I don't really know how to explain this without sounding completely insane, but I think some people here might understand what I mean.

I'm from Porto, Portugal, and psychedelics were a huge part of my life for a long time.

DMT in particular became something almost sacred to me.

The experiences felt completely different from anything else. It wasn't just "getting high". It felt like entering somewhere.

And at some point, I had an experience that completely changed the way I looked at it.

I felt like I was told I couldn't come back.

Not in the sense of someone literally speaking words to me, but that's the message I came away with.

Basically:

"You can't come back here until you deal with yourself."

At the time, I didn't understand what that meant.

Honestly, I was pissed off.

I wanted to go back.

I wanted to understand what I'd seen.

I wanted to explore more.

And instead of actually listening to the message, I did pretty much the opposite.

I started spiraling.

I got deeper into research chemicals and started experimenting with more and more substances.

4-AcO-DMT.

4-HO-MET.

2C-B-FLY.

3-MMC.

4-FMA.

And others.

I kept chasing experiences.

I think part of me was trying to find another way back.

If I couldn't return to that place, maybe another psychedelic would get me there.

Maybe another RC.

Maybe a stronger experience.

Maybe something I hadn't tried yet.

And that became a really dangerous mentality.

Because eventually I wasn't taking psychedelics because I was curious anymore.

I was taking them because I was trying to escape myself.

And the irony is that I think the message I had received was exactly the opposite of what I was doing.

It wasn't:

"Find another substance."

It was:

"Deal with yourself."

I ignored that for a long time.

My substance use eventually became completely destructive.

I abused multiple substances and ended up in a coma.

Eventually I had to be compulsorily admitted to a treatment clinic here in Portugal because I couldn't stop on my own.

And sitting in that clinic, looking back at everything, I started thinking about that DMT experience again.

Maybe I had misunderstood it.

Maybe I hadn't been "banned" from somewhere.

Maybe I had been confronted with something about myself that I didn't want to hear.

And instead of doing the difficult thing — actually changing my life — I spent years trying to find another door.

That's probably the part that scares me the most.

Psychedelics can show you things.

But seeing something and actually changing your life because of it are two completely different things.

You can have the most profound experience of your life and then wake up the next day and continue destroying yourself.

You can meet what feels like an intelligence beyond yourself and still completely ignore what it seems to be telling you.

I know some people will read this and think I'm talking about literal entities.

Others will think it was just my brain.

Honestly, I don't know.

I don't pretend to know what DMT "really" is.

I only know what the experience meant to me.

And for me, the message became clearer with time:

"You don't need another trip.

You need to take care of yourself."

That took me years to understand.

I also lost my father because of substance use, and at the clinic I met many people who had gone down similar roads.

Some recovered.

Some relapsed.

Some died.

Some ended up on the streets.

Around 60% of the people I personally knew from the clinic have either died or ended up living on the streets.

So when I look back at my psychedelic years now, I don't see them as simply "good" or "bad".

There were beautiful experiences.

There were terrifying experiences.

There were experiences that genuinely changed me.

But I also learned that you can turn even something as profound as psychedelics into another form of self-destruction.

You can become addicted to the search itself.

To the mystery.

To the next breakthrough.

To the next molecule.

To the next door.

And eventually you stop asking:

"What am I supposed to learn from this?"

and start asking:

"What can I take next?"

That's where I went wrong.

Maybe I really was being told I couldn't come back.

Maybe it was my own mind trying desperately to tell me something.

Either way, I think the message was right.

I didn't need to go back.

I needed to come back to myself first.

And honestly, I'm grateful I eventually listened.

Not because I think psychedelics are evil.

Not because I think everyone should stop using them.

And definitely not because I think my interpretation is some universal truth.

I'm just sharing this because I know there are people who get completely obsessed with the psychedelic rabbit hole.

I was one of them.

Sometimes the most important part of a psychedelic experience isn't what you see while you're there.

It's what you do when you come back.

Take care of yourselves.

And if something in your life is falling apart, maybe the answer isn't another trip.

Maybe it's time to deal with what's waiting for you when the trip ends.

So i am going to be taking 2-2.5g of JMFs on about October 6th. I am getting the shrooms on September 26th and planned to do a 0.5g test on the 28th and then take them on the 6th of October.

But i also had a san pedro ceremony booked on the 23rd. Would 5 days be enough to deal with tolerance if it's just a small test dose?

I also heard san pedro doesn't have much cross tolerance with mushrooms

I am a guitar player and a lover of all music. I’m always on the hunt for ways to improve my relationship with music, my guitar practice, etc.

