Hello! :) Introduction and answer to my SSRIs & shrooms question.

[sb3w_mjw_pt_shdjt]

So hello, Nexus. :d
I would like to introduce myself and ask for your guidance, too. I am intrested in healing via entheogens. I have read few books on subject and I have always been very enthusiastic about it! I have done only one, but very stimulating mushroom trip a year ago.

I have to admit, I had no knowledge of this page till this day. I was trying to google „Luvox and shrooms“, which got me to a thread, where user „caveman paintings“ wrote that he or she had taken it, so I wanted to know more details about his/her dosage of the SSRI at that time and cause of his treatment, for I have 75 mg Luvox a day, because I suffered from few anxiety attacks some 6 months ago, I do not have any known personality disorders though... I have just pretty sensitive organism.

Yet a report from my psychological examination during my crisis time would say I had not so common word associations, like when a psychologist said „tree“ I imagined a beautiful tree and said „harmony“, because trees – seeing them and touching them harmonizes me....or like she said „memory“ and i said „neuron“ – like a building unit of memory, or I told her, that I had sleep paralysis few times which were associated with very intense imagery, but that professional somehow forgot to mention in the report, that I was sleeping, not awake, when I had it.:?: All of this according to her, may lead to a psychosis, she even prescribed me half a tablet of Rispen- antipsychotics just to make sure, but I do not have and never had any hallucinations whatsoever or show any psychotic symptoms. I refused to take it! It even offended me, as you may notice and scared me as well.

So I honestly do not know, if I should take shrooms or not. I am doing good on raw food diet, yoga and running... But I loved my shroom experience last time. So if anyone can advise me, I would be so very grateful!

 

[5-htp]

Hello and WELCOME

I'm no psychologist, but I would say you should be fine.

Your Word-Associations sound perfectly clear and reasonable to me. Don't know exactly what sleep paralysis is, but imaginery while sleeping sounds perfectly normal to me.

I think you made the right decision, not taking the Risperdal. It's a horrible med, which got me deeply depressed and totally killed my drive.

It may be possible for the SSRI to interact with the Shrooms, but unlike with amphetamins it likely decrease the effects a little, so you should be safe here too.

To be perfectly safe, do a little dose with a sitter just in case and wait a few days after the experience (better to wait a week or longer) if you want to step up in dose.

So you will know how it effects you

 

[sb3w_mjw_pt_shdjt]

Hi and thank you, 5-htp!

I had no idea, that Rispen can be so dangerous. Just like my Luvox itself, psychiatrist did not say a thing, but I was horrified after reading user information. Anyway, I hope you recovered from it.

On one page I have read, that taking shrooms with it may cause serotonin syndrome. I hope this is a misunderstanding.

I feel very relieved with your answer. :d If anybody has different opinion, I would love to hear it.

Btw, what do you think about treating anxiety with mushrooms? I cannot identify what scares me and feel like antidepressants are just somehow holding it under surface. Maybe a spiritual awakening, lol.

 

[5-htp]

You're welcome !

It depends, when you do have a psychosis or hallucinations it's very effective but if not, it lowers your dopamine levels to nada :/ I took it only for 3 Weeks, which was when it really hit me and I got off it imediately. Crazy thing is, they gave it to me just to make sure there is no psychosis and said, in low doses, it brings you closer to your self and will act like an antidepressant. This was after recovering from GHB-Addiction where I was already pretty down.

The thing about SSRI and lowering Shrooms effects is something I read here regarding DMT. Can't find the Thread right now, but it was said that when SSRI make more Serotonin available in the brain, than the chance for a DMT-Molecule (Psylocybin/Psylocin should behave the same) hitting a free binding site are lower. The explanation sounded very reasonable.

I try to find the thread for reference.

I think that the Serotonin Syndrome actually happens to very few people but it could happen, depending on how sensitive your brain chemistry is. It's just so dangerous when it happens that people tend to be over cautios. Would be interesting to now if anybody actually got a SS from taking Shrooms with SSRI.

Maybe the risk is greater as I think, I don't know for sure. But with a low to medium dose like a Gramm of cubensis you wouldn't be at too much risk maybe even half a Gramm would be apropriate to test for this issue. Better to be on the safe side and do some more research.

When I used Venlafaxine, a SSNRI it decreased the spice effects somewhat, so I wasn't really able to break through. But I didn't notice any additional sideeffects with this combination.

In theorie one could tread things like anxiety with psychedelics. Alot of things have been done when they were available. One which impressed me most was John C. Lilly and his work "The Human Biocomputer". There he analysed his brain under the influence of LSD often in an isolation tank.

At one point he described how he found the image he had of himself like saved as a picture and how one would be able to adjust it when located. Really crazy.

But treating oneself I think is something only the grandmasters have archieved. It's a shame that psychedelics aren't available in psychotherapie anymore.

While the spirit molecule seemed so promising, not much has come out of it so far, so I think this situation won't change soon.

Maybe you could try hypnosis to get to some hidden stuff that bothers you. Or visit a psychoanalyst ?

I like how Mc Kenna said, that most of our problems are caused because of the lack of psychedelics in our diet

 

[5-htp]

Found something regarding the combination SSRI/Shrooms

I don't know, but I did a quick google search and a guy on another forum
has this to say about Mushrooms in combination with SSRI's:

Quote:
In general SSRIs tend to reduce the effects of psychedelics a bit. But the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) said that some people report that there is NO decrease in effects when psilocybin mushrooms are taken by people taking SSRIs daily. So experts say no, SSRIs don't decrease the effects of shrooms always. Just to be safe, eat a normal dose (around 3g dry) and you will definately have hallucinations normally. If you don't feel anything after an hour, bump it up another 3g. Be careful eating any more than that or you may have a much stronger experience than you want.


