I took acid for the first time have many questions

September 27, 2009 1:10 PM

Okay, my friend from work came over and then he, my roommate, and I were supposed to just take ecstasy and just chill out to trance music. Somehow my friend convinced us that we should take ACID. I have always told myself that I would never do it because I was afraid of going completely and utterly insane.

So we literally tripped for almost 24 hours (each took several hits of the acid and around 4 rolls of E). It was REALLY weird and easily the most awesome experience of my life. I will never look at my house the same EVER AGAIN.

The most noticeable thing me for was that we became very obsessed with perspective. Is that normal? We all took turns "sitting" in my refrigerator and we literally BECAME the fridge. I sat there yelling "OOOHHHH MYYYYY GOODDDDDD" as my friends pretended to take condiments out of me. We also started speaking in gibberish and I could somehow understand them. We also started using a British accent (which scared the daylights out of my dog!!! I could also control the tempo of the music with my mind and I somehow synchronized the lights with my arms. If I raised my arms up in the air, the lights got brighter. As I lowered my arms, the lights dimmed.

I have a few questions though:

1) Is it normal it be really depressed and somber the day after? I got really emotional and cried uncontrollably at some points. I think that is from the E

2) Our trip is just in our head right? I mean, we slid around on our bellies on my kitchen floor and we were sliding like we were on a skating rink. What would it look like to someone who was not on acid? And what about the British accents? In our head, or where we really talking like that?

3) I noticed that several times throughougt the night, I would say stuff like "This is really fununununununun" and repeat the last syllable over and over. I felt very "manic" and would make "omomomomomom" noises over and over, and REALLY fast. What's that about? One person said from the meth in the E.

4) Lastly, what are the long-term effects of acid? I mean, say you use it once or twice a year? I am in college and get good grades and I am worried about ruining my cognition and/or memory. I value my ability to compute algebra problems.....

5) If I use the LSD spiritually and therapeutically, could it actually make my life better somehow? I would like to try to have healing sessions with my friends where we express ourselves artistically and talk about how we would like to improve our lives...

posted by ascetic to health & fitness (49 answers total)

1. What comes up must come down.
2. It would look like a bunch of frazzled people acting like goobers.
3. Who knows!
4. Here.
5. Lots of opinions either way but you are playing with fire. Be careful.
posted by ian1977 at 1:17 PM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]

Ecstasy and LSD are still illegal in the United States. You may want to ask the mods to delete this and repost it anonymously.
posted by haltingproblemsolved at 1:17 PM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]

Have you read Erowid? May answer some of your questions. Remember they are just anecdotes. If you read some of the Metafilter threads about LSD, some people suggest taking it if you are psychologically sound and open to a new experience. Probably some sample bias though.

I am jealous. You should post this anonymously. Good luck.
posted by anonymuk at 1:23 PM on September 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

1) Is it normal it be really depressed and somber the day after? I got really emotional and cried uncontrollably at some points. I think that is from the E

There is such a thing as an "acid hangover" and it affects different people different ways.

Our trip is just in our head right? I mean, we slid around on our bellies on my kitchen floor and we were sliding like we were on a skating rink. What would it look like to someone who was not on acid? And what about the British accents? In our head, or where we really talking like that?

I've never taken acid, but have been with people who have a couple of times. I remember the evening after one all-night party a friend who'd been tripping was telling me about how everything had been going in fast motion, that he and everyone else had been talking like a 45 record on 78 rpm. I told him the truth, that he'd been speaking at normal speed the whole time, and the only time I noticed that anything amiss with him was when he'd occasionally giggle and lean over to ask me wasn't it hilarious how everyone sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks?
posted by Oriole Adams at 1:29 PM on September 27, 2009

Thirding that you shoul have asked this in anonymous mode.
posted by futz at 1:32 PM on September 27, 2009

Quit while you're ahead.

I did acid twice back in the late 70's. One of my friends who was a more regular user wound up getting rather messed up. And another person who hung out at the bars we hung out at wound up totally frying his brain and was never the same as far as we could tell.

