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Using DMT with a history of psychosis – Advice please?

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Oneirataxia

Rising Star
Hi there, I'm new to this site so I'll give a brief introduction:
I first became interested in DMT after I learnt to induce lucid dreams a few years ago, and I have become increasingly curious after watching some documentaries on near-death experiences and hearing about enlightening breakthroughs from some close friends.
I constantly question what we accept to be "reality" and believe there is so much more to life and the universe than we can possibly comprehend, but I think DMT has the potential to take us one step closer to realisation.

I have never used DMT myself, so I would love to hear from anyone with experience or knowledge on the topics I'm about to cover...
Sorry for the enormous post, but it's a complicated question that's very important to me:

1. DMT & Psychosis

I have only ever smoked cannabis a few times in my life, which resulted in terrifying psychotic episodes every time, where I experienced panic, hallucinations and involuntary muscle movements, lasting for up to 36 hours.
This triggered a pre-disposed psychiatric disorder, so I have always steered clear of any hallucinogenic drugs because I don't feel the potential "high" is worth the risk for me.

However, I've done quite a lot of research into DMT and I feel that it has great potential to expand my awareness and understanding in a positive way, so I am giving serious consideration to trying it.
I feel safer knowing that it is a naturally occurring chemical, but would still like to do some more research on the health risks before I decide to administer an 'unnatural' dose.

* Do you know of anyone who has used DMT with a history of psychosis?
* What was their experience?

2. DMT & Prescribed Medication

The other thing I'd like to find out is whether my prescribed medication would have any effect on DMT.
I am not currently taking any anti-psychotics (they killed my personality beyond recognition,) but I do take daily medication for a mood disorder:
- 225mg of Venlafaxine (Effexor XR)
- 1g of Sodium Valproate (Epilim)
I have no idea where to find out information about possible side effects when mixing this with DMT, and I can't exactly ask the doctor for advice...

I am especially cautious because the Venlafaxine is an SNRI anti-depressant, which can be extremely dangerous when mixed with an MAOI anti-depressant (sometimes used to activate DMT.)
For this reason, the methods I would consider are either smoking/vaporising or IV, using N,N-DMT.

Any advice /comments would be very much appreciated! Thanks! :)
 
I'd say forget about it, it's not worth the risk.
Even when the working mechanism is different from cannabis, it's still definately risky business if you had such reaction to cannabis.
Psychedelics in general are bad idea for anyone with psychosis history(altough it can be good for few of those people)
These are my 2 cents, you can do whatever you like.:)
 
Hi Oneirataxia,

Welcome to the Nexus. I want to warn you I'm not sure if there are any mental health professionals here or not - probably a few. I suspect there is at least one M.D. But, even if they were to personally comment, no one here is qualified to comment on this with authority - i.e. with assertiveness that indicates they know for a fact what is or is not right for you.

Having said that, I will express my personal opinion that DMT may not be the right path for you at this time. I would suggest that perhaps a few more years working to stabilize your mental health situation might be more appropriate. Your extreme reactions to the very mild entheogen cannabis as well as the nature of the pharmaceutical cocktail you are taking that tells me this.

You cannot imagine what DMT is like. The body load in the first minute INVITES extreme panic in my opinion. It is reality destroying, but when folks come back they have to work to re-integrate with this consensual reality sometimes. Even those in tip top mental health condition.

Meanwhile, lucid dreaming and various extreme dreaming states/situations, is NOTHING at all like DMT in my opinion. Lucid dreaming is an excellent avenue to investigate imo given your current situation and you can go very deep with this. No need for "mind bending" drugs.

I would like to suggest that you keep pushing the lucid dream research but table the DMT for a few years. I don't know your age, but I can guarantee, it is worth waiting for the right time.

Again welcome. :D
 
Oh yes, I should have mentioned my age and such.
I am 22 years old, and I was 14 when I had the cannabis-induced psychosis.
My mood disorder is chronic; I have been medicated for 10 years and will likely need to continue treatment for some time, however my condition is stable and generally doesn't cause me any trouble.
I took anti-psychotics for roughly 5 years before deciding they weren't the best option for me, and I don't feel my mental health has suffered for it at all.

