Why did I have a bad trip?

I took acid for the first time a couple of months ago and had a pretty bad trip. It was way stronger and lasted much longer than I expected. I know I went about some things in the wrong way but I was wondering why exactly it turned bad.
So I had been out with friends and drinking a fair amount and got back to my flat and was having a great time and in a good mood so I thought why not take it now? It was already about 2 in the morning which was a mistake. Me and my friend had 1 sugar cube each. It started to kick in within about 15 minutes, with colours and lots of laughing. Then I looked into my friends eyes and the colours turned negative. I started tripping more and more but was fine with it for a few hours. Then I got the idea that I could have a bad trip, and as soon as I got the idea it started to happen. I didn't have a clue what was happening and can't remember much. All sense of time was lost, at one point I felt like the whole trip condensed into a single point. At points I didn't realise I existed. Everything was happening in cycles and I thought I was trapped there forever. Someone in my family is Schizophrenic, which made me think I had made myself insane. I thought my friend was the devil and he knew everything I was thinking and was laughing at me for taking acid and turning myself insane.
I eventually started feeling ok at about 8 in the morning, 6 hours after I took it. But I was still tripping pretty hard. From then on I slowly became more sober and went into a horrible come down. I couldnt sleep until 10 oclock the following night. All in all I think I was having visual effects for about 20 hours of this one cube.
I was later told that the cube contained more than a single dose. Apparently an "experienced tripper" had taken the same thing and ended up being arrested for causing a disturbance at a hospital.

 

well i noticed you thought about possibly having a bad trip and that could have started it, things that cause anxiety can tweak you out and possibly like in your case give you a bad trip, and it got worse cause it seems like you kept thinking about it.

i have found if i get in a bad situation like that i just try to remember its just a drug it will go away, even if the images stay they get funny once you get it into your mind that they are fake. but if its a serious problem again, maybe take a xanex or valium to calm things down. DONT SMOKE BUD it just intensifies things.

yeah it really looks like one bad thing lead to a worse one which is where you got caught.

and as for the "20 hours" that is probably just you being really worked up from what had just happened. and same goes for the sleep you were probably stressed from what just happened. but next time id say go into it clean (nothing excpet weed or something low key) and then just go in nature with a buddy or alone and have some fun with lucy

 

Yeah well I did realise that it was because of the drug, but I had decided that time didn't exist so I thought that it was forever. And I think the scare stories of drugs triggering mental illness got into my head. There was really about 10 hours of actual tripping and then a gradual decline. I think it was a very strong hit - too much for someone's first time. It was like every part of reality was stripped away until there was no time or self or anything, and it was pretty frightening. My friend had the same as me and he had similar experiences.

 

its not a toy

 

What makes you think I see it as a toy?

 

taking it on a whim at 2 am while drunk, for one thing. but dont get all defensive. my post is an answer to your question. "why did i have a bad trip?" "because you used it irresponsibly". you want a good time, set a whole day aside for it, do it with a friend, be well rested, healthy, sober. then maybe the energies wont freak you out. you gotta be supremely balanced to embark on this journey and expect a good time. any little kink in your system is gonna be mucho amplified.

 

you control the flight of your spaceship by the thoughts you think

to trip requires learning to control your thoughts

you had a bad trip because you thought you had a bad trip. LSD is very quick to make a reality of what your thoughts are. Any psychedellic is, even weed does this in subtler ways.

sure you coulda not drank before hand, sure you coulda planned before hand, sure you coulda done alot of things. But some people could do it just fine. Some people can stay up for days on LSD. How could such a person do something? Practice in spiritual technique for one, which is really nothing more than learning to control thoughts, or a deeper level, learning to control the energy in and around your body.

What you describe of everything being stripped away is the experience of LSD. It is the psychedellic experience. That is what happens to everyone. But not everyone thinks it as bad, not everyone becomes fearful when losing the self. Some people can see the beauty without the self and thats largely what people having 'good' trips manage to do. They can let go of themselves, they can stop paying attention to themselves to see what is actually there.

But the 'good' and the 'bad' trip thing is really inconsequential. You do not take LSD to have a bad trip and you cannot take lsd to have a good trip. What you take LSD for is to learn. And learn you will no matter what happens. LSD is not about good or bad, it is not about heaven and hell, it is not about duality. LSD is about learning and lsd is about unity.

I take it that you have not read very much into psychedellic literature. This is something valuable to do especially if your trying to cognize the nature of your experience. The psychedellic realms, as weird, mysterious and unknown as they are have been travelled by many and they have been written about by many. Some people have attempted to lay down roadmaps, carve little trails here and there. Which are nothing but tiny backroads in a huge forest, but seeing how one person trekked through one portion of it can often provide insight into how you can trek through it. I'd recomend reading this book http://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/psychedelic_experience/psychedelic_experience.shtml
Its one of the first books written on the experience of LSD. It covers preperation before a session, generalized content of a session and ways to potentially help guide a session. I found it pretty valuable knowledge to know before going into LSD.

