How to stop a bad trip - or at least die trying

A bad trip, according to the definition in Wikipedia is a "disturbing experience associated with the use of a hallucinogen". The classical definition relates to a state of psychosis that may result in anguish, actual physical harm to self and to others, or risky behaviour as a result of a negative environment
(Timothy Leary's set and setting theory)

Sometimes you just have to hit the emergency button

These definitions stop short of exposing basic truths about a bad trip that a Psychedelic Dad has lived through. In my experiences:

• Every single mind-altering substance causes bad trips if mishandled. You name it. Even alcohol causes delirium tremens if abused for a long-enough period. One of my worst nightmares was a bad trip on methylone - a weaker relative of MDMA - in a domestic setting. Do not be fooled here.
• Bad trips can be "turned around". It takes a lot of experience, strength and willpower to do this, but it can be done -but sometimes bad trips can't be turned around. 
• Bad trips cannot be avoided. No, they cannot if the circumstances are negative, if you are worried, or in a harsh environment or have become entangled in a random negative event whilst high. "How do you think you will react if high in a house-party, and then suddenly the police come crashing though the door?"
• As a trip-sitter you must know how to react is someone else is having a hard time. This is why someone else is trusting you to look after them. Because you know your shit and they can't look after themselves. Sometimes, talking nice things and wrapping someone in a blanket does not work with psychotic people. 
• You are tripping solo, and things are not looking good. This is a hard one; not only you have no sitter to help you, but you must use whatever common sense is left in you to call a stop to the madness. If I feel that I'm coming up too fast, too soon, it's an indicator that something nasty is on the way and if I am not prepared to handle it, I do a run for the emergency button.

I always have Diazepam (generic Valium) around and I will stress the point of the post: you should have an emergency plan for responding to a bad trip situation -any other benzodiazepine or antipsychotic drug will do for stopping a bad trip, but if you don't have them before the trip starts your only other alternative is to contact the emergency services or ambulance in your locality. Or ride the bad trip out. With all the consequences these options may bring.

A bad trip can be stopped, you just need to know how.

If the patient is already manic and violent: unless you are lucky enough to have an anti-psychotic needle or you are able to calm the patient down to administer the Diazepam, the only viable option is to call for an ambulance.

If the patient is unresponsive or unconscious: place the patient on his / her side and ensure the airways are not obstructed and breathing can be maintained. Call for an ambulance *immediately*.

When ready to push the "stop button" take 20 milligrams of Diazepam with water - the hard part might be convincing the patient to do it as they might already be in a psychotic state. The pills can be crushed and mixed with water, or chewed before swallowing (they taste bad, but crushing them brings on the effects sooner...)

Tell the patient the truth and ask them to stay strong for 10 or 15 minutes - the Diazepam will start working very soon (you did crush the pills, right?) - in the meantime provide supportive care, blankets, fluids and a warm and caring environment. Turn off the lights and get rid of all noxious influences - this might be a good time for listening to Bach, and not Rage Against the Machine.

Do not go "how do you feel?" or "I told you it was too much" or "You scared me shit-less" every one minute or so: they will be feeling like survivors of a plane crash for the next couple of hours, so do not be an arse. There will be time for explanations later on.

After a couple of hours, serve something warm and nutritious to the victim - a chicken soup, a minestrone or something similar. Give plenty of fluids. Ask the patient to sleep until the next day, if possible.

That's all there is to it (in my experience); that's how you kill off a bad trip. Of course, others will have different experiences or may disagree with me, but that's what the Internet is for.

Iprocin

Iprocin, 4-Ho-DIPT, 4-Hydroxy-di-isopropyl-tryptamine; C16H24N2O 

One of the first chems I ever tried, Iprocin usually looks like a clumpy, hi-white powder, almost with a bluish tinge. I remember very clearly that it had a very strong taste, as some chems do, and I felt nauseated almost immediately.

Iprocin, 4-Ho-DIPT

Iprocin is notorious for the reactions it causes to some users, particularly if your stomach is not empty. Many resources suggest fasting for six hours or more and taking an antiemetic before taking Iprocin. Tremors and trembling hands are very common as well, and the perception of temperature is exaggerated throughout the trip- I have felt shivering cold in a tropical locale whilst under the effects of Iprocin.

Iprocin is one of those chems that should only be administered orally or rectally - the dosage actually increases when insufflated.

Dose ranges, oral, milligrams (male, 90 Kg)

• Light: 6.0 to 12.0
• Mid-range: 12.0 to 20.0
• Strong: over 21.0

Iprocin is also one of the fastest-acting tryptamines - the effects can be felt as soon as 20 or 30 minutes after taking it, and it has a very strong visual component. On lower level doses there is a reinforcement of colours, with greens, blues and violets becoming brighter.

