I've had similar reactions from drinking binges with coke & mushrooms where it seems to become impossible to sleep or eat for days. Eventually, crippling anxiety and hallucinations will occur. Unfortunately, it has happened so many times that I know how to cope with it after wracking up thousands of dollars in hospital bills, lol!

Yogurt is a very good start. If you live somewhere where there is an oxygen bar and you fill fit to leave or have someone that could take you - it could be really beneficial. I'm not a fan of oxygen bars but it could definitely calm the tension. I think that is what you experienced is hypertension related to drug use. That situation is a terrible negative feedback cycle, once your mind goes it just doesn't stop but oxygen can really help - and if you have any medication for anxiety that would help.

Other than taking sleeping pills, trying to eat non-solid foods (along with vitamins if you can) and keeping hydrated it is mostly just about waiting it out. Sometimes I've been incapacitated for several days afterwards just letting the tension/knots work themselves out. It is not fucking fun. But, they will work themselves out.

I would agree that before taking LSD you want to be fully rested. I usually get that feeling that one gets on meth - a tension where I can feel painful/stringy muscle feeling on acid by itself. It's definitely a bad combo.

Tuesday today... Still feeling heaps of anxiety... I've been trying to convince myself that I'm alright, but I'm really struggling...

It could still take a little while. Cyb mentioned Valerian tea- you can also get a tincture at most health food stores. It's the natural source of Valium, and a very gentle yet effective anxiety treatment.

As far as integration goes: I think one of the more important things you can do is talk (or write) about your experience. Get specific about the details of the struggle, things you were thinking at the time, conclusions you might have come to since then. This is a crucial part of the integration process, and a way to embrace the experience as a catalyst for positive change rather than just a major beatdown.

Good luck; keep us posted!

... What??? I'm going to go through that too?

Hey man, residual anxiety from a trip like that can take a while to wear off. In my case, it was almost unbearable for about ten straight days. . . as in, so paralyzed with terror I had great difficulty even getting out of bed. Trust me, dude, I know how much it can suck. I kept a tally of each day I made it through alive, that's how intense it was.

The good news is, after the first week-and-a-half to two weeks, the anxiety definitely decreased. Two months later, I was feeling much better. And after that, I realized I'd gone through the most important transformation of my life so far. Having survived that, I was like a whole new person. The tricky part now-a-days is trying to live as closely as possible to what I learned in those harrowing few weeks.

What helped the most was KNOWING that there was nothing actually wrong with me, that the anxiety was simply a feedback loop of nervous thoughts reacting to strange feelings causing nervous thoughts, etc, etc. Just because you FEEL emotionally there is something wrong, no matter how dramatic and certain it seems, does not mean it is actually so. It doesn't mean the anxiety stops, it just means you don't take it seriously, even AS it's happening. Then, slowly, sloooowly, it will go away and probably never come back.

XaniKi ----- YOU WILL BE OKAY!
The very fact that you have requested assistance is excellent. Many people out there have had negative trips. After taking acid for years without any issues, I took acid with my g/f one night. We were both having a difficult time in our lives, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as what I did next. Half a tab sent my head sideways...I went completely paranoid schizophrenic for 6 to 8 hours. Did everything I wasn't supposed to: screamed at people on the street, threatened to call the cops on myself ("for my own safety"!!!). I was tripping so hard and so chaotically that I couldn't see the direction or location of cars properly, and so tried rolling away from them every time one came by. Only problem was that I was rolling TOWARDS the cars! There was a lot more, but in the end it was silence that helped me. My wife laid me down in the bed, and silenced me. Words were the cause of it all. Paranoid, confused, and unnecessary outpourings of words that just tripped me up and sent me in a constant loop. My wife forbade me from talking. No words. The difference was incredible. I came down in less than an hour.

I had become complacent with my tripping. It happens to a lot of people. Never underestimate the power of acid, but also remember that a bad trip usually means that you have an opportunity to reflect on yourself. Why was the trip so difficult? What do I have to do with my life to ensure that I can trip again? Set and setting is everything ---- and set and setting includes your own head and habits.

Besides the valerian you could try taking some 5-htp and/or omega-3 supplements for a little while, it might help if your seratonin levels have been knocked out of whack (anxiety can be a symptom of that.)

Hang in there, trust me I know the feeling! And Guy is right talking about what's going on, either here or with someone you trust offline can really make a big difference.

hey Xaniki , you're not alone brother
what you describe sounds like amphetamine psychosis to me ( i am no expert ) ,, i kinda have suffered through this a while back , in my case it was 36 hours of being awake with various substances , it did wear of eventually , took almost an year for me to recover fully , i would suggest to cut back on all entheogens for now , most importantly cannabis and amphetamines since either will create dramatic panic attacks , get excercise everyday - this is what i will credit for my swift recovery to sanity , excercise helped me recover faster than i would have , eat healthy and sleep well everything will be fine in some time , in a year you'll be back or sooner

dont worry its gonna be all good , might take some time , you have gotta ride this out just like on the trip , ride it out

excersice , eat healthy , sleep , you'll recover soon

I dunno if this helps / if anyone else has been in similar scenarios but anyway... Here goes...

