those 16 years? Are they completely gone now? And thanks for your post.

Very interesting indeed, thanks for your post. So you have HPPD for almost 20 years? Can I ask if your visuals changed through time or if they more or less stayed the same? Had you experienced a time without any visuals at all? No visual snow, etc?

Don't use benzos. Please. You have no idea of how it can fuck your brain even further.

Title.

I don't believe it can go away on it's own. Some say so, but I have never seen an actual report, and trust me, I have searched a lot. Plainly 100% of the "I got better" reports say how their visuals didn't go away, they just learned to cope with it or had no more depression etc.

40-60 hits, holy lord. There is hope, man. Medicine is having huge achievements. Just stay strong and never give up.

Thank you. I'm waiting for the second thread.

It's a correlation anyway, so best avoid.

A few days ago I acidentally stared the sun briefly on a beach. A little sunmark burned into my eye, appearing everytime I blink. My eyes got red like this image for the rest of the day. Now, 4 days has passed and I still see the sunburn each time I blink. It's on my left eye. Reading this site they gave a very accurate description of my symptons and mentioned psychedelics: So I'd like to: 1) Warn you guys to be very careful with this. It makes sense that HPPDers could be more sensitive to sunburns and it's a serious condition. 2) Ask if anyone relates to this.

There's no treatment for HPPD. Klonopin's beneficial effects are doubtable and it has potential to cause great, irreversible harm to your brain.

David, What is the current progress on the field? Are there researches trying to find the exact biological mechanism behind HPPD? What is their current approach? BTW you are doing a very good job with the community. Thank you.

I'm glad you got better and this kind of post is very welcome. And congratulations for stopping the weed use, it does worsen hppd. But can I ask you how many books have you read on the subject on that 1.5 year? Or how much time you spent trying to figure out what causes HPPD? Because that's lot of time and you could've added too much to our cause on that time, even if you used just part of our free time.

Human knowledge is on it's childhood when the subject is our brain. It's fair to say WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT OUR BRAIN YET. Brain-targetted drugs work by entering our bloodstream and reacting chemically with our brain, disrupting it's normal functioning. They usually target a 'specific' group of neurons based on the type of neurotransmitter they use (serotonin, dopamine, etc), and some, by luck, changes our brain's functioning in a desired way. Caffeine speeds our brain up; THC makes us relaxed; antidepressives hinders our emotions; anxiolitics makes us drowsy etc. But neurotransmitters are just a tool used by neurons in communication and have nothing to do with specific functions. The number of different neurotransmitters is WAY smaller than the number of functions of our brain. So how can our remedies, that select neurons by kind of neurotransmitter, target specific functions? It's impossible. So caffeine doesn't speed our brain up. Caffeine changes the functioning of our entire brain and one of it's effects is speeding our brain up. Benzodiazepines slows down or entire brain including parts related to anxiety and formation of afterimages. What I wanna say with that is that, yes, we can find some remedies that alliviate some symptoms of HPPD but they will NOT cure it, they alliviation will be mild and to achieve this they will disrupt the whole functioning of our brain. Is it worth? Or better yet: is trying more and more random molecules the the right way of addressing the problem? Or even better: if you were to fix something broken would you throw random stuff at it? Think about it. If you want a cure, I can give you the cure: knowledge. Buy a book on neurology, neural networks, biology, anything, and start studying now. The REAL CURE EXISTS. It's just hidden and we have to find it. I'm searching. Will you help me?

I just want to say I am doing my part, trying a place in a medicine university. Unfortunatelly it's by far the most disputed carrer here (the concurrence is around aburds 120 candidates/vague in our best universities [uFRJ, UFF, UERJ and UNIRIO], a dream of many), and, having my time filled with study (engineering) and work, it's almost utopia to believe I'll pass this year. Yet I just ranked 20 on the 55.000+ candidates of the first exam and am going to the second phase with real chances. I probably won't get the place this year, but the knowledge on calculus, physics, computation and chemistry I'm getting from my engineering course will certainly help me when I do. And when it happens you can be sure I'll dedicate every second on it to our cause. So, and you... what are you doing?

