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Hello All, My name is Allen. I've browsed this site randomly over the past couple years but was afraid share. I'm in my 30's and have had HPPD 2 for 18 years. I was diagnosed 5 years ago after a seeing countless doctors through the years. Recently I found out my wife was pregnant and I became determined to find a treatment or, god willing, a cure. When I was in my mid teens I took lsd about 5 times and I was a chronic marijuana smoker. The last time I took lsd I smoked weed at the same time and I had the worst experience of my life: My heart began to race uncontrollably, my arms and face became numb; I saw long blury trails on everything and I felt hot and cold all at once. It was so intense that I thought for sure I was going to die. In desperation, I curled up in a ball on my couch, closed my eyes, and began to pray to god repeatedly to make it stop and let me live, until eventually I fell asleep. I woke up the next morning and thanked god I was alive. I swore of lsd forever. Unfortunately that didn't stop me from trying to party with my friends as usual. Every time I smoked weed after that I would have severe panic attacks and almost black out. When I'd drink alcohol I felt like I had a lump in my throat and couldn't breathe. A couple weeks after that horrible trip I woke up to a dull version of the same type of visuals I had the night of my bad trip, I was petrified and began having random panic attacks. I finally told my mother what I did and what happened since and she took me to the doctor. The doctor swore it was depression with anxiety and completely dismissed any lsd involvement. She prescribed me Effexor and xanax. The effexor didn't help at all and it made my heart race. The symptoms were not going away. I was afraid I damaged my brain beyond repair. Shortly after I withdrew from school and became a hermit. The xanax helped a lot with anxiety but the visuals remained. Through the years I saw about a dozen different psychiatrists and none of them knew what was wrong with me and continued me on benzodiazepines and ssri's. I lost my insurance and couldn't afford all the doctor appointments and medicine, so I began getting zoloft and Vicodin off the streets to self medicate. Eventually the visuals became less intense and my panic attacks were less frequent. Although the visuals and anxiety are a part of my daily life, I still manage to function. Some days are worse than others but I forced myself back into society and I got a good job in construction, and married my girlfriend who has been with me through this whole experience. I got off the vicodin with suboxone and continued the zoloft. With the news of our first child, I found a new determination to get rid of this horrible disease for good. I told my doctor that I wanted to try anything we can to make this stop and she agreed to start prescribing me different medications to see what, if anything, will work. She prescribed clonidine last visit and I started it 6 days ago. Unfortunately it hasn't helped my visuals at all and last night I began having strange thoughts and seeing weird images when I closed my eyes. I'll keep everyone updated on how it goes. I'm really hopeful that something will get rid of this for good. Wish me luck and good luck to all of you. P.s. I am thankful to whomever started and maintains this site. I hope we can get this horrible disease more attention and find a real treatment for it.

>Visits the doctors about HPPD, doctor doesn't know anything about HPPD >Tells doctor about persisting drug-induced hallucinations and panic attacks, gets referred to a drug and alcohol service >Makes it clear that there is no history of addiction or continued use, gets referred to psychiatrists >Open to suggestion, trying not to be classed as a drug-seeker, I accept the anti-psychotic prescription Seroquel >Takes Seroquel, makes HPPD worse, notifies doctors of this >Is offered SSRI anti-depressants for panic attacks, rejected them >Prescribed antipsychotic Olanzepine (Zyprexa), which doesn't do anything for HPPD, and Diazepam (Valium) for panic attacks, which also does nothing >Moved to a mental health facility so that doctors can sort medication out >Psychiatrists conclude that panic disorder can fix itself and that the HPPD visuals are psychotic hallucinations >Prescribes Aripiprazole (Abilify), and took away the Diazepam, which made HPPD worse, and induced anxiety and hypertension (high blood pressure) Psychiatrists insist that benzo's are unsafe and should only be used short term due to risk of addiction, despite no history of addiction and the thousands of milligrams worth of any benzodiazepine it would take to actually be fatal. Big fuck you to every single doctor out there who hasn't done their research and has treated every HPPD patient like this. I have already explained to them that the most effective treatment for HPPD include anti-convulsants, but they do not listen. Instead they want to chuck as many anti-psychotics and anti-depressants at me as possible, hoping that I will come across one that will eventually kill me. These doctors are not here to help, they are here to kill and deny effective treatment. Even if addiction were a problem (which is not if you do not abuse medicaiton), I'd rather be addicted to a drug than have HPPD for the rest of my life. Now I will proceed to seek medication illegally because this medical system has failed me.