As the dosage comes up, there is more of the classical psychedelia: breathing walls and surfaces, visual artifacts and tracers, morphing objects. It is possible to experience complex open-eye visuals with stronger doses, over 35 milligrams. Mentally speaking, Iprocin creates some mild mental confusion and disorientation, but I have not experienced the mindfuck that other compounds seem to bring.

I have the impression Iprocin should work well with other tryptamines, particularly 4-Ho-MET and 4-Aco-DMT, but I have not tried this combinations yet. As with other tryptamines, it does not combine well with members of the phenylethamine family.

The colours in the wall

This is a short story of a trip with a combo of 4-Aco-DMT + 4-Ho-MET.

These two chems combine and reinforce each other gracefully and it's one of the most artistic trips you can get without going over the edge of reason. 

Both drugs affect the processing of vision in the brain: 4-Ho-MET brings out the glow and saturation of colours and creates spotlights and colourful tracers in your surroundings; while 4-Aco-DMT -as weird and unpredictable as it can be- synergises with the centers of vision and plays illusions of shapes, colours and movement.

I've found the ratio to be important - when the weight of 4-Aco-DMT is about half that of 4-Ho-MET the resulting trip will affect the perception of light and colour. As the amount of 4-Aco-DMT increases, the weirdness of the trip increases as well, and strange and unusual visions will happen. 

I ate a capsule of 12 mgs of 4-Ho-MET with 8 mgs of 4-Aco-MET at noon on a fine Sunday. The sun was shining and the weather was inviting for a lazy laydown in a nearby pool, so I grabbed my hat and swim gear and went for a dive.

Not more than an hour after ingestion I had to excuse myself from my friends and returned to my apartment. I was dehydrated and felt nausea building up, a typical sign of a trip building up and about to begin. Got home just as the colours were growing in intensity and drank a cold ice tea, while sitting down for in a comfortable sofa to wait for the discomfort to ease.

As I laid there with my eyes closed I could see the visions that 4-Aco-DMT produces in me: slowly rotating shapes, like those in computer screen savers. Hexagonal solids. Cubes. Pyramids. All this while some random TV channel played nursery rhymes.

The shapes were rotating in sync with the tempo of the nursery rhymes. Charming, but eerie and uncanny. There was something sinister about the whole scene and I worried the trip might take a turn for the worse. I quickly turned the TV off and closed my eyes for a few minutes.

At some point I half-opened my eyelids to check on the clock in the wall to my left, and I was regaled with an amazing sight: the white wall started changing colour, as if a brush was slowly painting it with a shade of blue that reminded me of Delft porcelain.

Delft china.

In wide stokes of colour, the wall was being converted into a canvas. Into a piece of psychedelic art.

Soon the wall started changing hue and went from blue to green, then tan and ochre. And then back to blue.

Every time, the unseen brush would paint methodically on top of the previous colour. Sometimes with geometric patterns. Sometimes with solid colours. Sometimes the brush would paint in water colours that blended beautifully with the hue already in the wall.

This wondrous cycle of painting went on for another ten or fifteen minutes. I found I could somehow influence the trip by thinking of a colour I would like to see. I succeeded most of the time - but I could not make the wall black, red, orange or any of the bright neons.

After this, I hurriedly realised I had been away from my friends for about an hour, and thought I was feeling well enough to go back to the pool. By this time I was still tripping, but without nausea. And started to truly enjoy the tryptamine-enhanced radiance of a beautiful sunny day. I was feeling great, in a very elated and happy mood.

Everything was magical and perfect that day, and I will remember this trip as one of the most beautiful and gentle experiences I have had.

bk-2C-B

bk-2C-B, beta-ketone 2C-B; C10H12BrNO3

A derivative of 2C-B, this chem hit the world somewhere in 2013 and it does not have a place anymore in my Arsenal of the Mind. The reasons will be forthcoming.

Not the sharpest knife in the block.

An indistinct white powder with a strong chemical smell, bk-2C-B is purported to have a similar profile to 2C-B, but at a fraction of the strength of its parent compound. Bigger dosage is required to achieve any effect.

Purported is the keyword here - pure promise and no delivery.

Dose ranges, oral, milligrams (male, 90 Kg)

• Light: 70 to 120
• Mid-range: 120 to 220
• Strong: over 220

Yes. You have read that well; 200 milligrams for an excursion that in my opinion is much inferior and more uncomfortable than any other experience I have had with a member of the 2C-x family.

