I need a game plan. Please help

[Kellen]

Okay my life is in the shitter. This is no life to live. Right now it seems hopeless. I am mentally ill now. I have admitted that. But my symptoms are so crippling I can't take much more of this. In a last ditch effort to salvage my life I'm need to get onto some meds.

I'm scared of being on anything. But I can't take it, it's not getting better.

What are the tried and true medications to help hppd dr/dp

I know they are posted though out this forum but I can barely look at computer screens right now.

If people cold break down a list of things I can take to make my life bearable i will be your best friend. Seriously ill come over and cook some steaks and buy you some beer, I don't drink so more for you

I'm sorry to make you rehash all this stuff but it would be of great help as I have a drs appnt Monday and need to get on some meds to help

I'm really grateful to have found these forums. And grateful to all of you, my fellow hppdrs.

Any advice is much appreciated

[miketusa]

Gabapentin helped me a lot. Makes you feel pretty good, too.

[Kellen]

Looks promising. But the increased suicide risk is a red flag for obvious reasons. How did it help with dr dr and visuals?

[onedayillsailagain]

Hey Kellen,
the most used medication for HPPD would seem to be Clonazepam if I'm not mistaken.
The increased suicide/depression risk is something you will come across with a lot of medications alas.
Many of them can be a double-edged sword so to speak. If you were to take that as a excluding factor, you would limit your options to quite an extent. Fluoxetine also has the suicide/depression risk by the way.
Personally I don't have much experience with Clonazepam, but others here do. The upside of Clonazepam is that it should work rather fast (minutes to hours if I'm not mistaken) compared to other medications (like Levetiracetam). The downside can be tiredness and cognitive issues, an possibly addiction, among others. Proper doctor-patient communication is important, so that if you do experience adverse effects the doctor will be able to help you before it gets out of hand.
So, it's a matter of risk-benefit ratio where you need to decide for yourself how badly and quickly you need something to help. Clonazepam has been reported frequently to help with DP/DR. Other things that may help are Modafinil, yet it might not be a good idea if you have anxiety. Personally I've had the best DP/DR mitigation with tDCS, and it's a lot safer (despite the seeming scariness of applying current to your skull) than most medications. You can get this done professionally or buy/build a device yourself, however with the latter 2 options I must caution the issue of responsibility and liability again. Preferably of course you would get a professional to do so, yet financially speaking buying a device is cheaper, and building one even more so but requires some skill. The device I plan on buying myself is the Foc.us, as my DIY device wasn't always producing consistently reliable effects. That said, it is ultimately your and your doctors responsibility to decide upon what therapy is right (and safe) for you.

What supplements do you use or do you have at your disposal? Have you gotten blood/hormone/organ tests lately? Ruling out dietary or metabolic deficiencies is step 1 in the process of treating mental/cognitive issues.

If you're weary of medications, there are some supplements/nutraceuticals/herbs that you can consider which have been scientifically studied (never bother with unstudied stuff promoting how natural it is). At this moment I'm running a short trial with Ashwagandha to see if it helps. Some things I've found useful are Magnesium, B vitamins, and Melatonin (at night). Maybe check out Examine.com though they recently starting asking money for some of their services (was bound to happen I suppose..). Anyway, if you can give a short list of your most debilitating symptoms we might be able to recommend more specifically.

All the best mate,
Odisa

[Kellen]

Thanks Odisa you are a wealth of knowledge.

I've been reading up on the brain gut connection.

Seems legit.

Lately I've been having bad stomachs acid, feeling sore and mushy all over, and bad brain fog. Looks like a lot of these are connected.

Currently I take omega 3 , b 100, and a multi v. Don't know it it's helping because I feel really fucked up to put it lightly. But I have neon pee which is cool I guess

Looks like I should try garlic pills and oregano pills to help battle my brain fog too. As well as enzymes

Lots of info here

http://curezone.com/forums/am.asp?i=1057691

[onedayillsailagain]

No problem
What do you mean by "brain gut connection"?
And what brands are you taking of those supplements stated?
I have no clue about garlic and oregano pills.. I wouldn't see why you couldn't simply eat garlic and oregano every day instead. It would be kind of a rip-off to waste your money on readily available herbs and spices. I'd understand if you were to buy, say, a berry extract supplement, as berries can be more expensive than those pills.
Rather, spend your money on something more beneficial. Also, how's your diet? A healthy diet is paramount and provides the basic plateau for health to improve, whereas no amount of supplements can correct eating junk every day. The soil would be tainted, so to speak. Also consider your budget. If you've digestive problems, then there's a lot you can do about that. However I doubt simply adding garlic and oregano will suffice to treat both brain fog, stomach acid, and overall soreness. The other day I made a vegetarian lasagna (I was out of meat, don't mistake me for a hippie ) with lots of fungi and vegetables, and I had a very noticeably better digestion (though no effects on brain fog, haha). However, I've been more focused on the brain rather than the entire body, so I can't really help you there.