As far as benefit....any benefit you could get from it, you'd get from the first dose, and no need to revisit the well, so to speak. But personally, I wish I'd never done it the first time.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 1:35 PM on September 27, 2009

Sounds like an awesome experience.
You might be more fucked from the E than the LSD.
posted by PowerCat at 1:36 PM on September 27, 2009

Normally I'm a proponent of the whole "whatever works for you, maaaan" attitude, but given the amount of drugs you took in one night I am going to guess you really have no interest in "therapeutic" or "spiritual" drug use.

If you want to get high go ahead but don't pretend to be something you're not just because other people use drugs therapeutically or spiritually and you want to glom onto that kind of respectability. To be honest you haven't even done the most basic rudimentary research into what you're getting into and it seems really disingenuous to me that your first step is to come to a community to ask for validation about what you've done.

That said: 1) generally you get a major come down from E. This is pretty common knowledge. 2) No, you were probably doing and saying stupid shit, but yeah, obviously it messed with your perceptions. 3) You were completely rolling, people do weird shit. 4) You're worried about the effects of the acid only and not the meth-laced E you apparently drop regularly?? 5) Many cultures have used drugs for spiritual reasons. Currently researchers are looking into therapeutic uses for hallucinogens and E. Several US states have legalized marijuana for medical use. YMMV.
posted by shownomercy at 1:42 PM on September 27, 2009 [10 favorites]

From having done acid and talking to others who have done acid, the answers to your most of your questions vary based on the individual, except for #2. To a normal person, you'd look like a person doing weird things or making odd movements.

That fact that you asked "Our trip is just in our head right" makes me wonder whether you should be messing with acid. Where else would the trip be, but in your head? If you don't or can't understand that, I'd strongly suggest that be your last time doing acid, because (and I'm totally guessing here and playing armchair shrink over the internet), that question makes me have excellent potential having a bad trip

Otherwise, here's a couple of rules I developed about taking acid safely, after trying it three times in college. It was fun and interesting, but I see no reason to do it again, because really, who needs repeated 12 hour (at least) mind fucks?

General rules for taking acid:

1: Have a babysitter. There should definitely be someone around who is not on acid. This person should be keeping tabs on what ya'll are doing so that you don't do anything that could hurt yourself or others.

2: Don't take it by yourself.

3: Only take it when you're in mentally good place. Taking it when you're in bad place, i.e. depressed, angry or generally negative increases the risk of bad trip. You do not want a bad trip.

4: It's possible to break any and all of the rules above and come out fine. It's also possible to walk into a burning building and come out alive. Howver the people who do that take precautions to maximize their chances of coming out alive, capiche?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:42 PM on September 27, 2009

Is consumption actually illegal? I thought it was just the buying and selling and walking-around-with that could be restricted legally.

If someone administers a hit of something to you... what are you charged with?
posted by rokusan at 1:43 PM on September 27, 2009

Also, going from "I won't do any" to "several hits of the acid and around 4 rolls of E" is one LARGE first step. Slow down!
posted by rokusan at 1:43 PM on September 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

I can't answer most of these questions since I've never even wanted to take acid. However:

2) Yes, it was all in your head. That is, while you very well may have been using British accents, the floor did not magically become like an ice rink. You and your friends were not sliding on it like you perceived - it's the drug. In real life, if you were sober and watching someone else trip, it looks like they've lost their fucking mind.

3)Yeah it was probably the speed. The same thing that makes you grind your teeth and chew your mouth apart.

PS: May be a better idea not to have the dog around when you're tripping. I'm also going to echo what was said above: You're playing with fire. Be careful. And all things is moderation! Maybe next time not so much at once, eh?
posted by caveat at 1:47 PM on September 27, 2009

1)In my own limited experience with LSD I always felt like refried shit the next day. Among all the explanations I've heard for this, for me, I just think of it as the price I paid for such an intense experience, but that's how I roll, anyway.

&

5) My Mom, who doesn't do any other drug, thinks LSD is the best thing since peanut butter. For her, she has a spiritual and introspective trip every single time. She would say yes. I usually have a good trip, so I would say maybe. I think it would depend on the individual and the setting.

This will be an interesting thread and hopefully anonymized soon.
posted by Grlnxtdr at 1:48 PM on September 27, 2009

I felt very "manic" and would make "omomomomomom" noises over and over, and REALLY fast. What's that about? One person said from the meth in the E.

