Sharing my story, 100% recovered

[Gabriel S.D]

Hello!
I'm making this post mainly because I want to help people who just found out they have HPPD and are struggling to find hope, mainly because most people who recover don't remeber to come back to say so (like i did haha)
But yeah here we go:
I did mushrooms for the first and only time 5 years ago, when I was 16. I had never used any other drug besides weed twice. The trip was awesome, one of the best days of my life, but things started getting strange 4 days after that, when I started feeling extremely sad and depressed for no reason. Then in the next day, a strong head tingling came along with some tinnitus, photosensitivity, after images, visual snow and an extreme anxiety and panic which I have never felt in my life. Those were so strong that I couldn't concentrate in anything and I all did for two weeks was laying on the bed horrified of what the heck was happening and researching about it (when I found out about HPPD). In the thrid week, the head tingling and anxiety started going away, but on the other hand I started getting some DPDR and more intense visual snow, and the first month was basically it. 
Then, I wasn't thinking I could ever go back to normal and I just stood 100% sober, tried to stay as healthy as I could and things did not get better, but I kept doing it anyway. Three months after the beggining of the symptoms, they started diminishing to the point I could make through some days without thinking about them, and 4-5 months after I got it I still had the symptoms, less intense, and I was already living my life totally ignoring it, and they were still there but not affecting me at all. 
It is hard to tell when exactly the symptoms went away 100%, probably between 7-8 months after I got them, but it was so gradual that I wasn't paying attention to them anymore.
But basically that's it, I was talking to some friends some days ago about drugs and I remembered about when I had HPPD and how this forum helped me to feel better in a way that I was not the only one suffering from this condition, and I really hope you all can get through it. And also, I know that my case was absolutely not a severe case, more like a mid case, but I think a really important step in my journey was to stop waiting for the symptoms to go away and try to accept them and keep living my life. It is not always possible, but if it is for you, its worth it trying.
So yeah, just wanted to share my story and that it's totally possible to recover.

[Jay1]

Thanks Gabriel! It's so helpful to see these success stories. 

There seem to be many people who join the site, post a lot for a few months, then leave... I can only assume the majority are recovering (backed up by stories like your own and DMs I get). 

Great to hear this is no longer affecting you and i hope you go on to lead a happy and healthy life!