Someone in the Shroomery forums confirms this:
Quote:
I've heard it diminishes the magic of the mushies. It all depends on your brain/dosage/what-kind-of-SSRI.


All this is backed up by information found on the Bluelight FAQ's:
Quote:
Hallucinogens (LSD/Acid, psilocybin/Shrooms, Tryptamines ? 2-ct-2,DPT, DMT etc, Salvia): These drugs can be safely combined with the SSRIs. Most people report that they need to take MORE of a hallucinogen to get normal effects. Thus, if you are taking an SSRI, you will probably need more of the drug to reach threshold effects. Some people find that they need to take more LSD, but that shrooms affect them normally. So be careful ? start at a normal dose and only take more if you find that you need to.
NOTE: Do not take ?ayahuasca? while on an SSRI. Do not combine SSRIs with any kind of MAOI, such as harmaline.


SSRI's should never be combined with any Amphetamines either, cause this can lead to Serotonin Syndrome.
But I haven't found any clues sofar indicating that combining mushrooms with SSRI's
is a bad idea. SSRI's & Mushrooms do not seem problematic and doesn't require higher
than normal doses of mushrooms either.

 

[sb3w_mjw_pt_shdjt]

Thank you very much for your replies and also for a tip for an interesting literature !

That is exactly what I was told, that I was in between a normal state and psychosis according to my Word-Associations, so that Rispen would bring me closer to myself. Whatever that was supposed to mean...

Maybe I should really look for a hypnosis and psychoanalyst, I will consider it... So this time, I will concentrate “only“ on creating experience filled with love, joy and creativity.

BTW, I have that Rispen and Neurol (benzodiazepine derivates; aprazolam), so I would like to ask, what dose of each and in what ratio to shrooms should I use, if I or my friends start to have a negative experience. My friends are going for the first time and I suspect, that they may have some troubles... Unlike me, they have not read any literature on subject, maybe an article or two, and I am not sure how one will deal with that partial loss of self control and he is a person who keeps to himself a lot, so it is hard for me to predict his reaction, while the other one had a depression few months ago and to be fair I do not know this person for a very long time, so i am concerned with them.

 

[5-htp]

...so that Rispen would bring me closer to myself. Whatever that was supposed to mean...

That's what i thought too..

So this time, I will concentrate “only“ on creating experience filled with love, joy and creativity.

With this attitude, i'm sure you and your friends will have a nice experience.

BTW, I have that Rispen and Neurol (benzodiazepine derivates; aprazolam), so I would like to ask, what dose of each and in what ratio to shrooms should I use, if I or my friends start to have a negative experience. My friends are going for the first time and I suspect, that they may have some troubles... Unlike me, they have not read any literature on subject, maybe an article or two, and I am not sure how one will deal with that partial loss of self control and he is a person who keeps to himself a lot, so it is hard for me to predict his reaction, while the other one had a depression few months ago and to be fair I do not know this person for a very long time, so i am concerned with them.

If you use perhaps a Gramm of dried shrooms per person as a test run you should be safe and feel some effects like maybe closed eye visuals, feeling a bit drunk and or euphoric. you could stack up to maybe 2-3 Gramms a week later for a stronger experience.

I wouldn't recommend taking the meds at all. In case anything goes wrong, one should first concentrate on their breathing and maybe eat some sugar or drink a glass of orange juice or even sing (Terrence talked about it ).

It´s just nice to have a benzodiazepine just in case. But most of the time one doesn't need it. In case of an emergency just use the benzo, not the risp. It seems to be a medium long acting very potent benzodiazepine. So 0.5mg has the effects of 10mg Diazepam, what is quite a bit. Maybe 0.25mg would be safe to use. This would be equal to 5mg Diazepam.

You can compare different benzos relative to diazepam here: BENZODIAZEPINE EQUIVALENTS TABLE

 

[Pandora]

Hello sb3w_mjw_pt_shdjt,

Welcome to the Nexus. It is amazing to me how folks find this site. I appreciate that you mentioned that in your intro also.

It's important to mention that no one here is able to or capable of giving you medical advice. We can only express our opinions or describe our own personal experiences.

I don't have an opinion one way or another if you should take psychedelics - I don't know enough about you yet.

I don't know if you should or should not take any prescribed psychiatric medication - usually I say TAKE IT if one is suffering horribly but it sounds like it was prescribed to you in a bolt out of the blue manner and I just think it's worth mentioning that here in USA those kinds of drugs are handed out like they way a phlebotomist (blood draw technician) hands out candy to well behaved children. Every week drug company reps in suits that cost thousands of dollars roll into their offices with carts full of "free samples," etc. It's a bit over the top in my opinion. So, if you aren't suffering and reaching out for help . . .

IF you choose to dose this and other drugs (you mention benzos later on) I would recommend sticking with what your doctors prescribed. Mixing with psychedelics? I have no idea but obviously, I would strong recommend staring very low on the psychedelics (shrooms) dose.

But, all of this is just my opinion and may or may not have any bearing on your specific situation.

Please take a good look around - lots to see here including a dedicated mushroom subfora.

Again, welcome to the Nexus.