Tinnitus After Taking LSD

Hello my name is lisa and I'll try to keep this as brief as possible...

Last Saturday I took some LSD (tested it and it's good acid, and my husband did it too and he was fine) and had a good trip, I was very tired and I wanted to go to sleep but I couldn't so I decided to take 525mg Benadryl and still didn't fall asleep until Sunday night... On Monday morning I was hearing a buzzing and I tried ignoring it but I wouldn't go away, Tuesday morning I was home alone and I started to hear a noise inside my head that would gradually get louder and louder and I was freaking out I almost had a mental breakdown, I thought my head was going to explode.. I couldn't stop focusing on the noise no matter how hard I tried to keep myself busy, I tried going out to clear my mind, I tried painting, I tried talking to my husband and nothing made the noise go away. I decided to go to the ER on Thursday morning and the doctor told me that it was an adverse drug reaction that caused my tinnitus, he said it'll eventually go away but I'm really scared and stressed out I want this to go away already...

My question is, has anyone with adverse drug reaction tinnitus been able to recover from it??

I don't wanna be alone I'm truly scared i feel like I'm losing my mind, I wanna know if I'll be ok.

I hope you guys reply I need support, thanks everyone and stay strong.

 

Many drugs have been known to cause tinnitus. I don’t know anything about LSD or Benadryl having a relation to being ototoxic so I have no idea.

The good news is that many people take drugs (perscription) that can aggravate their tinnitus temporarily and then it goes back to normal levels. There is a better chance that drug induced tinnitus will go away vs noise induced so you have better chances than most.

Tinnitus is also thought to have a deep connection with our emotions as well so any substances that can effect our emotions can greatly alter how our brain perceives tinnituS. Seeing that LSD is a hallucinogenic drug I would suggest staying away from it if you don’t want to make your tinnitus worse. Also, LSD is not regulated and can literally have any chemicals in it that can be ototoxic that you don’t know about so don’t take it if you don’t want to risk it.

 

Stories of interactions of one kind or another between LSD and tinnitus abound online; some people claim that so-called microdose regimens actually reduce their tinnitus, others say the opposite.

It sounds like you took a "normal" dose of some kind, is it safe to assume you have reasonable prior experience with the substance? I don't know what a modern LSD test kit entails, but I do know there's a bunch of stuff out there on blotter paper these days which is close enough to LSD that it might pass a 3-reagent panel. Of course, this is stuff like 1p-LSD and AL-LAD which is so close to LSD that you wouldn't expect it to cause peripheral effects that LSD itself does not.

All that aside; I have seen a handful of stories over the years of people developing acute tinnitus following ingestion of LSD, psilocybin or DMT. In some cases this has been time-limited; all these things can throw your normal chemistry out of whack pretty significantly, so I would give it at least a couple weeks before assuming you're dealing with something really long term.

There are a few possible causes I can think of; the serotonin system has been pretty strongly implicated in parts of the tinnitus network, and psychedelic drugs disrupt serotonin function. I suppose this could either "cause" tinnitus by setting up some new kind of firing pathways, or cause you to "notice" a tinnitus signal which previously existed but was being filtered out before reaching conscious awareness.

Some people get jaw tension on LSD; if you stress or strain your TMJ this can cause some ear ringing.

Short story: real, lab grade LSD is generally pretty physically safe as far as recreational drugs go and there's a pretty good chance you're dealing with some kind of transient, temporary thing that's going to settle down a lot in the short to mid term, if you can sort of let go of it a bit. But, hallucinogens do change wiring and can cause long term changes (example: until 1999 I used to believe I was a sentient, independent being; now I know that I'm just a small cog in the vast fractal machine elf consciousness network which creates, experiences and destroys the universe moment by moment; also I spend a lot more time wondering about animal cognition than I used to).

 

this is the most profound thing I've ever read on this forum...

 

My reaction to tinnitus was very strong in the beginning. It was extremely intrusive and didn't know how I could live with it. Move ahead in time and while my tinnitus hasn't changed much, my reaction to it has changed a lot. Hard to believe at the start of tinnitus, but the brain has amazing way of filtering out unwanted sounds given time.

