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Man.... I'm really going to have to pay attention a bit more. This sounds a lot like what has been happening to me lately but I havent played attention enough to notice a pattern. It sounds very similar though! Thanks for the post

For anyone else that's interested my diet and supplements have been VERY consistent. Only deviating on the holidays and weekends if I end up at a restaurant. Usually I can tell by an increase in my symptoms when I do. Prebreakfast: L-tyrosine before shower with juice. Breakfast: rolled oats, blueberries, honey, nuts, chia seeds, cinnamon, whole milk. B complex, Vit D3, oil of oregano, magnesium, adrenal herbs, anti inflammatory herbs. Morning tea: usually green rooibus or tulsi(holy basil) 2 cups. Mid morning: protein shake- whole milk, natural peanut butter, 1 banana, whey protein Lunch: salad - spinach, kale, chard, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, beets, carrots, brocolli, tomato, balsamic vinegar and chicken Afternoon: green smoothie- spinach plus chard, kale, cilantro or other greens. 1 whole peeled lemon, 1 chunk ginger root, apple juice and pineapple. Snack: milk + peanut butter, or maybe a raw carrot or something similar Supper: sweet potato or steamed rice, steamed vegetable (usually brocolli, asparagus, bell pepper or similar), and clean meat of some sort (grilled chicken, grass fed steak, wild sockeye salmon or other fish- sometimes substitute eggs for meat) I only use coconut oil to cook with, and olive oil as a dressing for veggies. Night time I drink lots of herbal teas,one of the following every evening: burdock root, nettle root, ginger, peppermint, dandelion root,licorice root, holy basil, motherwort, chamomile, lemon balm green rooibus. Night time supplements: vit C, oil of oregano, magnesium, and herbal tinctures I made myself: blue vervain, motherwort (these really help and are considered nervine tonics), nettle, burdock or otherwise. Currently growing reishi mushrooms too,will make a tincture and add that to the regimen. They should be ready to harvest in a month or two. IM DETERMINED TO GET BETTER!!!

Oh ... Hppd24.... I forgot to answer a few questions. I have eaten and smoked lots of pot in my life, but certainly not since this has started so I can't say what affect it would or wouldn't have. I'm not about to chance it though this think has been a nightmare for me. I'll let you know about the tinnitus and other symptom reduction in response to regular exercise. As mentioned I started yesterday and will be consistent for the next few months at least if my joints don't bother me. I'm hoping to get fully cleared up in the next month or two. The most prominent symptom remaining is the weird headspace from time to time & intermittent depression. Overall Tinnitus has decreased substantially but worsens when the above mentioned symptoms flare up. Also, my visuals are mostly gone but I my perception at times doesnt seem normal either. Sometimes it seems near normal, and sometimes "enhanced" a bit... I think overall I'm healing and everything is slowly decreasing to the point that its hard to tell at times if my perceptions are normal or not. I'm going to keep my diet clean and workout hard and consistent the next month and cross my fingers it wipes this completely out.