Ugh, you should really learn what these drugs actually are and do. I've noticed that a lot of people who take drugs seem to have this folk knowledge of drugs that is way wrong. Ecstasy shouldn't have methamphetamine in it. If it does, you're doing it wrong. But, mixing those two drugs would probably have a different effect then just taking LSD by itself.
posted by Paris Hilton at 1:50 PM on September 27, 2009

Until you're really familiar with each, I would split up your use of lsd and ecstasy. And in both cases, be sure not to have too much alcohol around - one of the greatest dangers of lsd usage can be alcohol poisoning (at least for some). It can seem horribly square, but doing acid tests early on - planning, controlling the amounts you take, having fun but making sure everything's set up so that it's smooth, increasing dosage slowly over several sessions (using the same source each time) can be really helpful to feeling comfortable enough to really gain from the experience. Being deliberate is also a good way to reduce the likelihood that someone will have a bad time.

I know lots of people for whom lsd changed their lives, and very positively. The most negative experience among close friends was someone who drank way too much rye whisky (straight) and really didn't enjoy feeling the way lsd made him feel while being too drunk (drunk enough to puke, often). Luckily we had people around to take care of him that time.
posted by mikel at 1:55 PM on September 27, 2009

Everyone who is suggesting that you ask the moderators to take down this question and re-post it as "anonymous" is giving you good advice.

To answer your questions:

1.) Yes, that's normal.

2.) Yes, a lot of that was in your head.

3.) Yes, that's probably the E. Its structure is similar to methamphetamine, so it can have that speeding-up "manic" effect.

4.) I wouldn't worry too much about long-term effects of LSD if you're talking about once or twice a year. You don't have to look too hard to find examples people who went on to lead brilliant, high-functioning lives after experimenting with LSD ... Aldous Huxley, Anais Nin, Cary Grant, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and so many others. On a more personal note, my friends tend to be extremely high functioning, and most of them have experimented with hallucinogens in the past. There have been troubling studies about ecstasy, however. I would be more worried about that one.

5.) Before LSD was outlawed in the 1960s, studies with felons in prisons were showing positive effects, with guided LSD experiences reducing the recidivism rate. A ritual/healing session would be something quite different from your recent trip, though, and is kind of a serious matter. Because of the power of LSD, I would advise against it until you have a much better understanding of the action of the drug.
posted by dacoit at 1:59 PM on September 27, 2009

This is your mother speaking. Psychoactive drugs like acid and Ecstasy are extremely dangerous if for no other reason than that each time you take it it is a different balance/combination of chemicals. As your mother, I am very very worried about you and wish you would not take these dangerous drugs? I will happily let you drink beer in my living room. Feel free to slide around on the floor of my kitchen on your belly (it could use a good cleaning) and talk in a British accent all you want. I am actually extremely partial to a Pakistani English accent and would also encourage that. These things you can do without drugs.

Please do not consume dangerous substances that you have no idea what is in them.
posted by nax at 2:02 PM on September 27, 2009 [15 favorites]

I took acid a number of times in the sixties and seventies, I started in 1965 when it was still legal. The worst problems I saw were the result of taking it it combination with other substances and the taking of it by people who already had some mental health issues. I think the idea of having a trusted "babysitter" around is good, I acted in that capacity many times. As far as it causing any permanent cognitive damage, I doubt it happens to most people, I eventually went on to earn an Ivy PhD.
posted by mareli at 2:03 PM on September 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

I really, really wish you wouldn't do this when there is a dog in your care. You wouldn't do this if there were an elderly person or little kids in your care, right? At the very least it must be very frightening to the dog. At the worst, if the dog were injured during all of this, you would be unable to accurately assess whether it needed to go to the vet or get it there. It's just not fair to a creature who is depending on you to keep it safe.
posted by HotToddy at 2:04 PM on September 27, 2009 [17 favorites]

If you ever decide that acid would be fun again, leave a video camera going so you can watch yourself later.

1) LSD is one of the most serotonin-active substances in existence. Ecstasy is basically an overload of dopamine. Yes, you were depressed afterward because of the drugs leaving your system, dude. This question, combined with #2... what do you think drugs are...?

