Wow! I was really surprised to see this thread after so long and see how many people are suffering from the same (similar?) problems. This is definitely NOT a good thing, but I think it will be useful to pool our knowledge and help prevent things like this with future nexians.

So far what I've learned from trying various things:

1) No more IPA at all. Even if the changa is a few months old and totally dried out - still induces sickness.
2) Acetone changa didn't lead to sickness, but SWIM had a bad experience with it - so he's most likely staying away from changa in general.
3) Very FEW people actually experience these effects. It's not universal. SWIM has had friends smoke from the same changa blends as him, with no negative effects whatsoever. Nothing but good hyperspacing on their end.
4) Whether you BURN or simply VAPE the changa makes no difference.
5) SWIM has had no problems whatsoever with pure spice, whether it's burning it or vaping it, no sickness has resulted.

CONCLUSION: Stick to good ol pure white crystals, especially if smoking changa is causing you problems.

I'm thinking maybe you guys have a certain allergy? Might not explain the acetone issue, but I don't really see any other explanation.

yes , I also considered it may be an allergic reaction, however for me, I have not had any problems vaping at all.

only smoking.

I have vaped a batch for months with no issue, and then try to smoke and have the illness.

so, how can vaping and smoking be so different when concerning allergies?

the illness I experience is much more like a flu , or a poisoning.

but I cant rule it out.

Definitely must be some kind of an allergy. Yah I agree with Shaman, the feeling is like a flu, but the symptoms come on so quickly that it resembles being poisoned.
Maybe the alcohol converts something in the plants into a nasty allergen, or activates it, or something along those lines. Vaping might not heat it high enough to burn it, so maybe that's why you don't experience it when you vape.

can I ask what the prob was you had with acetone vampir?
I havent tried it, so, i was wondering..

Well, it was quite a shaking experience.
Didn't even smoke that much, maybe 20-30mg.
SWIM smoked it, and immediately felt bad vibes. Just a sense of dread, not a great feeling. He had his favourite music playing, but none of that helped calm him. Then, the strangest thing happened, everything seemed to speed up. Almost like someone pressed 1.3x speed on his life, and it was the scariest feeling for some reason. All motions felt too fast, too unnatural, moving around. Took him like 1 second to get to the other room, where his gf was studying, so he lay on the bed next to her, and closed his eyes until it stopped. No visuals or anything, just realllllllylyyy bad vibes.
Not sure what happened there. The mix was thoroughly dried. Never had anything like that happen before.

Does anyone get this days after smoking/vaping?

Last thursday i had a hit of DMT, i was fine afterwards but on monday i developed a cough & could taste DMT everytime i coughed.

Just with pure DMT? Are you sure your stuff is clean?
DMT itself doesn't seem to be harmful, as many people are smoking it without any problems, including SWIM. However, making changa with certain alcohols, or having impure spice can definitely cause reactions like these as has been shown on the boards.

I'm not sure if it's the alcohol that is causing the problem, but it is always a possibility. SWIM created their own changa blend using 1 part DMT (0.5g), 2 parts Caapi (1.0g), 1 part Blue Lotus flower (0.5g)(not extracted or concentrated) 1 part Calea (0.5g). All SWIM did was place the herbs in a 1/2 pint mason jar and dissolve the xtals in Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum. Once the xtals were dissolved the rum was poured onto the leaves. A desktop fan was placed next to the jar on high speed and left on all day/night until the leaves were dry and crunchy. I should mention that the mixture was stirred at least 12 times in 24 hours. The result is a wonderfully mild, tasty smoke that packs quite a punch. I should mention that SWIM smokes the changa in a short, dry bong and has had only good effects from this blend. No headache/fever or flu symptons, just smoothe sailing.

Yeah it was pure DMT

Maybe tasting the DMT when i developed the cough was just a coincidence...

Is it possible there could be traces of a pesticide or two on the herbs?

I've smoked the herbs by themselves without any negative effects.

