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The after effects of LSD.

After taking LSD for the third time about a week ago, I had a textbook bad trip.  Panicked, scared, restless, and generally uncomfortable; I paced around my basement and backyard for about 5 or 6 hours till I was calm enough to sleep.  The bad 'feeling' or 'vibe' from the LSD lasted through that day and the next, but eventually went away.  Well about two days ago (a week after the bad trip) I was drinking with some friends.  Got pretty drunk, and passed out on the couch.  I woke up the next morning with a hangover.  However the hangover developed into the exact same feeling that I had when I had the bad trip.  It wasn't as intense, but the same feelings of anxiety, a loss of my sense of reality, and general discomfort came with the feeling.  These feelings lasted through the day, but I tolerated them and made it to sleep.  I woke up the next morning... today, and the feelings were still there.  Today was better than yesterday, but still noticably 'not right.'  Is this depression?  Anxiety?  I am very confused and concerned for my mental health.  I'm not crazy but I fear I'm on the way.  I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I plan to see about prescription Xanax or Valium.  I have been warned to stay away from Wellbutrin and Thorazine, both of which have been known to worsen patients mental states in cases of drug related mental trama.  Has this happened to anyone else at all?  My main question is.. what happened?  the drug is out of my system.. and I was fine for a week.. so why should the effects come back.? something to do with drinking maybe??  Please help.. Thanks..
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Avatar universal
Acceptance is the key to the lock of fear/anxiety.

Recently Teddy Atlas was on the Joe Rogan Podcast and whilst describing the fear people had about fighting one of the best boxers of all time Joe Louis, he said something about fear which was very simply put, but I feel it was also very profound...

"A lot of guy's would hesitate, they might see an opening, but they're fighting the  brown bomber (Joe Louis) the man who was knocking everyone out, so they'd hesitate.
They were afraid, normal. A lot of people are afraid of that word, fear, I mean it's there, without it we're not alive"    
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Avatar universal
This about 3 weeks after my lsd trip and at night some of the feelings of lsd come back like u said not as intense but my thoughts are pretty bad and it scares me like am I going insane or is this anxiety and I'll be googling anxiety schizophrenia OCD and signs of becoming mentally ill and sometimes I'm confused about life like how do I look the way I look and I get depressed when I look at pictures of me when I was a kid like I'm never gonna be the same again and I cry and my anxiety grows worst cause I will think of horrifying things in my mind
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1 Comments
Its like you've e taken the words right out of my mouth...
Avatar universal
hi so i did LSD in feburary 2016, so 6 months ago, when i was 17 i am 18 now and i had a really bad trip that i dont even like talking about, at first i panicked every time i heard the word lsd but i am slowly recovering and things are already getting a lot better, the key is too stay positive about everything and what usually helps me is saying "positivity overpowers negativity" sometimes i even just say positivity overpowers because i dont even wanna have the word negativity in my head and it works, being confident that you will get better is also key, trust me eavh and everyday im gettinf better and i know eventually ill be fully better completley in my mindset, and tell yourself that you dont have aniexty or depression and everything is okay, because everythinf is okay, yes it is hard at first but you have to be strong, because things will get better, i still have my bad days somedays but i know ill get through the day and things will be better tommorow which helps me too, and another thing is i learned that i have to just focus on what makes me happy and myself, because i use to worry too much about other people, but then i realized thats there life and they make there own choices good or bad, and i just need to keep focusing on myself cause my life is my own journey and life and noone can live for me, i always use to feel bad for mostly everything even laughing at some mean jokes but its my life and i dont mean it intentually its just my sense of humour i guess, and i stopped feeling so bad, its been 6 months and i already feel sooooooo much better, and i know im just gonna keep getting better and better maybe even more better then i was before i did LSD, and let me tell you i was a very happy positive laughy girl, and now im just trying to get back that way or even better, i realized i just had a bad trip it happens, i was under the influence of a drug, and everytings okay, you just gotta be strong and know that you will make it through this hard time in your life, bad times never last, and things WILL get better, well i hope this helped some people:)
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Avatar universal
Read the post by  LG12345

In addition,
I would just add that meditation and thinking about your trip in a positive light will also do wonders; for example, try to see how this will benefit you from now on - think about how this can help you be stronger and perhaps even help others. I actually went though a sort of spiritual journey as I was battling this thing before I finally came to the conclusion that it's simply anxiety. I can now return to my normal life but I just had a mini panic attack a few hours ago after a month of dealing with this. However this time I was able to handle it super quickly and it's like it didn't even happen.