Thanks guys. Bad news is I had to cancel my Hawaii trip. the tranny went out in my truck and I was out of PTO anyway so wasn't getting paid for the time off. Between loosing two weeks of pay from no PTO, to the cost of the trip itself, Lu's the expense of the truck repairs it just wasn't in the cards. Good news is I'm feeling better and better. The depression seems to be easing up a little. I've been going to Phoenix every weekend to see my family (I live 1.5 hours away) and girlfriend. With the beautiful weather down there and being around my family its really helped me stay positive. Still get a weird "headspace" from time to time though. Mostly seems to be tied to lack of sleep or eating sugar. Alcohol is a no go. Two glasses of wine two weekends ago sent me into a depressive state that almost brought me to tears. If I eat clean and avoid alcohol I do pretty OK. Visuals are almost all gone, except when the weird headspace and/or depression comes. Tinnitus increases at those times too.... All of which seems to be linked to sugar or no sleep, I avoid alcohol but tried the wine as a test so to speak. Hppd24years - as far as exercise and tinnitus. I'm not entirely sure. I have NOT been working out much the last three weeks. When I was really gone at the onset of all this, the symptoms were soooo bad I was forced to workout HARD every day just to get a one or two hour window where I could keep a grip on my sanity before the madness set in again. In my past I bodybuild for over 15 years and have a lot of joint damage from it. Once I started recovering even a little and was somewhat stable I gave my joints time to recuperate .... That's why I haven't been working out this last month.(I'd do a 5 mile bike ride maybe once a week as well as pushups and chins here and there but only once or twice a week tops) I'm sure my symptoms/recovery have lingered because of this but I had to find a balance so to speak. My joints are feeling great now, and I started up a new routine yesterday. Already I'm feeling that its really going to help out my recovery and hopefully wipe this thing completely out. We'll see! I'm seeing an orthopedic naturopath and he's had me on an inversion table, it seems to really help and between that and the rest my joints are feeling great. (I have a fractured L4, L5 that's slipping forward, disk disease in that area and a herniated disc in my C3 with nerve compression -all from years of heavy squats). The doc said he's 100% certain he can get my back fixed (with no surgery) to where I'm working out full force again without issue. In a round about way this hppd helps because I thought I was gonna need surgury! From here on out I'm doing bodyweight excersises exclusively, with lots of stretching and feel pretty good on it Thanks again guys, I'll keep updating.

Jay- you've been a big help, and you better believe it. I was done with drugs BEFORE this happened, as mentioned it had been a long time. When we said one last hoorah, I didn't realize how literal that almost ended up being. I'm not even so much as drinking alcohol, much less drugs. Tonight I'm having worse depression than I've ever had before (ironically right after I posted this), so things are still out of whack ... But as mentioned I'm improving and the last week or two has been really, really good. I'll take it and I know I'll continue to improve. I got to bed late last night due to visitors so that could be it. This has changed me in many ways, I've really had to dig deep the last few months and I'm continuing to do so. Thanks again and I'll be popping back in before long as I don't think I'm completely in the clear but rather just made remarkable improvements. Tonights depression is a good example of the crazy ups and downs. I'm heading to Hawaii for 10 days, I decided fk it, I need to get a change of scenery. Hoping that'll help. If anyone lives there and wants to hit the beach let me know. I have no plans I'm just gonna backpack my way around and see if I can't find the part of myself I lost. Happy Turkey day everyone!

Update: I'm doing tremendously better! Two weeks off the xanax and my "headspace" is mostly clear. The dizziness is rare and mild when it comes on, there's been no more anxiety attacks, my heart rate and bp have been pretty stable and palpitations are gone. There's no shaking or trembling anymore, I'm sleeping through the night with no aids, all food sensitivity has dissappeared, the intense fatigue is gone, rare and minimal depression moments and most importantly.... I feel like "I'm back"...for the most part. I don't feel 100%, but compared to the last few months I'm a zillion times better. I'm healing. I still have mild visuals, sometimes worse than others, but those are the least of my concerns and I can live with them if I need to (I suspect they'll continue to improve). I still have mild tinnitus that seems to go away with background noise, only being noticed when it's quiet, but its mild and manageable. I was so out of it that I think my dates are wrong in this thread. We ate the mushrooms July 20, my first symptoms appeared around sept. 15-20, it's now two months later November 26 and I feel almost recovered so looks like I'll be one of the 3 monthers! Im guessing another month I'll see further if not complete resolution of symptoms. Hang in there people, it really does get better! I really, truly thought I was going to die for awhile there... And according to the EKG and other tests I did while I was at work, I could have. I went to crazy town.... That's for sure, looks like they denied my application.