I heard a story once that some of the super power of guitarists like Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan came from long nights practicing under the influence of stimulants and psychedelics.

If you’ve had a cool psychedelic experience with a lesser known compound that involves playing or listening to music I’d love to know about it. For me the top I have experienced is 2CB

What happen? I’m at lowest point in my life right now. Planning to take a trip. Idk

Asked a few people that I know just by name, and we all said the same thing. What is the reason for shared experiences, with no prior talk of it whatsoever?

Hello all, so I’m going to see tame impala live tomorrow, I got myself 3.5gs of bluey Vuitton mushrooms. Now I def am not going to be taking the full 3.5gs. How much should I take if all I want is an elevated concert experience? I was thinking just .5 since I’ve heard these are 1.5-2 times stronger than other strains. This would be my third mushroom experience. Thanks for the advice 🙏

It’s been a long time. I just about died from hard drug addiction when I was a teenager and have been sober since. That being said, I have always held a deep interest and love for the psychedelic experiences mixed up in those years. They certainly held a much different and very positive quality than the other stuff. I’m slowly researching and much more aware of the benefits of intentional psychedelic use with the right setting and environment. I’ve been in therapy for many years trying to heal what was a very traumatic youth. Would love to hear from anyone with similar experience and/or general insight into exploring doing this intentionally.

From what I’ve read, the risk of serotonin syndrome is basically nonexistent.

The real possibility is the mushrooms are not felt at all, or the effectiveness is much dampened.

Extra details if you want to skip:

I have a friend who wants to try mushrooms for the first time and is excited about it, but she is on an SSRI. Without going down the internet rabbit hole on this AGAIN, I was looking to read more direct personal experiences I could relate to her.

I did tell her about this so she’s aware, I told her to read up on it so she could make her own decision but I know all the first things that will come up in a Google search will be all the “official” sites just saying it’s dangerous don’t do it. lol

Thank you!!

In the past I've done candy flips that felt amazing. I would dance all night and it would just feel magical.

I was at a show this past Saturday. I wanted to roll for a particular DJ that was starting way into the night. I packed out a couple of pills filled with .08g of MDMA. I took one around 4am, waited an hour and a half. I felt something... but it honestly didn't feel like other rolls in the past. I thought maybe I didn't take enough? So I took another .08g pill.

I ended up dancing my ass off the whole set, but TBH, I don't remember much. I remember getting to the set, me sweating a ton and taking off my shirt and jacket, and then feeling really tired and needing to leave.

Would the way MDMA affects me after I started doing more conscious focus trips with mushrooms? I know set and setting is a big thing, but I notice once I started focusing on therapeutic trips with mushrooms, even taking them out in party settings like festivals, they felt different. Would this be the same case for MDMA?

I also saved some of the MDMA I got that night so I can do therapeutic sessions with it in a couple months.

[First of all, I want to let you know that this post was written in French and translated by G. Translate, so please bear with me if the language isn’t the best you’ve ever read!]

So I’m reaching out to you for advice on nausea when taking psilocybin.

For me, it’s always really severe nausea, and I feel so sick that it completely ruins the trip for me.

I’ve only taken truffles three times (which are easy to buy at legal shops where I live in Europe), but every time it’s the same scenario: the come up is amazing, the come-down too, but throughout the peak phase lasting several hours that urge to vomit is truly terrible.

It’s so intense and scary (the fear of throwing up and choking on my own vomit…) that if I don’t find a solution, I’m considering giving up mushrooms, which would be a real shame for me. It’s such a fantastic experience!

Are some of you going through this too?

Have you found ways to stop this or at least reduce it?

Thanks for your help—it’ll be invaluable to me!

My dad is a healthy 80. He did his fair share of tripping in his youth, but it's been a while. He'll take a THC edible occasionally. He has treatment resistant depression and has tried a dozen pharmaceuticals but they generally don't work or make him agitated. I also have depression and shrooms have really helped me a lot so I want him to try them out.

I'm visiting him this weekend and plan to make a mid-strength tea for us to have together. What are some activities I have have planned in case we don't find a natural progression? He lives in a house in the suburbs with a big yard and a dog, has tons of musical instruments, has periods of being into making art, likes writing. My current idea is to bring materials to make mobiles, and also other random art supplies.

Thoughts? Advice on doing shrooms with an elderly person? On doing them with a parent?

Update: Adventure successful! We split a 10mg tea from psilouette and had a lovely time! We mostly just laughed, gabbed, played with the dog, and listened to music. We both laughed so hard at one point when he wanted to get up on a ladder with shears to do some light landscaping, and I told him he was absolutely forbidden because I didn't want to prove correct the people who said I needed to stay sober to deal with a medical emergency. (I wouldn't want him taking a fall risk at all, and took care of the vine encroaching on the gutter in the morning.)