Hi all :-) I'd like to give an account of my experience with HPPD and related anxiety. I apologize for the length of my post! I'm under the impression that many HPPD-sufferers (though by no means all) began experiencing noticeable symptoms of HPPD after only a few psychedelic experiences. This was not the case for me. I got very interested in psychedelic substances at the age of 16 and did a lot of reading before actually indulging. At the age of 17 I tried LSD for the first time, and had an enjoyable and interesting experience. After this, I began tripping frequently, and by age 18-19 I had gone through 1000mg of 2C-B (another psychedelic compound) and had somewhere in the vicinity of 50 LSD trips. I had noticed slight symptoms of HPPD after using 2C-B quite frequently for a few months (tripping perhaps once every fortnight, sometimes more frequently), but I didn't think much of it. I figured that the effects were probably transient. I then acquired a large amount of 2C-C and some Psilocybe Cubensis mushrooms, while continuing to do LSD once in a while. During the time I used 2C-C, I noticed that my HPPD symptoms were worsening, but I still attributed it to my frequent use of psychedelics, thinking that it would soon die down when I eventually decided to take a proper, long break from using these substances. During all this, I smoked cannabis intermittently, while never becoming a "heavy" smoker by any means. At age 20, I moved to a big city (or at least as big as they come here in Scandinavia) and began studying physics at university. At this time, I made a decision to use psychedelics and cannabis much less frequently. Over the course of the next year, I only tripped a couple of times, and only at somewhat low dosage levels. It was after this period that I realized that my HPPD symptoms (moving coloured splotches, lingering after-images and so on) had not gone away. They seemed to have lessened somewhat, and I paid less attention to them than before. Nonetheless they were clearly noticeable, and somewhat distracting at times. I felt no anxiety in relation to my HPPD symptoms, and decided that they weren't hindering me in my daily life. At this point I slowly began experimenting with psychedelic drugs once again, picking up pace after a few months. Apparently I had not learnt my lesson. A friend and I purchased a rather large amount of 4-HO-MiPT (a psychedelic tryptamine, somewhat akin to mushrooms in effects) and some 25C-NBOMe (a potent psychedelic). At this point we were tripping on a weekly basis. After a couple of months, it became increasingly clear to me that a long hiatus from all psychedelic substances would be needed at some point. But I postponed it. After our last exams we decided that we'd kick back and enjoy ourselves with a bit of newly-purchased 2C-C. I had slept poorly for a couple of days, and really should have gone home and laid down. Instead, I went ahead and ingested a dose of the 2C-C with my partner in crime. This turned out to be a mistake. After an hour, I began noticing that I was unable to have a simple conversation with our trip-sitter (a sober friend who, thankfully, was also present). I thought to myself "I really didn't imagine I would get this high from this stuff". About 15 minutes later it was becoming quite uncomfortable. I mentioned to my friend that it didn't feel like any 2C-C I'd ever had before, and he agreed that it was qualitatively different. I asked him if he thought it was something to worry about, and he responded that he wasn't sure, but that it would perhaps become a problem if it continued growing in strength. By this time I felt extremely hot and my heart was racing. We decided that, since this drug definitely did not resemble 2C-C, we had no idea what it was. We experienced some visuals, but mostly it was the physical effects which were completely different from what we expected. I said, that if we had ingested an unknown drug, which still seemed to be growing in intensity, we might have to go to an emergency room, since there was no way of knowing how long the effects would continue increasing in