 

A few people online claim to have gotten tinnitus from psychedelics. Who knows, anything is possible with these substances. I think it's more likely that it's something else though. Your perception of your being has changed, and perhaps you now hear a sound that your brain previously tuned out. Maybe it was there all along. Psychedelics "reset" the brain, and I personally think that someone that has habituated to their tinnitus can hamper years of work by doing psychedelics and "resetting" that work. However, I am a big advocate of psychedelics in general.

IMO, more likely culprits than some kind of permanent damage is: some kind of bodily tension/stress, nutrient deficiency, fatigue from the trip (it DOES take a toll on your whole chakra system, no matter what newbies think).

Eat good food, get lots of sleep and move a lot. Try to find a yoga studio where they do chanting, or just go to normal yoga classes. They have the tools to integrate a trip, which I think is what you have to do now. Give it a few weeks and I'll bet your tinnitus will be gone.

I had a mushroom trip about 4 months ago that I feel "gave" me tinnitus, although I think it's more likely that I didn't notice the sound until I spent hours alone in deep silence. Now, I've had three days without tinnitus after a period of it slowly getting better. I've been doing smaller doses since then and if anything it seems to have improved my tinnitus. Large doses makes it go away temporarily, so I definetly think psychedelics has a relationship with tinnitus that isn't understood yet.

In general, we as humans have a very poor understanding of our bodies in general. A doctor won't be able to help you with this, but researching it on your own will.

Good luck, let me know if you have any more questions

 

Hi @LisaRosalina -- Benadryl is classified as an "anticholinergic" drug, meaning it disrupts the brain neurotransmitter acetylcholine. All anticholinergic have the potential to cause tinnitus, perhaps even more so if taken right after haven taken some LSD.

My acupuncturist told me he's had the most success treating tinnitus when it was caused by an ototoxic drug. Rebalancing your energetic pathways with acupuncture could be helpful. -- Get well soon!

 

My guess is it has nothing to do with the LSD.

Can it go away, yes, but also may not go away, there is no real telling with tinnitus.

That's just the truth.

I hope it goes away for you, tinnitus is a terrible problem and we all understand how bad it is for you right now. It's profoundly disturbing and everyone here will be here to support you.

 

Never taken LSD, but always been intrigued by it - those that have taken it, would you recommend it?

 

I took LSD a handful of times when I was around age 20, and ended up regretting it. Though I never had a "bad trip", I did feel it affected me in a number of ways, especially my connections with nature. Before I took it, I felt I had a most natural and uplifting connection with nature (sky, water, trees, clouds, wind, etc.). Afterwards, I felt a diminished connection, felt somewhat of a "void", and found myself yearning for those earlier connections.

At a later point in my life, I did some "energetic" clearing sessions with a very talented and intuitive practitioner. As she worked on me, she asked me if I had ever taken LSD. I told her I had, and wondered what prompted her to ask. She said she'd worked on a number of people who'd taken LSD, and they all had similar disrupted brain and energy patterns. I asked her how that could be the case for me, since it had been over 20 years since I last took any. She said these disruptions can last almost permanently unless steps are taken to bring these energetic pathways back into balance.

I only did about 4-5 sessions with her, but felt I made a lot of progress in bringing a new sense of calm into my brain and neruological system. AND--I began to reconnect with nature in a way that I hadn't for so many years. I've felt somewhat similar results from doing acupuncture, which of course works on various energy meridians. I also do other energy balancing techniques, not only to retain that (precious) connection with nature, but to also now do what I can to keep the disruption of tinnitus from possibly altering my normal brain and neurological signals on an ongoing basis.

Would I ever recommend somebody else take LSD? No, I wouldn't. My take is that a lot of people who look to drugs--or think about looking to drugs--for some kind of benefit, would do well to instead consider exploring a spiritual orientation that fits their nature. I think this would apply even to those that are athiests. For instance, if a person just began to do more small acts of service and kindness for their fellow human beings, I think that would be much more fulfilling, and the desire for drugs would begin to go away. To me, love and service is always a better route to travel than experimenting with drugs.