5) Try doing those "healing sessions" without drugs--my guess is that those will be extremely productive, whereas if you involve any substances without having any clue what you're doing, you will be sliding around the kitchen floor on your stomach again. If that "heals" your inner child or something, then excellent. Also keep in mind that if you're using MDMA and not bothering to be totally freaked out that there's meth in it, but you're still worried about your ability to do math, "healing sessions" won't be healing your dead neurons.
posted by so_gracefully at 2:19 PM on September 27, 2009

1) Yes.
2) Yes. Depending on the person, you look really fucking stupid, hilarious, or interesting. I've been on both sides of this before.
3) That's not the meth in the E, that's the LSD in your brain. I do this sober. Everyone has done this from time to time. Dude, have you ever noticed how weird the word word is? Word. word word word word word word word word word word word.
4) Once or twice a year should have no long term effects. I did my approximate body weight in LSD over the course of a couple of summers and I'm mostly fine. NAZICLOWNSQUIRREL!
5) My friends and I often described a sense of oneness during/after a trip. This can last indefinitely.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:28 PM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]

I have always told myself that I would never do it because I was afraid of going completely and utterly insane.

and yet

tripped for almost 24 hours (each took several hits of the acid and around 4 rolls of E)

What was the decision making process that took you from one extreme to the other? Since you're asking, presumably you will take what we say into consideration, yet there doesn't seem to be any consideration involved at all, or at least none that you've told us.

easily the most awesome experience of my life.

I certainly appreciate spontaneity and positive expectations, but something that powerful needs to be respected, not taken subject to your whim at the moment. What can produce much awesomeness can produce its opposite. Don't assume that because you were "fine" this time, it will always be that way. You need to approach tripping knowing you can accept, or at least deal with, whatever comes your way, pleasant or unpleasant (and remembering that it's all in your head.)
posted by Obscure Reference at 2:32 PM on September 27, 2009

First, let me say that I've never, ever done any sort of hallucinogen. Nope. Never.
Second...British accents? Really?
Next, let me say that you should exercise caution when using anything like this, if you do; you should generally be in a good mental state, and a safe physical space, and realize that because of the vagaries of an unregulated industry working on the honor system, you would normally get some fine shit but potentially any fucked-up mix of whatever someone had on hand.
I think these are dangerous drugs for unstable people, and I've seen those who use it too often for too long who became somewhat blasted from it.Hallucinogens can be extremely interesting and life-changing, even. What it seems is usually happening is that they remove filters that you have going all the time in everyday life. You can be standing in a street, talking to a friend about a movie you saw, but your brain filters out all of the extraneous sights, sounds, and smells. While it's in your vision, you're not really looking at that streetlight behind your friend's head, and you're not really listening to the children yelling around the corner. You're not necessarily thinking about the fact that you're death is inevitable and your mother has deep-seated psychological problems.
But, if you are on powerful hallucinogens, you tend to have problems filtering out all the extraneous parts. You can imagine what it's like to be a refrigerator, because now you're not ignoring what it's like to be a refrigerator.
This stuff can get to be stressful on your brain, it's really all a bit much. That's why many times people will have some tic or idiosyncratic involuntary response. I know one person who always bit the inside of their mouth, I used to not be able to stop yawning. One guy couldn't stop playing any piano that was around.
So, you may learn something from expanding your perspectives; empathy can be easier, which I think can only help. You might realize something about yourself that you've been fastidiously ignoring for years. But, if you're not in a good space you can feel very, very close to insanity. I think I know a few people who were permanently altered because of just that feeling, and that they couldn't quite get away from it afterwards. But, that's just a guess.
posted by Red Loop at 2:41 PM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]

Well, based on a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of someone I once knew but lost touch with.

1) This is not abnormal - very possibly due to the E (serotonin loss) more than the LSD, but both deplete various brain chemicals that leave you feeling slow/stupid/depressed the day after. You'll likely get over it.
2) Everything was probably real, more or less, with your perceptions altered. You didn't all hallucinate the same thing whilst sitting comatose on the couch - you likely were sliding around on the floor and speaking in fake accents. At the same time - your perceptions are whacked - so a lot of it was just in your head. Either way you can be fairly sure you didn't magically teleport to a british ice-skating rink for the night.
3) Could be any/all of the drugs you took.
4) Anything is possible, but generally, this way lies madness. You will probably, when you are a decade older or so, look back and say "That was stupid" or even "I regret doing that so often." more than "I'm sure glad LSD and MDMA and **** are part of my life."

