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Taking supplements whilst recovering from HPPD


Ghormeh Sabzi

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I have possible HPPD either from some use of mushrooms (once), MDMA or weed (or a combination). Who knows what else may have been in the MDMA I took. The visual snow and cell like floaters started in September, and a whole range of additional symptoms occurred in December (stupidly, I smoked some weed and took some MDMA a couple of times inbetween). Both times, the symptoms came about a month after my last drug use. Of course, I am having tests etc to make sure it is not something else.

Visual problems include visual snow, after images, halos, vertical ghost (double) imaging of objects (most prominent when looking at light sources), starbursts and rays of light, normal floaters, cell like floaters when looking into the sky, blotches of colour in vision and some other minor disturbances.

I have also been experiencing headaches (was really bad at one point, now seems to have settled down into head pressure), dizziness and fatigue/tiredness. One night I kept on waking up and having random trains of thought, and then I kept of forgetting what I was thinking about, and at the same time it felt like I was falling down. I wake up in the morning and I just don't feel quite 'right'. I have experiencing some anxiety as well. I don't suffer from DP/DR.

The visuals are annoying, and I hope to be able to find a way for them to disappear, but I can deal with them so long as I get my mind back. To facilitate this, I have been researching supplements that help with brain repair, headaches, anxiety, fatigue, normal immune system function, etc. So far, my stack includes: omega-3 fish oils, magnesium, zinc, B and C vitamins. This, along with a good diet and exercise seems to help with the non-visual symptoms, but I am still not 100%. Time is a healer, and I've only been taking these supplements for a couple of weeks. I guess patience is needed.

I'm looking into some more 'serious' supplements to help speed to process up, and today some gutu kola and ginko biloba arrived in the post. I have some ashwagandha and bacopa to come, and I am actively researching additional supplements to add. But I will experiment with these first and see how I get on.

So my questions are: has anyone else tried this? Any results? I read that it is sensible to cut out alcohol and caffeine to facilitate recovery (which I am), do you think supplements could slow down the process as well?

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  • 1 year later...

Hey Ghormeh,
just wondering whether you've experienced any benefits from Gotu Kola and Bacopa Monnieri?
I was reading up a bit on Bacopa, and found it has anti-convulsant effects. I have used it myself, but in a nootropic "stack" (AlphaBrain).
Recently I read it needed 12 weeks incubation for effects to emerge. 

Furthermore, it seems that Bacopa could potentiate Calcium Channel Blockers.. I don't know if "pre-synaptic calcium channel inhibition" (Keppra) is the same. In any case, perhaps it would be worth looking into as an adjunct to Keppra, or at least whether to avoid it with Keppra. If it would not harm the interaction of Keppra, it could be a nice sustainable anxiolytic nootropic adjunct.

I initially overlooked Gotu Kola because it is a GABA receptor agonist, which would induce GABA receptor downregulation. However it might be suitable for occasional use, like benzo's. Curious to whether the effect might be similar to Kava.

 

EDIT: I also recall reading something about 5HT2C receptor modulation by Bacopa, but can't seem to find details at the moment. Might be an interesting effect as well.

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Wow, this seems a long time ago! Initially I tried a whole bunch of things - I don't recall anything specifically significantly helping my situation. To save wasting money on things that probably weren't going to be of any great help I decided to just be as healthy as possible and eventually the headaches, weird feelings and anxiety went away over a few months, leaving me with just visuals and and other sensory disturbances (pain, tinnitus). I also got a full-time job a few months after dropping out of university, limiting the amount of time available to research. In the end I stopped experimenting and ended up just finishing off some supplements that I knew were going to be of benefit for general health if not anything else (fish oil, phosphatidylserine, vitamins and some others), and didn't buy any more. I've still got a whole load of supplements stored away.

 

I remember I developed tinnitus when on a trial of something called uridine - I'm not sure if it had a role to play there. Tinnitus has since reduced, but I can still hear it if I try to!

 

Supplements can be interesting to look into, but personally for my situation I feel my time and money is better spent elsewhere looking for answers. But for certain people they can be of great use, especially if you have things like anxiety or brain fog to deal with, with lots of reports they can be useful for these types of things. I think NAC has helped a few on this forum feel a little sharper in the mind - maybe give that a search.

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