Is LSD (Acid) safe?

The Explanation of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

LSD stands for Lysergic acid diethylamide, and it is a synthetic chemical made from a fungus called ergot. You might know the song “Lucy in the sky with diamonds” by the Beatles. Lucy is a common nickname for LSD. Other nicknames include acid, California Sunshine, trips, dots, and Zen. LSD is bitter and odorless, often mixed and diluted with other ingredients or substances to conceal it. According to the online pharmaceutical encyclopedia Drugs.com, LSD can be turned into many forms such as:

• blotter paper. LSD is soaked in absorbent paper with colorful designs and is cut into small, individual dosage units.
• thin squares of gelatin referred to as window panes
• capsules tablets called Microdots
• liquid on sugar cubes 
• pure liquid form

LSD is taken into the body through these edibles and often dissolved under the tongue. It can also be administered through injections or snorting. LSD is categorized as a psychedelic. This means it is a hallucinogenic drug that causes the user to experience extreme distortions of their reality. 

According to an article called “What to know about LSD Use”, “scientists believe that LSD works by influencing the receptors involved in the regulation of serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain. Serotonin is involved in the control of behavioral, perceptual, and regulatory systems including mood, motor control, sensory perception, hunger, body temperature, and sexual behavior.”

An LSD trip affects your reality when it disrupts this regulation. An out of body experience occurs that can affect every person differently. But the main take-away is that there is no safe amount of LSD that you can take. LSD is not safe in any amount or size. A euphoric feeling is not worth the risk of the LSD side effects.

Common Effects of LSD

The LSD side effects a person will experience are based on several variables. These variables can include if this is the individual’s first time using LSD, the amount and strength taken, if other drugs or alcohol are being ingested at the same time, and the person’s overall health and weight. When the drug is ingested through the mouth, the individual will experience the effects of LSD within the first 45 minutes. The acid side effects will then dramatically peak two to four hours into the experience. If the LSD is injected into the body then the individual will experience the LSD effects within the first 10 minutes.

According to the article “What to know about LSD Use”, a person who decides to take an LSD trip will experience: 

• an altered sense of self 
• an altered sense of time 
• dramatic changes in sensations and feelings 
• feeling several different emotions at once 
• swing rapidly from one emotion to another
• synesthesia 

Synesthesia is where your senses cross over, such as hearing colors or seeing sounds. The individual is hallucinating they experience these alterations. Distorted visual perceptions of sounds and colors might sound like an interesting experience but it can cause severe anxiety in the individual. You can not control the hallucination. Therefore, sometimes the altered sounds are terrifying and you can’t make it stop until the LSD side effects wear off as the drug leaves your system. Unfortunately, that can take up to 12 hours or more depending on how much you took. 

Physical Side Effects

Hallucinations aren’t the only thing you experience while on LSD. Your body will also experience physical side effects that are not so pleasant. They are very unpredictable. According to Drugs.com, some physical side effects that you could experience from LSD are: 

• rapid heart rate
• increased blood sugar
• dilated pupils 
• nausea
• loss of appetite
• difficulty sleeping
• dry mouth
• tremors
• seizures

The euphoria from the LSD trip is not worth all of these possibilities. If an individual is experiencing anxiety whilst using LSD, then these physical side effects will not make the situation better. The individual might start panicking and breathing quickly. The confusion and fear will take over. This is where accidents can occur because people can end up injuring themselves while on this LSD high due to their fear and altered reality. There is no lethal dose of LSD but an individual can still overdose. An LSD overdose usually involves seizures, psychosis, and panic attacks. Individuals can still die while using the substance. This is the hard truth and it is really scary. LSD is not safe and can be a very terrifying experience that you are not in control of.

A Bad LSD Trip

An LSD trip is a slang term for when an individual is high on LSD. An individual might experience a good LSD trip or a bad LSD trip. Since the effects of LSD are dreamlike with hallucinations and altered reality, a good trip is like a good dream but a bad trip is like a nightmare. According to an article from Very Well Mind called, “Understanding the Acid Trip Experience”, the difference is:

Good Trip 

• The world can seem beautiful 
• Life can seem wonderful 
• Human interactions can seem deep and meaningful 

Bad Trip 

• Can bring overwhelming feelings of fear 
• The world can seem harsh, cold, and ugly 
• Life can seem painful 
• People can seem superficial and cruel 