After 30 minutes of taking it for the first time, I felt a strange sensation of malaise and chills through my body -something fairly common with phens. But taking a capsule with 120 mgs of something awful feels much worse than taking 20mgs of something awful -volumetrically speaking, my gut was full of bk-2C-B and did not like it one bit. My body was not liking it.

The psychedelic effects where very subtle, increasing in strength after the first hour and lasting for the next six or seven hours, but nowhere near as strong or colourful as 2C-E. Slight distortios on colour and light. Slight breathing of walls around me, but nothing really spectacular.

The body high was already very unpleasant, and did not diminish for the duration of the experience.

Inferior bromine

The second test with bk-2C-B, a month later, was a capsule with 150 mgs administered rectally. Just 40 minutes after administration I knew I had made a mistake; my gut was starting to burn, as if something mildly caustic was causing discomfort, and I promptly managed to flush it out with a solution of saline that I use for these kind of emergencies.

At that point I decided that the risks outweigh the benefits -as stated somewhere else in the 'net, bk-2C-B is a poor substitute for higher order 2C-x phens- and decided to toss it away as I wondered "why on Earth would someone use this when better chems are available?"

I poured the bk-2C-B in the toilet bowl and went out to do some errands. Coming home later, I was surprised to see a purple-coloured mass of gunk waiting for me in the toilet bowl.

The lesson is: the molecule of bk-2C-B is fragile and it dimerises (breaks) when in contact with water and then isomerises (recombines) randomly - some of these new isomers take on the classic purple hue of bromine compounds. Some of them might be psychoactive, but I am sure many more of those rogue molecules are not good for your insides.

DOC

DOC, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-chloroamphetamine. C11H16ClNO2

I met "the DOC" through an obscure chemical trading desk in the former Eastern Bloc and my impressions of it were conflicting: it was the strongest chem I had tried up until that moment and the energy and out-worldliness I experienced were uncanny. But the imagery, mental stress and body load were unacceptable.

I had never experienced full broad-daylight open-eye visuals before, or experienced such strong closed-eye imagery - at times very uncomfortable and disquieting.

DOC, a phen ring with an amphetamine tail

DOC also gave me a very strong body load that was almost painful - as if my body was in open-rebellion fighting to reject an insidious invader. I felt exhausted and wrung-out the next day. My body was drained and sore and my mind was exhausted.

Dose ranges, oral, milligrams (male, 90 Kg)

• Light: 1.0 to 1.7
• Mid-range: 1.8 to 3.0
• Strong: over 3.1

Always measure the doses of DOC very carefully - this is very strong stuff and you will get hurt if the dose is exceeded.

The easiest and safest route I found for coming up with a standard dosage is the "liquid measurement method" - DOC is soluble in alcohol and spirits, and it can be safely measured with a dropper. For my purposes, I used vodka, and just a couple of drops of blue food colouring.

After 45 minutes of ingestion, the effects of DOC are unmistakable - mood lift and boundless energy, tempered by an alien feeling of disconnection with my body and detachment from my surroundings.

DOC, alchemical imagery

Imagery starts flowing shortly afterwards: disconcerting images of fabulous medieval beasts -like woodblock prints from an ancient bestiary-  flowing and melting into each other. Serpents chasing their tails, mythical giants, mysterious spirits, demons, ghosts. Viscera. Blood. Pain. Unpleasant imagery.

With open eyes it is possible to see neon outlines on objects, flowing and melting surfaces and shiny specks floating in the air. I even saw a small wooden Buddha bleed profusely.

DOC brings me to a very strong mental state of anxiety, confusion and stress: the mindfuck. This is the most unpleasant part of the trip - my mind is racing around like an engine out of control and I contemplate anguish, solitude, ego, the universe and everything else in between with no moderation and very little control, whilst everything around me morphs and melts in a menacing way.

The whole DOC trip gets very absurd and taxing after the first four or five hours - not a good thing considering some high-dose trips can go for 16 hours or more. Sleep is impossible. Sex is very difficult and not very satisfying - unlike other phens, I never felt like a sexy daddy.

I discontinued DOC after 8 experiences or so. I don't miss it at all and find very hard to recommend it.

This brilliant trip report (written by another author), describes a DOC experience - and it sums up its effects on me. Please be careful if you intend to use it.

NBOH and NBOMe series

25-B-NBOH, 25-C-NBOH, 25-I-NBOH
25-B-NBOMe, 25-C-NBOMe

The NBOH and NBOMe series are derived from 2-C substituted phenethylamines and were discovered in the early 2000s. They are cheap to manufacture and distribute due to their ultra-low active doses, in the range of micrograms. There are about a dozen compounds in both families, but I have only tried those at the top of the page.