strength. First we decided to take a cold shower, to see if it would cool us down, as we were experiencing something akin to hyperthermia. It helped a little, but the relief was short-lived, and it did nothing to attenuate the tachycardia we were experiencing. To cut a long story short, we went to the emergency room, which was an unpleasant experience worthy of its own report. The nurse said that I had a resting pulse somewhere in the high 120's, which is definitely not life-threatening. By this time, the effects had died down a little. The next day, I felt very close to normal, albeit somewhat shocked. I paid a visit to another friend, who was smoking a potent synthetic cannabinoid called UR-144, but I chose not to partake in light of the events of the previous night. A few beers later, my judgement somewhat impaired, I chose to try some of the synthetic cannabinoid after all. This was perhaps my biggest mistake. A couple of minutes after smoking the cannabinoid I felt a surge through my body, a tingling sensation which spread to every part of my body. I started shaking somewhat, but I managed to ride it out, and within a few minutes I felt alright, albeit somewhat shaken and quite intoxicated. Soon after, I decided to call it a night and went to bed. I awoke the next morning, and this is where things got uncomfortable. As soon as I opened my eyes, I noticed that my surroundins appeared out of the ordinary. I felt quite high - almost as high as I had done the night before - and my HPPD was very noticeable. I hoped that this intoxication would subside quickly, as I had promised to visit my parents for a family get-together later that day. Upon arriving at my parents' in the evening, I still felt just as out of it. I had difficulty following the conversation, and I was beginning to become very anxious about the whole thing. I decided to tell my parents what had happened, as I felt unable to continue pretending. Soon after I went to lay down. Around midnight I went downstairs and watched some TV with my mom, still feeling very high and physically uncomfortable. I had been feeling a constant tingling sensation throughout my body the whole day. This is when I had my first panic attack, something I've never experienced before. It hit me very quickly, beginning with an sudden surge of intense "tingling" in my body. I jumped up from the couch, shaking and feeling as though I was about to lose all connection with reality. This state of sheer terror lasted for perhaps 2 minutes, after which I slowly returned to a less debilitating level of anxiety. The next day I was still in this highly uncomfortable state, and I had another panic attack. This one was different. It kept building for perhaps ten minutes, before climaxing in a severe panic attack. I was shaking uncontrollably, couldn't even stand up, and my mom even ended up calling the medical services, who had nothing useful to say. The next day I visited my doctor, who prescribed a benzodiazepine (Oxazepam) for the anxiety. This helped somewhat. I didn't have a full-blown panic attack after this. But I still spent more than a week in bed, completely unable to do the simplest things. Even watching TV proved too much. I felt over-stimulated by any sort of stimulus, and was plagued by strange bodily sensations (mostly the tingling feeling) and strong HPPD-like visuals. After being bedridden for well over a week, I managed to go for a few short walks, while still feeling very strange and anxious. I have been getting better very slowly since then, and it has now been five weeks since the night I smoked the cannabinoid (and since I ingested the unknown substance which landed me in the ER). I now only take benzodiazepines on some days, but I am still far from functioning normally. Most of the unpleasant physical sensations have lessened greatly (thank God for that). The most persistent one has been a strong sense of dizziness, but that is getting better as well. The only symptom which is still in full force is my visual HPPD, which has a tendency to bring out anxiety as well, since it reminds me of the state I'm in.