Thank you for your comments. :)
I have a lot of thinking to do!
 
Hi Oneirataxia (great nik by the way!), and welcome to the Nexus!:)

Im glad your mood disorder is stable but I wonder if this simply reflects that your medication is doing a fine job.

IMO, I would avoid gambling your continued mental-wellbeing by taking any of the true hallucinogens, particularly in light of your significant negative reaction to cannabis which, in the scheme of things, is one of the milder agents.I think the potential negatives which could result would just make you full of regrets and rueful of your decision to use them.

There are no hard or fast rules to govern your decision but your past history makes me think its a risk thats not worth it at all.

Nevertheless, welcome to the Nexus!
 
Oneirataxia said:
Oh yes, I should have mentioned my age and such.
I am 22 years old, and I was 14 when I had the cannabis-induced psychosis.
My mood disorder is chronic; I have been medicated for 10 years and will likely need to continue treatment for some time, however my condition is stable and generally doesn't cause me any trouble.
I took anti-psychotics for roughly 5 years before deciding they weren't the best option for me, and I don't feel my mental health has suffered for it at all.

Thank you for your comments. :)
I have a lot of thinking to do!
Click to expand...

Well this is some important information.

I'd say if you would first smoke 10mg, then 15, then 20 etc. increasing if you feel comfortable. I don't think you would suffer any psychosis from a low dose at least. And in the end, the stuff clears from your body very quickly so lasting adverse effects would be unlikely in my opinion. I'd say if you have your own D, give 10mg a shot, I don't think it will hurt. And then increase if you feel like it.
 
Yeah, I have to agree, I'd stay away from DMT for now. You're young and there's no rush. Explore meditation and other forms of natural development, you probably have an aptitude for it judging by your extreme reaction to something as mild as weed. Meditation, astral projection; there's more than one way to the finish line. Get your house in order, clean up your mind and body, ween off the prescriptions which chain you down, and the molecule just might find you. But what do I know? I've never dealt with mental issues.
 
tetra said:
Yeah, I have to agree, I'd stay away from DMT for now. You're young and there's no rush. Explore meditation and other forms of natural development, you probably have an aptitude for it judging by your extreme reaction to something as mild as weed. Meditation, astral projection; there's more than one way to the finish line. Get your house in order, clean up your mind and body, ween off the prescriptions which chain you down, and the molecule just might find you. But what do I know? I've never dealt with mental issues.
Click to expand...

The age is not an issue IMO.

Finish line? I don't think there's such thing.

I agree about weening off the prescriptions.

I still recommend if your interest and purpose is true, to start with 10mg from vaporizer pipe and self made D freebase.
 
tele said:
I'd say if you would first smoke 10mg, then 15, then 20 etc. increasing if you feel comfortable. I don't think you would suffer any psychosis from a low dose at least. And in the end, the stuff clears from your body very quickly so lasting adverse effects would be unlikely in my opinion. I'd say if you have your own D, give 10mg a shot, I don't think it will hurt. And then increase if you feel like it.
Click to expand...

This is potentially dangerous advice based on nothing but this person's feelings on the subject. The truth is that he doesn't have the slightest clue what will trigger a psychotic break, as he's not a doctor or diagnosed psychotic, so take it with a grain of salt.

tetra said:
ween off the prescriptions which chain you down, and the molecule just might find you.
Click to expand...

tele said:
I agree about weening off the prescriptions.
Click to expand...

Please refrain from giving advice regarding anyone's prescribed medications. If I see either one of you doing it again, you'll be taking some time off.
 
Uncle Knucles said:
tele said:
I'd say if you would first smoke 10mg, then 15, then 20 etc. increasing if you feel comfortable. I don't think you would suffer any psychosis from a low dose at least. And in the end, the stuff clears from your body very quickly so lasting adverse effects would be unlikely in my opinion. I'd say if you have your own D, give 10mg a shot, I don't think it will hurt. And then increase if you feel like it.
Click to expand...

