I invite all you to cure HPPD

[windscar]

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.

[windscar]

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?

[Phenomenon]

Have you read the gaba-dopamine-5ht hypothesis? Just so you have something to go on.

[pyramidic99]

Sounds you are working really hard towards your goal, fair play to you

But I do think you have a reductionist approach to the subject - although this issue has a biological/ neurological element to it; we are talking about people's experience, not just a brain (and a brain is more than a 'physical machine'). I think for many people the dissociation, anxiety and other psychological issues are more disabling than the the visual effects themselves - and these can be addressed through counselling, therapy, spiritual practise, acceptance, medication etc.

Good luck in your research, I wish you all the success in the world - but don't forget the wider picture.

Peace, pyramidic.

[shogun5553]

yeh well i have to agree here, its time to stop whingeing and start fighting. look ive gotten rid of hppd temporarily with straight 5-HTP (griffonia bean extract) pills. I took it one day and the next my visuals were gone. i cant remember what happened unfortunately, this was 10 or so years ago and i remember it stopped working at some point. So this 5-HT thing obviously has some bearing, or possibly...i hope. Also taking crank recreationally (everyday! LOL!) gets rid of it for me plus its gone for up to 3 months after i detox off the meth also...someone have a look into this stuff maybe. im going to. lets pool our info i reckon, plus experiences. We may just carck this thing! Theres obviously (obvious to me anyway) an answer to all of this, i believe if it can be broke with chemicals it can be fixed with them too. I feel it, i know that there is a fix out there for all of us. Come on people get working, thinking, complaining to every possible type of person until one of us or somone else finds a cure for us!!!

[shaolinbomber]

I was like this. All gung ho after about 5 months or so of having it. I uploaded and c&p'ed all kinds of articles and information followed by my opinion on them on the old site. I got burnt out after a few months of doing that because I was staying up everynight and reading and posting non-stop.

I wish you luck with the career path that you've chosen.

I'm putting my hope into the new medication trials that are having a lot of success even with a few of the members on this site.

[gill]

Think about it: why we have afterimages? Why we have static? ....

I think these are interesting questions. But what I find just as interesting, is why we feel the need to fixate on any of these visuals, as if they require our attention?

Ask yourself, why is this important? Any of us can logically reason that seeing the side of the computer screen warp, for instance, is just an illusion, yet, yet for years after still seeing this, a thousand times, there's still some feeling of alert associated to it, that it needs our attention.

It's not just a visual problem to me anymore. It's an attention problem linked with anxiety.

[gill]

I like calling it an issue or problem more than a disorder too these days, disorder just sounds too negative and stagnant.....not that it makes a huge diff but attitude does play a role in all this....

[shaolinbomber]

I like calling it an issue or problem more than a disorder too these days, disorder just sounds too negative and stagnant.....not that it makes a huge diff but attitude does play a role in all this....

I'd classify it as a disorder based solely on the fact that it can cause significant amounts of distress and interruption in one's life.

[VisualDude]

define: disorder

noun

1. A state of confusion

2. The disruption of peaceful and law-abiding behavior

3. A disruption of normal physical or mental functions; a disease or abnormal condition

verb

1. Disrupt the systemic functioning or neat arrangement of

2. Disrupt the healthy or normal functioning

Take your pick

[gill]

I think a problem with 'disorder' is that, for me, it implies forces beyond my control in creating the condition. And while I think that is true to an extent, (I don't consciously choose to see an after-image for instance), my own choices and attitudes about the condition also contribute to its effects on me.

So the words then, I think can have a lot of power in influencing perception, and choosing more beneficial terms may be of help....

[Merkan]

I found your approach very healthy, Gill. I have heard similar approaches where there is denial but that is definitely not in your case. I support your stand. I do not care what i call it, since i combating HPPD with meds i need to call this a disorder at my appointments but i do not dwell over having a disorder when i am symptom free.

[Br0k3nS41nt]

I have to agree with shaolin here, though I am interested in the mechanisms behind this disorder, I just want to find the best way to cope with it. That is my job, I will leave the discovery of a reliable treatment up to the professionals. I think I am doing pretty well too, I don't take meds (I will once they find one and test it to be certain to treat the disorder) and I really never feel anxious anymore. Weirdly I am almost comforted by my DP, like I found a little niche in the universe where I can settle, yet I still would prefer existing again. I keep no hope for a recovery and really don't even think about any loss I have sustained, I am just about making the best with what I have, if I ever come out of it that would be great, but I am to the point I could see myself 50 years down the road like this and can shrug it off. Hell it makes me a one hell of an interesting person to me, something that was not so apparent beforehand.