Source
r/Anxiety•
grovesoteric

Extreme anticipatory anxiety when thinking about smoking cannabis, or especially, magic mushrooms.

I get ridiculously bad anxiety when I even think about taking magic mushrooms, probably due to the fact that I have had some pretty horrendous trips. I have also had some uncomfortable encounters with cannabis. It's all rather irrational I believe...

It's irrational because I have only ever had bad trips whilst in bad company, or an uncontrollable environment. My good trips far out-way those rough ones in number and intensity. I've actually not had a bad trip in about four years. I've never had too bad of experiences with cannabis, I just think they are exacerbated by memories of bad mushroom trips.

What can I do to stop having this anticipatory anxiety? Is this a form of PTSD? Has anyone else experience anything like this?

Posted Feb 13, 2014, 6:26 AM UTC

36
Hyperactive_Filly•

Yes it is a form of PTSD. Psychadelic experiences can be very traumatizing if they go south so this is just your brains way of "protecting" itself.

The easy route for this would be to take a klonopin and chill out then do your mushies or smoke. Just be aware that klonopin will kind of blunt out a trip (it makes it way easier to handle you just dont trip as hard). Still not as bad as xanax though (that has the potential to stop a triip in its tracks).

The natural route would simply be to go for it and trust that nothing will go so wrong that you can't handle it. It's all in your head anyway so as long as you can keep aware of that, you should be fine.

Also preboosting a couple days before with 5-htp can increase natural seratonin levels which some say increases the quality of the trip and doesnt leave you feeling as thrashed (the increased levels acts as a buffer so your seratonin isnt completely drained by the end of the trip which i believe is a big factor in whether or not you will have a good or bad time.)

Another thing would be to lemon tek (id google a nice method) your mushies at half your regular dose and see how that goes. since you are not ingesting plant matter in a lemon tek (or at least not much) the trip shouldnt be as turbulent because there will be hardly anything there to upset your stomach. The lemon juice also kickstarts the metabolisation of psilocybin into psylocin which is the chemical that gives you the trippy effects anyway

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grovesotericOP•

Thanks for your reply. I think I'll just take the route of not worrying about it, since I know how not to have bad trips. I haven't tried the lemon tek, I usually soak my mushrooms in honey for a week or so first though. I think it helps my stomach out a lot.

I just wish there were a way to fix this PTSD, so I don't have to deal with it anymore.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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missusmoonwinkleAgoraphobia/panic disorder/depression/derealisation•

Just curious, if you are that worried then why do you continue mushroom and cannabis usage?

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grovesotericOP•

I've learned a lot from my mushroom trips and I believe that it's helped me to be a better person, same with cannabis. I am pretty mentally sensitive so I tend to hold emotional memories pretty deep. I just want to let go of unneeded ones.

1
amarokstarAnxiety Sucks•

I can really sympathize with what you are going through. I have the same issue with alcohol as I worry about vomiting. I haven't vomited due to drinking in years or even allow myself to get drunk. We are already powerless before merciless forces of nature and our own bodies, losing any more control is opening the door for more fear to take hold. I can't say much of anything has worked yet, but I definitely get where you are coming from.

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grovesotericOP•

I think it's that loss of control that really scares me, like once the substance takes effect it has total control over you.

I came across this video, which seems a little ridiculous at first, and may very well be placebo, but placebo is just as effective as actual medicine. Here's a link "Tap" therapy for anticipatory anxiety.

What I think may be going on here is that it gives me a sense of control over the emotion, if I do these it definitely eases me. It still seems kind of silly to me, but it works.

1