Thanks Jay, I appreciate the input. I think I have the diet thing down now and feel well nourished, I really believe I have been dealing with some kind of endocrine malfunction in addition to hppd (either that or the hppd is triggering the endocrine malfunction, or the endocrine malfunction is triggering the hppd). Long story short I felt pretty good the last two weeks eating completely clean, green smoothies, clean meats, hormone free milk, protein shakes, krill oil, vitamins, l tyrosine, and herbal supplements. I've had some dizziness and weakness but I suspect that might be due to the xanax itself? On Sunday we walked by a pizza place and I ended up splurging and ate a whole pizza Lol. In part out of curiosity in part because I wanted to Lol. The good news is it didn't affect me! So aparantly my body is healing in some ways. I'm back to eating clean and regimented regardless. Bad news is on Monday (two days ago) I decided to cut my daily .5 mg xanax extended release pills in half and take only half a day. I have been feeling the effects and don't feel to good today. I'm getting pretty depressed pretty easily. I wonder if I'm bypassing the extended release mechanism on the pill by cutting it half? I think I am so in essence I'm getting .25 in the evening but nothing during the day. Which explains why I feel shitty. Either way I'm gonna buckle down and do this for a week, maybe two...then come off completely and hope I can stay stable with mild to moderate symptoms rather than regress back to the severe symptoms that I came from. I don't know if I'm strong enough to go back there and make it out. One things for sure... This thing is a bitch of a rollercoaster, ups and downs day by day, sometimes hour by hour! Keep your head up everyone, I'm doing my best to do the same. :/

Hey everyone, just wanted to update. I'm doing much better than before, but I'd still call it simply doing "OK". My naturopathic doctor prescribed me xanax xr .5mg daily. She said this is huge for her because she's obviously NOT a pharmaceutical fan. In addition to an herbal adrenal formula the shaking and anxiety has mostly stopped. I have days where I feel completely normal, but then I'll have flare ups. I have been on the xanax for 30 days, I had to, I couldnt take it. The shaking, no sleep for three weeks, deafening tinnitus and complete balls on hallucinations were to much to take. Not to mention the palpitations and heart rate randomly dropping and skyrocketing. My bp would shot from 120/70 to 180/50 and drop to 88/40. All the cardiac problems have went away since taking the xanax. I am getting to the point that I want to try coming off it, but I need to get a few things ironed out first. I'm noticing a HUGE connection with my diet and bad flare ups. When I eat clean and exercise I feel good, but I have lossed a ton of weight and not in a good way. I was feeling starved so I'd binge and eat some junk. Pizza, tacos.... Whatever. When I do I get huge flare ups for about two hours. Hallucinations, OEV's, bad tinnitus, loopy thoughts, etc. So I am trying to iron out a natural diet that will give me more calories. I'm eating all the obvious ones, avocados, nuts, etc etc. My doc wanted me to come off gluten and dairy so I did. But I added dairy back last week because I need it to keep my calories up (protein shakes in addition to meals) or I feel like I'm starving. I haven't noticed any connection to dairy and flare ups, but if I eat something greasy watch out its gonna be a shit show. Coconut oil seems to be fine. Last night asparagus with cooked olive oil threw me into a BAD flare up. Still feeling it today. (Aparantely when you cook with olive oil it turns into trans fats.... So that's consistent with the flare ups I get when eating anything even remotely greasy) Anyway, that's where I'm at. Hoping to get my diet ironed out and have a week or two of no bad flare ups and I'll try to come off the xanax. I'm about two months in, on .5 mg extended release daily. Think I'll cut it to .25mg for a week then come off and hope I can be stable. I know the switch that flipped won't flip back if I'm on a CNS depressant so I really want to get off as soon as possible but Im supervisor of an ultrasound lab full time, in school full time (took this semester off because of this shit), have my own home to be responsible for, as well as a hefty load of other responsibilities and I'm doing my best not to let it all fall apart.... But its close at times, damn close. Its been a fucking rollercoaster. If I concentrate on reading or learning anything for longer than a few hours I don't feel good. Trying to make hard decisions and deliberating on anything for to long does the same. Even just talking for an hour or two wears me out. Plus now I'm noticing side effects from the xanax, weakness, fatigue, nausea, etc. P.S. I told the doc the truth about the mushrooms, she was cool with it. So much so that I'm now growing reishi mushrooms for her and she's still pushing mW to go to medical school.

