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Or rather, HPPD is caused by someone NOT being infected with the JC virus. Ok, I'm not a doctor and all that, but you guys seem to like sharing theories on these things, so here is my theory (note: no science at all to back this up)! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JC_virus The JC virus is very common in humans - it also causes persistent infection, where it is always present in the body, but unless you are immunosuppressed (e.g. AIDS) it doesn't cause any symptoms. It is normally completely benign. This article; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1617318/ states that 70%-90% of humans test positive for antibodies for the virus (meaning they were infected at some point), and 20%-80% of humans are continuously excreting the virus, indicating that they are constantly infected with it. Now, here's the key thing: The JC virus also infects the central nervous system, and according to this paper; http://www.sciencemag.org/content/306/5700/1380 the JC virus may use the 5HT2A receptors to infect cells. And disturbances in the 5HT2A receptors, it's been suggested, are a primary cause of HPPD, and are also what most psychedelics act on. So the crazy theory is this: The constant infection with the JC virus, and in particular the constant response from the immune system, somehow "fixes" the disruptive 5HT2A receptors, as a side-effect of fighting the JC virus. So for 70%-90% of humans that try psychedelics, their immune system repairs the 5HT2A receptors over the course of a few days,as part of it's constant battle with the JC virus (which is using those receptors to infect other cells). But for the 10%-30% that are not infected, this does not happen, causing the repair of the 5HT2A receptors to be slower, or not happen at all (this would depend on other factors, I would imagine). There is another reason that I think this theory might have some vein of truth in it - a drug called Mefloquine. Mefloquine is one of the few drugs that has been shown to be successful in treating JC virus infection. Mefloquine is more commonly used as a drug to prevent malaria. But mefloquine can also cause neuropsychiatric effects, "including anxiety, hallucinations, depression, unusual behavior, and suicidal ideations, among others". Some studies put the number of people affected with neurological symptoms to some degree as high as 25%, with a smaller fraction having a serious neurological reaction. Why it causes these reactions is unknown, but you can probably guess what my theory is on this - Mefloquine kills the JC virus, causing the immune system's interaction with the serotonin receptors to change in some way, which is what causes the neurological symptoms. The JC virus is also often passed from parent to child, which might explain the apparent semi-hereditary nature of HPPD predisposition. So according to my theory at least, treatment for HPPD would involve, presumably, deliberately infecting yourself with the JC virus. Or perhaps you are infected, but it has not yet crossed the blood-brain barrier, or something weird like that. So like I said, I know very little about medicine - this is a total guess as to what causes HPPD in some people and not in others, but I thought it was worth posting. Also, this is my first post, so hi everyone!

Going to start his one up again Hudson Mohawke - Fuse

Hi there, I managed to get hold of some clonazepam and tried a 2mg dose to see what relief it would bring. While it did reduce my visuals and snow to almost nothing it did absolutely nothing for my DP/DR. The dissociation is definitely not anxiety related as I don't suffer with anxiety at all. I'm struggling to think what to do next, the dissociation is killing me. I don't even feel alive any more and nothing feels real, I have the emotions of a robot. It wouldn't be so hard if I could enjoy things but its pretty much impossible when you don't feel emotions. I really don't see why I have such bad dissociation as my hppd is relatively mild, aside from the visual snow which isn't all that bad my only complaints are trails, tracers, after images and very light patterning if I stare at a wall etc. basically if I'm outside my vision looks completely normal, so why I have such extreme detachment is beyond me. Thanks.

Haha, thats pretty cool. Always wondered how my teachers could read my hand written essays at school.