I'll try to make this story as short as possible. No one likes to be critted by the wall of text.

- This summer myself and a friend did a DMT extraction in a well ventilated home. This was a small-scale, barely-yielding anything extraction.

- Very little naphtha was used, none was spilled, I did not wear a breathing mask.

- The DMT pans were 100% dry each time we used them.

- I personally think I smoked about 400-500mg of DMT total. Not at once obviously but 5-6 trips probably.



In October I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy which I have read can be induced by naphtha exposure. I didn't purposely inhale any and I tried to limit my exposure as much as possible to the DMT extraction.


Basically my symptoms of this condition include extreme pain in one area of the facial nerve branch.



Does anyone think there is a link between this 3 day (16 hours or so) exposure to a DMT extraction area?

The only thing I found on this was from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1483777/ and it was intentional inhalation. I am unsure that 16 hours of minimum exposure would cause peripheral neuropathy. It can be caused by infections or viruses, it can also be caused by a number of vitamin deficiencies. http://www.mayoclinic.com/healt.../DS00131/DSECTION=causes what I found at mayo.

Thanks for the speedy reply.

Other than this issue I've always been healthy, minus the extra 20lbs around the beltline.

We used the lazyman tek and high speed fans to assist in drying the naphtha.

The extraction took place in the kitchen in one large ceramic bowl. I usually sat in the next room (living room) during most of my exposure unless I was stirring the pot.

The drying took place in a completely different area of the house (bedroom) where the window was open to vent the naphtha outside.


Any more thoughts?

Unless you were huffing I doubt it was from naptha.

edit: although im not a doctor, and have no idea what else can cause this. Have you ever gotten your eyes/facial nerves checked out before? You could have had this for a while without experiencing too much pain, maybe a pressure behind your eyes, but nothing bad, until now..

Painters and contractors work around naptha and similar substances all the time, rarely if ever using any sort of respirator and don't report any health problems from it.

This isn't a suggestion not to use safety equipment, I just think it's probably caused by something else.

Pokey

Nah, I've never had this specific area checked out. Generally, when there is not a problem I don't go looking for one ::laugh::

My area is limited to one specific tooth and its nerve that runs to my brain. Occasional jaw and side-of-face pain, but that's just where that nerve runs.

That is a very true statement. I did not think of that. Duh. The naphtha I bought was specifically for painters.

Thank you.

Besides physical nerve damage (car accident, facial accident, etc) there's really 'no known cause' for my condition. Grasping at straws, I feverishly search for what caused this....

Volcano,

I am sorry to hear about your situation. As stated above, from what you have described, your exposure just wasn't severe/long enough for naptha to be the cause. I honestly don't know much about any of this, but given your symptoms and the definition of peripheral neuropathy that I have found on the web (wikipedia, etc.) I would respectfully suggest a second opionion and/or re-assessment in about six months.

Please try not to worry too much. You didn't take in enough naptha to do anything to your nervous system or any other parts . . .

Peace & Love,
Pandora

I think it is highly unlikely, given the amount of people smoking DMT in much larger quantities than you did, without any reports of damage. You should set up a list of all the possible toxins you might have been exposed to, the naphtha is likely only one of several possibilities.

Did you do a evaporation test to see if the naphtha left any residue? If you did not, it is possible that some potentially damaging hydrocarbons was left in the material you smoked.

No, I didn't do an evap test but I posted a picture of what I had extracted here and everyone was like "yeah! good to go!"

It was kept in the freezer most of the time because of it's instability around heat so like I said, out of the 5-6 times I used, probably only 2 were "straight from the pan"

Maybe you should go see a dentist, a root canal might help. Although I have no idea if this is correct. But if the nerve is removed from the tooth and surounding jaw tissue...

I would get a second opinion, peripheral should indicate the extensions of your body, not your face, no?

I'm really sorry to hear about your problem, and I hope it works out alright in time

I've seen more dentists than you have fingers. Just kidding but close.

I started at the dentist, went to another dentist, went to my GP, went to a neurologist and now I'm at a neurosurgeon/ENT specialist.

:S Really sorry to hear this Volcano Hoping that the issue gets tracked down and easily treated.

Hope your condition improves, rapidly.

There is no way in hell this could be naptha related. Swim has done countless extractions over the past several years, and he always evaps indoors with an open window and fan. Naptha is nowhere near as carcinogenic as Xylene and Toluene. Swim will NEVER touch that shit. However, with naptha, as long as one uses common sense (saftey glasses, gloves, ventilation, no flames, etc.) there is nothing to be worried about. The worry itself would be more detrimental than the damn naptha. Swim has zero health issues whatsoever, and is currently in the best health of his life. What little naptha fumes he does smell do not affect him at all. There is something else going on here. Could possibly be involving an exterior environmental issue?

I wore gloves (no one wants to burn their hand!) and I normally wear glasses so I didn't wear my friend's safety glasses. I was just basically just the stir/bitch boy. Once or twice I did drain the naphtha into the glass pans for evap, but naphtha never touched my skin.

When we poured the naphtha into our measuring container we did it outside and the can of naphtha was kept outside.

You guys have done a good job of easing my fears.

Thanks for all the kind words about my condition. Unfortunately, this is a life-long condition. I've had a couple of nerve blocks (100cc lidocaine/100cc marcaine) into the V3 trigeminal nerve but that only gives me relief while they're active. Marcaine is suppose to be a longer acting block but they haven't worked so far.

I'm on an anti-convulsant for day-to-day pain management as opiates don't really help nerve pain. Klonopin and Xanax help me quite a bit, the Klonopin is scriped to me and Xanax I buy from an IOP. As many of you know, to be productive (i.e. WORK in an OFFICE) you can't take benzos during the day, so I take them at night.

First I thought it was the ecstasy (since MDxx affects the jaw/nerve area during peak), but ruled that out. Couldn't be the marijuana... LSD or mushrooms? Highly unlikely. Then I found an article about naphtha and about shit my pants but I realize now after more careful consideration those people:

A) don't have the same symptoms I do
B) were exposed to it for long period of time
C) in some cases, were touching it for long periods of time


Thanks again folks.

If it doesnt have a known cause it usually stems from somewhere in the brain. if i were you i would look into what part of the brain that nerve stems to and see if you have any problems with stuff related to that area.
Best wishes! Its lame when they dont have a cause for you :/
is it cureable at least?

Hi,

I am really sorry to hear about your health concerns. Not to offend anybody on this site, but I really think you need to talk to your doctor. Just because no one else has had problems, and it is not common, doesn't mean that it wasn't the cause for you.

While unlikely that such a short exposure caused the issue, it may have exacerbated it, triggered it, etc... I would recommend semi-disclosure to a trusted doctor and see what he or she says.


~BC

In Canada it may be easier to disclose such matters to your doctor but in America -- the land of paid insurance, it's not so easy to disclose such matters because they make label you a drug user or something similar.

I have a doctor in the family I can talk to in California so may be more understanding.

Other than that, I would never dare disclose this to my neurologist/GP for fear of what may happen in the future as far as treatments. I may injure myself in the future and may need opiates for which I could be denied.... all because I told my doctor I made DMT one time.

Where I come from, you don't even tell your doctor you use marijuana. It's just not prudent. It actually wasn't August looking back at my join date, it was June.

June -> July -> August -> September -> (last week of) October

That's 4 months.