Any of these chems can seriously hurt you or kill you if misused -there are reports of deaths at 3 - 4 milligrams or so. Which might be five or six blotters. These are not party drugs, and you are in for trouble unless you are experienced and know yourself and your mind very well.

25-I-NBOH, little but packs a punch

As they are all chemically related,  I only will write about their generic characteristics here. Their effects resemble those of their parent 2C compounds but even stronger, and the duration of the trip is comparable. I find that 25-C-NBOH is the most partylike of the lot, whilst 25-I-NBOH is incredibly visual. They are all very sensitive to set and setting, and I would rate them as challenging trips for veterans only.

NBOMe compounds are somewhat stronger than NBOHs, so their dosage should be reduced accordingly.

The most common route of administration is by blotters applied sublingually or to the gum: each square contains a pre-measured dose of the drug and an organic binder that helps the drug travel through the mucous membranes of the mouth. These drugs have a very bitter taste that some people can't stand.

Unfortunately, NBOHs and NBOMes have been passed on as LSD by unscrupulous dealers, with negative consequences. The bitter taste is a giveaway, as LSD lacks any. Another risk is an incorrect distribution of the dose in the blotter, by sloppy fabrication and measuring procedures. It is imperative to start small (quarter of blotter, even) and work the dose up until the right level is reached.

To help absorption of the drug, I usually brush my teeth before applying the blotter to my gums - I leave the blotter for 15 minutes and then spit it out. I've found that swallowing the blotter or saliva precipitates nausea.

Six doses of 25-B-NBOH in blotter form

I've read reports of people diluting the drug in alcohol and using aerosols or micro-pipettes to administer a diluted dose, as well as one report of someone who put a blotter dose into a gel capsule and used the rectal route.

Dose ranges 25-C-NBOH, sublingual, micrograms (ug) (male, 90 Kg)

• Light: 250 to 500 micrograms
• Mid-range: 500 to 1000 (one milligram!)
• Strong: over 1 milligram

Do your research before using any of these compounds, as the dose above is my own dosage. Every psychonaut will react differently depending on a myriad factors and combinations, and no two trips are exactly the same. Caveat Emptor.

All NBOH and NBOMe compounds cause severe cross-tolerance - you will not be able to enjoy the effects of any other drug of the phenethylamine or tryptamine family (including MDMA) for a period of time after an NBOH / NBOME experience.
Some people report this period to be two weeks long, although I find one week is about right for me.

4-Aco-DMT

4-Aco-DMT: O-acetylpsilocin, 4-Acetoxy-DMT. C14H18N2O2

4-Aco-DMT is closely related to psilocibin and to DMT, and comes as a very fine powder with a slight burnt yellow hue. It can be administered orally, intranasally and rectally.

In a good environment the trip is a dreamy, fully immersive experience, not unlike being part of Alice in Wonderland, The Matrix or Total Recall. Or being inside a painting by Hieronymus Bosch.

In the wrong dose or in the wrong mood, 4-Aco-DMT could end it all. You might end up in hospital, jail or the morgue.

Please read a lot before using 4-Aco-DMT - this bad boy is a nuclear weapon for the mind. The Ctr-Alt-Del. of research chems.

Dose ranges, rectal, milligrams (male, 90 Kg)

• Light: 5 to 10
• Mid-range: 10 to 18
• Strong: over 20

I have plenty of experience in RC's but 4-Aco-DMT never fails to awe me: I have seen the sun become a cartoon orange hexagon, while the trees in the park morph and flex their branches rhythmically, as if embracing each other. I have seen my face in a mirror melt and change shape. I have seen walls repaint themselves in a multitude of colours.

A compound this strong means a psychedelic dad like me must plan ahead. 4-Aco-DMT is most definitely not suitable for tripping when looking after others, doing anything remotely intellectual or social, or when using machinery.

I have only tried the rectal method and the results have been very impressive; the most vivid and outrageous part of the trip happens during the come-up phase and the first half of the plateau phase. The first three hours of the experience.

The second half of the plateau is less vivid and the effects keep tapering down after the fourth hour or so. There's still a very strong visual and oneiric component, but it is much more manageable. It's possible to socialise by this point.

I also notice both a stimulated outlook and empathy with others, with persistent yawning - and a generic stoned feeling. I have not tried having sex during a trip with 4-Aco-DMT - it might be great, but it might also be a very scary experience.

4-Aco-DMT synergises really well with 4-Ho-Met. Not surprisingly both compounds are found in magic mushrooms. Considering how strong 4-Aco-DMT is I suspect it does not work well with phens, and the results might be very negative. Maybe other tryptamines work fine with it, but I have not tried those combinations yet.