Hello,I'm really sorry to hear about all of this. I'm in the same boat with it being newly acquired. Exercise is the only thing that really seems to help, and by help I mean going from pulling my hair out to feeling damn near normal in three days. I've always been very athletic so it wasn't hard for me, but if you are having this hard a time, get a bike and force yourself to ride it for an hour every day. This morning I rode to work in the cold, we will have snow soon,and I'm still gonna ride, I'll just bundle up. It sucks yes, but not as much as the alternative. Keep in mind I'm only about 3 weeks to a month in. Here's my thread if you want more details: http://hppdonline.com/index.php?/topic/4132-hi-everyone-i-guess-im-part-of-the-group-now/#entry25816

Thanks so much for your replies guys. I'm having another bad night after the last three nights were good and one was damn near normal. As mentioned, my doc drew labs (get the results tomorrow), and referred me to a naturopathic doctor. That doctor gave me some "adrenal/liver" support herbs and a herbal cortisol blocker (ashwaganda). Those herbs stopped my symptoms in their tracks on Thursday and I finally got sleep with the help of nyquil. Woke up the next day on friday feeling lousy, posted my introduction post and then went on a run and felt much better! Slept through the night with Tylenol pm. Sat it was raining so I lifted weights hard. Felt good and with almost two nights sleep and the herbs as well as two tylenol PM I slept all night although I tossed and turned. Sunday felt even better, went on a 1 hour road bike ride. Felt about 50% better than the day before and slept again with herbs and only one Tylenol pm this time. Monday went on another 1 hour ride and felt almost normal! Maybe 90%! I slept all night with only a small amount of herbs and no Tylenol pm!!! Today, Tuesday I didn't workout and it seems I'm paying dearly. I'm sitting here ears ringing, electric buzz over my body, trying to stay calm.heavy dose of herbs and two Tylenol pm didn't take it down enough to sleep. I think I'm going to come clean with the herbal doc and tell her the whole story she's so awesome, and genuinely seems to care. I know if she's gonna be able to help she needs to know the whole story, I live in a small community and I work in healthcare so out of fear for my job and reputation I'm extremely reluctant to tell anyone, but she seems trustworthy and I just hsve thst gut feeling about her that really resonates. I really believe (hope) she can help me through this. Friday she called me every two hours from her cell, then every twenty minutes until the herbs and Tylenol pm did their thing. Who does that in this day in age? Anyway, I'm going to ride my bike to work and home everyday (12 -14 miles total) from here on out in hopes it regulates me. I'm worried if I don't get sleep tonight things will decline again and I still don't have the strength to go back to that place and make it out in one piece. Even if I could just get a single week of good sleep and exercise I think id be more resilient. Million dollar question, I still have a xanax, do I take it to get sleep so i can workout or just white knuckle the night out and be exhausted tomorrow???? BTW, I work in a cardiac clinic so I have caught ekg's jumping from 60 BPM to 107 BPM. My bp is normally around 110-120/60 but have recorded it as high as 166 and today as low as 88!!! I felt almost normal the last two nights though. I felt dizzy and cognitive function wasnt great but was feeling like i was coming out of it. Everyone here talks about hppd as a CNS problem,but my hallucinations were almost gone the day before and yesterday they completely stopped, until I got stressed today (which didn't take much, I'm tattered and frayed from the last three weeks). They instantly started coming back when I got stressed and I took the adrenal herbs and meditated and they went away again. Has anyone considered if this is a hormonal problem? Seratonin is produced by the adrenals, in my case I taxed my adrenals with coffee and stress for to long and its triggering hallucinations when it flares up. Either that or my CNS is just fried and causing my adrenals to dump. Without a doubt its my hormones dumping because the hormone herbs DO reduce symptoms. The question is is this simply a glandular problem or is it my CNS freaking out and therebby causing the hormones to dump .... which then in turn cause hallucinations. I'm hoping for the former, I'm scared its the latter. One thing I can say is I noticed an almost immediate reduction in symptoms when I take those adrenal herbs. Tonight though, the reduction isn't great enough and now I'm up. Tomorrow is gonna suck. Last statement for the day: even with it raging on me tonight, its not as bad as it was. Exercise and sleep seem to be key. I can exercise daily if need be from here on out but im scared what will happen if I don't get sleep! In the meantime, any and all support is a godsend, I don't have the words to thank you all enough.