Hey all! I'm still searching for a medication to treat my anxiety problems that won't simultaneously aggravate my HPPD. As many of you know, that is one tough nut to crack. My immediate thoughts: SSRIs: Seem somewhat effective for my anxiety. Aggravates visuals, had to discontinue. At least HPPD symptoms returned to ''baseline'' upon discontinuation. Benzodiazepines: Greatly attenuates my anxiety (particularly etizolam and clonazepam) and helps HPPD symptoms as well (particularly clonazepam). Very addictive, not a long term solution. I build tolerance to benzodiazepines pretty quickly. Buspirone: Seems too ineffective to be worth it (never actually tried this one) Pregabalin/gabapentin: Seem to have many of the same pitfalls as benzos, plus some extra common side effects(?) Beta blockers: Ineffective in managing my anxiety, since it doesn't primarily manifest with tachycardia, tremors, flushing etc. Atypical antipsychotics: Seems like a dangerous combo w/HPPD (particularly risperidone). Older/atypical antidepressants, such as TCAs: Never tried any of those. Very interested in hearing personal experiences or ideas about any non-SSRI antidepressants useful in treating anxiety, particularly about how they interact with HPPD. Thanks in advance, folks Hope you're feeling all right. Looking forward to hear any and all thought on possible anxiety medications w/HPPD.

I had kind of a failed experiment today. I had soaked some tobacco in Damiana tincture last week, and decided to smoke it today. Apparently, smoking it isn't the best idea. Felt kind of high but good for an hour or so, but thereafter I felt unusually strange and fogged out, and just generally felt like shit. Thus I proceeded to drink coffee in a vain attempt to recuperate somewhat from that. Of course, I just felt worse because of that, so in the end I decided to take some Oxazepam, seeing as the last time I had a benzo was months ago. The first time I took Oxazepam I had 10mg's and thought it was overkill. So today I took 5mg's, and guess what? Overkill. At first I got some heightened anxiety, which smoothed out over time and then I just kind of dazed off slowly, to somewhat of a zombified state I am in now. I've had much worse, but this is tiring as well. Actually I think I'm "coming down" and I'm slowly starting to feel better. So my question is: Does anyone have any experience with Oxazepam here? And what dosage is most effective for you? This has only been the second time I have tried it, and it's just too much for me. Perhaps if there's a next time, I'll try 2,5 mg's.. Kind of hard to split a 10mg pill any smaller than that. Just hate the sedation that comes with it..

File Name: An Updated Unified Pharmacophore Model of the Benzodiazepine Binding Site on GABA-A Receptors: Correlation with Comparative Models File Submitter: StateOfRegret File Submitted: 10 Mar 2014 File Category: Publications A thorough discussion of benzodiazepine pharmacodynamics. Click here to download this file

Greetings - I have a solo addiction medicine practice located in New York City. I treat HPPD without benzodiazepines. I use a combination of serotonin reuptake based medications, referrals for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), as well as referrals to acupuncture. Check out my website if this might be of any interest to you. www.stuartklodamd.com

Has anyone looked into using Huperzine A as an adjunct to HPPD treatment? It is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (and as such prevents the breakdown of acethylcholine, thus increasing the available acetylcholine). Just as importantly, it is an NMDA antagonist, a class of drugs which have been shown to reduce benzodiazepine dependence, including tolerance and withdrawal symptom severity, something I'm sure would benefit many HPPD'ers. Note that some NMDA antagonists are well-known dissociatives (such as Ketamine, PCP and DXM), but from what I can gather, it is entirely possible to reap the benefits of NMDA antagonism without experiencing psychotropic effects (please bear in mindt that the three examples mentioned are not purely NMDA antagonists, but have more complex pharmacodynamics, with affinities for several different receptor systems which may all contribute to their unwanted psychotropic effects). I've collected a few articles on the effect of NMDA antagonists on benzodiazepine dependence, and highlighted some bits pertaining to NMDA antagonist treatment of benzodiazepine dependence in blue. I've also highlighted a few sentences pertaining to treatment of benzodiazepine dependence with AMPA antagonists in red - another area worth investigating further. Effect of NMDA antagonists on rapid tolerance to benzodiazepines We have reexamined the effect of NMDA antagonists [(+)MK-801 and ketamine] on rapid tolerance to chlordiazepoxide. (+)MK-801 and ketamine blocked the development of rapid tolerance to chlordiazepoxide, but this effect was dependent on the dose ratio of the NMDA antagonist to that of the benzodiazepine used to produce rapid tolerance. Furthermore, NMDA antagonists blocked both learned and unlearned tolerance to chlordiazepoxide. It appears that in addition to impairment of memory and learning, NMDA antagonists may also influence some other mechanism involved in the production of drug-tolerance. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8971413 The NMDA receptor competitive antagonist CPP modulates benzodiazepine tolerance and discontinuation Benzodiazepine discontinuation is characterized by a syndrome of increased activity and reduced seizure threshold that is similar to effects mediated by the glutamatergic system. To elucidate the involvement of the glutamatergic system in benzodiazepine tolerance and discontinuation, we administered lorazepam, the NMDA antagonist CPP, and the combination of these compounds either concomitantly or consecutively to mice via osmotic pumps and evaluated pentylenetetrazole-induced seizure threshold, open-field activity, and benzodiazepine receptor binding during and after chronic administration. Animals receiving lorazepam alone developed partial tolerance at 7 days and complete tolerance at 14 days to the anticonvulsant effects of lorazepam. This effect was partly attenuated by CPP coadministration with lorazepam. This combination produced only partial tolerance. A reduction in seizure threshold was observed 4 days after discontinuation of lorazepam alone. This effect was abolished by coadministration of CPP with lorazepam and by CPP administration during the withdrawal period. Benzodiazepine binding in most structures examined was significantly reduced at 14 days during chronic lorazepam administration (versus 1 day), and coadministration of CPP did not alter this decrement. After lorazepam discontinuation, binding was increased at 4 and 7 days versus chronically treated animals and versus vehicle within the cerebral cortex. This effect was abolished by coadministration of CPP as well as by CPP administration during the lorazepam withdrawal period. These data support the involvement of the glutamatergic system in benzodiazepine tolerance and discontinuation. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9399331 Diazepam dependence prevented by glutamate antagonists Long-term treatment leads to tolerance to and dependence on benzodiazepines. Abrupt termination of benzodiazepine administration triggers the expression of signs of dependence. Mice withdrawn from chronic treatment with diazepam showed a time-related evolution of anxiety, muscle rigidity, and seizures between days 4 and 21 after treatment discontinuation. A period between withdrawal days 1 and 3 was symptom-free. Surprisingly, during this "silent phase" the susceptibility of mice to alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-tert-butyl-4-isoxazolepropionate (ATPA) and kainate seizures and the magnitude of monosynaptic reflexes mediated by non-N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) mechanisms were enhanced. In apparent contrast, the "active phase", between withdrawal days 4 and 21, was characterized by increased susceptibility to NMDA seizures and enhanced magnitude of polysynaptic reflexes, which are NMDA dependent. Treatment of mice with alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate (AMPA) antagonists 1-(4-aminophenyl)-4-methyl-7,8-methylenedioxy-5H-2,3-benzodiazepine (GYKI 52466) or 2,3-dihydroxy-6-nitro-7-sulfamoylbenzo(f)quinoxaline but not with the NMDA antagonist 3-[(+/-)-2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl]-propyl-1-phosphonate (CPP) during the silent phase prevented signs of dependence. In contrast, treatment with CPP but not with GYKI 52466 during the active phase prevented the symptoms. The development of tolerance to and dependence on diazepam was prevented by concurrent treatment of mice with CPP but was not prevented by GYKI 52466. These data indicate that NMDA-dependent mechanisms contribute to the development of tolerance to diazepam and to the expression of signs of dependence in mice after termination of long-term treatment with diazepam. Nevertheless, the non-NMDA-mediated silent phase is essential for triggering the symptoms. Therefore, AMPA antagonists may offer a therapeutic approach for preventing dependence on benzodiazepines that is an alternative to NMDA antagonism. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8341715 If anyone is interested, I'd be more than willing to upload the full texts of the mentioned articles. Also, speculation (as to mechanisms and whatnot) is most welcome! :-)