Your brain is a paper. LSD is the act of crumpling that paper. Using remedies as an attempt to treat HPPD is like trying to make the paper straight again by bending it randomly. Won't work. Only advancing our knowledge in the areas of neurology and microbiology (nanotechnology) will cure HPPD. Nobody will do that for us, so, that's why I invite and ask you all, who, like me, just won't accept living with that and are willing to fight to start acting now. And by acting I mean, get a book and start studying NOW. Download a book on biology, neurology, nanotechnology, anything, and read it in your free time. Don't forget our brain is not magical. It's a physical machine. We damaged something on it. We just have to discover what. It is not hard. Think about it: why we have afterimages? Why we have static? In what sittuations HPPD happens? What's the linking between them? What could have happened biologically speaking? Whenever you got an idea, don't keep it for you. Spread it. It can inspire someone. I highly recommend everyone effected by this disease to study neurology. AT LEAST understand how a neuron works. Get the basic concepts on neural networks. It's a shame if you are suffering and doesn't do anything about it. Once we find a possible mechanism for HPPD it'll be a matter of time until we find a cure. This is the deal. We can keep complaining. We can go on trying random medicines believing something will magically cure us (and becoming sick on the process). Or we can BUILD KNOWLEDGE. Think: how we managed to build a rocket and land on the moon? Tip: it wasn't assembling random pieces. We got a problem. And we got the best problem-solver ever seen. Let's use it? If we can land on moon we can fix a few cells. It's not impossible. It's freaking JUST A MATTER OF WORKING. WE CAN.

I can't tell you but intuitivelly I'm afraid of anything that goes on my brain since HPPD. I've recently done an endoscopy awake and everytime when possible I'll opt not to use anesthesia. No scientific background just my opinion. We know how our brain became sensible after HPPD. If we can just not expose it anymore why would we...?

If you have palinopsia, stare a VERY strong light for a long period with caution just not to harm your vision. Repeat this a few times and check if your afterimages/trails/halos etc are decreased. I've posted another topic explaining this but it's too long and wasn't edited yet so its almost unreadable... you can peek there if you want. But I would be very glad if you try that exercise. Thanks

then you probably realized that a possible way of obtaining a cure would be doing the opposite of what gave us HPPD. That is, seeing wrongly, long enough, for our brain to adapt in the inverse way it did when we tripped. Thinking this way I tried the following: I looked into a strong light for very long until I couldn't handle it anymore. Then I looked again, and again, and again. I realized tat every time I made this, my vision became softer and cleaner (except for that burn in the middle of my vision, of course). After some time, I did my usual afterimage tests and, guess what? I WAS COMPLETLY FREE FROM PALINOPSIA! Trust me, my vision was never so clear since HPPD. No halos, no trails, nothing. Well I'm completly exhausted as I'm writing this so I must go. As you can see, I wrote it straight with no formatting, no consulting the dictionary, no nothing. I just wanted to share my thoughts. I'll come here later to edit and summarize this into something decent (you are, of course, welcome to help me if possible) and add more info. If someone read this, please, try that exercise. But beware not to harm your vision. See you.

