extremist

Yeah, developing something like this has really shown me how primitive modern medicine is. I always held a doctor visit in my pocket as a last resort in case I couldn't figure it out myself. After I hit the breaking point I went to the doctor and realized he was even more clueless than I am. It's a very confining and scary feeling to know that you don't have any idea what's wrong with you and neither does anybody else.

I think most cases of HPPD are temporary. Some more temporary than others.

Yeah, I'm very worried that it might make my problem worse. But I've heard that people have taken it and noticed immediate improvements. It won't arrive for about a month anyway, so I'll give it a while to see how things improve first. Thanks a lot for the post!

I'm going to start taking piracetam because I've heard of other people with DXM-induced problems having success with it. Has anybody tried taking it before?

Yeah, they weren't alarming to me like the visual snow is. Just something I'd never realized before, so I thought it was interesting. Really, the visuals aren't as distressing to me as the derealization/dissociation, but I'm not sure if that's an HPPD thing or a comorbidity, or if it means it's something else entirely.

I was just outside in the dark, looking at streetlights. Wow, crazy halos. I never noticed them before but I'm guessing they've been there the whole time.

That's definitely what I've been hoping.

I just spoke to the psychiatrist, and, sort of like anticipated, they told me the doctor made a mistake and there's no way I have psychosis and no way they can help me. I'm meant to see a neurologist, but that can take up to 15 months.

This is purely conjecture, but I think different drugs cause different sorts of HPPD. Some of them are related to up or downregulation of neurotransmitters. It's also hypothetically possible that it's from direct damage to the brain. If it's the former, recovery comes when neurotransmitter levels revert over time, and you should be able to go back to whatever you were doing before. Other more insidious causes may mean a longer recovery (or no recovery) and regression when drugs are used in the future. Even if my reasoning is wrong (and it may be - please correct me if it is) the bottom line is generally the same: maybe. You won't know until you try and you need to consider the risk of regression when you're contemplating smoking again. It may help a lot if you tell us about how how your HPPD started and such. There may be somebody who acquired it under similar circumstances and recovered that can shed some light.

Is low dopamine the main cause of DP/DR, or could it also be high dopamine?

Yeah, it doesn't help that most docs don't know a lot about HPPD. I hope the psychiatrist is able to help me more.

For what it's worth, I have floaters and have become a lot more aware of them, but I don't have any starbursting.

I'm sorry, I'm not arguing at all about what the best course of action is with regards to HPPD. Rather, I'm wondering if his assessment of psychosis can agree with my assessment of HPPD.

As far as I know, psychosis simply means an abnormal sense of reality. HPPD, with its comorbid DP/DR considered, seems to fit that to me. But I'm not an expert. I'm curious about their opinion and want to know what you think.

I saw a doctor and they told me it was psychosis, but they also told me that cannabis is more dangerous than cough syrup and kept mixing it up with codeine. I'm not really sure how much I should believe them, but I'm going to see a psychiatrist for help with the anxiety if anything. I suppose it could also be argued that HPPD is a form of psychosis.