Though these are additions I'm planning on buying (for general health improvement): Ridiculously healthy meal replacement, and mixed mushroom powder. I don't know whether they'll help with digestion, but it would seem to me to have a far better chance at doing so than mere garlic and oregano pills. The meal replacement because it contains a shitload of healthy ingredients, which I'm both unable and unmotivated to prepare. And the mushrooms because they boost overall resilience and immune system in various ways (don't take my word for it, check out the research for yourself). I believe I read Cordyceps Sinensis could also help with digestion, but don't quote me on that.
Other than that I gave Ashwagandha a short trial, but it didn't help me with brainfog.. rather it just gave me strange mood swings and made me tired, albeit less stressed at times. I quit today, but perhaps it would've straightened out had I tried it a bit longer. I'll also be trying plain ole' Panax Ginseng soon to see if it can give me an instant fog-lift (e.g. this article indicates it might have some acute effects.. edit: and this one). In any case, I don't see how prebiotics/probiotics could help with brainfog, but that's cause I haven't looked in to it. Also some members report having had good brainfog lifting resutls from NAC, however I can't vouch for that as I haven't tried it.

Wow lost track of where I was going with that man.. Guess I was just trying to say not to waste your money on expensive garlic and oregano, haha!

Cheers mate.

[Jay1]

As you are probably aware, benzos are very addictive and tolerance grows fast, so be careful, if you choose that route.

 

I do this (more or less):

 

Friday 1mg klonopin

Saturday 1.5mg klonpin

Sunday 1.5mg klonpin

 

That gives me 3 days breaks, and 4 days to flush it out of my system so that tolerance/addiction are minimal. I've done this routine for around 4 years now, without any complications. I occasionally do more than 3 days.... and then take 2 weeks off the med.

 

It's not perfect, but it means nearly half of my week has a reduction of systems of at least 50%.... That's pretty cool and something I can hopefully do for the rest of my life.

[etardnow]

http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/the-gut-brain-connection

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteric_nervous_system

 

Through intestinal muscles, the motor neurons control peristalsis and churning of intestinal contents. Other neurons control the secretion of enzymes. The enteric nervous system also makes use of more than 30 neurotransmitters, most of which are identical to the ones found in CNS, such as acetylcholine, dopamine, and serotonin. More than 90% of the body's serotonin lies in the gut, as well as about 50% of the body's dopamine, which is currently being studied to further our understanding of its utility in the brain

 

One of the reasons why i go to the 'massager' i mentioned way back. Its not a relaxing massage by any means, he pushes on veins and etc and also my gut/intestines. Its interesting how some of the symptoms i have are manipulated this way. It could be just the strain he puts on my body but basically he's trying to clear the hardened gunk in my intestines so water can reach there.

If I poke around my gut it definitely is hard and blocked but when I touched his, its all jelly like.

Our body is 70% water and if more water can reach the gut, i have no doubt its beneficial. And when he is pressuring/massaging my intestines, i can feel and hear the water move in those areas. 

Basically manual detox. 

 

Of course i dont believe its going to cure my hppd but my theory is body improvement=efficient body=balanced chemicals=hppd improvement. 

 

brain-gut also relates to things like why nervousness causes butterflies, stress, anxiety etc. For me lsd did strain my stomach/gut but i may just be spewing shit out there.  

[disguyhere]

to what etardnow is saying... from my ibs experiences from long before i even tried any psychedelics i can vouch that the issues caused by them made the ibs much worse.. the more accepted thoughts on ibs now relate it to the brain and sympathetic systems fight or flight response, and that stresses that at one point in nature would have triggered a flight response are now rerouted directly to the digestive and immune systems, causing an overload and triggering the symptoms all ibs sufferers have come to know and love. 

[WuWei]

Klonopin (clonazepam) is really the only slam dunk for HPPD.  Go get some if you're feeling that bad.  I know you feel hopeless, but these symptoms wax and wane.  Keep the faith brother!