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What is the brain function with DMT? How does it really work?

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imachavel

Rising Star
out of the hundreds of links i can follow(they're almost endless if you follow enough of them), can this question be answered?

what is the brain/bodies function with dmt? i can't believe it's just a molecule that introduces the body to life, although from the experience it would SEEM that way.

how can dmt be released when you die? when you die your functioning stops, correct? is it some really basic transmitter that is used only in junction, powerful and yet with little general activity? the way my nerves feel with dmt is like it's showing me how powerful my sense are, i can feel vibrations that are far as if they're really close.

maybe, like the seratonin receptor, dmt acts as some function that can be overloaded and made to trip, some basic function, but the function not necessarily being to show someone death or life or whatever. Just like seratonins function isn't to make someone trip, it just works along a series of transmitters that can be overloaded. Like a computer given too much electricity?

being as that may be though, dmt has been found to have little activity, right? no one knows a basic function it performs or helps with? thanks
 
DMT is a potent 5-HT receptor agonist. I am not suer what subtypes of 5-HT receptors it most easily binds to or what other receptors it binds too. Yes small amounts are found in the human pineal gland and cerebrospinal fluid. The function is unknown. DMT being released during death as far as I know is just speculation.

So yes I would agree that DMT's endogenous function in the human brain is unknown. It would be very interesting to find out its function. Its not a trivial task but there are ways to investigate it. For example one could administer DMT to a human being while under MRI or some other brain imaging device and see where of what changes in the brain the molecule acts. One could measure endogenous DMT levels during dreaming or other more naturally induced altered states of mind during meditation or what not. One could silence the gene to produce DMT in rats or mice (assuming they also have it which I dont know) and see if any behavoir changes. Radioactive tracers could also be used to find where the molecule acts. However knowing where it acts also may not give all the answers. Brain chemistry is quite complicated and we still know so little. My guess is endogenous DMT is involved in some kind of perceptual process similar in some ways to seretonin however it may be more important in dream states or other bizzare forms of perceptual changes.

It would also be interesting to observe whether or not endogenous DMT goes to the same places then administered DMT. DMT may only be made in certain parts of the brain and only normally hit those sites, and then be metabolized away. While DMT administered from the outside may not be able to reach those sites before being metabolized away and only hit sites further outside of its normal functioning area. hence why when you take DMT you have a profound alteration in perception while when its normally in your brain its involved in a more fundamental function.

food for thought.
 
super interesting. I'd love to know what's it's function is. Like you said, some bizarre function. From the way the high feels, it's so deep in my mind and shit, it's like an insane trip, like the potency and effect of a full 12 hour lsd trip, compressed, COMPRESSED I SAY, into the little time slot it hits you in. Dmt may only last a certain amount of minutes, but the after effects and shit to me seem to last as long as any other trip. I almost feel as though i've even had a dmt flashback.

like said, it seems to have some very bizarre BASIC function. Not basic like the main nuerotransmitter that sets all other nuerotransmissions in motion. Not basic like if you add too much or take it away you can't feel your nerves or something.

More basic like that in a way it seems to be something very BASIC in terms of feeling, or thought, like you said, in dreaming, or feeling really deep shit. They say phenethylamine is involved a lot in the feeling of love, or that 'in love' feeling, but to me it's also a deep feeling, maybe dmt is here as well as phenethylamine. Or we could say maybe it has some emotional value, like fear or as said love or something that requires other nuerotransmission or sensational stimulation but needs a stimulation for an emotional factor.

if happyness and/or well being has a nuerotransmission factor involving seratonin. Why wouldn't something deep like a nightmare or fear of dying or something involve dmt as well as other molecules.

what ever it is it sure seems deep, i'd love to find out what the fuck it does.
 
I believe that DMT has some vital function in helping us perceive the reality we are currently in.

Of course, this is 100% conjecture and really doesn't answer the poster's question. The fact is no one really knows. I wish there was more work being done on this. Here in the US it is quite difficult to study a controlled substance, making any research few and far between.
 
yes, i'd imagine so. Having a dmt hangover to me seems to be more than just the open mind or after trip effects. I almost feel as though i'm using my nerves to the fullest potential. Like my senses are tweaked, i can feel vibrations with my whole body. Which is something i didn't really know could happen until i took that shit. It made my brain a fuckin antenna.

