LSD in Buy a Ticket, Take a Ride

LSD or Lysergic acid diethylamide is a semisynthetic drug of the lysergamide psychedelic family. It was first synthesized by Albert Hoffmann in 1938 from ergotamine which is a chemical derived from ergot, a grain fungus that typically grows on rye. In pure form it is a colourless, odourless, and mildly bitter solid.

LSD is typically delivered orally, usually in liquid form or on a substrate such as absorbent blotter paper which can be taken by simply chewing on it or swallowing.

It is one of the most potent drugs in the world, meaning that extremely small amounts are needed for the effects to show. A single dose of LSD may be between 100 and 500 micrograms - an amount which is roughly equal to one-tenth the mass of a grain of sand.

The mechanism that produces the psychedelic effects of LSD is a direct result from its action as a 5-HT2A serotonin receptor agonist in the brain, a mechanism of action shared by all other hallucinogenic tryptamines and phenethylamines.

• Onset : 60 - 120 mins
• Duration : 6 - 12 hrs
• Normal After Effects : 2 - 5 hrs
• Threshold : 20 µg
• Light : 25 - 75 µg
• Common : 50 - 150 µg
• Strong : 150 - 400 µg
• Heavy : 400+ µg
• LSD, broken down and described
• Wikipedia: Lysergic acid diethylamide
• Drugscience
• Erowid
• TiHKAL: #26 LSD
• Tripsit.me Wiki

Aug. 31, 2011

The most drastic effect of LSD was euphoria and color. Everything appeared over saturated and beautiful. My husband likes to fill the house with light for LSD, but I like shadows and contrast, I like to stand in a dark room looking into a bright hallway.

I don’t easily understand shapes or 3d space, so when a floor lamp leans to one side so that an entire room appears skewed, I experience this illusion without drugs while I process which object is the leaning one. This confusion is caused by my learning disability, but I never considered it a hallucination. When I took LSD, I inferred that most people are much less familiar with the sort of illusions and misconceptions LSD provoked in extreme. I appreciate clear examples of how I differ from others because it gives me a genuine sympathy for others who can’t predict or make sense of my actions.

I don’t easily understand shapes or 3d space, so when a floor lamp leans to one side so that an entire room appears skewed, I experience this illusion without drugs while I process which object is the leaning one. This confusion is caused by my learning disability, but I never considered it a hallucination. When I took LSD, I inferred that most people are much less familiar with the sort of illusions and misconceptions LSD provoked in extreme. I appreciate clear examples of how I differ from others because it gives me a genuine sympathy for others who can’t predict or make sense of my actions.

I’m eating an amazing cookie like the cookie monster and getting crumbs which, everywhere roll from my fingers like water droplets. I am fascinated with every material that isn’t brittle and its water-like characteristics. It seemed as though water were flowing down the walls of my house like the outside of a window in the rain. I am sure the stucco pattern on the walls caused me to see this. The water is the most unreal hallucination I’ve ever had, it seems dull compared to what most people see, but I’m definitely just as high as them. I just doesn’t mix with reality in the same way.

I’ll zone out and lose track of reality. When something real distracts me I am suddenly involved in it, I am aware I was completely zoned out a moment ago. (If I’m lucky) I might have memories of ideas from a moment ago, if I am still thinking about them without interruption, but the actual experience is forgotten and those lost memories slip out of time.

I am suddenly waking from some other dream every time I transition my attention to a new thing. Single-mindlessly, this new thing I’m paying attention to is now my entire capacity for what I can conceive of at once. This is what ADHD feels like. I can understand why I forget things more clearly now that I compare the ADHD experience to this other one. This, too, happens when I’m sober, less offensively, my complete lack of attention span doesn’t impair my function so dramatically when I’m not high. Also, way before I did drugs, I was harassed constantly by adults convinced I was hiding drug use, I thought they were paranoid, but I suppose these things would make me seem as though I am high when I’m not.

But back to the water– I pay attention to the water of a body, and I can separate the water from layers of tissue and sinew, I am much better at giving backrubs, I am much stronger and don’t fatigue as quickly as I do normally because I apply pressure more efficiently. A human body made of sacks of water, cores of gooey tissue, all of this is bundled and skewered by dense poles.

On LSD I have more finesse for any flexible material because I am always comparing it to water. Normally, I’m not capable of deep critical thinking on the difference between human muscle tissue and water while I’m rubbing my husband’s back, and normally my back rubs are shitty.

I am pretty sure I have acid flashbacks. They are very mild. I am not obsessing over water consciously, but this preoccupation influences me, my skin feels different, more like a mucous membrane. Everything appears more colorful and bright, I’m more likely to get a headache (my eyes must dilate) and I type much faster, this occurs at random intervals, most noticeable in the late afternoon. I really enjoy this. LSD is the gift that keeps on giving.

I noticed I type much faster on LSD last time I took it. At one time, I typed much faster than I do now, but I lost a bit of knack, largely because I use laptops now. I’ve been using laptops longer than it took me to learn how to type as well as I used to. I want to get a good keyboard, spring-loaded one, I think the tactile response is important, I didn’t expect I could improve my typing on a laptop at all. But I was wrong.

I’ve been anxious & experienced negativity on LSD. I’ve found negativity is temporary.

Paranoia of LSD happens so quickly, it’s so artificial, it is much easier to control than what I normally go through. Unlike my mental illness, which will impose itself on me gradually and amplify until my will is broken, the anxiety of a trip passes over me.

I don’t remember anxiety from a trip with hard feelings even if it is intense at the time. After the positive transition from fear to understanding I feel an immense sense of relief. Sometimes I have trouble with having the same fear re-initiated by a circumstance and I must transition again, but I’ve gotten better at dealing with it each time I trip.

I would compare this sense of a relief from fear to waking up from a nightmare, and LSD is far less traumatic than any nightmare. The entire trip is like a dream, a genuine suspension of disbelief with little meaning of its own. The meaning of a trip is introspective, enhanced by the drug, but not really caused by the drug. It’s been a valuable learning experience, I feel like LSD has created a sort of sandbox of disillusion which has taught me about my family’s mental illnesses as well as my own. I have learned to become positively interested and playful when I am out of touch with reality which is a skill I think will serve me well later in life, even if my overall condition declines.

My acid soundtrack: Portishead. My favorite album: Third. Because percussion.

Last updated October 28, 2014