Your mind is just confused and you have to retrain it to think the way you want it to! Take this as an opportunity to jump start a positive lifestyle! You will get better no worries :)
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Avatar universal
Read the post by  LG12345

In addition,
I would just add that meditation and thinking about your trip in a positive light will also do wonders; for example, try to see how this will benefit you from now on - think about how this can help you be stronger and perhaps even help others. I actually went though a sort of spiritual journey as I was battling this thing before I finally came to the conclusion that it's simply anxiety. I can now return to my normal life but I just had a mini panic attack a few hours ago after a month of dealing with this. However this time I was able to handle it super quickly and it's like it didn't even happen.

Your mind is just confused and you have to retrain it to think the way you want it to! Take this as an opportunity to jump start a positive lifestyle! You will get better no worries :)
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Avatar universal
You hit the nail on the head - I'm going through the same thing and went though the same steps! This really works guys.

I would just add that meditation and thinking about your trip in a positive light will also do wonders; for example, try to see how this will benefit you from now on - think about how this can help you be stronger and perhaps even help others. I actually went though a sort of spiritual journey as I was battling this thing before I finally came to the conclusion that it's simply anxiety. I can now return to my normal life but I just had a mini panic attack a few hours ago after a month of dealing with this. However this time I was able to handle it super quickly and it's like it didn't even happen.

Your mind is just confused and you have to retrain it to think the way you want it to! Take this as an opportunity to jump start a positive lifestyle! You will get better no worries :)
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Dude i love you! Thank you sooo ******* much! I have started battle with this horseshit and what works for me is that (i go to bathroom and stand infront of mirror) i imagine myself as a fully armoured  warrior in face of overwhelming army say 50-1 and than i start repeating in myself "You can't live in fear,they are coming,raise your shield and protect yourself,they will greet you as hero!" and i get motivation and feel like i strenghtened my mind with this,the other time i had attack i imagined i was a wolverine and i had healing factor and i sat on the floor and whispered to myself "any minute now bub" as if i was waiting for healing factor to kick in and i did manage to fight it that way. although i read a lot about diazepam helping this condition i decided that i will fight it without any pills and i keep repeating to myself that i am strong and that i have titan mentis,and that i will be victorious...the times i really really can't fight it i start reading book,for example i finished memoires of Maurice Claudius Echer-researching the infinity or play video games or if i am into way way over my head i start drawing on large format papers and i just let my hands empty my mind of it,i let myself lose control and draw like no tomorro,hysterical and manicly drawing lines into form broken couple pencils but still keep doing it even got bruises on my fingers but not stoping untill i colapse out of exaustion,and after that i feel like happyest person alive...i don't know if this is right or wrong but i think that this is altering me in a good way,it is strenghtening me and i am becoming a good person. What also calms me down is taking care about my ill grandmother,and talking to my parents and repeating to them how much i love them and how much i care about them,even prepare lunch and diner for them from time to time and trying not to whine but rather to warn my friends who are into stupid **** what happened to me and that they should avoid it.
Do not give in brothers,do not sink,we fight! We all will win! Just keep on fighting,at the end,life IS all about fighting to feel alive,and what you feel is completely normal. It is normal to feel,it is normal to be sad,it is normal to be upset and happy,life would suck if there wasn't for ups and downs!
So keep fighting! I love you all and i will pray for you all!
We will overcome this!
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Avatar universal
I just had my first flashback today, i ate way too much L on the night of the blood moon eclipse thing a few weeks ago and attributed it to the world ending because i watch a lot of naruto and the main villain was trying to end the world via a red moon (casting a sort of magic over the entirety of the world that was like hypnosis) So i thought i was going to die and every new thought i A.D.D'd to only served to make me think the world actually was ending, fast forward about 3 or 4 weeks i guess and now i'm just starting to recognize that i feel like i'm still tripping and i have felt that way since i woke up the next day after my bad trip, anyways i'm rambling... we tend to do that, don't we? My point is i'm saving your post as a word document and i plan on reading it every time i start to freak out, because the first time i read it i was in the middle of freaking out, literally sobbing as i read it but by the time i finished reading your post i felt okay, i felt safe, so thank you, from the bottom of my heart thank you for writing this, you're the reason i feel better, and you're the reason i realize what is actually wrong with me and just knowing that is half the battle.
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Avatar universal
thank you, since I tripped last night, all of my insecurities and self doubt came bubbling to the surface, and I've been kinda freaking out today not knowing really what I'm feeling right now, your comment really put me at ease and let me at least grasp what is happening.
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Avatar universal
(sorry didn't copy and paste whole comment)

I was thank God able to sleep Monday night for about 10 hours, but since have not felt the same. I still have minimal appetite, waves of elation, followed by anxiety, followed by really tired / eyes heavy / "out of it" feeling. These waves are getting shorter and a little less extreme, but definitely still there. I am feeling somewhat "dissociated" but that's getting a little better with time. Monday night I was basically too anxious to sleep, I did manage to crash from like 5am til 11am. I did notice that on Tuesday I was able to concentrate a little more and wasn't spacing out....Monday, people would ask me things and I didn't even register them sometimes. I fell asleep last night (Tuesday night) around 10 but woke up at 2am feeling really "up" and unable to go to sleep. Light is still a little weird and I feel woozy, slightly dizzy. Stationary things move slightly, not nearly as intense as when I was tripping, but the visual weirdness is still there.