Didn't realize I was going to write so much. Hope it wasn't too much... All the Best...

 

I found that very honest and helpful. Thanks @Lane for your openness.

What you mention about losing the potency of your connections resonated with me. I feel I lost this following a mediation retreat. I went there on the recommendation of my therapist at the time; it was 5 days of complete silence and 8 hours of meditation/mindfulness a day - we alternated between sitting meditation and mindful walking.

Following such intense inward focus, I found that I lost something. Seeing everything as just thoughts and perceptions paralysed me in a way. It took the joy from things. I still function, yet every so often get into these existential crises, which stem from that retreat.

I may visit an acupuncturist or go for some of these 'clearing' sessions. Thanks for the tips - I'll stay away from the hallucinogens

 

You seem like a person who haven't done it

 

lolololololololololololololololololololol..........




lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol...........

 

I noticed tinnitus after taking acid and weed in 1999. I had been doing it regularly. It NEVER went away, but I don't notice it much anymore. I recently stopped using lexapro (antidepressant) after 2 years of using and am experiencing withdrawal symptoms. The tinnitus has increased in intensity and about 10-20 times a day I get this big burst of it, like it becomes 20x more high pitched and louder for a second. like a high pitched explosion. It's unbearable. It's been 3 weeks and I've heard it can last years or even be permanent after antidepressant withdrawal. Considering suicide.

 

Your symptoms should dissipate slowly as you continue to withdrawal off the ADs.

Maybe you should slow your taper down. If you were using a drug for two years, it may take many many months for your system to settle. Hot baths, exercise, relaxation techniques and hold on for dear life. So many people on this forum including my self have had suicidal ideation. It's a normal reaction to being assaulted.

Perhaps you should consult with the doctor who prescribed the meds.
Hang in there.

 

HM,
You wrote:
I am a big advocate of psychedelics in general.

My question is...for what purpose? A recreational high?

or...

If you have tinnitus, you believe that some neuroplasticity may give way to alter the brain away from less focus on tinnitus?

To me it seems if a mind 'bender' trip aka could promote physical change in the brain...I believe this has been proven with long term psychedelic drug usage, that without tinnitus this could move you toward it....and with tinnitus it could either increase the volume or decrease it.

Could you expound on why you are a fan of psychedelic drugs?

Thanks

 

Benadryl. LSD is non toxic.

 

If it was real LSD but I can guarantee you its not. Timothy Leary handed out real LSD in the 60s what these kids are taking today IS NOT LSD. I went through the 60s culture and took LSD many times if you don't have someone to help you through an acid trip you may come out on the wrong side

 

For personal growth. They cured my alcoholism, lifelong depression, made me change my life direction to a more heartfelt one overnight. The list goes on and on, as is the case for many people who try them. I don't know how genuine your interest is so I won't go into details.

They made me open up to the spiritual dimension of existence. I was an atheist before I did mushrooms, and ignorant just like many atheists are. Now, I have had an empirical experience of God and I know what God is. I don't care what people who haven't had the experience think. It's guiding my life. It's very, very far removed from christianity and islam with the exception of some of their mystical subdivisions.

I haven't done any psychedelics for a while. I don't know what effect they have on my tinnitus. I hope I can continue to use them without problems, but right now my tinnitus is having a good stretch and I don't want to risk messing with it.

I think it’s possible that psychedelics can cause tinnitus. If stress can, why not? Maybe there needs to be pre-existing noise trauma for that to happen though. I think most people that claim they got tinnitus from psychedelics have used headphones, lived in a city, gone to loud events and so on. That being the actual cause of their tinnitus.

I think it’s possible that psychedelics can cure or improve tinnitus. Everybody has a personal relationship with their inner world. Psychedelics only magnify or change that, it's a subjective thing.

