Geneticaly predisposed to schizophrenia.. DMT safe?

[CatMolecule]

Anytime I trip, I have an anxious thought about becoming permanently schizophrenic. I am genetically predisposed (parents had it, grandparents, etc) but do not show any symptoms (I am 24). Stimulants sometimes make me very delusional and paranoid, but that's normal I believe, especially at high doses. I've always had excellent experiences with mushrooms and acid, except for the little fear deep inside me that this trip might be the one that triggers an illness. Which brings me to DMT.. I don't want to go into my first DMT trip without the ability to "let go" and immerse myself in the experience. I have this problem with Salvia, always grounding myself to reality for fear that I might be going mad. How can I let go of this fear? Logic and scientific studies showing that DMT doesn't lead to psychosis would be helpful..

 

[DreaMTripper]

Id say not to take it but read as much as you can to get a good picture before you decide one way or the other. There was a school of thought at one time that high levels of DMT in the brain were possibly a cause of schizophrenia.

 

[CatMolecule]

I've read most of the literature.. that has been debunked and nowadays schizophrenia is attributed to elevated levels of dopamine I believe. Antipsychotics work by limiting dopamine levels.. which is why they cause fatigue and apathy. Amphetamines sky rocket dopamine levels, which leads to "amphetamine psychosis" like in the movie Requiem For A Dream. DMT doesn't act on dopamine AFAIK, but I'm afraid that somehow the trip itself would psychologically make me mad.. maybe. My father used to have psychotic episodes after he was chronically paranoid. He'd get into cycles where he gets paranoid for 10-30 days straight, gradually increasing. As it gets more and more severe, he eventually has a nervous breakdown and that results in an episode. I'm anxious about being anxious, which might trigger the illness..

 

[DreaMTripper]

Yeah it doesnt sound as if its for you im afraid.

 

[Infinite I]

Id agree with DreaMTripper, I can get quite anxious before smoking sometimes but usually get past it, though if your really anxious before, it can just escalate and it would go bad, ive seen it happen to people before, they panic and it just gets worse and worse and their peaking on it and there freaking out isnt nice and with your history maybe steer clear. Could maybe try get into cappi at low doses then build up and add low doses of admixture if you want, could be more beneficial to you than smoked DMT.

 

[Garulfo]

Remember that a smoked DMT trip is VERY short compared to a mushroom trip. And that may makes a great difference. My friend had few 'hard' trips where he felt totaly insane and feared to not be back to normal... but this just lasted few minutes and the body perfectly know how to quickly wash the excess of DMT. Also, most people here advocate for a as high as possible dose. But it is perfectly possible to 'build up' gradually by doing things slowly. Of course there is a treshold dose, but at least you can become familiar with some of the effects and the trip duration. Schizophrenia is a very difficult diagnostic to do. Beeing anxious while tripping is quite 'normal' and have nothing to do with schizophrenia. I would say that salvia may undoubtly trigger anxiety, but not DMT, it's even the opposite ! However you have to ask yourself what you are seeking for ... nobody can say if DMT can 'trigger' any illness but it's up to you to be sure that it worths to take any risk. Contrary to what Infinite said above, I would certainly not advocate cappi or syrian Rue as they have a stong action on neuromediators. If you take the risk to panic while peaking, why taking the risk to lengthen it ?

 

[Infinite I]

Good point garulfo bout it only lasting 5 minutes, I just thought ive seen a few people who arent predisposed to schitzophrenia really freak out big time so thought maybe it wouldnt be too great if your full of anxiety. Oh and dont listen to me. Im not the sharpest tool in the box so I really shouldnt be dishing out advice for a schizoprenics drug taking, sorry bout that, dont listen to me lol Peace and Love

 

[DreaMTripper]

You made a good point about the pretrip anxiety infinite, sometimes its too intense to take into the trip. As for the schizophrenia, have a look at bluelight theres a report of someone who smoked it with incredible results.

 

[fourthripley]

He's out of fashion now, but I suggest you read some of the works of R.D.Laing.He thoroughly debunks the myths of [i:04d05ce248]schizophrenia[/i:04d05ce248]; a meaningless diagnostic tool that has no more precision than the older 'dementia praecox' or the colloquial 'mad' or 'just plain nuts'.Just as in the past 'consumption' could mean anything from TB to lung cancer, schizophenia is a similar 'we haven't got a clue' diagnosis.

 

[Infinite I]

This is true ripley they used to diagnose loads of things under one umberella, im a third through a book just now the history of narcotics 1500-2000 by richard davenport-hines, some of the diagnosis for certain ailments was crazy! Ive also read reports of people with "schizophrenia" smoking DMT or taking mushrooms and having great psychotherapeutic effects. Peace and Love

 

[CatMolecule]

Thanks for the replies.. I did smoke the DMT and I had a fantastic experience but did not breakthrough.. gotta try a bigger dose (no scale!). I experienced ego death for a few seconds, with no anxiety at all. After that I felt great for the next 20 mins. I felt like I was Here Now. No worries, nothing on my mind, I was focused exclusively on my senses. Everything was detailed and my senses were greatly enhanced. It was sort of like a very short term LSD trip with a very intense come up. It was overly harsh on my throat.. I'm interested in R.D.Laing's work. I'm very iffy about psychosis and the state of psychiatry in general. I don't like the definition of psychosis right now, but I do believe that there exists particular mental disorders. I've had first hand experiences with psychotic episodes involving my parents, so I know THAT exists. Whether that's a chemical imbalance or nor is beyond me. I believe it's triggered by severe chronic anxiety.. maybe it's something the brain does to protect itself? I wouldn't know why an overflow of dopamine would be protection though. Maybe that's not the cause. I don't believe depression, anxiety or ADD to be as wide spread as they are diagnosed. One or two people might have them, but I believe the majority of people with them can get over it with CBT and other forms of therapy.

 

[Infinite I]

Glad to hear you had a good experience, another point I just thought of is sometimes its that fast that you dont have time to be anxious it just takes over and your thrown somehwere else, no time to be scared and think lol

 

[foxwalk]

Harmine, in addition to (as a result of?) it`s MAOI action, has a noticeable calming, valium-like anti-anxiety effect at tryptamine potentiation doses. I`ve seen rue extract recommended for use with smoked DMT in a few places on these boards... maybe try a good solid dose of harmine, then see how you feel about tripping in 45 minutes? If you`re concerned about anxiety during the experience, this solution would have the amicable side-effect of increasing your chances to break through an extending the effect slightly.