Before anything, sorry for my bad english. With some effort I'm sure you can understand. Well I'm an engineer student, not a biologist. But I used to be a very good student and my best hability was, probably, that of finding a solution to a problem before being exposed to the answer (as opposed of how students are teachen nowadays). So I can be completly wrong on what I'll say, but, who knows, I can be right somewhere.<br><br>There is an study where researchers did the following:<br>They got a marine animal (I don't remember the specie) whose brain is very simple. That animal has an reflex that is activated when you touch certain part of its body (don't remember what). It contracts itself as a defensive response. As every reflex, it is an automatic response, that is, the animal have no control of it, just like us when we touch a hot object. They performed 4 tests on that animal:<br>1. They touched that part of the animals body several times in a short period of time. They realized that, after some attempts, that animal decreased its response to the stimuli, but, after a few hours, that response was back to normal.<br>2. They touched that part of the animal several times spaced over a long period of time. They realized that, after some attempts, the animal decreased its response to the stimuli and maintained this behavior for a few weeks.<br>3. They touched that part of the animals body several times in a short period of time and, imediatelly after each attempt, they exposed the animal to an eletrical current that caused pain. They realized that, this time, after some attemtps, the animal increased its response to the stimuli, but, after some hours, it was back to normal.<br>4. They touched that part of the animals body several times spaced over a long period of time, applying the eletrical current after every attempt. The animal increased its response to the stimulii and maintained that behavior for weeks.<br><br>Ok. How can we explain that? Simple. The brain of that animal does have a mechanism that regulates that unvoluntary response. Remember, the purpose of that reflex is to protect the animal. If the reflex is activated but nothing happens the brain of the animal adapts itself to stop reacting to the touch. If he gets eletrified its brain adapts to react more intensively to the touch. Remember, it is an unvoluntary response, so its not the animal remembering what to do... it is, de facto, the structure of its neurons that is changing. Even more interesting is that the response does return to normal if the animal gets touched for a brief period of time but it doesn't when the period is long enough.<br><br><b>It was shown, later, that this stimuli response regulation mechanism is a common feature to (almost?) every brain of any living being.</b> <br><br>So, what does this have to so with hppd?<br><br>First, let's think about the afterimages. Why do they happen? It is very probable that they are not a physical limitation of our eyes (read the article about palinopsia on wikipedia for sources). So its something programmend into us. As such, they happen because they are necessary - they are a FEATURE of our brain. So what they're necessary for? Well I'm not sure yet but very probably it does have a role on our perception of motion. Know when you move your fingers very hapidly back and forth? It's so fast for your eye to know where exactly is your finger so you see a hybrid mesh of everywhere it passed though. This is possibly possible because of the afterimages. <br><br>And floaters? What are them? Well. You know that we are made from cells. But cells die. What do you think would happen if a cell just died above the surface of your eye? Well if it was close enough it would cast a shadow on it. But people, usually, do not see lots of black spots floating over their vision! How's that possible, if there ARE shadows being cast on the vision of all of us? There's only one explanation. Our brain removes them automatically. It FILLS the space where the shadows are cast.<br><br>Well, so, what do both of those have on common? Well. They are both FEATURES of our vision and they are UNCONCIOUS. That is, it's something that our brain does automatically, with a specific function that is important to our proper working. Wow, wait! Isn't that just what is, too, our marine animal's reflex?<br><br>Remember, neural networks does have a way of regulating it's responses to an input. It does not even have to be an extern stimuli. Internal inputs ("functions") are regulating themselves everytime on our brain so we can function correctly. It means that <b>there is, probably, a system that regulates the strength of our afterimages, floaters, etc - and, more probably, that regulation is based on what we see. If the afterimages we see are not doing their job, whatever it is (probably the job of softening movement), then our brain will adjust increasing or decreasing their strength.<br><br></b>Now this can be used to explain almost everything that happens on HPPD. <br><br>Why do HPPD happen? When we are in a trip we suddenly experience an alterated vision. Suddenly everything we see is not supposed to be how it is. Our brain then perceives that it's efforts to see correctly are not working and tries to adapt. For instance, when it realizes we can still see trails of objects (hindu deities effect) even when the "afterimages system" (motion softening system) was supposed to be working properly, it does naturally increase the strength of our afterimages. But the trip will go away while those changes won't. That's what configures the persistend perceptual disoreders.<br><br>Why is it often triggered by hallucinogens, but is often seen in people who never used them? Because HPPD is not caused by hallucinogens. HPPD is caused by "seeing wrongly". If anything makes someone sees wrongly for long enough, then he can get HPPD. So we can exect antidepressives, migraine auras, perhaps even bad nutrition or traumatic events cause HPPD for susceptible individuals and, guess what? That's just what happens.<br><br>Why some people use lots of LSD and never get sick, while others get HPPD from their first trip? Because HPPD is not caused by the drug but by the fact of seeing everything messed up long enough. If someone have a less visual trip, he won't develop HPPD. If someone doesn't trip long enough, he won't develop LSD. So, if someone doesn't develop HPPD on their first attempts, that person will probably become resistent (both physically and psychologically) to psychodelics in a way that it's very unlikely that he sometime will have a trip strong enough for long enough to decelop HPPD. That would make us conclude that ONE EASY WAY TO DEVELOP HPPD WOULD BE DOSING STRONG IN YOUR FIRST TRIP. And, guess what? That is, indeed, the case of many people!<br><br>Why some are cured after some time while others aren't? Because, as evidenced by the experiences with the marine specime, our brain can adapt to longer or short terms to a disturption of its functioning. If someone is exposed to visual changes long enough for their brains to adapt in a long term, then they HPPD will last longer. It can last very short. <br><br>Why each HPPD is different? Because every trip is different. I can <br><br>What about depersonalization, anxiety and stuff? If a trip is long enough then <br><br>Why do some remedies work? Trips, generally speaking, disinhibits and inhibits some parts of our brains. So we can expect that the ADAPTATIONS that our brains make during a trip will involve disinhibiting and inhibiting those parts accordingly. So it's not a surprise that some remedies coincidentally causes disinhibition and inhibition of the same parts that are misconfigured. For instance, some suggest that afterimages are strengtened by a disinhibition on certain neurons of our visual cortex. Benzodiazepines inhibit our neurons in a general way, principally those that are overactive. So it's not a surprise that they will somewhere inhibit strongly those neurons involved on the generation afterimages. This is not a cure. It's just a temporary relief. Why? *Well, I'm an eletrical engineering student." But I would guess that long terms adaptations are made when our neurons move closer or further away from each other by stretching their dentrites/axoms, changing the strength of the signal being sent by a neuron to other. This way, short term adaptations would be when there is a change on receptors density, again changing the strength of a signal, and being something that seems very reversible to me. So, as a remedy will act on our receptors, they can change the functioning of our brain while they are on their effects, but, as they do not change our perception strong/long enough for that "natural adaptation" of our brain to take place, they won't have long term effects.<br><br>OK enough. Now the interesting part. THE CURE!<br><br>If you understood what I said <br>

I am interested.

Can I have access to that database?