Psychedelics lead to neurogenesis. I'm sure they could also re-wire your brain in negative ways. Psychedelics is only for people with a certain mental fortitude and curiosity, and the majority of people do them in a potentially dangerous way.

HPPD is a form of "visual tinnitus" to simplify it, it can be permanent for a few unlucky people. Many of these people also have tinnitus. In many cases HPPD is simply that people notice things about the world when on psychedelics, and once seen it can't be unseen. Psychedelics temporarily remove the "brain filters" and allows us to experience the world without our innate survival functions active. Sense of self is eradicated on high enough doses.

There seems to be a link between visual snow and tinnitus. I have both. I think psychedelics caused me to get visual snow, and I think that psychedelics may have contributed to my tinnitus.

Yes, I'm still an advocate of psychedelics. Anyone with mental health issues has to tread lightly or abstain, and tinnitus is a mental health issue. These substances can both save or ruin peoples lives. People that have positive experiences is in the vaaaaaaaaaaast majority.

 

Thanks for you post HeavyMantra.

I am innately curious. I have avoided taking LSD understanding its a slippery slope between mind expanding and mind altering in a negative way. Cognitively I am happy with my intellect and how I view the world.

You do seem conflicted about the use of Psychedelic substances however. There are several references you made. On one hand you believe taking Psychedelic drugs caused your tinnitus and visual snow and then you seem to contradict this and say that Psychedelics are a net positive for diminishing tinnitus.

But let's exam the following... what you wrote if you will indulge me.

You wrote:
Psychedelics is only for people with a certain mental fortitude and curiosity, and the majority of people do them in a potentially dangerous way.

This to me is part of your contradiction.
When taking a substance such as LSD with unknown consequences to an individual because each of our brain chemistry's is like an individual fingerprint, how can you say with any accuracy that LSD is a net positive in any dosage?....or for that matter a net negative? Being truthful, one can't. Just like a benzo may increase tinnitus in one person and lower it in another. That's what meds do, they interact with an individual's brain chemistry.

With LSD by its very definition, I completely agree that get it right, it may lower tinnitus, improve outlook, improve spirituality etc. But anybody who takes it is basically playing Russian Roulette with their brain...tinnitus being effectively a brain disorder as you know.

So please explain to me how the majority of people take LSD in a potentially dangerous way and say for example, you don't. Why is your method safe when you even admit in your writing that you are avoiding Psychedelics at the present time because you are having a good stretch of tinnitus. If your method of taking LSD is safe, why would you have any concern about adversely affecting tinnitus?

I will go a step further. Perhaps the medical 'industry' is in the stone age of understanding the body and its relationship with the environment. Likely many of forum would agree with that because there is so little help for tinnitus. How genes function and turn on an off, nerve cells die...why people get sick on any level or contract tinnitus. But LSD has been around for decades and I know because I have too. I grew up around the drug counter culture.

If 'any' approach to taking LSD is a net positive, why hasn't the medical community embraced it on a therapeutic level? They haven't. The simple reason is even implicit in your writing. Consequences of taking LSD for each individual is unknowable. Non-quantifiable. For the simple reason that a given powerful drug's interaction with an individual's brain chemistry is unknowable. Yes, one can jump off the dock like you have into the water where you presonally didn't find any alligators and caught a ride on the back of a Dolphin, but others haven't been so fortunate. If this gateway were safe and 'reliably' positive, I am sure there would endorsement of Psychedelic drugs for therapeutic reasons.

I await any further elaboration you care to contribute and thanks again for sharing your personal journey.

 

Eh, this strikes me as scaremongering. Yes, there's a ton of weird drugs out there now which didn't exist in the 1960s, and a lot of what gets sold as "acid" in 2019 is definitely not LSD. On the other hand, that's not exactly a new thing, is it? If you're old enough to remember Woodstock, you might remember that the "brown blotter" was some DO* analog and not LSD.

There is absolutely a ton of genuine LSD being manufactured, and from perusing various law enforcement blotters and drug-related research publications, darknets have probably made them more available overall. They have also just made cheaper, weirder drugs available to random high school kids, so the quality of drugs sold at whatever passes for raves or parties these days is likely to be garbage... but then, it mostly always was.

