Maintaining 50 years.....

[...]

 I'm still streaming along 52 years later.  My biggest fear and uncertainty at the onset of HPPD was how high I might get and whether I could "maintain" or not. In my case, the experience has not elevated. I have maintained. The feeling of de-realization seems to increase when there are a lot of people and events like the holidays. I realize that my life has been partially molded by coping mechanisms like living a quiet life, avoiding crowds, noise, lights and excitement. Yet, I feel I'm the better for this way. Wishing you all a good New Year! Kaleidoscope 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Kaleidoscope
Mistake

[...]

 I'm still streaming along 52 years later.  My biggest fear and uncertainty at the onset of HPPD was how high I might get and whether I could "maintain" or not. In my case, the experience has not elevated. I have maintained. The feeling of de-realization seems to increase when there are a lot of people and events like the holidays. I realize that my life has been partially molded by coping mechanisms like living a quiet life, avoiding crowds, noise, lights and excitement. Yet, I feel I'm the better for this way. Wishing you all a good New Year! By the way did I miss the survey?? Kaleidoscope 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Kaleidoscope
Mistake

[Jay1]

Happy new year! Good to hear you have found some coping mechanisms to help with this. Did you ever go down the medication route?

[...]

No Jay I have steered clear of meds based on trying to take anti-depressants at one point in life and feeling these aggravated hppd .. I would be afraid to actually do anything else. Really looking forward to new  discoveries made regarding what psychedelics actually do to the brain. For many years before discovering hppd it was rumored that LSD actually remains in the system. I believe this is not the case but would like to understand what actually happens to cause the perception pathways to remain open. Thanks for your work Jay.

[Jay1]

Yea, that was one of the myths around in my drug taking years too, that it could stay in your spinal cord for years and was what caused flashbacks! It has been debunked, one of the good things about the internet is it is a bit easier to get to the bottom of some of these myths (I also remember an urban legend about a guy who strapped 1000 tabs to his leg and accidentally sweated them into his skin and was so messed up he thought he was an orange). I imagine all those myths were born from some people's experience of hppd being blown out of proportion. 

[...]

Oh dear! I've not quite felt like an Orange as of yet...but who knows what's down the line?

[Fawkinchit]

I can sympathize with this, I also became more or less introvert after getting HPPD. I spend a LOT of time alone, rarely do socializing etc. Granted however there are also some variables about humans that I learned when I got HPPD that attributed to that learning curve.