I am really worried because this is the beginning of day 3, which my experienced friends say is when you're back to normal. I'm reading a lot about afterglows and HPPD and really hoping it's not HPPD. Any advice or similar experiences? I'm about to tell my parents and seek medical help because I am so scared. They will kill me but hopefully I'll get better and this will end soon. LIterally never ever doing any drug again this fear, lack of appetite and healthy sleep, and altered visual stuff was so not worth the 5 cool hours I experienced. Did you improve after those 4 days?
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4 Comments
how did it pan out for you?
Hey I am going through an identical situation as you guys
How are you guys doing today?
I have been feeling a similar way. I took acid about 3 days ago. I tripped for about 15 hours & did not sleep up to 24 hours. The day after I finally went to sleep I felt a lot better. I smoked a lot of weed (& wax as well) & I was feeling normal. The day after though which was yesterday I felt weird when I woke up. Lots of mucus in my nose & throat. Feeling slightly nauseas & fatigue ,but mostly anxiety. I went to the doctor last night & he gave me diazepam to sleep it off. I just woke up & I’m feeling better but there’s a lingering sensation of anxiety or space headed. Anybody know how long until I’m completely normal again ?
Avatar universal
Hi, I tripped 2 days ago for the first time. I had been drinking, and casually decided to try my friend's roommates' LSD. It was a stupid decision and now I'm thinking the worst decision of my life. I do have some anxiety issues and have periods of short-term depression. The trip was wrought with mistakes...I took it alone, my "monitor" became blackout drunk, and we went out in Manhattan....not exactly a safe, calm setting. I had also been experiencing some anxiety a few days before but had felt great that weekend, which I'm reading now isn't a healthy "set."  I took it around 1am on Sunday....the first few hours were great, but then my friend blackout wandered off and I ended up with two acquaintances who I knew but didn't feel comfortable around, and then the trip went bad. Luckily I saw no hallucinations, but did feel paranoid and afraid, very anxious, until about 6pm on Monday. I was also experiencing visuals (moving walls, moving floor patterns) for about 17 - 18 hours, so I'm guessing that's how long my trip was. I didn't sleep at all during this time, and again, felt major anxiety and paranoia.
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Avatar universal
absolute champion mate, reading this really helped me get back to normal :)
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Avatar universal
Psychadelics literally ruined my life, man. I've had plenty of bad trips, but just kept dosing, not listening to what people were telling me. What am i up to now i ask? I have so much social anxiety, i can barely leave my house. My last trip was almost a year ago. My parents always like to say that i'm still 'recovering" but i know they are just trying to convince themselves that everything will be okay. I am not that naive. My condition is pretty much equivilant to what people call AVPD. Trust me, man. For some people, psychadelics can open up your mind and change your life in extremely positive ways, but for us more sensitive minds, it can really, and i mean REALLY, damage your psyche. My thoughts go out to all of you on this sad thread. :(
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14212050 tn?1433399990
When you take LSD you actually alter your consciousness state and for 8 to 12 hours your mind is perceiving reality without filters which means that your subconscious mind (90% of who you are) is also exposed and reveled. If you had a bad trip you should try to understand it, analyze all the bad feelings and thoughts you had, it is actually good sometimes to have a bad trip because you can see what it wrong with your believes. LSD just expend your mind, consciousness and toughs, most of the time problems are Psychological than Physical, I would suggest you talk in details about your bad trip experience with a Psychologist or you write down in details what you saw, what you heard and the experience you had, try to analyze your thoughts and understand your fears that lead you to have a bad trip, after you identified your thoughts you can try to work on them. We live in a complex society and the reality is much more complex that what we believe, our science and medical treatments are blind as they still see the world in the Newtonian way where actually consciousness has a primary role in how we perceive reality. There is nothing bad in feeling anxious, I see it as an internal message which require attention. Love yourself, live a balanced life, write a diary and accrue knowledge. Believe in nothing but understand as much as you can.
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Avatar universal
Hey, i saw your reply to needofcare, And i am in the same position.
Although i believe mine is far worse than any others. I had taken Acid around 2 years ago, and till now i have the anxiety symptoms and panic attacks.
I dont think i will ever be able to get out of it.

