Post LSD depression

[Chadders]

I have noticed a day after taking LSD (only a small dose) I find I am depressed. Does anyone else experience this and what are people’s thoughts on it? 

I would not say that my life as it stands is as fulfilling as I would like but without going into the details I am in a transitional phase where I don’t have a lot of options so I feel it heightens that emptiness. 

When I’m on it though I fucking love it tbh. I don’t need a lot but I find both my connection to the present moment and love simultaneously get better. I feel like myself but my performance in the relative world is enhanced. If I’m usually at Lv6 on LSD I’m like a Lv9 (out of 10). Again this is on a high micro dose 

 

[Flowerfaeiry]

@Chadders three things come to mind: lsd does affect your serotonin 

may not have been pure

could just be where you’re at emotionally regardless of the lsd

[Carl-Richard]

Maybe you're comparing your current life to the high?

[Nilsi]

Hmm, I’ve always gotten a very nice afterglow from microdosing LSD.

Maybe that’s your clue that your life sucks? Sorry if that sounds a bit harsh, but that’s just my take - as someone almost a decade into exploring mind-altering substances. Whenever a high doesn’t justify itself as a singular aesthetic experience and I find myself chasing more, or - as Carl points out well - when I start comparing my ordinary experience to the high, it usually means there’s something fundamentally off in my current situation. Probably something worth sitting with and contemplating.

[Schizophonia]

Yes, many serotonin and even dopamine receptors are suppressed by negative feedback.
The next day, I wouldn't say I'm depressed, but I'm "dry" and have small pupils.

[Nilsi]

3 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

Yes, many serotonin and even dopamine receptors are suppressed by negative feedback.
The next day, I wouldn't say I'm depressed, but I'm "dry" and have small pupils.

Ehhh, I don’t know. I’ve had beautiful afterglows from some gnarly cocaine binges or excessive rolling - just from contemplating the slow, spotty recollection of the sublime post-human ecstasy I’ve experienced.

Beauty transcends such vulgar neurological mechanisms.

Sorry if that was a bit of a tangent. But also, not sorry - because it’s true.

[Schizophonia]

1 hour ago, Nilsi said:

Ehhh, I don’t know. I’ve had beautiful afterglows from some gnarly cocaine binges or excessive rolling - just from contemplating the slow, spotty recollection of the sublime post-human ecstasy I’ve experienced.

Beauty transcends such vulgar neurological mechanisms.

Sorry if that was a bit of a tangent. But also, not sorry - because it’s true.

lol.

I didn't think cocaine was good enough.
I know a good dealer on the deep web, I might consider it one of these days.

Just to try.

Edited March 20 by Schizophonia

[Yimpa]

Using psychedelics with the intention to escape your suffering is a huge mistake. 

Same with meditation. 

[Nilsi]

1 minute ago, Schizophonia said:

lol.

I didn't think cocaine was good enough.
I know a good dealer on the deep web, I might consider it one of these days.

Just to try.

Oh yes, absolutely - it pushes you into pure post-human meltdown if you do enough of it.

You know, Nick Land wrote most of his accelerationist philosophy during a multi-year amphetamine binge, right?

[Schizophonia]

5 minutes ago, Nilsi said:

Oh yes, absolutely - it pushes you into pure post-human meltdown if you do enough of it.

What do you mean by that ? 🤔

Quote

You know, Nick Land wrote most of his accelerationist philosophy during a multi-year amphetamine binge, right?

I didn't know.

I do know, however, that Freud used cocaine extensively.

It seems that many great thinkers abused stimulants, but I think they damage the brain over time.

I would take stimulants here and there with a good amount of anti-inflammatory compounds and antioxidants.

Edited March 20 by Schizophonia

[Nilsi]

Just now, Schizophonia said:

What do you mean by that ? 🤔

I don't even know - read Nick Land or do cocaine, how do I even explain it? Your thoughts start racing at hyperspeed, chasing their most excessive logical conclusions, which are inherently antihuman and antihomeostatic. Philosophically, it's fascinating - at times even sublime - but, of course, your heart might also just explode. So, you know, not saying you should try it.

[Nilsi]

4 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

I do know, however, that Freud used cocaine extensively.

But that seems pretty mild from what I can tell. His writings strike me as well-considered and even tempered, so I doubt he was having wild, coked-out sex with his patients while grinding his teeth like a rabid animal. More likely, it was just a little pick-me-up - probably more of a microdose situation.

[Schizophonia]

Just now, Nilsi said:

But that seems pretty mild from what I can tell. His writings strike me as well-considered and even tempered, so I doubt he was having wild, coked-out sex with his patients while grinding his teeth like a rabid animal. More likely, it was just a little pick-me-up - probably more of a microdose situation.