Hello, I'm 36 years old, am an ultrasound tech, have experimented with drugs in the past when I was younger but stopped everything other then alcohol on the weekends for over a decade. A few months ago (july 20th) it was my brother in laws 40th bday and neither of us had done any kinds of drugs for a long time. He recently got married and is having a baby on the way, he wanted one last horrah so to speak as we were friends when we were younger. we decided to eat some mushrooms. I think it was around 3 grams or so. The night was ok ended up getting pretty intense but I white knuckled my way through it. Heres the weird thing that i feel is important, I was fine for a month or a month and a half after! Took a trip to see my grandparents with my girlfriend, working on my house... Normal stuff, I was fine. Looking back I was very restless and I had previously had trouble sleeping for over a year but i really believe it was due to a drinking lots of coffee. I had developed a bad coffee habit over the last year or so. Anywhere from 2-6 cups of strong coffee a day or sometimes 4 shots of espresso in a sitting. My memory is foggy ATM but I don't recall having any issues until I got an anxiety attack one day working in the yard. Still though,even after I felt "ok". I decided to cold turkey the coffee and stopped the next day. That's when shit hit the fan. I have had severe symptoms ever since and I'm scared to death. Its been 3 weeks or so,and the days are tolerable but I'm dizzy. At night i have crawling visual hallucinations when I look at flat surfaces, get crawling OEV's and without sleep for almost three weeks the trip to the grocery store an hour ago was hard. No social anxiety really, but everything is just so bright and audible hallucinations don't help. When it gets dark it becomes UNBEARABLE. I can't sleep,I'm trying not to take anything to knock me out because I read on this forum its better to be clean and like I said, I haven't used anything for over a decade previous to this. I had surgery last year they have me hydrocodone, I did take even one through the whole recovery. I've always worked out quite a bit and do feel better, but when it gets time to sleep the electric buzz grows stronger and stronger, thoughts loop faster and faster, and the ringing in my ears becomes deafining. I sat shaking for 4 hours straight last night. I'm sooooo scared and try to calm myself down, and I can sometimes, but other times it consumes me and I sit shaking in an electric vibration that rips apart my soul. I've been scared to go seek help, due to how it occurred but more prominently I'm worried about my job finding out or it leaking into the community. Front desk and medical assistant personnel are chatty Kathy's and I don't believe for one second anyone cares about HIPPA when it cones to juicy gossip. I've taken .25 mg of xanax that a concerned friend gave me, that seems to help, but after taking it 3 days in a row I was having weird thoughts so I'm not sure I want to try it again. Last night I took some nyquil, it put me down and allowed me to sleep but today things seem worse. I'm exhausted, getting delirious somehow I'm ok to do my job but nights are horrific. With all that being said,when I workout,for a few hours after I feel almost normal so I'm hopeful I may be lucky and have this go away. I've consulted a MD and told her about the anxiety and coffee but not the mushrooms She's running labs, waiting for the results. She referred me to a naturopathic MD. I didn't tell her about the mushrooms either but she gave me an herbal cortisol blocker (ashwaganda) to take at night and an herbal adrenal and liver support product. She even called me to check on me today and says I should go to medical school,she says she thinks I'm to smart to be in ultrasound my whole life. I joked with her today and said let me get my brain better and we'll talk. Little does she know.... I wasn't joking. At this point I don't think I'm gonna make it through this without help, and am considering confiding in her and see if she has any ideas. I called two psychologists today and left messages but no returned calls. If I get really drunk it all goes away for about three days, but then comes back with a vengeance. Because of the dramatic reduction in symptoms when I exercise, I'm hopeful I can exercise my way out of it, but I'm not gonna be able to if I can't sleep. The daytime dizziness and off kilted feelings are bearable,but the raging inferno that appears at night is wearing me down night by night. Please, please tell me how you guys get to sleep? Is there anything I can take. If I have to I might take the xanax again tonight. I know I shouldn't, and I don't want to delay recovery, but I'm getting close to my breaking point.