5) It's common for people high out of their heads on all the drugs you mention to feel they are having wild, awesome insights into the structure of the universe and all that crap. This does not mean you are.
posted by TravellingDen at 3:08 PM on September 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

Do it all in moderation. Don't mix drugs unless you plan ahead and know the consequences. Do the majority of your drugs with other people and have one of them be someone you trust.

When you start getting anxious, nervous, depressed or unhappy with any aspect of your life it's time to cut drugs out completely. Consider the drugs a reward for a life well done sober instead of an escape.

If you're really interested in the answers to your questions go to erowid and spend a few hours.
posted by laptolain at 3:08 PM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]

One of my friends in high school was a huge proponent of acid, right up until he nailed his hand to a desk because he was afraid that otherwise he'd try to fly out a window.

That you had a great trip this time doesn't mean you always will. If you continue to use this drug, please plan better and make sure somebody is around who is not impaired who can make decisions on your behalf in case something goes tragically wrong.
posted by joannemerriam at 3:41 PM on September 27, 2009

FWIW I took acid several times many years back. I've never taken ecstasy. This is obviously only my experience of it - YYMV.

1) The comedown could easily be from the acid. I found the unpleasantness of the comedown correlated fairly strongly to how long/badly I had tripped, in that long, bad trip = long, bad comedown.

2) Yes, in your head. Of course you were having conversations and moving about etc. Having been round people who were tripping at times when I wasn't, I'd say you probably seemed relatively normal most of the time (acid frequently messing with your perception of time so that conversations or whatever that seemed endless to you may only have lasted a short time) and said things that seemed pretty profound to you and your friends, but not so much to everyone else.

3) I think this is possibly from the LSD, I remember getting fixated on a word or idea and repeating it frequently, but suspect it's more likely the E.

4) Long term I wouldn't say it's had much effect on me, but I took it less than 10 times in a 2 year period about 18 years ago. I did start suffering panic attacks following a particularly bad trip, stopped experiencing them about 2 years later. Just sometimes I get a little freaked when I remember the effects of a trip. I don't exactly regret taking it, but I would never take it again. I'd liken it to having opened a door onto a part of myself I'm not sure I really wanted to see.

5) Can't you have artistic discussions and make plans to improve your lives anyway, without needing the acid? You'd probably remember more about it the next morning, for starters! I've known several artists who took LSD to inspire them, and the stuff they created while tripping was generally pretty crap compared to the stuff they created when they weren't tripping.

Like others have said, you need to try and exercise caution when taking hallucinogens. The effect is unpredictable and can vary enormously depending on your underlying mental state, of which you may not be consciously aware.
posted by kumonoi at 3:49 PM on September 27, 2009

Oh, and I once saw a 13 year old boy on acid scratching his skin till it bled because he thought he could see things crawling on his arm. That was really terrifying.
posted by kumonoi at 3:58 PM on September 27, 2009

Taking LSD combined with MDMA and screwing around in your house is at best entertaining though I'm sure it left an itch behind that you need to scratch.

But if you're GENUINELY interested in spiritual and psychological development via entheogenic substances then you may wish to research ayahuasca. It's sort-of legal in the United States, is extremely potent and participants undergo a long, therapeutic experience under the watchful eye of an experienced Shamen or helper. Probably best to travel to Brazil for the authentic experience.

It's a long, long way from sliding around on your belly in your kitchen and they've been doing it for centuries.

The study of Entheogenic plants (that is the study of plants that "contain God") is on the rise and some see them as necessary antidote to cure a Technological Understanding of Being which is addictive and destroying our host.

Serious scholarly debate can be found in the work of Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin (who, as the inventor of Ecstasy, says it should be taken no more than four times a year by the way!) the late Terence McKenna (Podcasts available on iTunes) and Daniel Pinchbeck (who's first book is better than his second).

The sum of my comments is to treat these things seriously and respectfully. Best of luck.
posted by rocco at 4:50 PM on September 27, 2009 [8 favorites]

Read more about LSD on erowid here, and for god's sake take a very large amount of salt with every comment here that begins with "Well, I've never done it but I heard that..." Anecdata at its worst.

