And yes, that sounds very much like a scotoma. I've had them from time to time, albeit more rarely since the past couple of years, where I've learned to recognise the pre-aura and somehow calm things back down - maybe through breathing/meditation; I'm not sure as it's rather instinctive
I didn't know it was possible to do something to stop the aura. Did it ever reach the point of a strong headache for you?
It also strikes me as unusual that you had this occur twice on the same day, as tiat's never happened in my case (n=~20).
Me too, I've looked it up and twice in a day seems to be possible but not too common.
Did the scotoma progress across your visual field?
Yes, it started in the left side of the visual field, close to the center of the left eye's field of vision. At first I thought it was some flashback-like phenomenon, but the arc kept growing towards the exterior of the field of vision, becoming thicker but also progressively receding from the center. I think the first time it happened fully in the left eye's field of vision, the second time it partially entered my right eye's field of vision too, in a consistent way that makes it unlikely that this was happening in the eyes themselves. The area delimited by the arc and an imaginary line joining its two ends wasn't blurry (as I've seen it sometimes is), it was instead low in saturation and with higher contrast, which made it difficult to see well but not impossible. It reminded me of the visual aspect of a ketamine comedown. The arc itself had very clear zig-zag, diffractive patterns. This zig-zag is what makes me think it's unlikely it was something other than scotoma.
The first time it happened to me was during an 'important' exam (GCSE) while I was still at school. It's rather inconvenient having ones visual field gradually turn into a big patch of absolute nothing whilst attempting to do a design and technology exam, especially when you have no idea what's happening. (I was so baffled, I didn't even think to tell the teacher, and I was also wary of the consequences of telling them that I couldn't see, nor sure that they'd even believe me.)
I can imagine something like this would be extremely disruptive during an exam, or doing something like driving. Fortunately I was just hiking. I got a bit nervous but remained calm overall (particularly once it started receding), I guess it's an advantage of getting used to deal with drugs with prominent visual effects.
The edge scintillations were quite pretty though
Yes, in my case too, they reminded me of some of the 2C-B patterns I had seen during the comedown the day before (but less orderly), that's why at first I thought it could be some kind of flashback.
Do you have any other observations about diet/exercise on the day?
Yes: I had more caffeine than usual (but nothing crazy or that I haven't had in the past) both in the morning and the afternoon. And both times it happened shortly after I started hiking uphill. So I wonder if elevated blood pressure (maybe further compounded by any residual 2C-B, although I was past 6 half lives already) was a trigger. It's strange because in the afternoon I did some strength exercises before going hiking again, and that didn't trigger it.
I didn't feel any other discomfort after the morning one stopped. Before I started my afternoon/evening hike, I was feeling unusually restless and irritable, and I did have a mild headache and slight nausea after that second scotoma, but it was nothing too bad, really.
If this reoccurs I'll go to the doctor just to be completely sure it's not something else. I should go to the doctor for a general check-up anyways, as I haven't gone since 2019...
I have experienced this but not recently. Never even heard of a scotoma. This happened to me once about 15 years ago while on a bike ride. I was alarmed and went home and it slowly subsided never to return. I figured in retrospect it was so weird iritis thing but now reading this thread it sounds just like scotoma.
Do you remember if you felt any discomfort after it disappear? I'm glad that it didn't happen ever again.
Hm, that's quite a high dose
And yeah wow that’s a lot of 2cb! It must have produced amazing visions?
It's true that the dose is quite higher than doses commonly used. I must clarify that the real dose was probably closer to 33 or so, I was a bit imprecise in making this solution and it's slightly underdosed. "38" is how I keep track of it for consistency; soon I'll be making a new batch of solution and I'll be more precise.
In any case, I think I'm not too sensitive to 2C-B, as the common dose of 25mg leaves me having a very mild experience. I'm also learning that the depth of a 2C-B experience depends on intentionally letting go even more than with other psychedelics, so that may be another reason. It's being very helpful for me to learn to let go and keep focus, instead of just being forced by the substance into a stronger experience.
I may write a report (in its own thread) about how I've been working with 2C-B, as I'm finding it a very beneficial experience, and has changed my view on 2C-B in general.
. And yes, that sounds very much like a scotoma. I've had them from time to time, albeit more rarely since the past couple of years, where I've learned to recognise the pre-aura and somehow calm things back down - maybe through breathing/meditation; I'm not sure as it's rather instinctive. It also strikes me as unusual that you had this occur twice on the same day, as tiat's never happened in my case (n=~20).