You absolutely, positively, 100% cannot. Not until some significant amount of time after the fact. People who are extremely comfortable with themselves and their ego walls from years of meditation practice are probably less likely to experience really adverse effects, but even in that small demographic I am sure plenty of peopler have had negative experiences.

People unwilling to risk having adverse experiences which take a significant amount of time and emotional turmoil to work through should not take psychedelic drugs, in my opinion.

Can I ask what you're basing that on? My anecdotal experience watching people break their minds has been that people achieve truly life-changing, merging-with-the-godhead experiences which they are able to actually channel into long term personal grown, is fairly uncommon -- because most Americans I've known want the glam and dazzle but don't want to put the work in.

That caveat aside, I think the big 4 traditional psychedelics are probably less likely to create adverse experiences than marijuana is, but when they do the results are a lot messier.

It took me 10 years of dealing with my tinnitus, learning how to meditate with earplugs in, etc, before I even thought about approaching psychedelics again, and my reasons for doing so at that time had more to do with understanding whether microdoses would have a positive impact on my tinnitus. But, I'm way too old for this stuff I met God, it showed me that I'm a beautiful insect inside a self-replicating fractal machine which is both the Universe and God at the same time. Then I got a science degree and a day job.

 

First off, there is nothing but anecdotal evidence that LSD or other psychedelics cause tinnitus. Almost nothing is known about tinnitus in relation to psychedelics, since they are illegal and there is no research on the subject. Some people have used psychedelics and have tinnitus, most people that have tinnitus have never used psychedelics, and most people that have used psychedelics probably don't have tinnitus. As for myself, I have no idea if there's a correlation between my tinnitus and my psychedelic use and I probably never will know.

There is no contradiction in what I wrote once you understand how these substances work. Since it's just a magnifying glass of things that are already inside people, anything is possible for good or for bad. The substance is pretty irrelevant. Breathwork, meditation and other things can make or break people in a similar manner. How psychedelics affect the brain, nobody really knows. Interestingly enough, it has been shown that parts of the brain actually has extremely low activity when on psychedelics.

I've used mushrooms hundreds of times. I've never had a "bad experience". I'm intensely introspective and have spent several years in solitude before I tried psychedelics. There is a recommended way to use these substances as a beginner, and I researched for years before I used them. I did everything as responsibly as I could. Now, a college student that doesn't know what he's getting into and tries psychedelics as a party drug can potentially have a bad experience... Or an extremely good one. The keyword here is POTENTIALLY dangerous.

You ride a bike. This could be described as playing russian roulette, but you probably feel confident that you're safe from harm on the saddle. Pretty much anything involves risk. Psychedelics are no different.

I'm knowledgeable about mushrooms mainly, which have been used in religious ceremonies since time immemorial. The way people did them (and still do in South American tribes) is vastly different from your average college student using the same substances. Humans have used psychedelics for community-building for thousands of years. The period during which these things have been banned is incredibly short by comparison. I believe the old way of using them as a normal, accepted but not hyped part of life is the best one. Not that I have experienced it...

You have to research Reagan, the efforts to squash down counter-culture, and their propaganda to understand why these substances have been demonized and banned. LSD was being used for research during the 50's-60s, and then that all ended because of politics. This is too big of a subject to exhaust here, but that's one part of the answer to your question: "if it's good, why is it not accepted?"

Right now, they are doing therapy for vets with PTSD using MDMA. Soon, mushrooms will be used in therapy as well. It already is, but it's hidden from the law obviously. Mushrooms just got legalized in Denver. In a few years, the period where cannabis and mushrooms were banned and tons of people got thrown into jail for using them is going to seem like the dark ages.

Also, any psychedelic has a tendency to make people realize negative things about society and those who rule it. Why WOULD they be endorsed? Why WOULD they want to put people in prison that want to liberate their minds with the help of psychedelics...? Society isn't really your friend when it comes to these things. Neither is society a friend to the researchers that have an interest in psychedelic therapy.