And frankly, if you were so terrified of doing even one hit of acid because you might go crazy (what?), then why did you do multiple hits and multiple hits if X? Did you do the X first? Don't do that anymore. I managed to have many a happy acid trip with just one hit, on a nice day with friends, hanging out.
posted by rtha at 4:53 PM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]

4) Lastly, what are the long-term effects of acid? I mean, say you use it once or twice a year?

Just anectdotally, I've known several people who really destroyed their lives with acid. Two in particular I'm thinking of had brilliant minds and glittering futures ahead of them, along with extra perks like good looks and vast personal wealth. I recently saw one of them, looking filthy and homeless, glassy-eyed, mechanically eating chicken out of a bucket in a bar. Tragic. Granted, she took a LOT of acid back in the day. But I don't know where the line is between safe use and vacantly eating chicken amid the ruins of your life.
Why not try 'shrooms for an easier, apparently safer trip?
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:05 PM on September 27, 2009

> I could also control the tempo of the music with my mind and I somehow synchronized the lights with my arms.

Well, that explains what happened with my lights last night. Stop doing that, it was very annoying.

Seriously, though, read up on Erowid, and do not do these drugs in the amounts and combination mentioned. You are playing with fire, and with those quantities the fire is pretty damn hot.
posted by mosk at 5:19 PM on September 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

Just anectdotally, I've known several people who really destroyed their lives with acid.

Anecdotally, I've known, and still know, lots of brilliant, funny, engaged people who've done lots of hallucinogens and continue to be brilliant, funny, engaged people. So there you go. The power of anecdote.
posted by rtha at 6:05 PM on September 27, 2009 [6 favorites]

If you ever decide that acid would be fun again, leave a video camera going so you can watch yourself later.

This is also a great tool if you ever wish to, like, quit.
posted by rokusan at 6:17 PM on September 27, 2009

Most of the people I know who took acid when we were in college are fine. Some of them learned a lot from the experience. If you take LSD by itself, it can be as educational as psychotherapy or a life seminar or acting training or meditation.

However, there is a really nasty side-effect of acid called "unmasking." That's when you're borderline schizophrenic, and you take acid, and you're not on the border any more. I've only read about, I've never seen it. Only you know if your mind is solid or fragile. If it's fragile, stay away from acid. Acid amplifies whatever is already in your brain. So if bad stuff is in your brain, it will amplify and surface, and you may never come back fully from the trip.

Please don't take acid with other drugs, seriously that's playing with fire. And for heaven's sake, never take more LSD during your trip, great as the temptation might be.

Do have a babysitter around, or at the very least, someone who's taken it a few times before, who's reliable enough that he or she can pull you out of a bad trip.

I don't think being around the dog is a big deal. You probably freaked out the dog, but he probably didn't think much of it.

But stay out of traffic, eh? People on acid have a severely impaired decision making process. Don't come out of the closet, don't ask for a divorce, etc. If you learn something important about your life, you can act on it tomorrow.

Oh, and I am told that vitamin B-12 helps you come down. Whether that's true or not, who knows. If it doesn't work, smoke some grass to make the eyes inside your eyelids go away.
posted by musofire at 6:32 PM on September 27, 2009

Wow, you went from nothing to candyflipping in one night? And did HOW much of both of those? You really need to learn some lessons about self-education about substances and ramping up use while you learn your own limits.

I find it's more pleasant to trip during the day than at night. Watching the colors dance is more pleasant than watching the shadows move.

Get up before sunrise, have a healthy breakfast that will stick with you for a while, cereal and yogurt. Drop your tab with a big glass of orange juice. Have activities planned during the day -- art supplies, music already selected and ready to go, some movies already selected, some games, picture books... Planning ahead makes for a good trip. I always try to have fruit juice available for the extra vitamin C kick, which can put the buzz back in the later hours of the trip.

If you're serious about theraputic use of lsd, then you have to be prepared to actually do the work. You can play for a while, but eventually you have to settle down and actually dig into your psyche. Having a good person there with you can help a lot, as the confessional phase of lsd requires that you have someone to talk to. Make sure they are someone who won't take what you're telling them and use it against you later. Again, having art supplies can help you create mementos of your trip time, although sometimes the results are too abstract and tied into the tripspace to make any sense later on.

