how old were you when you got hppd? older brains less vulnerable?

[2muchmandy]

yeah man dont take drugs, drugs are fucking horrible ( ask me 4 months ago ) id have offered u an E and taken u to a rave myself. its funny how it took hppd for me to really see the downsides. oh how i regret my actions

[zukov]

25. Its been a year know and it really sucks.

[nepuinthesky]

do you think the damage happend to you is a form of chemical inbalance?

Not sure what you mean in this context. Now I have always been an anxious person and it is known that anxiety and depression increases chances of most neurological disease, including toxic encephalitis. Chronic stress is damaging to mind and body - a predisposition

I would love to see if I have a "COMT polymorphism" - worth checking into for research purposes. (again this would be limited to insurance $$$)

Specialist in "Environmental and Occupational Medicine" are familiar with this stuff. I was puzzled about 'allergy' that caused problem and asked about it. Was told they use the word 'sensitivity' because it isn't a true allergy, rather the brains immune system has been damaged and its ability to resolve toxic load is significantly reduced. So, in this context as well, chemical imbalance would apply in that the metabolic pathways can no longer work correctly.

i wanted to ask which form of damage you assume because there is no "detectable" damage in any scans. but i think you allready answerd it with your post.^^

did you ever contacted Dr Abraham and told him your story? i think it could be really usefull for his research.

[VisualDude]

Scans are 'coarse' and not the only thing available. For example, ALL parkinson's disease is diagnosed by observation. The ONLY way to know for sure is autopsy.

A few months back found info about different types of toxic encephalitis - that is, there are 'fingerprints' of how different types of chemicals cause injury. Was able to match and better understand the type of damage.

To start with, not all toxic encephalitis is permanent. Basically, anything that alters the brain's function would fit the category. Even drugs (prescription and recreation), though they are not classified that way.

Pertinant excerpts in my case:

Solvents: "Petroleum distillates such as gasoline, kerosene, .... Chronic effects may include peripheral neuropathy and Parkinsonism. ... solvent in the rubber ... industries. ..."

Solvent mixtures: "Combinations of solvents (such as those used in motor fuels, ...) represent the most typical occupational or community environmental exposure... Chronic solvent mixture effects have been reported to cause psychiatric symptoms of organic brain damage, including high somatic distress, depression, anxiety, and concentration difficulties..."

Acrylamide: "... Its mechanism is similar to solvent neuropathies in that it demonstrates an accumulation of neurofilaments in axons and is characterized by distal axonal degeneration that affects both peripheral and central axonal extensions. Unlike solvent neuropathies, it is associated with little secondary demylenation"

Put this together and you get: Petroleum and rubber byproducts caused damage to dopamine systems and cross-linked proteins in axons - primary and secondary demylenation (death of). This damage results in a buttload of symptoms. The secondary stuff is unrecoverable in the CNS. [ The cross-linked proteins leave one more vulnerable to develop autoimmune agains mylen (multiple sclerosis). ]

Anyway, you can see how 'clinical observation' and testing can yeild more information than a brain scan.

Another area of neurocognitive testing that showed is some functions are significantly slowed (2 to 4 times). This is due to 'cortical loops' - the brain literally rewiring alternate paths from the cortex in order to perform the function. These are always slower than the original function since they are a round-about-patch.

I wonder with longer term HPPD (6 months or more) if cortical loops develop. Then as the person gets better (repair of synaptic damage, gene expression, etc) they now have 2 pathways for the same function. How does the brain resolve this? Do they remain stuck in the 'patch' until something kicks up activity in original neurons?

[nepuinthesky]

I wonder with longer term HPPD (6 months or more) if cortical loops develop. Then as the person gets better (repair of synaptic damage, gene expression, etc) they now have 2 pathways for the same function. How does the brain resolve this? Do they remain stuck in the 'patch' until something kicks up activity in original neurons?

hmm could this be comperable to people who grow up since birth with two languages both languages are placed in the same language center. but for people who learn a second language later in life this second language is located in another part of the brain.

haha hope this is understandable sometimes i think my second language is placed outside of my brain^^ but iam writing additionally for my last exam tomorrow my brain is a bit like a blobfish today^^

[VisualDude]

[ludwig80]

Visual,

It's unfortunate that you were it effected you so much with such short exposure. How long were you exposed?

I hate that we make/use products that is so detrimental to people and the world around us. Hope the green movement eventually changes everything it can.

[VisualDude]

Exposures were always brief, usually a couple hours. It happened every week or two. Sometimes vision would start to deteriorate in just 15 minutes. The worst part was sometimes it would continue to deteriorate for about 3 weeks and not recover. Super creepy and confusing ... watching yourself dying, not knowing why, and being powerless to stop it. Because it was usually so delayed, it made it difficult to figure out where the problem was coming from. Thank God I did else I'd be like the other person or worse.

Others with bonafide HPPD can relate to delayed deterioration ... and the panic it can fill you with. This delayed, progressive deterioration was another clue that put me onto Parkinsonism.

[JamesB]

I can say, I honestly the first time I noticed things was the first time I ate a fresh peyote button, followed by a hit of lsd about an hour later. I was 13, in the 9th grade, last day of school before christmas break. I went to a gifted school, where the drug problem was huge- but nobody really cared because we had the highest grades of the county. We had full run of the place..Anyways, within a couple of hours I noticed the static in the clouds and the sky. I figured it would go away post trip, but it didn't, it also didn't bother me so I ignored it. Over the next 15 years I ate, smoked, snorted & shot my body weight in drugs a few times.. I also had a friend with a nice liquid connection for a while and would literally get puddled daily for about a year and half (with maybe a couple days break every other couple of weeks).. Now maybe, this is why it never faded away, but still to this day- the sky and clouds all just look like a transparency of a staticy channel is there just enough to notice. I see patterns when I close my eyes..The only time it really bothers me is-- long night-time drives when I stop for gas (I look like a deer caught in headlights), long debugging sessions at work- and the constant "glassy" eyes that I am stuck with even since I quit doing drugs a few years ago..

In other words, just don't think about it..It's not a big deal.. As far as the dr/dp part- I don't know enough about the topics- I never had been to fond of people or meeting them, unless introduced by somebody I already know- but that doesn't bother me- 90% of the general public is of no use to me-- And I freaking hate being out in public in large groups (of stupid people .. And I always know where I am at and what I am doing. My memory is fucking great and my vision otherwise is better than 20/20..

Lesson: Don't dwell on the dumb shit like tracers/static! I don't- I just found this site in the hopes of finding a name to be able to use to describe the condition (since I knew it had to have a name, no problem/issue is unique) when long time friends/myself bring things up in conversation.

[morbide]

Great post james! That is all