Do meds help? Do they have long term side effects?
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Avatar universal
Hi needofcare, i exactly know what you are going through. As i myself have been there around the same time of the year. I am 100% alright now and i hope you are too but in case you still have emotional stress and anxiety let me tell you it is just temporary. it is just a state where your Amygdala is constantly running on a high level and forcing the release of adrenaline. this is causing a constant state of fear like feelings which are a result of the fight or flight response but there is no actual danger. so your mind is projecting fear or everything and anything causing you to release more adrenaline and have a fear cycle. All this is science but in simple term your thoughts are making you afraid. All i did to get better was say F**K it. I was constantly worried about my job future and my loved once and myself and so could not get out of this stage. Finally i said F**K it and went to stay with my parents and my brother who was very supportive and completely understood me. then for the next 3 months i just stopped worrying about anything. i developed a mindset that these are the 3 months of my life where i will not think about the future or worry about the present and just do whatever i feel like. And slowly as time went by I got over the feeling of constant anxiety. it took me around 5 months to completely recover from it. also i was on very small dosage of anti-depression meds. let me know anytime you need help.
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Avatar universal
sup...this is my story, hope it helps...took LSD not knowing what it was, freaked out for 6 hours until I accepted that i was forever crazy, took of my pants and ran through the house having the "time" (if you know what i mean) of my life, next day woke up and everything was normal...months later took it again hopping this would be time it would be fun from the beginning, it wasn't, this time I never came back to normal, now i smoke weed and get a whitey (anxiety, puke, double meanings to everything, think what i see is in my head, etc), get drunk and get a whitey. So as you can see i don´t learn easily because i have an addicted personality, now being "addicted" to whiteys, and have the sensation I have been tripping ever since the first time (two "normal" years ago).

Here´s my advice (for the ones that feel like me), as you may have noticed while you're tripping you get the sense you're going somewhere and that when you get there it's gonna be the best most important thing/time of your life and you'll know everything, but you never get there and think maybe if i take more i'll make it.

This thought is what causes the anxiety, the possibility of taking the drug again and being in that state again makes me shaky of just thinking it.

So first take the decision, make a choice and delete the possibility, be strong and say, i´m never doing drugs again, this might be difficult as probably your friends (as mine) do drugs on a regular basis, but it's your life, your sanity and your happiness, if someone doesn't understand their are not your real friends. Make sure you tell your friends about whats happening to you (as you're reading n the internet i'm pretty sure few people know about your situation) I'm not saying you wont relapse (i have several times), but i tell you it gets better, you learn to control yourself and become smarter recognizing your feelings. MAKE A CHOICE.

Second, realize the LSD illusion of "going somewhere", the only real thing for you is right now, this here moment, so make the most of it, stop thinking ahead and enjoy every moment, be happy as you are right now. It helps me to think, what if knew that i had 30000 years to live instead of 80-90, what would i do, what would i change. You know Friday is coming, you know you might drink and smoke again, stop thinking about it a decide not to, now the possibility (the might) is gone, and your mind can rest a little bit, you're not as restless as before. little things like that can help. LIVE THE MOMENT.

Third, take care of your body/mind, as it is your vehicle through life, you can't just be anxious and expect a pill to take it away, take action, eat healthy and relax doing what you love whenever you can (in my case ride my bike). Your body knows whats best for him. LIVE HEALTHY.

So this is what has worked for me, i'm now clean of drugs (alcohol, weed) for 4 days (2 months until my last relapse and anxiety attack), and each day i feel better. Good luck to all and as the song says,

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Remember, merrily, take one day at a time.
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9772582 tn?1405800196
I took lsd 4 months ago and while on it felt like I was dying, I am only 17 and I feel like I ruined my life. I had severe heart pain on acid and could not take it. After I went back to smoking pot daily, and one day 3 months later I smoked pot and had my heart feel like it did when i was on acid it was horrible and when I felt like that I was not able to talk and breathing was very hard. I also have anxiety and feel weird around people. When i take Xanax I feel better but my heart pain is always there. I go to the gym as well and it continues there too. What should I do?? I just wana cry, as well as going through this physical pain I also have a ****** sti and going through mental and emotional stress.
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Avatar universal
Reading this seriously just helped me get through what I think was a flashback. Thank. You.
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Avatar universal
Hi - I know this was posted a few years ago but I was just wondering what the evidence was for producing too much serotonin? How do you know this is the case. I currently take an SNRI so am wondering if it is making my anxiety worse?
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Avatar universal
i just did
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480448 tn?1426948538
This thread is very old.  Please start your own new thread.

Thanks.
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Avatar universal
I took lsd 4 days ago and i think i have the same thing when i wake up in the moring i feel so weird and througout my day i keep thinking about why i took it and feel so anixious at times. What can i do to make myself feel better. will it go away
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Avatar universal
You're a good person to write this even after it was first posted on 2007 I'm sure life will pay you back positively because you took the time to encourage.
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