The recommendations about ayahuasca earlier... understand that is a fundamentally different experience from lsd. The best way I can describe the difference between shrooms and ayahuasca vs. lsd is that I find lsd is a toy, and shrooms/ayahuasca are tools. If that doesn't make any sense to you, then you need to do a lot of research before you get too serious about any of this.

For myself, I used to do acid regularly on the solar holidays as a sort of ctrl-alt-del reboot for my psyche. It's been a long time since I've even had it around to do, and am not sure whether I miss the effect of feeling clean and fresh that it would create or not. Your milage may vary.

And for pete's sake! Mellow out a bit on the dosage! Christ!
posted by hippybear at 7:17 PM on September 27, 2009 [5 favorites]

So we literally tripped for almost 24 hours (each took several hits of the acid and around 4 rolls of E).

Yeah, that's LOT of hallucinogens for someone who didn't want to ever take LSD for fear of insanity. damn. a. lot.

1) Is it normal it be really depressed and somber the day after? I got really emotional and cried uncontrollably at some points. I think that is from the E

That's the E - it seriously messes with your serotonin AND dopamine levels...you will get a serious case of the blues after a lot of E. Acid also messes with your brain chemistry, and you can expect to feel incredibly flat and low for a few days after dosing - sounds like you did a double whammy on your brain chemistry.

2) Our trip is just in our head right?

Yes.

3) I noticed that several times throughougt the night, I would say stuff lik... One person said from the meth in the E.

Ecstasy is essentially a synthetic amphetamine.

4) Lastly, what are the long-term effects of acid? I mean, say you use it once or twice a year? I am in college and get good grades and I am worried about ruining my cognition and/or memory. I value my ability to compute algebra problems.....

It depends. I've known of people who had a predisposition to schizophrenia who were completely messed up for life after taking acid one time - but that is a relatively rare situation. Most people (including myself) suffered no long-term cognitive problems from LSD use.

5) If I use the LSD spiritually and therapeutically, could it actually make my life better somehow?

It's all in how you use it. It made my life better in that I think that it helped me work through some serious issues I had from long-term abuse in my childhood. That being said, dropping buttloads of acid and rolling all night on E might be fun, but it's hardly therapeutic. I truly believe that acid helped me on a lot of levels, but I would really need to know you well to recommend it.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 9:42 PM on September 27, 2009

A hit of acid every now and again is fine as long as you are enjoying it. Do not take four rolls of E. Do not listen to trance music. Next time you take acid, take one hit and go for a walk in the woods.
posted by creasy boy at 10:17 PM on September 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

Ecstasy is essentially a synthetic amphetamine.

"Ecstasy" isn't anything. Originally it referred to MDMA which lovely though it is, is expensive to manufacture. Unless you are submarine-deep in a scene of people who take psychoactives regularly you are quite unlikely to actually be taking pure MDMA when you take Ecstasy.
Very often, "E" has methamphetamine mixed in, but MDMA itself is not "essentially a synthetic amphetamine", though it is chemically similar.
posted by atrazine at 10:40 PM on September 27, 2009

Yeah, so, the avoiding acid because you were worried it would make you insane and then deciding to load up on it and a bunch of X in a night, that's pretty stupid shit, don't you think? Don't do that any more.

As for all the FUD here, its really discouraging when people who admit they know little or nothing about something nevertheless hold forth with certainty that exceeds their understanding, isn't it?

There are probably various reasons you felt down after your trip, but I really wouldn't discount the fact that you missed at least one regular sleep cycle.
posted by Good Brain at 10:48 PM on September 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

*hits head*

And this is why we can't have any nice toys...

For the love of Jabba the Hutt, please go research what you're taking. Wiki, erowid, anything. Or wait a few years, your brain might still be 'developing' (at least I hope that, when I read your post and find you're in college).

Meet some people who are practiced at having very good experiences. More preparation is good. Set up the best set & setting you can.

And - Acid basically screws with your pattern recognition. You were seeing and hearing patterns that weren't actually there. With the music, you might have been getting slight auditory hallucinations.

Try staring at something random and textured next time, even concrete, and see how it looks like fern/fractal fern patterns - also, not actually there.

