I did some searches on the site and internet, but did not find too much information on this. I am referring to when people go/turn catatonic after taking/dosing LSD.

A few months ago I had the scariest experience of my life and it really made me to revaluate what drugs I take or give to others. I have always been against giving/sharing drugs (any kind) with anyone, because I don’t know what reaction they will have to it. One time I smoked some weed with another who was not too experienced, they freaked out and I felt really bad. The following was of that to the nth degree.

A few months ago I was at a gathering in the desert. A friend of a friend took 2 drops from a vial of LSD. The person who gave it to him is 100% reliable, meaning it was LSD. We witnessed him take it, and other people take it (others did not have the same reaction, so I concluded it was very psychological).

Everything is going fine for the first (he took the LSD around 1am) 4 to 6 hours, when during the night (about 5 hours after he took it) I noticed him showing some signs of violence and aggression (before sunrise, he randomly smacked everything off of the table he was sitting at, no one was around him though, we asked if he was "ok", he said yes, but of course I could see he was tripping hard)

After sunrise, my friend came to me (not the one on acid) and told me his friend (the one on acid) was running around naked and was out of his mind. I replied, "That’s alright, it happens, just make sure he doesn’t hurt himself or anyone else". I didn’t feel too obligated to keep an eye on him cause he wasn’t my friend yet my friends friend. However I noticed that the trippers friends (the ones he came with) were not really looking after him, so I took things into my own hands cause I really genuinely care for everyone. After following him around under the blazing sun for what seemed around 4 hours (he did not drink a drop of water the entire time) I almost gave up and went to his friend and said "I really need a break, you take care of him for a while" so I went and did my own thing for a bit. During the "naked man episode" he was acting like a disorganized schizophrenic, running around screaming things that did not make sense, (later he explained to us what it all meant, he thought the police were after him (being me, looking after him and following him around)) Long story short. One of his friends was able to slowly get a hold of him and get him to put clothes on. Before that, at one point we pinned him to the ground and PUT his clothes on ourselves, cause he was crossing the line, he was opening peoples car doors (while naked) thats pretty much close to sexual harassment, also there were little kids around too, so it was very unacceptable. (this is where I thought a stray jacket would come in handy, he was hurting himself (scratched from bushes) and about to hurt others (unintentionally) ill make a separate thread about stray jackets later)

Long story short, his friend was able to get him to pit his clothes on himself. A few hours later, he was himself again, he felt VERY embarrassed that he did such a thing, he was humiliated, I even made him feel worse by lecturing him and whatnot (big mistake on my side, I learned a lot)

So once I knew he was in his right mind again, I went to do my own thing with a free and clear mind. A few hours later my friend finds me again and in a panic states "he has gone crazy again" I reply, "what do you mean? is he naked again?" he says "no, hes just not moving (catatonic)" I go running to him, and see he is on the floor on his knees, looking into the distance FROZEN STIFF, he was on total muscle lock, stiff as a board, a few hours after he was like that, his friend wanted to take him to the hospital, but one of the main reasons why they didn’t was they were afraid to break his neck or other parts of his body if they moved him. He was that stiff. This freaked me out to the max, there had been experienced trippers at the gathering, no one had seen such a thing, only one person had and they said it lasted only 40 minutes. They kept on reassuring us it will be ok and do not panic. But I was panicking, afraid he would stay like that forever, it was a good 5 hours he was like that, at some points in time we had to or try to move his position cause parts of his body (hands) were turning pale almost purple, he was sitting in a bad position and for hours. At point he would respond by blinking when I would say "if you can hear me, blink" he occasionally would show very little response, but that comforted me greatly.

Long story short, after a group of very supportive people, including myself (strangers however) sat next to him for hours and talked to him and tried to comfort him, during which time there would be no response, he slowly began to come out of it. We got him to stand up at one point, but he froze up again (while standing), but the group of people were quick to react and got him away from the crowd and music and spoke with him about human things (ex, where do you work, what are your hobbies, etc, and NOT about his trip). Eventually he was back to normal, but the friends he came with were very very inconsiderate, they immediately started asking him about his trip and etc, which was not too cool, they should have just let him be.

I would like to know as much possible about this catatonic despair. I have heard and read about some other experienced of this sort with LSD

What scared me the most was not the naked man crazy episode. What scared me was that he came back to reality from that, and an hour later after being normal he went catatonic. His mind was stuck, thats how I describe it,

He showed signs of disorganized, paranoid and catatonic schizophrenia throughout his trip.

I was watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas the other day and noticed a line that the main character says about Gonza "the acid had flipped on him, the next 4 hours would be one of those hellish introspective nightmares of catatonic despair" this intrigued me. If I had known that things like this happen even though it is uncommon, I would have had an easier mind at the time. It really was the scariest experience of my life. and made me reevaluate what I put in my body or give to others. He did not take that much LSD, other people took the same quantities, even more and reacted differently. He had taken LSD before, many times. I think he might have developed reverse tolerance.


