PRE-CONDITIONS
(mind)Set: Calm, prepared
(physical condition) Set: Normal with some mild neck/back tension
Setting (location): inside my home
time of day: 9pm to 12 pm
recent drug use: n/a
last meal: beef taco and applesauce

PARTICIPANT
Gender: m
body weight: 63 kg / 140 lbs
known sensitivities: n/a
history of use: Experienced with psychedelics generally. Experience with DMT strictly sub-bt

BIOASSAY
Substance(s): harmalas / DMT fumarate / DMT freebase
Dose(s): 200 mg / 50 mg / 10-15 mg
Method of administration: gel cap / gel cap / vaporized(e-mesh)


EFFECTS
Administration time:
T=0:00 100 mg harmine/harmaline combo
T=0:10 100 mg harmine/harmaline combo
T=0:30 50 mg DMT fumarate
T=1:45 ~10-15 mg DMT freebase, vaped

Duration: (3 hours)
First effects:
T=0:30 Harmalas
T=1:15 DMT fumarate

Peak: (estimate a time range and note as e.g. T=2:00-4:00 for a range of 2 hours beginning 2 hours after administration)
Come down: T=2:30
Baseline: T=3:00

Intensity (overall): moderate


AFTER-EFFECTS
No DMT effects
lingering harmala buzz/lethargy until falling asleep at T=5:00


REPORT

This was my first successful foray into pharmahuasca. I made a handful of attempts several years ago with syrian rue extract and DMT and misfired every time, giving up in the end from not wanting to waste anymore spice. I never had a breakthrough with vaped spice until a couple weeks ago when I took my highest dose yet. Still don't know if that was a breakthrough, but the intensity/freakiness was way beyond my previous trips. I'll describe that experience as parts of it were repeated last night.

Two weeks ago...YELLOW text indicates observations only made after the recent pharma experience

I was experimenting with e-mesh settings and over the course of 90 minutes I vaped several doses in the 10 - 20 mg range. I had done this a few times that week and had a "shut-out" from the gorgeous and baroque CEVs I typically experience, instead seeing very unimpressive, fine, static-like tesselations. Had my temp setting dialed so loaded 35 mg and decided to go for it. Got the better part of the dose in one or two hits; can't say exactly how much. I was slouched on a large cushy armchair/ottoman, covered with a comforter and some pillows.

The come-up was brutal. I had a disturbing feeling like I was in some laboratory or hospital room. This was the gestalt, though there was no literal representation to indicate such a thing except for a brief encounter with some repulsive and disordered abstract visuals. I felt uncomfortable and turned on my side. The spice kept coming up and I ascended from bodily discomfort and disgust to a more comfortable, but more existentially dreadful place. I can't remember if my eyes were open for any of this, but I saw a toroidal shape with a narrow, twisting funnel forming the gap in the center. I suppose my perspective was from just inside one of its walls facing the funnel. It was all subdued, muted earth tones and pastel burgundies, periwinkles, etc. I had the feeling that I was staring at either my self or my ego, or both, and then felt I was ascending to godhood. It felt as if my mind/soul was being dissolved in some kind of beaker or alembic. The experience was not particularly frightening or unpleasant, but it felt alien and existentially upsetting. I thought, "Oh no, I don't want to be God. How lonely, alienating, and boring would that be?" along with nihilistic thoughts of "Is this it? Is this all existence amounts to, empty relativistic experience?" It was somewhat traumatic and I abstained for a week, followed by another week after that.

Fast-forward to present day...YELLOW text indicates events that also occurred two weeks prior

I took 200 mg syrian rue extracted harmala salt combo and 50 mg DMT fumarate orally in gel caps. Listened to Pink Floyd's Meddle. As Echoes started ~30 minutes in, the DMT started taking effects. Effects peaked by the end of the song, threshold, comparable to maybe 10 mg or less of vaped freebase. CEVs were low resolution. Some discomfort/restlessnes lying in my bed. I'm more comfortable on my side, but wanted to listen to headphones. Considered redosing, but didn't want to extend the overall duration, plus the harmalas really killed my motivation to do much. About T=1:30, I decided to try a little freebase as I had never vaped on harmalas before. Eyeballed a scoop onto the e-mesh. The loading space on my RDA is too small to melt more than ~15 mg at a time, so I'd guess the dose was around there. While I was doing this, my body was subtly hinting to me that I didn't want to do this, or at least that was how I felt. May have just been slight motion sickness from the harmalas. I ignored this.

Sat back in my armchair with the vape, low light, music playing from speakers now. Took the dose in one hit and leaned back. The vaped and oral drugs felt separate from each other, like the vaped DMT was an interloper. My vision blurred a bit. I felt discomfort and some neck pain and turned on my side and closed my eyes. I had disgusting, repulsive CEVs. Aesthetically, it was like the cover of Led Zeppelin 3 if all the details were viscera or protozoa. A scattered, unorganized mess, 2-dimensional in form, but with some minimal depth, like looking at biological samples on a microscope slide. And once again, the lab feeling was there with a kind of "I'm sick from drugs" feeling.

This was enlightening as I had forgotten this part of the previous trip. My hypothesis is that it's physiological. The chair, I'm tensing up, slouching, and putting unnecessary pressure on my neck when I vape in it. Body and mind are integral. The brain does not end at the neck, but rather extends to your fingers and toes. Disruption in the nerves means disruption in the circuitry causing strange side-effects. That could be wrong, and it probably doesn't tell the whole story, but it's an interesting problem that's occupying my mind. Today, I recalled that I have a zero gravity chair that I got in a raffle at work. Never opened it as I thought it was just some stupid lawn chair and wanted to give it away. Reading about them, it turns out ZG chair are designed to optimize ergonomics to relieve strain on the back/heart. I'll be experimenting with this next time as I bash my head into this koan of discomfort. I wonder if the existential/nihilistic dread of the previous encounter had its origins in the revolting blobs of LedZep3 space.. It's not unthinkable, a vile subtext lurking beneath the surface of a negative higher order space. The negative existential bent stems in part from my engagement with nihilism/pessimism, but it's a part of me I accept and am aware of that is constantly in dialogue with the more life-affirming spiritual side of my belief system. So far, it's only reared it's head during a trip when there is physical stress. My only other negative DMT experiences have been with burned spice and its attendant dysphoria. Anyway, the vape experience lasted like 20 minutes which was just fantastic [sarcasm]. The oral DMT wore off shortly after that. I felt emptiness and equanimity, so I sat to meditate and then had a snack and passed out.

All in all, I got everything I hoped for. Got the pharma to work as well as some potentially useful insight into the body-mind relationship.