Bipolarity and hallucinogens -anyone?

yep

yep

Runt said:

Efexor is a bitch quitting, Xanax is probably pretty easy in comparison. I´d want an experienced person leading any yage sessions, it´s a strange and powerful medicine.

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Agreed , I would much rather have an experienced person around just in case things go badly !

I remember a documentary from a few years ago on a group of people who traveled to south america for an ayahuasca retreat. I think it might have been natgeo, I don't remember. Anyways, only ONE person had adverse effects/bad trip situation. Everyone else was fine and had a great time. I bet these retreat places give really low doses knowing how strong the stuff is.

JointOperation said:

Effexor and weed is a very dangerous combo had a friend that had a mini heart attack from the combo

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How do you know the heart attack was from that combo? No offense but that sounds like BS.

JO and GS: Cannabis doesn´t really have any interactions with venlafaxine or any other psych meds but experiencing a panic attack after smoking could trigger a cardio but that would be do to the stress of the anxiety. Just my 2cs.

This is how I feel, then I'll shut my big fucking mouth.

Runt, you already said you quit those meds, so why risk going back with the hope this psychedelic MIGHT make you feel better?

Everybody is searching for answers, and everybody does things trying to make themselves feel better. Even Shaman's. There has to be an ego boost for anybody who can get someone else to do their bidding. Where in life have you ever seen anyone do something absolutely altruistic? It does happen, but it is rare. Same thing there. No one is at that retreat just there to help you. They do it because it helps THEM.

Even one bad trip is one too many for that person who has that bad trip. I know from experience. That was very long ago, but that shit hangs with you.

I also feel that place is becoming a little "touristy" and they are learning to play people.

It sounds like a beautiful place. I think you could go there and also use all the herb you want, experience the Shaman's wisdom, experience the serenity of the retreat, and find fulfillment in that.

I would hate to see you get burned dude. Life is a journey. There are no short-cuts. You have done the work. The risk seems too high to me.

I'll STFU now.

dddaver: You don´t have to STFU, all input has value and you are making good points. When you get down to it I´m hoping the DMT/ayahuasca will help "rewire" some part of my brain. Rick Strassman makes some good points in his book DMT: The spirit molecule, as does LSD and psilocybine research. No sir there are no shortcuts and I´m not looking for magic but my painlevels are way up and if I could already get some help with that it would be nice -pain is felt in the CNS and my psych meds have been doing something to keep my painlevels pretty low ergo maybe yage can rewire that stretch?

Nobody is truly totally altruistic and no shaman is waiting just for me but the way they look at illness is different -physical or psychological isn´t the issue, it´s a lot aboit balance and meeting your fears and I must say I´ve been scared most of my life -scared of losing people, scared of loosing my health, afraid of this and that (but I´ve never let that stop me from doing anything, at one point I was also in the military, no one sees my fear but I feel it).

So please don´t shut up.

pain and pills

pain and pills

Lots of little hitch hikers associated with pharms. I can tell when someone I know is over using (or trying to quit) using tromadol for pain. That being argumentative and body aches, hand in hand.
Runt I have wondered how you were able to quit your meds clean. Pain issues? Relationship,self esteem...
It's a long path for folks like you. I think most people only treat their symptoms and I fear most never cure it.
Edibles have helped my friend alot, but still the same result...treatment not a cure.

;

Going off meds has been interesting, not easy but in no way impossible -and that´s strange isn´t it. My painlevels are pretty bad, I use tincture in the evening and it helps a lot but I can´t use that during the day as my work depends on being vigilent.

Before I started treating my depression/OCD with SSRI type antidepressants in the early -90´s I never had big issues with mood and I was a pretty laidback person. The SSRI´s seem to have given me more "speed" and made me more "driven" which in many ways has probably been a good thing but my diagnosis of bipolarity came five years inte treatment of the other issues ergo am I bipolar or has the hypomania been a product of the meds? I´m a type II bipolar so I´ve never been psychotic or in a hospital or on sick leave do to those issues.