 

Not sure what you're asking here. You don't agree the majority of people that use psychedelics have a good experience?

The psychedelic users I have met and spoken with here in Sweden are mostly musicians or yoga teachers. I personally haven't met anyone that has been negatively affected by psychedelics. Most of my yoga teachers have used psychedelics when they were younger, and they HAVE taken the next step which is meditation, vedanta, kundalini yoga and so on. Again, what the psychedelic experience leaves people with is going to vary from person to person.

As a well known Zen meditator said: "LSD opened up a door for me, but meditation allowed me to enter it"

 

Risk versus Reward. One bad trip and one can suffer post traumatic stress disorder long term.
The mind can be 'bent' permanently aka neuroplasticity morphed long term in the 'bad' direction.
Sure it can go the other way too as you have enumerated. Problem is, nobody has a crystal ball which way it's going to go.

PS. looks to be bad for hair loss too.

LSD: RISK VS REWARD | “Most Dangerous...

 

I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that the majority of Americans who use them don't have beneficial experiences, meaning, opening doors that really change their lives in a useful way. I think this is because these things have become hedonistic club drugs. Seems risky. My parents thought the original Acid Test parties were sort of the beginning of things going wrong in that regard, and that was where they lost interest in where that cultural scene was heading.

Such people seem a lot more likely to have useful experiences than 16 year olds mindlessly eating ten strips at dubstep shows, which accounts for a lot of US consumption.

Yeah. Some people have no interest in walking through the door, they just want the lightshow. Then you have people like my wife, who just somehow seem to be in the moment most of the time, and she has described both meditation and psychedellics as "things that make me feel like I already do most of the time anyway, only moreso". Ha.

My last experience gave me actionable items that are hard as carbon to act on. So I am locked out of that world for a while until I figure it out. I'm also very interested in doing legal, licensed psilocyban therapy, which seems like it ought to be an option in the near future the way things are moving.

 

Right, I don't think anyone is disputing that? If HeavyMantra was blanket endorsing psychedelics somewhere, I missed it.

My own view is that I don't think other people should take drugs unless they want to, in which case my opinion doesn't matter. But, this is a chronic health board for people with a condition that is often disabling and generally has a severely distressful psychological component - I certainly don't think anyone in that condition should mess with psychedelics, or mind altering drugs of any kind, really....

My really traumatic experiences were all when I was 17/18/19 and in the middle of a bunch of other really traumatic stuff. At the time it was chaotic and sort of awful, but I don't regret any of it; pain and humility are powerful teachers. Things could easily have gone a worse way, though.

 

No HeavyMantra isn't blanket endorsing psychedelics as you correctly state.
To me, it really is an even playing field of risk and reward if delving into this area. I thought the video was a pretty even handed view and not distinctly different from HM's point of view I believe.

Tinnitus seems so precarious to med's tweaking brain chemistry based upon the countless accounts on this board.

There likely aren't more transformative drugs than psychedelics both to the positive and to the negative. Problem is, some of us don't know what bad is until stuck in that prison and some of us have visited that prison and never want to go back.

Psychedelics perhaps for some maybe the hail mary pass however. The American football analogy of the long ball in a somewhat desperate, last ditch effort to win the game aka vanquish the demon known as tinnitus.

Still comes down to risk, reward with unknowable probability of each.


https://www.bing.com/search?q=he+bl...067EBADDC340B39C63874394E396DF&FORM=QBLH&sp=1

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/he_blew_his_mind_out_in_a_car_short_film_on_tara_browne

He reputedly gave Paul McCartney his first acid trip. The pair went to Liverpool together, got stoned and cruised the city on mopeds until Paul went over the handlebars and broke a tooth and they had to call on Paul’s Aunt Bett for assistance. There is still a body of people — and a book called The Walrus is Paul — who believe that Paul is dead and is now actually Tara Browne with plastic surgery.’

 

the best evidence yet that psychedelics are dangerous