Health Dangers of Psychedelics

[MM1988]

Psychedelics like LSD for example push up your heart rate quite a bit and also act as a vasoconstrictor. When I measured my heart rate at a peak it was around 140 and it got me worried.

Why is LSD considered physically safe and not associated with heart attack risk like cocaine is for example? It lasts quite long too and I cant imagine there is no danger when your heart rate and blood pressure is that high for such a long time.

 

[Forestluv]

@MM1988 I would first challenge and examine your assumptions. 

[Matt8800]

2 hours ago, MM1988 said:

Psychedelics like LSD for example push up your heart rate quite a bit and also act as a vasoconstrictor. When I measured my heart rate at a peak it was around 140 and it got me worried.

Why is LSD considered physically safe and not associated with heart attack risk like cocaine is for example? It lasts quite long too and I cant imagine there is no danger when your heart rate and blood pressure is that high for such a long time.

 

I exercise 4x a week. With cardio, I get my heart rate up to 150-160. 

Do you feel exercise is dangerous too?

[Rilles]

8 minutes ago, Matt8800 said:

When I measured my heart rate at a peak it was around 140 and it got me worried.

I assume you had some form of spiritual arousal or fear which raised your heartbeat. Cocaine is not dangerous because it makes your heart race, its dangerous because:

The exaggerated sympathetic nervous activity has profound effects on the cardiovascular system. It substantially increases the force of the heart muscle as it contracts, and at the same time it raises the heart rate and the blood pressure. These factors all greatly increase the work of the heart, and therefore the demand of the heart for oxygen and nutrients.

But at the same time that it is causing the cardiovascular system to work so much harder, cocaine also causes constriction of the capillaries, reducing the blood flow to the heart muscle. In addition, cocaine promotes blood clotting within blood vessels.

[TheAvatarState]

@MM1988 what? Cocaine isn't dangerous because it raises your heart rate, it's dangerous for other stressors. Physical health wise, lsd is completely safe. It had no ld-50. No one has ever died from an OD. In my personal experience, my heart rate does not increase at all (maybe slightly). That only happens when something crazy or scary happens in the trip, which is the same as if you were to wake up breathless from a nightmare... That's like saying this drug we make in our bodies called adrenaline should be outlawed for health risks. 

Now of course, there are some risks with mental health if you are predisposed to it....

[kira]

@MM1988  I got a heart rate of 193/min from doingn sprinting ;D

[Robi Steel]

@MM1988 You really should better look out for your mental health. You gotta have a sense prowess and calm to handle these drugs properly. Be sure of yourself and dont snowball into anything youre making up in your trip.

[outlandish]

@MM1988 I would be really surprised if your HR was at 140 for the whole trip. It was probably just that high when you were measuring, partially because you were freaking out about it a bit. I find my heart races on LSD when I start paying attention to it, and this causes a feedback cycle.

This is mostly just conjecture, but I believe LSD reaches a dose saturation point where it no longer increases HR and BP beyond a certain safe point, whereas the heavy stimulants like cocaine keep pushing your system further and further into more dangerous territory as the dose increases. 

But maybe more importantly is that cocaine ends up being chronically consumed at high doses, and this chronic stress ends up being really hard on the heart. LSD on the other hand is more like once every week or two at the most, so it's not chronically stressing your heart.

I'm a leery of micro dosing LSD for this reason, I think it could potentially present a risk to heart health. We don't really know if it's safe for the heart to regularly micro dose psychedelics like LSD, and there are a few reasons it could be dangerous. Personally, I avoid micro dosing LSD etc.

[Aquarius]

My heart rate is 144/m when I meditate to music. Measured right now while listening to the radio. Heh, who knew. I kinda thought it's too little. What is normal???

When I do exercise it's probably 200+. I never did psychedelics so I cannot tell. But I think you're fine. 

[Leo Gura]

On 2/10/2019 at 4:53 AM, MM1988 said:

Psychedelics like LSD for example push up your heart rate quite a bit and also act as a vasoconstrictor. When I measured my heart rate at a peak it was around 140 and it got me worried.

That's your own doing.

You assume that it's LSD which does this to you when it's actually your own mind that does this to you.

A calm mind can take LSD and not experience this peaking.

Your own fears are the cuplrit here. If you are sacred of ego-death you can trigger a panic attack through self-inquiry or meditation. Hell, some people suffer from panic attacks while sober! That's how touchy their egos are.

[Gabriel Antonio]

What dosage did you take?

Btw - your pic makes me dizzy ._.

[MM1988]

Valid points, altough the exercise argument is not. Taking drugs and working out is not the same kind of stress on the cardio system.

[Rilles]

Dude... worrying about LSD being physically dangerous is a reaaal pointless concern... nobody has EVER died from just LSD itself

Edited February 12, 2019 by Rilles

[Matt8800]

On 2/10/2019 at 8:05 AM, Rilles said:

I assume you had some form of spiritual arousal or fear which raised your heartbeat. Cocaine is not dangerous because it makes your heart race, its dangerous because:

The exaggerated sympathetic nervous activity has profound effects on the cardiovascular system. It substantially increases the force of the heart muscle as it contracts, and at the same time it raises the heart rate and the blood pressure. These factors all greatly increase the work of the heart, and therefore the demand of the heart for oxygen and nutrients.

But at the same time that it is causing the cardiovascular system to work so much harder, cocaine also causes constriction of the capillaries, reducing the blood flow to the heart muscle. In addition, cocaine promotes blood clotting within blood vessels.

I think you thought I posted words that were put up by the original poster. I am a proponent of psychedelics. 

Edited February 12, 2019 by Matt8800

[Matt8800]

9 hours ago, MM1988 said:

Valid points, altough the exercise argument is not. Taking drugs and working out is not the same kind of stress on the cardio system.

@MM1988 Thats very true. Far more people have died from heart failure due to exercise than psychedelics. Not sure why you are arguing against psychedelics though

 

Edited February 12, 2019 by Matt8800