Well, before I explain, I'll give a brief summary of previous acid trips (stay with me, I'm not the best at explaining things initially, but you'll get the picture soon...)

Basically after tripping on acid a few times, I was able to see a few things differently (I felt more connected to people, to nature, to my pet dog, etc). I felt more "hippie-like" if that makes sense (which I don't think is a bad thing, in fact I'm happy I see things like that, and can feel the affection coming from my pet dog when I'm near him and showing him my own affection).

Anyway...

I was at a shopping centre today in a bank sitting down waiting and I noticed a sign the bank had at their door was wobbling around heaps (because of the wind from the main entrance being close enough to push it around a bit). I didn't just see that though, my thoughts took me deeper. I started thinking about how the other employees in the bank are too interested in making profits from regular every day people than to fix a small annoyance at their entrance (it was somewhat of a hazard to a small child or elderly people). Then I started thinking about all of the other people that could also see the sign flapping about, and how they neglected to do anything to fix the scenario, or to even notify an employee of what was happening. It was as if I could see that people just don't care about anything that doesn't directly concern them, or doesn't provide a material benefit. It felt like I could see people aren't willing to lend a hand, or spare a moment they had (which most appeared to have spare of course, some people were just sitting around doing nothing, some were on phones, some were just eating food, etc).

I've heard it's somewhat common to start seeing things like this a lot, which seems pretty legit to me, but I'd really love an opinion from you guys...

Anyway, thanks again to anyone who has helped me through all of this so far...

It sounds very much like you are awakening...your mind is expanding and you are seeing the world through BETTER eyes...
The everyday Joe (sheep) are oblivious to the real nature of things...they are stuck in their own little reality tunnels.
IMO this is a good trait to carry you through life...the older and wiser you get...the more it makes sense...

Sometimes though, you just have to keep this 'new power' to yourself...Joe just won't understand...and may ridicule you for being too sensitive..

Question everything....

(you could always ask to see the maintenance dept and point it out...then walk out with a huge smile on your face and you'll have a great day...)

This kind of thinking is, I think, extremely common in the integration period after a big trip - good or bad.

A couple years ago I had a harrowing mushroom trip. Somewhere in the core of the trip was a "truthful" seeing that I could seemingly not turn off - I saw people as they truly were, at least from my altered perspective. People were not their bodies, not their personalities or histories or even actions. All of those things were just structure around the real thing, the awareness, the ball of light at the center. This struck me as unbearably tragic. To my eyes, nobody would ever be able to fully realize their connections to each other as long as we were all hung up on the outer layers, the bark. Lifelong, we build up our walls and focus on the division and fail to connect to that deep shared thing. I remember thinking "How will I ever be able to forget this? How can I un-know this terrible knowledge?" The trip got profoundly bad after this, but it picked up in a positive way later. However, it was the negative aspect that haunted me in the days to come.

For many days after, well over a week, I couldn't seem to see outside of this viewpoint of people as "drones" - as puppets of their own body chemistries and histories and selfish desires. It was unpleasant. I had intense nightmares for a couple of weeks. Even close friends to me - I couldn't face them, didn't want to - I didn't want to see them fitted into this terrible scheme. People seemed to me, generally speaking, an unfixable mess.

Here's the good news. That's one tiny vantage point of one angle of a wildly complex and colorful thing - the world of people. Reality itself seems to shift as we shift our own perspective on it. You may find yourself noticing lots of big things about people across the board. Aspects of humanity that may seem to be the case across the whole population. But the fact is, every person is, like yourself, fighting their own hard battle and winding their way around their own slice of the big labyrinth. Perspective is flexible.

There's a common meditation technique, I highly recommend you start something like this right away:
Consider putting on some relaxing music and sit or lie down comfortably. You aren't your thoughts. There's a space between thoughts, silent and relaxed - that's your home, that's where "you" reside. Sit and focus on breathing and relaxing. Try to relax, bit by bit, every part of your body. Focus your attention on deep regular breathing. Thoughts will still come. But rather than focus on the thoughts or allowing them to spiral and build, try to see them as clouds moving, or logs in a river, leaves in wind. Let them go. If a horrific, consuming thought comes to you - imagine it as just another log or cloud, no different than the others, no more deserving of a value judgment than any other thought. Observe. Witness. Be. Let everything go, just for a while, just during meditation, just to see.