I'd agree with you, and assume that it has some basic function in percieving what's happening. Like i said, I don't think it makes you hear, or see, or sense or feel things. I think it accompanies that, like how your mind translates all that.

although i guess you could say that's what all psychedelics do, so i guess i'm confusing myself. Still, dmt is different, or at least that's how i feel.
 
with dmt i almost got to a point where i thought gravity. Not entirely, but in being basic, that gravity was just a temporary feeling since we're held to this plant, that open ungravitational space is more normal, 'beyong this life' type shit. Really, i didn't like this it that much. I believe beyond life experiences should be reserved for their natural state of experience.
 
burnt said:
DMT is a potent 5-HT receptor agonist. I am not suer what subtypes of 5-HT receptors it most easily binds to or what other receptors it binds too.

According to this study, DMT is a agonist to both the 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors.

Interesting about this study is they state that "One difference was evident in that the 5-HT2C, but not the 5-HT2A, receptor showed a profound desensitization to DMT over time." The 5-HT2C receptor is known for cousing anxiety (simplistically said) so over time DMT might get easier to use since the 5-HT2C gets used to it.
 
imachavel said:
although i guess you could say that's what all psychedelics do, so i guess i'm confusing myself. Still, dmt is different, or at least that's how i feel.

I feel the same way. I enjoy many different psycadellics from time to time, but DMT is very different. To me, it is unique.
 
The Traveler said:
burnt said:
DMT is a potent 5-HT receptor agonist. I am not suer what subtypes of 5-HT receptors it most easily binds to or what other receptors it binds too.

According to this study, DMT is a agonist to both the 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors.

Interesting about this study is they state that "One difference was evident in that the 5-HT2C, but not the 5-HT2A, receptor showed a profound desensitization to DMT over time." The 5-HT2C receptor is known for cousing anxiety (simplistically said) so over time DMT might get easier to use since the 5-HT2C gets used to it.

That is extremely interesting. I wonder if that is the reason none of my voyages seem like the first few.

The theory that is does become easier over time sure resonates true with me. After a while it seems that there is less and less anxiety...but I always assumed that was because I was getting used to being in spiceland.
 
One thing I find very interesting about such a relationship as DMT causing a receptor to be desensitized is because it shows a direct relationship to an effect in the brain and manifests itself as a direct effect in human feeling when exposed to the substance. Sometimes the terms scientists use to describe these effects are a bit cold sounding but to me it really shows the beauty of the human mind as a powerful reality interpreting and manifesting device that harbors our 'self'

slowly i believe psychedelic research will start coming back and more of these questions will slowly get some answers or at least a better understanding of what happens when you take DMT or any psychedelic. society is realizing the emptiness that the modern materialistic mainstream is pumping into us. science and medicine is also realizing that the mind can have a profound effect on how one feels and how healthy one is. the safety profile of a lot of these drugs in some ways is already well known because of all the work that was done to prove how bad they were. this saves scientists from the need to do excessive safety toxicity experiments because its done (plus the 1000's of years of traditional use). technically all that would need to be done to satisfy the FDA criteria for an approved drug is to show that the substance has a better effect then placebo at treating a specific condition. the only problem is they often wont even give people permission to try that. and that again would only satisfy western medicines criteria for an approved drug which always thinks in term of one target one effect (which is too simplified).

i think this quote by thomas jefferson sums up my belief on the situation "If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." sorry got a little side tracked hah.
 
burnt said:
"If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny."

I'd like to add a quote from Benjamin Rush, America's first Surgeon General:

"Unless we put Medical Freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship … to restrict the art of healing to one class of men, and deny equal privilege to others, will be to constitute the Bastille of Medical Science. All such laws are un-American and despotic and have no place in a Republic … The Constitution of this Republic should make special privilege for Medical Freedom as well as Religious Freedom."

Edit: Thomas Szasz has written an article denouncing this quote as a false attribution, put into his mouth by activists.:? The sentiment of it still rings true for me.
 
yes, but what did he mean by medical freedom? the freedom to practice medicine? or the ability to perform self medicine? that statement to me is too vague, medical freedom is practiced, as long as you have a license. The ability to perform self medicine without the proper knowing is like an act of suicide. The freedom to take whichever drug you want? I suppose so.... although there are some really bad drugs........
 
imachavel said:
medical freedom is practiced, as long as you have a license.
No, that's the Bastille of Medicine referred to in the quote. The pharmacratic hypocrisy of the world of "licensed medicine" is absurd.


The ability to perform self medicine without the proper knowing is like an act of suicide.

Yes. Wouldn't it be nice if the freedoms of the population at large weren't restricted because the powers that be are afraid of idiots accidentally killing themselves?
 
imachavel said:
how can dmt be released when you die? when you die your functioning stops, correct? is it some really basic transmitter that is used only in junction, powerful and yet with little general activity? the way my nerves feel with dmt is like it's showing me how powerful my sense are, i can feel vibrations that are far as if they're really close.
your body doesn't go "click" and just turn off instantly. It fades slowly. There is still brain activity even after you are "dead".