These feelings of despair can start to take over the individual. The LSD side effects can not be controlled and during a bad trip, they can be extremely overwhelming. The individual may feel like they are losing their mind. This is usually due to hallucinations. Instead of dreamy magical hallucinations, a person on a bad LSD trip could experience horrors. To put this into perspective, the article “Understanding the Acid Trip Experience” explains the different kinds of hallucinations:

• Auditory hallucinations – hearing things that aren’t there
• Tactile hallucinations – feeling things that are not there
• Olfactory hallucinations – smelling things that are not there 
• Gustatory hallucinations – tasting things that are not there
• Visual hallucinations- seeing things that are not there 

Any of these hallucinations can come and go or they might linger. There is no way to have control over any of it. This causes the person to panic. With the individual’s reality being distorted they will not react correctly to their real surroundings. This could mean running away and injuring themselves, risking death.

Coming Down from LSD

Eventually, the LSD side effects will go away as your body detoxes the drug from your system. The LSD side effects after the trip tend to be exhausting. Depending on when the drug was administered an individual can be wired all through the night. The hallucinations will wear off slowly and eventually, your perceptions will be normal again. It will be difficult to eat or sleep for a while though. Often the best option to start off with is water. Avoid alcohol or coffee when in this state since those substances can interfere with your body even more. 

If LSD causes all of these problems, then why do people continue to use it and like the LSD effects? According to the article “What to know about LSD Use”, “one of the most common misconceptions about LSD is that it is the key to unlocking the inner mind. While people might feel that they are unlocking the secrets to inner awareness during an acid trip, such insights tend to be subjective. The perceptual and thought changes that take place when using the drug are not necessarily a way of understanding the self. 

This is a strong misconception about LSD. It is not a safe way to have an inward perspective of yourself. The belief that LSD makes you more creative is a myth. It is a psychedelic drug that makes individuals hallucinate. Instead of continuing to take LSD, you should surround yourself with non-judgemental friends or family who can help you. Call us today if you or a loved one are using LSD. There are programs in place to help you come off of the LSD effects and teach you to stop using it. 

Health Hazards and Flashbacks

If an individual continues to take LSD without seeking medical treatment they run the risk of developing severe health side effects. The LSD side effects during the trip are considered mostly temporary. However, with continued use, the effects of LSD involve dangerous health hazards. They can include dehydration, hypothermia, and rhabdomyolysis. 

Using LSD can also cause hallucinogen persisting perception disorder. This is where an individual can experience a flashback of an LSD trip. Scientists haven’t been able to understand why this occurs. It happens without warning and can happen anywhere from days, months, or years after the individual’s last LSD experience. The flashback will last for a minute or two and can attack the individual randomly. This can be a traumatic experience especially if the flashbacks are from a bad trip where the hallucinations were terrifying or disturbing. What’s even worse is that even healthy people who only used LSD a couple of times can still experience flashbacks.  

With continued LSD use, an individual runs the risk of experiencing long-lasting psychosis. This is because your body can build up a tolerance to the drug. Therefore, greater doses of LSD are used in order to achieve the same feelings and experiences. As the doses progress, the individual can cause themselves to develop long-lasting psychosis such as schizophrenia. With the correct medical treatments, a person can heal from LSD. It is often argued that LSD is not an addictive substance. This is true however you still can develop a psychological dependence on LSD.

Psychological Dependence

Building up a tolerance to LSD can be dangerous due to the drug’s unpredictability. It is true that LSD itself does not have chemical addictive qualities like drugs such as heroin. However, you still can develop a psychological dependence to LSD. The reason a psychological dependence can form is that the individual is wanting to avoid the unpleasant feelings of withdrawal as they are coming off of the LSD. Physical and psychological symptoms are unpleasant and usually include feelings of depression. 

This continual administration of LSD is a psychological and behavioral dependence. The consistency of taking the drug every day or couple days creates a habit. Habits are hard to break but we are here to help. If you or a loved one is psychologically dependent on the effects of LSD, call us today. There are facilities where you can correctly detox from this drug and learn how to handle flashbacks or cravings in the future. You are not alone during this difficult time. LSD is a very powerful psychological drug that can be extremely terrifying. We understand and we want to help. Call us today! We can help you live a healthy sober life again.  

Written by Julia Bashaw

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Sources

1. https://www.drugs.com/illicit/lsd.html
2. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-does-it-feel-like-to-get-high-on-acid-21886
3. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-effects-of-lsd-on-the-brain-67496