So being off meds has made me in a way more calm and not as driven in my work and family life -and when I mean driven I mean driven. My family is seeing a difference too, not as dominating but a bit more anxious and for the first time in decades I´m looking at my priorities -so far I´ve equated quality of life with money and living the "good life", now I´m backing off a bit.

Is the rat race really worth the trouble? Could my life be more simple and have more quality?

If nothing else this adventure has brought me to many existential issues that already are having an interesting effect on my life and outlook.

So mabe yage won´t change much, maybe it´s my great last stand. maybe it´s Hunter S. his look on life manifesting itself in some way (love his writing).

Better to burn out that fade away?

Mostly the reason I said I would STFU is that I have stated my position on you doing this, and I am steadfast and stubborn about this, and will not waver. Plus I am in pain 24/7 right now. I fell back hard on my ass/back over a month ago. Hurts bad, improving very sloooowly, only sleeping maybe 3-4 hours at a time if I'm lucky. So I am having some doubt as to the veracity of any advice I might give.

So you were military too? I did my 20 in the AF. They should have medically retired me from GE in 1998, but they had spent years training me as a bare-base weather forecaster, as well as a counter forecaster, writing terminal forecasts, area forecasts, briefing pilots, etc. YEARS. It was like they had planned invading Kosovo for at least 20 years before that. I was perfectly tailored for that and we did a hell of a job saving those people, the ethnic Moslem Albanians, who were just being slaughtered. I am proud of that. Not so proud of going to the desert and acting as a part of a bully force and picking a fight with Iran. Killing innocents, bombing radar sites, bombing anti-aircraft gun emplacements, killing guys there just trying to feed their families while just doing what their boss, Saddam, said. WE started the Gulf War. I bet I filled out thousands upon thousands of 175-1s, pilot weather forms.

Then they sent me into Kosovo among the 1st American wave, hurt too. I couldn't even march at all. I actually failed the army field training because of that. My back (and sciatica) feel just like it did back on 1998 when I first fell after weapons training prior to deployment while in GE, precipitating all back issues. They diagnosed degenerative disk disease in my lumbar and a stenosis (narrowing) in the cervical area of my spine over there. Didn't matter.

I have seen my doctor since I fell. Instead of addressing the pain he is sending me on a cardiac referral because my blood pressure and heart rate were elevated. But, no shit, I was in pain.

And Medicare paid this same hospital over $4000 a couple years ago for thorough thyroid scan after an "incidental" finding from a radiologist of a sonagram they did on my carotid arteries. I am getting the distinct impression I am being used as a pawn in a Medicare scam.

I have seen neurologists, both on active duty and 3 since. Those guys are idiots. I have been to physical therapy, both on active duty and since. Nothing has helped. I think the whole system is a mess.

Anyway, we all have issues. Yours can not be fixed by anyone but you and there is no such thing as a magic pill. Our beloved herb is the closest thing to it really. I think go on the trip though, enjoy the beauty and serenity, I just would not "drink the water".

Sorry to go off on my rant. I'm tired.

GK: I guess I´ve opened up slowly, you guys are really compassionate and it´s interesting hearing viewpoints -that´s why I "rang"

dddaver: I´m not American, our military hasn´t seen action since WWII but we do have troops in the UN deployment. I volunteered for Kosovo but at that point all spots were filled, I was offered Irak and Afghanistan but didn´t see any point in what was happening and nothing has changed my mind on that. I was offered a position in an active deployment unit (EU thing) five years back which was flattering, by then I had two prosthetic knees so I never really understood why they asked? LOL! Shortly after that I was operated for a herniated disc in my neck so that was that -chronic pain and you know the rest.

Without the herb I´d be totally lost. I hope I never have to use opioids again even though I´m pretty close to that stage as it is -codeine can be a sonofabitch to kick, I did mine cold turkey and it was like Gene Hackman in The French Connection. ISYN.

