Hi all,
Being pleasantly surprised with the maturity of this community, I figured I'd join the forums. I'm a 26-year old from Belgium, currently undergoing some tests in order to confirm a diagniosis of ADD which was made 6-years ago by a psychiatrist I consider a "doctor in the warfield". Anyway, I'm currently not in a situation I consider safe to experiment with psychedelics, but I want to use the time to tap into the knowledge contained in these forums. Self-control is never easy when it comes to drugs, but at the moment I think I'd better stay at distance.
In this regard, and this one of the reasons why I wanted to make an introductory post here, is the fact that I've suffered "metal fume fever" a few months ago. Just wanted to point out that this may be more explicit on the safety & health guidelines: metal fume fever is a condition induced by inhaling toxic metal fume fevers, and presents itself with low blood pressure (had it for over a week!) and other flu-like symptoms. It usually starts around ~3 hours after inhaling the fumes, and needless to say, many new (and more experienced) users should seriously keep this in mind when attempting to inhale DMT via the use of any steel whool, or similar stuff that might potentially release the toxic stuff. Not a life-threatening disease, but if you care about your real-life (you should), it's definitely something to be cautious about. I know alot of people use the machine etc, and I haven't seen many posts about this, so maybe this could be added to the guidelines (just a suggestion, nothing more!).
Other stuff worth mentioning is that I've experimented with a variety of drugs, and have gradually become more interested in DMT. I'm not a very experienced psychonaut or anything, but ever since ketamine had such a (positive) profound effect on the way I perceive myself and others, I've decided to focus on the pyschedelics I feel can give a new perspective on this life. Ketamine helped me bigtime with my social phobia, and I somehow feel my brain was "reset" to understand that we're not so individual as I used to think - cheesy as it sounds, we're social beings connected to each other, which is a very soothing thought really. I've experimented with other stuff such as XTC, MDMA, Mephedrone etc., which also helped me to overcome the phobia, but they quickly lost appeal (and therapeutic effect) to me. Only other stuff I might consider besides DMT is 2-CB, psilocybin and LSD (bit in doubt of that one, given the "rest molecule"-risk), but again, now's not the time. Just in order to avoid doubt: I'm not looking at DMT as a therapeutic substance, though more as a substance able to open up perspective. I've spent ages thinking about the universe, string theory and whatnot, and think that DMT could open some perspective (or more likely bring forth more questions, but I gladly accept that I'll never be able to understand everything).
Anyway, to get to my first question regarding DMT: I've had difficulties using the "machine", more specifically I'm unsure how to exactly use it (how long to heat it, jet or bic-lighter, when do I know's ready etc.). I'm slow when it comes to practical stuff, so any aid regarding this could help a lot. I'm also looking at making "the key", but i've become very cautious with cleaning the stuff, as health comes first (cfr. above). Previous experiences with DMT: first treshold (nice lighting!), and internal dialogues with a female entity which told me I had to stop carrying so many thoughts with me, which really helped me. Furthest I got was a rhytmic vibration througout my body - very interested in exploring further!
That's basically it, hope it's a bit structured (no add-meds atm). Hope to get some feedback on my post and again, very glad to see there are mature internet forums in relation to drugs. If anyone could help this unhandy guy with using DMT, I'd be grateful. I have 0,5 gr DMT lying around for me when the time is right, and I'd prefer to use it safely.
Kr