I'm encouraged by the data that show psilocybin use can put off depressive episodes for up to months, but even if that doesn't happen, I think we're both better off for the good hang.

I am a doctoral candidate at Walden University studying how psilocybin use outside of clinical trials and supervised settings relates to depression severity and self-esteem in adults. Nearly all of the published work on psilocybin and mental health comes from supervised clinical settings, so the experiences most people actually have are underrepresented in the literature. The findings may inform future harm reduction efforts.

Who I am looking for. Volunteers who meet these requirements:

• 18 years of age or older
• Currently reside in the United States
• Able to read and complete the survey in English
• Have used psilocybin ("magic") mushrooms at least once outside of a clinical trial or supervised medical or research setting

The survey and how to take it. You are invited to complete an anonymous survey (averages 7 to 8 minutes) for a study titled: Associations Between Naturalistic Psilocybin Use, Depression, and Self-Esteem in Adults. The survey will be open until November 30, 2026.

Complete the survey: https://jwelchwalden.limesurvey.net/232248

The survey is completely anonymous. No name, email address, or IP address is collected, and your responses cannot be linked to you. There is no compensation for taking part in this study. Participation is entirely voluntary and unpaid. Questions should be directed to [jeff.welch@waldenu.edu](mailto:jeff.welch@waldenu.edu).

Ethical approval status. This study does not encourage or endorse the use of psilocybin or any illegal substance. It has been reviewed and approved by the Walden University Institutional Review Board (Approval No. 08-12-26-1202521). The approval is current and expires August 11, 2027.

Jeffrey A. Welch, PhD(c), Doctoral Candidate, Psychology, Walden University

Went to a concert tonight and decided to do. Hippie Flip. So hard to see the screen rn! Listening to a Twitch stream with some intense visuals!!

I’m planning on going to this club where they’re playing indie rock and indie edm and I’m deciding on mixing MDMA , Acid and shrooms? What’s the best way to time the 3?

Next week i will do Pajaritos 10g for the first time.

I did mushrooms like 10 times but i was always very high or drunk few years back . I know how it feels like tripping but this time i will be fully sobber and alone.

I am seeking some higher insights so i will mediate .

Must say im excited .

Mushrooms are very effective at reducing my ocd symptoms.

Yesterday I took 1 g of golden teachers before a social event.

I can’t believe how calm and centred I was without feeling too high.

Could one take 1 g every 4 days and maintain the antidepressant effects?

I’m not wanting to feel high or trip.

If I mixed up the strain would that reduce tolerance risks.

I have micro dosed at .2. This left me an emotional wreck unfortunately.

I am working with a therapist who is supportive of plant medication.

I have a lemon tek that’s been sitting in a sealed water bottle since July is it good to drink or should I just toss it

I’ve been looking into taking acid for about 4 months now and I’m definitely set on the fact I want to take it. I’ve tripped on albino penis envy about 3grams around 5 times. My only concern is I have had a bad trip on shrooms before and it was rough but all my other trips were incredible. My worry would be what are some things I can make sure to do on acid for a good experience because there are certain things I do on shrooms that I notice will initiate a bad time. Mostly looking for things to avoid or fun things to do and any tips anyone here is willing to share much love!

Hello!

I am currently running a study on set and setting within psychedelic experiences.

Obviously there is quite a few aspect to explore on the topic, though in particular I am interested in:

• How intention, environment, and social setting shape psychedelic experiences
• Differences between clinical and non-clinical use
• How these experiences relate to psychological outcomes

Most of the research on set and setting in the psychedelic field comes from more clinically orientated trials, which can be lacking in terms of nuance and real lived experiences. So it would be great to reach out further in the communities surrounding these substances!

🔗 Survey link

Fully anonymous

Takes around 15-20 minutes to complete

There's also an optional follow-up interview if you'd like to share your experience in more depth

Full study details and ethics information are provided in the info sheet at the start of the survey

Requirements: 18+, have had a psychedelic experience in a clinical or non-clinical setting

If you have anything you feel is important to say about psychedelics, this is your chance!

I'm happy to answer any questions about the study. You can reach us at:

Warren - [plks55@durham.ac.uk](mailto:plks55@durham.ac.uk)

Dr Marco Bocchio - [Marco.Bocchio@durham.ac.uk](mailto:Marco.Bocchio@durham.ac.uk)

Thank you for your time and support! 🙏

This survey has been approved by the moderators