My psychiatric condition (Manic depression aka bipolar diagnosis as a child before the word bipolar was termed) was such I was given a prognosis of suicide or permanent institutionalization before 18. I spent decades on every type of psych drug and in intense therapies. I experienced some of the best care available at the time. To date I have found very few people who have dealt with the intensity of disease and plethora of lifetime rehabilitative treatments. Many people have simpler forms of mental illness developed or expressed because of drugs use, poor lifestyle choices and stress/shock.

The last time I stopped smoking the cacophony of scripts I was given to "contain" my symptoms ( hand was forced in order to protect my kids in family court and get custody which I got) I was on Zypreka, Depakote, Xanax, Eskalith, Effexor and Ambien. And for all the drugs they still could not contain my anxiety/mania when it was at peak.

None of them where able to do what DMT/LSD/Ketamine did for me. Psybocilin has similar psychological benefits for me as well. Mescaline cactus are reported to be an excellent tool as well, but I have little personal experience other than cultivating the ones legal to cultivate for the benefit fo future use if need ever arises. These substances have healing properties/potentials where in modern pharmaceuticals only subdue major symptoms while bringing their own bevy of negative side effects as part of a lifetime medical treatment (and income stream for pharmaceutical companies)

The biggest benefit to DMT specifically is that the psychological benefits are gained for a long term if not permanently.

Now don't get me wrong I am not advocating won ton use of other drugs, but as someone who went "looking for answers" (without knowing that was what I was doing) in about every substance that exists I can tell you that some substances most definitely have huge benefits when applied correctly.

My use for years was not guided, directed or even with a real conscious purpose. It wasn't until I understood their causation that my insight was formed.

Now with that said,a different mantra has to be adopted if one is to do substances with psychological benefit, there has to be purpose coupled with use.

Another critical part of using psychedelics to over come and heal psychological/psychiatric infirmaries is opening up and talking to people with healthy, balanced outlooks on life, I even suggest going to a therapist.

This is where many people here will get their hair up and start talking about how psychology is a racket but the truth is many people here don't have many people in their lives and are islands among themselves. Marginalized lives who find a compromise of living alone with plants for some measure of peace of mind acceptable.

Most people haven't come to terms with the human condition within themselves, mentally ill or otherwise, or can only translate it through one lens and condemn others who can't do the same.

If you suffer from mental illness, and do not put effort into addressing it, smoking pot might will help symptoms and in the case of PTSD can actually heal the person over time (can explain the neurology) but will not HEAL certain mental illness like bipolar or schizophrenia. It can facilitate the process but you MUST have a treatment plan that goes hand in hand with it.

I haven't taken psych meds in decades and never felt so good. Do I still get depression and anxiety? yes but I no longer needs meds to counter act the effects.

Now because I had decades of psychological therapies, I found why way outside the guidance of shaman, psychiatrists, etc BUT without that past I do not think I would have been able to recognize positive mental benefits over negatives ones. I had to learn years ago to gauge my mental state and the effect it has on my perception and how I feel. Most people are not cognitive of their own "subconscious" biases.

I do however know people who have been involved in shamanic healing and they reported life changing benefits.

There is a Ted Talk IIRC The War on Consciousness - Graham Hancock, who was a chronic pot smoker (and phd iirc) who did DMT and stopped smoking pot because of it. He verbalizes it as insight but what he doesn't say is that the trip he experienced also effected his neurology.

Psybocilin, LSD, DMT and MDMA are being used to help people with psychological issues, Research the reality of these life transforming and salvaging substances at MAPS.org Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies.

Be very careful with the second hand information people share. If they don't have direct positive or negative experience they are like most the dudes talking shit about growing who are parroting what they have read but never applied it successfully.

Wow some of you guys have been on some pretty heavy meds and have managed to get off them?? I'm on 10mg paxil and I can't seem to kick it. Any advice? It's been almost 10 years. Doc prescribed them to me initially for GI problems. Don't need them anymore but withdrawals are horrendous! I talked to one guy who said weaning didn't work for him and had to cold turkey it. 10 months of hell. Any advice appreciated.