Vaped spice1 (unknown stb extraction, used the machine) - No Flu
Changa1: caapi, lotus (used acetone, smoked in small bong1) - No Flu
Changa2: caapi only (used 95% brewers alcohol, small bong2) - No Flu
Vaped spice2 (own stb extraction, naphtha, used the machine) - No Flu
Changa3: (strong): caapi, blue lotus (used 95% brewers alcohol, small bong2) No Flu

but then, changa3 batch was smoked again with friend, got flu like symptons, BOTH friend and me!
we figured it was not changa related.

flu lasted long, 1,5 to 2 weeks before completely gone. Then i decided i wanted to travel again so:

Made a new changa batch, caapi only... used acetone instead of the alcohol...
smoked it 2 days later in small bong2, couple days later.... flu symptons.

So got the flu twice in a short amount of time, i am vegetarian (eat milk,eggs,fish tho), eat alot of vegetables (bio/dynamic).

is thinking of unclean bongs with bacteria developed inside.
is thinking of tissue damage in throath or longs wich are bacteria gateways.
is thinking of this alcohol issue but had it with acetone changa too.
is thinking of more psychological reasons, knows he has some mental issues adressed by changa he should probably deal with.


Also has noticed that his psoriases (skin disease) would almost dissappear after the flu, while most psoriases patients report their skin getting worse while having the flu.

Glad to see this discussion.

I have had a few relatively minor episodes of post spice fever/nausea symptoms.
These have been from sessions where spice was combined with freebase harmalas over cannabis.
I have mostly been suspecting that these were cleansing reactions, similar to "getting well" as in Ayahuasca or peyote use. Psychedelics can have some detoxification effects that don't feel good, but nonetheless, this has given me pause.
It hasn't happened with spice alone or combined with cannabis, just when used with harmalas.
No IPA was involved in any case, no acetone either.

This makes me wonder if anyone else has thoughts that relate to the concept of Dieta as in traditional Ayahuasca use.
I.E., no pork, salt, fat, hot spices, etc before/after sessions. I suspect that some of these issues may apply to the use of harmalas to enhance/lengthen the effects of smoked or vaped spice. Does anyone else like to approach these sessions with empty stomach or fasting? I have not had any noticeable reactions from use of harmalas with any of the tyramine containing foods, though I haven't pushed it too hard, just some testing of things like peanut butter, chocolate, beer, coffee while on only harmalas. No illness from these....

Dieta?

Thanks!

Im glad to see that I am not the only oen that has experienced a sickness along with usage of changa. Ive used Acetone and let it dry for days before smoking. One time i smoked a 50mg MJ/ 50 mg spice enhanced leaf before work at 6AM. By 6PM i was overcome with flu like symptoms, i went home and layed in bed and sweat until around 3AM, when i stopped sweating the sickness was over. Ive had friends experience cold sweats at night due to some changa, yet ive smoked the same stuff and felt no sickness. So i think it must be an allergic reaction to some Acetone contaminants (how could it be) or a reaction to the plant materials and alkaloids ive used. Ive got to the point where i am affraid to try ANY enhanced leaf.

My conclusion is kinda like this:

Smoking changa may result to low resistance against for example flu etc.
The cause may be contamination or other alkaloids within the changa.

When smoking changa multiple times within several weeks you become more and more sensitive...

I've had night sweats after smoking copious amounts of changa. No flu symptoms, just the sweats. So have others I've smoked with.


Wierd

I'm pretty sure it's caused by reusing the solvent.

I've only done two extractions, the first with fresh naphtha and the second with naphtha reused from the first extraction, the second gave me a fever, the first did not.

The only other variable is that after the first extraction, I poured the dissolved freebase (dissolved in naphtha not alcohol) straight onto the leaf leaving the impurities behind. For the second extraction I did the recrystal step before dissolving and adding to the leaf.

I got this 'changa flu' off my first couple of extractions, which were done with Nomans tek, using zippo lighter fluid and freeze precipitating. At first I thought it was due to harmalas and combining with alcohol, but I had the same symptoms using just enhanced leaf and smoking while totally sober.

Next extraction I did a modified BLAB tek using xylene, salting with vinegar, freebasing with sodium carbonate and finally pulling with methanol. This gave me no bad after effects even with lots of added harmalas and even after copious amounts of beer and wine.

Maybe something bad came through from the lighter fluid? It evapped clean though and wasnt reused.

thanks ijahdan, i concluded its the lighter fluid, i tested this by soaking some tobacco in it and smoking after drying thoroughly, and i had the fever. gonna look into BLAB tek you mentioned