It may seem paltry, but at the same time you may find yourself feeling a bit more calm during or after. Small though it may seem, this is an amazingly powerful tool. That and, as others have mentioned, healthy lifestyle. Make a serious project out of eating well and getting good exercise for a while. Meditate to calm. You'd be shocked how much these little things can impact your sense of mental and emotional health.

The hell passes. Eventually you'll be back to worrying about how you're going to get laid, or how you're going to get that rent check in, or leveling up in that new videogame to beat that one mission, and this harrowing misadventure will be another piece of your journey that shapes your strength.

Be well, buddy. It's shitty but this is quite commonplace in psychedelic country. That's not to play it down - We know, and some of us have been there, and it really can be a terrifying hell. The worst is over. You'll get through. Take care of yourself, we'll be sending good vibes.

I agree with cyb - you might be getting more aware of your surroundings and the connections of things, seeing different things, their causes, their implications, their potential etc. This can be a great thing but it can also be frustrating especially if you let it isolate you from the rest of the world by thinking "no one else sees what I do".

I would try not to follow too far into the realms of "other people are too concerned with material posession" etc. Don't start looking down at other people thinking they should be seeing what you are. They might be on a different path, and see things you don't but could be equally important. It could be that they are busy with other things, like caring for a family member with a disability aside from working... and they just can't focus on a sign bobbing around. We all have our unique points of view and abilities to connect the dots. This is great, because together we can help each other out pointing out to each other the things the other has not detected.

Keep your eyes open, but don't assume that eveyone else has them closed. They might just be looking at something else.

cheers

Good point.

Think of it this way, if we could watch someone else's life like a movie, see how they experienced every moment and thought that led here from the moment of birth, whatever it is they're doing right now, no matter how stupid or uncalled for it seems to us, would make perfect sense. Everyone's doing the best they can given the content of their movie so far. Some of us are lucky enough to catch on to the trick of it all, and it sounds like that's you now.

I would second the suggestion about 5-htp, it might be helpful and, at least where I live, you can find it at your local health store or supermarket. Meditation is another good recommendation. As is exercise, break a sweat and push through resistance every day, it's amazing medicine.

I've got something else to report in... Which I'm not sure if it's relevant or not, but anyway...

I've noticed ever since having that bad trip, I haven't been able to go to bed without waking up in a lather of sweat. I turn the air con on and go under a blanket (used to normally do that) and I create a pool of sweat... I tried sleeping with just a fan on under either sheets or blankets - same thing (bit milder though). I dunno if I'm just paranoid and might be getting sick or not, but is that kind of thing common?

Australia in the Summer...I'd say yep...

If you've stopped taking anything...your body will take a bit of time to reorient itself..

I'm normally fine... I normally don't react like that to the temperature... I've noticed I get colder easier too...

I'm actually thinking today I'm going to go to a doctor and talk to someone, I can't shake the feelings even though everyone has told me they will no doubt go away (I cannot shake the doubt in my mind that I have some disorder that will only get worse if I don't treat it now).

hey XaniKi just thought I'd pop in again.. I see your still having a bit of a rough time. A bad LSD trip can really shake you for quite a while.. It WILL pass, as others have echoed here, but its not gonna be an instant thing. Be patient with yourself.. don't punish yourself for still having bad feelings and anxiety.. remember that the trip was hardly a week ago now. Thik about what it is exxactly that your having anxiety about... try and find its root. I'm sure it lies somewhere to be found. Be honest with yourself, and don't fear yourself. One thing that really helps is a big heartfelt hug with somebody close.... like a good loooooooooong emracing squeeze

Heh... It almost feels as if the anxiety is dying down.. It's still around every now and then, but isn't as full on or as long. Super healthy and not touching any substances (even weed) and doing exercise seems to be genuinely helping heaps... I've noticed a few other things though (which I suspect could be from the meth or just being sick).
I've noticed I sweat like crazy while sleeping the last few nights. I've tried with just the fan, and with aircon on (both with only sheets or blankets), it seems to still make me start sweating. Tonight will be a good judge of whether it was just temporary or not I guess...

The other thing I feel like I've noticed (could just be my paranoia) is that randomly my head might have a really mild tingling sensation, it's really hard to explain. I think it might just be paranoia and it might just be an itchy scalp or whatever...

My stupid body.

Good to hear you're improving! Make sure not to put too much significance in small tingly feelings and such things. You are connecting them to your bad trip, but they are most probably just random things which already happened before the trip. Keep going like this and you'll recover quickly.

I used to get the tingling...(after a binge) - like a fizzing sensation in a local spot on the scalp or a bug crawling...you kind of want to poke it to make it stop. Its just nerve endings acting up...it goes away, no problem there.