Weird: You´re voicing much of what I´ve read and researched, I need to read your post a second and third time. I´ll be back.

GS: Cut down gradually, 2.5mg every month, stay in touch with your dr but you still will have to clench your teeth. It can be done but don´t go it alone.

soz - only read new posts casual like, felt like interjecting, but as ddd no issue...

because the ayahuasca shamans you hear of are the ones that have marketing, and marketing all belongs to satan the lord of giant donguses.

not an american = important in terms of healthcare advice! healthcare in the u.s. can kill you!



look dude you know money and the bullshit sucks the fat donguses, i'll tell you what i think right ->



weed, camping trip


don't take tvs and music and books and shit with you. leave the stuff you know already behind. weed, bird tweets and clouds can be enough


>>>>>>>> connect to the real

WG: No i´m not American but I have friends in the US and I´m sometimes saddened by what happens in the US as it also affects us in Europe -your foreign policy is scary. Maybe not to you but I live on the Russian border so it´s not nice when they are pissed

Our healthcare is good, actually pretty great, but many of our "experts" are guided by "opinion" and not by facts, the rest are scared of breaking with "the norm" ie we have medical cannabis but only for treatment of spasticity in MS.

Dumb asses.

My docs know about my illegal medicine and they´re cool but I can´t get a prescription and even if I could a monthly dose of cannabis would set me back 600-1000€ as the system won´t see it as a medicine even if it´s classed as one -if you have MS.

A guy in our capital sowed 33 kgs (!) of seed he´s bought from local healthfood stores -it´s hemp but it sure is pretty.

The country, peace of mind, birds, trees and my small garden. These are good meds. I guess the shamans have a right to profit if they´re serious, charlatans everywhere should be shot (joke) but why is a shaman not serious just because he´s trying to feed his family? We can thank Timothy Leary et als "altruistic approach" for the ban on hallucinogenics -he put a spoke in the wheel of research. And why? Cause he wanted personal fame. Narcisssist, not cool.

Bit of a rant here but the system has lied to me, my teachers lied to me. The people that should have protected me lied. That hurts now that I´ve looked into things -many people could have been helped by LSD, MDMA, psilocybine etc. That´s just plain wrong isn´t it?

yes, psychedelics should be legal

I wonder if anyone in this thread has any testimony of overcoming diagnosed bipolar by the virtues they extol?

Funny because there is a common denomintor outside of this that every one glazes over as they try to sell their brand of enlightenment

not only are marijuana and dmt are natural entheogens, but like mushrooms and cactus you can be completely natural and self sufficient. This is most important because many mentally ill people are so disenfranchised and PARANOID that they doubt that a human condition such as altruism and compassion can truly exist.

They do, but the beautiful thing is that you can make this discovery on your own ENSURING that it was not manufactured by someone else to manipulate you, which is a common delusion when people use psychedelics.

Practices like meditation, yoga, chanting, and the like can facilitate mental health to an extent but some illness is due to defects in the neurological, nervous or endocrine systems and much like a person with no legs, a vehicle (liken it to a wheel chair) is needed for the person to be able to achieve a like balance.

Epilepsy a severe disorder is helped by cbd's and true mental illness works in the same biological methods.

Much of the mental health issues that do exist are not biological but the product of cultural or social programming (no not all is a plot of the Illuminati but a simple byproduct of evolving civilization) and can be easily met with practices like Buddhism and other eastern medicines.

However EVEN THEN as is the case with vets with PTSD, medicines, namely entheogens can change the game in reversing the damage from trauma which is a stress induced disease.

Having a unfair bias against entheogens because of the human factor involved is a sign that people lack an understanding of human nature and grossly hypocritical on a forum that celebrates a specific entheogen itself.

Are any shaman to be trusted? how about people who grow entheogens? Is this regard aren't they shaman too? distributing entheogens based on the belief they are beneficial?