Lol, your mind is corrupted, it's over there 😂

Have you had sex while high on cocaine?

[Vynce]

Pretty normal.

I've had not one LSD experience where this wasn't the case afterwards. 

It's only logical though, since LSD is a heavy shower of neurotransmitant effects on your central nervous system. It's like having sex 80 times in a row. You wouldn't be too horny after that.

So give yourself some time. If you are depressed in general, it would be another story.

[OBEler]

From my experience I don't have noticed that, more the opposite. If feel great the next days. I take small doses 75 micro 1 D LSD.

I think such things like becoming depressed happen more to beginners. I remember that after my first experiences I  had nasty hangovers. Never happened again after a handful of experiences with LSD.

[Carl-Richard]

7 hours ago, Schizophonia said:

Yes, many serotonin and even dopamine receptors are suppressed by negative feedback.
The next day, I wouldn't say I'm depressed, but I'm "dry" and have small pupils.

When I do think about it, I've heard that LSD's special long duration is due to it getting lodged in the 5HT2a receptor, which is a receptor that is associated with increased cortisol. Now, if it's only the 5HT2a receptor it gets lodged in, then you will get a cortisol-filled after-high combined with downregulation of dopamine receptors and probaby also the more calm-inducing 5HT1a receptors.

I agree with the "dry" feeling. One time after LSD, I said to my friends while inhaling some weed "I just feel... mentally corrupt" *stares tiredly up at a leafless early spring tree top and exhales*.

[KGrimes]

Quote

Maybe that’s your clue that your life sucks? Sorry if that sounds a bit harsh, but that’s just my take - as someone almost a decade into exploring mind-altering substances. Whenever a high doesn’t justify itself as a singular aesthetic experience and I find myself chasing more, or - as Carl points out well - when I start comparing my ordinary experience to the high, it usually means there’s something fundamentally off in my current situation. Probably something worth sitting with and contemplating.

 

@Nilsi bro, this just saved me a ton. I could never understand what's this peculiar reason why i want to be high as fuck all the time.

 

 

Edited March 21 by KGrimes

[Vynce]

12 hours ago, OBEler said:

From my experience I don't have noticed that, more the opposite. If feel great the next days. I take small doses 75 micro 1 D LSD.

I think such things like becoming depressed happen more to beginners. I remember that after my first experiences I  had nasty hangovers. Never happened again after a handful of experiences with LSD.

Interesting. With me it became more and more pronounced. There are a lot of factors at play though. 

[Schizophonia]

10 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

When I do think about it, I've heard that LSD's special long duration is due to it getting lodged in the 5HT2a receptor, which is a receptor that is associated with increased cortisol. Now, if it's only the 5HT2a receptor it gets lodged in, then you will get a cortisol-filled after-high combined with downregulation of dopamine receptors and probaby also the more calm-inducing 5HT1a receptors.

I agree with the "dry" feeling. One time after LSD, I said to my friends while inhaling some weed "I just feel... mentally corrupt" *stares tiredly up at a leafless early spring tree top and exhales*.

LSD basically has as much affinity for 5ht2a as 5ht1a.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD

 

[Carl-Richard]

2 hours ago, Schizophonia said:

LSD basically has as much affinity for 5ht2a as 5ht1a.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD

The "lodged" concept seems to be not so straightforward related to binding affinity. It seems like binding affinity measured as Ki (the one you were reading off the wiki page) is more about attraction to the receptor (measured by competition binding), while the lodging phenomena seems to be more geometric, which would be measured by other metrics like Kd which measures dissociation (how easily it lets go of the receptor):

Quote

Ligand affinities are most often measured indirectly as an IC50 value from a competition binding experiment where the concentration of a ligand required to displace 50% of a fixed concentration of reference ligand is determined. The Ki value can be estimated from IC50 through the Cheng Prusoff equation. Ligand affinities can also be measured directly as a dissociation constant (Kd) using methods such as fluorescence quenching, isothermal titration calorimetry or surface plasmon resonance.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligand_(biochemistry)#binding_affinity

 

Here are two articles mentioning the lodging phenomena:

https://www.popsci.com/lsd-gets-stuck-in-brains-receptors-serotonin/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170126132541.htm

 

And here is a quote from the study they're referencing:

Quote

LSD dissociates exceptionally slow from both 5-HT2BR and 5-HT2AR—a major target for its psychoactivity. 

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(16)31749-4?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867416317494%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

They're mentioning slow dissociation, so high Kd, and specifically from 5HT2a/2b, not 1a.

So it seems like I'm right: after the trip, 5HT2a activity continues while other serotonin and dopamine systems are downregulated, causing a combo of elevated cortisol and otherwise lowered serotonin and dopamine activity.

Edited March 21 by Carl-Richard