This is potentially dangerous advice based on nothing but this person's feelings on the subject. The truth is that he doesn't have the slightest clue what will trigger a psychotic break, as he's not a doctor or diagnosed psychotic, so take it with a grain of salt.

tetra said:
ween off the prescriptions which chain you down, and the molecule just might find you.
Click to expand...

tele said:
I agree about weening off the prescriptions.
Click to expand...

Please refrain from giving advice regarding anyone's prescribed medications. If I see either one of you doing it again, you'll be taking some time off.
Click to expand...

I meant if one is eager to try it, I say start with low dose and increase as needed, that makes the possible adverse reaction easier to deal with.

And as what I mentioned about the prescriptions, I meant that one can slowly work out to drug free life. I didn't make my point clear, but do you think that it's really a bad advice? Just take it easy, art d lay

And these are just my opinions, the asker can do whatever he wants.
 
Potentially deadly advice, yes. We don't advise people to go off doctor prescribed medications. This isn't open to debate. If I see it happening, someone will be going bye bye.
 
Oneirataxia, I agree with the comments posted here, wait a while. However i will say that I cannot in any shape or form take cannabis, it triggers a particular type of unpleasant anxious depression, bordering on pychosis.
And on more than one occasion I found myself in a similar situation that you describe. I can ( in moderate doses) take the short acting entheogens like DMT and Salvia, and indeed find them to have both anxiolytic-antidepressive and mood stabilizing properties (post trip). But everyones different, so be careful.
 
In case no one else said it, your effexor would be contraindicated for use with maoi's, including rima's (B. Caapi, and Syrian rue), as well as dmt. If one day you and your doctor decide that you are ready to stop with the medicines you are on, that would be a more appropriate time to potentially experiment.
 
Uncle Knucles said:
Potentially deadly advice, yes. We don't advise people to go off doctor prescribed medications. This isn't open to debate. If I see it happening, someone will be going bye bye.
Click to expand...

I find this comment exceptional for all the wrong reasons.

The fact that these prescribed psychological treatment drugs often do far more bad than good is very well documented. In the UK, a lot of the doctors are bad enough in the way they try to palm of pharmac€utical$ on thier patients for the least little ailment, but in the US, many of these doctors are nothing more than whores for the pharmaceutical companies.

Why is it so wrong if someone expresses an opinion on this matter? I would suggest the same thing to anyone that I knew personally, namely, that if it were at all possible, the person should try to rely as little as possible on any kind of orthodox medicines (even good doctors would tell someone that).

P.S. I am also one of those people who really doesn't take to cannabis too well, yet have in the past been heavily into LSD and mushroom trips and only ever found myself to have benefited greatly from these far stronger psychoactive experiences.
 
I also would suggest waiting. I know mentally stable people for whom the use of psychedelics brought out (in one case permanently) latent mental instabilities. I might suggest that you try using cannabis again and see if you experience any psychosis or otherwise unpleasant effects with that. But that's up to you.
 
Bobbobson,

Please read through the following:


These are the rules as set down by our host. If you don't care to respect them, go find another online community. We don't offer medical advice, we don't suggest people eschew medical help under any circumstance, and we don't weigh in on others' medications. These are some of the most important and non-negotiable rules we have here. Follow them and be welcome. Don't, and be gone.

Can we stop with the debate now? I'm really done explaining it.
 
Uncle Knucles said:
We don't offer medical advice, we don't suggest people eschew medical help under any circumstance, and we don't weigh in on others' medications.
Click to expand...

For good reason.

I'm not sure if you people realize this, but in some places you can openly talk to your doctor about your desire/usage of illicit substances without fear. Check local/federal laws for where you live about doctor patient confidentiality

Your doctor for liability reasons can't encourage your usage of them, but they can give you the facts, and tell you the potential consequences...


Lawyers, priests, doctors, and spouses have the most protections as far as confidential conversations go. Promotes honesty in discussions amongst them for your own well being.
 
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