I recently read about a woman who had a NDE during a surgery, in which she was "dead" in order to remove a brain aneurysm. 60 degree body temp, no heartbeat, no breathing, all the blood was removed from her head, etc. She heard a tone when her NDE began, it was a natural D note. Got me thinking of the DMT tone, i wonder what note it is?
 
whoa, that's real? i didn't know that was real in anything exept that movie where the guy pushed some kid out of a tree, and some other guy tormented some girl, and they all got haunted by the past after killing and reviving themselves.

that's nuts, but still, how would the dmt spread throughout the persons brain and mind without a heartbeat? or do you think it's made just to stimulate a certain center of nerves right where it's released? i don't know, that's crazy

entropymancer, on a non-personal note in a completely objective statement, i agree with every word you said. I don't understand how people killing themself would scare the powers that be. But truthfully, it's a persons right to do with their own life, and their life in itself as long as it's unto no one elses life, whatever they want. If people wanted to kill themselves with drugs, that's their business. It's not the government educated people on what the hell your putting in you. You know, maybe people would use drugs less if all drug propoganda wasn't just drug propoganda and crap. If you they told you exactly what drugs did to you, no more, no less, maybe people would pay attention, and know better, but maybe not.

Here's a true story, i don't feel like i'm stupid or anything like that. But when i was 16 i had no clue what lsd did, or heroin, or cocain, or even weed. All i knew was that d.a.r.e crap they taught me in the first grade, which was cool, and posivite for kids to see a cop come in and explain a few things they see on the street or whatever, i liked that. But in truth, drugs do a certain thing, and people lead themselves where they go.

drugs like cocain and heroin are bad because they have chemically addictive qualities, speed and meth can give you a heart attack. But they're not evil, it's just that people can't use these drugs without altering their chemistry, and becoming physically addicted. I didn't even REALLY know how bad alcohol was until my dad went to the hospital when i was 16 or something, because he'd fucked up his blood coagulation somehow by drinking too much. My freinds mom just died because she drank too much, and didn't hydrate herself, or eat, for a week or something. She died, that's it. Just from that, and some heavy drinking, but nothing more, no pills, no known livers problems, just dehydration from alchohol and alcohol blood poisoning.

Why don't they put THAT in the T.R.U.T.H. commercials or some crap. You know?

Anyway, as for the license to medicine, it is hypocracy. But at least with a persons license to medicine, they can't kill you, or get you hooked on something, and keep their license, as far as I know. A person with a license to medicine in a hospital is my best freind. A person giving me ridilin with a license to medicine, is a fuckin moron. I never liked it, especially when i was 10, but i got more homework done and crap. Aside from that though, not my favorite, but oh well.

Anyway, i guess that's all i can come up with for now. I hate most laws as much as anyone else, but also, if we didn't live in a criminal state, meaning a police state governing walking criminals in neighborhoods stretching for miles and miles, we'd have more exuses to hate laws. I know laws keep me alive from day to night, to go to 7-11, and fuckin drive to the park, and all that crap, and leave my car unlocked for 5 minutes and know it probably won't get stolen. I know i wont get a gun in my face in the morning, and have my house robbed, and my mother raped, or some crap like that. So, i definately CAN'T complain about laws, they're there, and that's all there is to it. But that doesn't mean i don't have an opinion, that some crap is majorly hipocritical.

Even if drugs were legal, they'd still ruin a persons life, a person with 5 dui's is going to have a tought time with a job or anything else. I'm sure the same would be said of someone found with crack/cocain in their bloodstream. But like i said, i just live here, so.......
 
acolon_5 said:
I believe that DMT has some vital function in helping us perceive the reality we are currently in.

The word "reality", to me, is an oxymoron. I think DMT has everything to do with perceiving everything but the seratonin world we live day-to-day.
 
yea i love 5-htp pills... plus when i use dmt, after the effects "wear off" im left with an awsome feeling for days after, dmt is said to increase serotonin levels.. and just my outlook on everything was better..it gave me hope, just knowing that theres so much out there, and that the dmt realm could be afterlife, or us playing a game.
 
imachavel said:
that's nuts, but still, how would the dmt spread throughout the persons brain and mind without a heartbeat? or do you think it's made just to stimulate a certain center of nerves right where it's released? i don't know, that's crazy

Because the pineal gland is seated inside of the brain, it can deliver DMT without needing a heartbeat. It's already in the brain! At least this is a theory of Dr. Straussman's
 
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