And yeah, actually, no next time. Hold them horses, and get a bit more up-to-date on what you're doing.
posted by Elysum at 10:59 PM on September 27, 2009 [2 favorites]

If your trip lasted 24 hours it probably wasn't LSD you took. LSD typically lasts 8-12 hours; taking more will make for a stronger trip but it won't double its length. What you took was most likely one of a family of drugs called phenethylamines, probably either DOI (16-30 hours) or DOB (18-30 hours). Duration aside, both have an effect profile pretty similar to LSD but there's little known about the potential side effects. People know the name LSD so that's what gets marketed. It's a black market so there's no quality control enforecement & little penalty for lying. If you're going to be taking more drugs, at least know that what you're taking is what you think you're taking. Get a drug testing kit.
posted by scalefree at 12:07 AM on September 28, 2009

take a very large amount of salt with every comment here that begins with "Well, I've never done it but I heard that..." Anecdata at its worst.

Ditto for those who have "done it." There are several very authoritative-sounding posts above which don't match my experiences. These drugs are very individual, which is kinda the whole point.

In fact, just believe MY posts!
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:13 AM on September 28, 2009

I dont' know, anything made in someone's kitchen, garage, bathroom, etc. that alters your brain just doesn't seem like a good idea.

My husband said shrooms are way more tolerable than LSD. I wouldn't know about any of it. I didn't see hash until I was 30 and I had zero clue what it was.

But for long term effects? I would assume that anything chemical that alters brain chemicals is a really bad idea.
posted by stormpooper at 8:57 AM on September 28, 2009

This is very similar to your question from 2 months ago, when you first took MDMA.

Then, about MDMA: "I can easily say it was one of my best experiences.... I am afraid of damaging my brain.... Is there any harm in doing it once every other month or so?"

Now, about that plus LSD: "easily the most awesome experience of my life.... I am worried about ruining my cognition and/or memory."

It sounds like, regardless of any warnings people might offer, you are increasing your use of these types of drugs. Perhaps your mind's already made up, and you just want encouraging words to soothe your worries?
posted by Houstonian at 11:10 AM on September 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

If you're in college, your school may have a course in the bio or neuro department about "Drugs and the Brain"; it sounds like that would be a useful course since you're interested in learning more about this stuff.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:31 AM on September 28, 2009

LSD is, believe it or not, a very safe drug. Ecstasy may not be. The available evidence is contradictory and complex, but suffice it to say, there is good reason to be cautious.

But those "4 rolls of E" could have been almost anything, because most pills sold as ecstasy are not, in fact, ecstasy. They are a random assortment of things like: caffeine, dextromethorphan, methamphetamine, and MDMA-analogues. The chances of it being pure ecstasy are really quite low.

You mention tripping for 24 hours. A good acid trip will last between 4-5 hours. So either you spaced the hits out quite a bit, or what you took wasn't LSD, but something longer-lasting like DOB.

My advice: always do the research before you take the drug. Know the risks, the effects, and the proper dosages before you try anything. Don't buy from strangers. And when you're trying something for the first time, start with a low dose.

Full disclosure: I study psychopharmacology, and I did a lot of drugs in college.
posted by dephlogisticated at 12:12 AM on September 29, 2009

Good comments all around. I'd just like to add that mushrooms are not to be taken lightly. They can trigger powerful delusions, that flash over your mind in a heartbeat.

Someone asks "Yeah, you guys know what Kull is, right?"

All of a sudden you "know" that KULL is a black conspiracy cult, all over and permeating. Spreading under the will of KULL.

While all the guy was talking about was the Swedish brand name for medical-grade charcoal used for stomach pumping.

The delusion goes away as quickly as it came. But yes, as hippybear said, not a toy.
posted by krilli at 5:11 PM on October 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

... and Ecstasy FUCKS UP your short-term memory. More than anything else I have encountered.

Be careful.

When I was around 20, I had a hard time tone-dialling numbers because I couldn't remember how far I was into the 7 digit phone number. This was when I was purely sober, a few weeks or months after an ill-advised Ecstasy binge.

Let it be noted however that Ecstasy also did teach me some very useful things about friendliness.
posted by krilli at 5:14 PM on October 10, 2009