My main advice to others is, do not take mind altering substances with people you cannot 100% rely on. The people with him were considered his good friends and didn’t do jack sh*t to help him, me and the other good hearted people around did the caring. What if those people weren’t their? then what? What if someone just knocked him out for doing the crazy stuff he was doing, what if he wasn’t in the desert but in the city, he would have most probably hurt if not killed himself or someone else.


For a very long time I did not know why psychologist documented the crazy/schizophrenic effects of LSD, after seeing what happened to this man, I understood.

Do not underestimate this substance. Anything can happen. I personally have not taken it too many times, or in larger doses, but I have seen what it can do to a person, and believe me, nobody wants to be where this person was. He described the cationic state as his soul was on fire.

My best friend used to do lots of liquid LSD...very pure from a trusted source, and she once described a somewhat similar experience. I dont think she was quite so far out there, but she descrobed it as going between periods of almost seizure like shaking and comeplete disorietation and then complete muscle seizure and brain fuck. It went on in periods for like 2 hours until the 2 other girls she was with pulled her out(they had all used that LSD many times, so knew it wasn't just the acid). She said they were very worried though, and one of them is a nurse and did indeed say it looked very similar to a seizer and was concidering calling 911 until she began to come back...never happened to me though..I only took LSD a few times..I dont heat about this really with mushrooms or mescaline though.

Brain f*ck is indeed what it was. I later found out that this person had a real troubled childhood and keeps stuffed piled in, so I’m sure psychological issues were in play as well. What really shook me up was, you know how they say oh it happens one in a million, or one in a million will react badly to it. Well I saw it happen with my own eyes, and that really put me in the mindset that it could happen to any of us. I really was considering bringing some back with me to the country I am in now (this country has seen very few psychedelics, very conservative and etc.) I wanted to bring some back to share with my friends over here, but if they react the same I wouldn’t really know what to do or how to deal with it. So I decided to just leave it alone.

I could defiantly see how someone can think they can fly and jump out of a window and kill themselves. At first I just didn’t understand how that can happen, I thought to myself "I take lsd, feel different, think different, see differently any so fourth, but never I would imagine jumping out of a window" after seeing this and talking to my the person afterwards I believe that is very possible. That is why I say you should be with people you really trust, so worst case scenario they can take care of you. Or a trip sitter, I never really thought this was all too necessary for the "experienced tripper", but you never know.

Thanks for the reply.

About the stray jacket, I am considering buying one and taking it along with me to future gatherings in cases which turn t be more severe than this (not the catatonic part) I kept on leaning back and forth weather it would be inhumane or not, but theres a freaking line, it’s for the persons own good. How much would the psychological effect of tripping hard and being in a stray jacket compare to hurting themselves or others is another question. But that is the risk the person who takes the substance takes.
What are your thoughts on this? (talking about when people go apeshit and are danger to themselves/people around. We really did try to lure him away from the crowd of hundreds of people, simply was not working. And what if we did lure him away, were in the freakin desert, what if he straight up kept on going? He would die probably die of dehydration if no one follows him.

Unless you made the LSD yourself, you don't know if it was really LSD or not. I don't care how "trusted" the source is. SWIM once had liquid LSD that was actually DOM, and this was from a “trusted” source, so that really means nothing. It’s impossible to know if its LSD unless you made it yourself or saw the other personal actually make it. SWIM is very experienced with LSD and knows the real stuff from the other stuff. He's been cheated quite a few times from "trusted" sources giving him other stuff passed off as LSD.

Thanks for the info. Let’s just assume it was LSD, even if it wasn’t it was sold as LSD. So, the question remains the same, yet is altered a bit. And when I say trusted source I mean that the person would not lie to us, so if it wasn’t LSD then the person who gave it to him was misled as well.

Has anyone else had or heard of similar experiences caused by LSD or something sold as LSD?

The only thing I have in my memory banks that resonates with this:

One time I ate two pieces of paper downed with some heinekken, obviously underestimating potency, because within a half an hour I was in la la land.
Whilst in my friends car on the way to the beach, something happened to me that has never happened again.
My arms curled inward like someone with mental/physical disabilities and I could NOT move them. I was stuck curling inward and I was vibrating and buzzing like I never had in my life. It was the strangest ecstasy... I laughed and laughed and about 20 minutes later I actually was able to move again, but I was in a magnetic world and it was very hard to function. I was grateful to be functioning again, and I was faithful during the period of retardation I would be OK....

The only thing I could think of at the time was that the dolphins wanted me to join them...probably not the case...
Pure LSD + Alcohol = strange detox? The only other person I've ever had confirm this same thing was someone who did an intense water fast.

Very interesting stuff...sorry if this wasn't of any help.