 

Mr Writer, I accept that taking it so late and while drunk might not have been a good idea. I thought that because I was in such a good mood at the time that it would be ok.
Rygoody, thanks foter the reply. It certainly was a learning experience and not one that I regret. However I do think it could have gone a lot better. I still think the main problem was the strength of the dose. As I said, an "experienced tripper" took the same thing and went to accident and emergency because he was having a bad trip. He ended up being arrested and put in restraints there.

 

i had this exprience with a thumb print back in the mid 90's which was very early in my tripping "career" if you will. and it was very frightening .. now im in my 30's and many many trips later. you will learn to control those thoughts and just let yourself go no matter what the dose is. dont give up on it. if you really feel like lsd can be beneficial in your life it will be. if your just taking it to "have a good time" i say stick to drinking or smoking weed. lsd is most defintly not for the faint of heart. ive seen many ppl have bad trips and i know the feeling.

 

Thanks gpkid. I was beginning to wonder if maybe lsd just isn't for me. I'm a pretty introspective person as it is. I sometimes get paranoid just from weed.

 

Yeah if you get paranoid from weed then lsd doesn't sound like it is for you. I usually remind myself no matter what happens during a trip, it will eventually come to an end. All my trips have been good to great. My only bad trip was when I took shrooms and went to a mega club. Thats when I learned its so not a party drug. I came to the realization at the time that everyone in the club were all phonies and the whole place seemed like a demon haven.

 

I'm able to get acid in tab form (Hoffman's acid I'm told). I would expect to be much more in control of the dose this way, so I might try taking half a tab and waiting an hour or so and slowly increasing the dose until i get threshold effects. I feel like I jumped in the deep end with the sugar cube I took and that's why I had a bad trip. Would you guys consider this a good plan?

 

don't alter the doseage. increase it if anything. super low dose lsd is not even going to give you an opportunity to learn whether or not you're ready.

you can't learn to swim in the ocean by dipping your fingers in your kitchen sink.

 

this is defitly tru.. i would just try eating two full blotters this time around.

 

The dose I had last time was very strong. It was more than 2 blotters (I didn't know this at the time). I don't see how even stronger is a good idea. What's wrong with having a less intense trip to get used to it?

 

theres not much of a trip at low doses. its just "being high" really. you'll see pretty colors and giggle. i don't see how this will prepare you for a high dose.

the thing is, nothing will. that's the whole secret to being prepared for a high dose. there is no preparation. down the hatchet!

 

2 blotters measured at 150 - 180 mics will do you just fine as long as you wait a couple weeks in between. im sure that cube was probly only about 400- 500 mics at best. but just eating a half of a hit and spacing out more wont do anything really except pro long sleep..lol.. correct me if im wrong but i think this is what writer is refering to.

 

Reading your posts it is obvious you have some personal issues precipitating thoughts that are not conducive to good tripping.

1. The idea that someone or something could be the devil.
Do you really believe in the devil?

2. The idea that someone could have thought reading abilities or psychic powers over you. Do you really think this is possible?

3. The idea that you are going insane, compounded by the schizophenic family member thing. How do you know you are not already insane?

Believe it or not these are pretty common things that cause people bad thoughts while tripping.
You should probably try to resolve these issues within yourself before you trip again...

Real Psyconauts know they need to have a good solid core of sobriety and mental stability to withstand the onslaught of the full tripping experience. Without it, you will go insane...



Or you could just stick with booze... that should keep you in the collective mindset.
ZW

 

1. I don't believe in the devil, which made it strange. I saw him as an embodiment of everything bad. At this point I thought everything was in my head and part of myself and in a way I saw him as an aspect of myself.

2. Is explained in 1. He was me really, and so knew everything I knew. It was really triggered when he said "I know what you're thinking" about something else, which I took very literally.

3. This is exactly the point. I was worried that I was insane. How do you know that you're not insane?

What's with the comment about booze and keeping me in the collective mindset? Seems quite a negative thing to say.

 

what you were experinceing is refered to as "ego death" where your totaly outside of yourself time seems to stand completly still.. it can be very scary if you let.. you just have to keep remingind yourself that its just the drug and it will wear off.. i truly love this feeling. you dont know if your realy dead or alive. i to see demons sometimes if im watching TV. dont let it get to you. you have to stay positive when your tripping really hard or a bad situation go to worse in an instant..