Psychedelics and Epilepsy

[Mormegil]

Hi, I wanted to try psychedelics for a long time but always put it off, because it never felt like the right timing to me. Now I can feel that I'm finally ready for it, with no distractions or important things going on right now. So I'm actually quite excited and looking forward to the experience, cause it just feels like the right thing to do now.

However, I've been diagnosed with epilepsy long ago, after a severe seizure. Luckily, I actually never experienced many of those in my life (I'm 32 now). I really just recall 2 or 3 experiences like those and the last one is many years ago. So, I'm actually very lucky, that I don't have those on a regular basis, but I'm very familiar with the feeling of "aura" before an actual seizure starts. Because my past seizures happened after I saw flickering patterns in front of me, I am actually a bit scared of taking psychedelics (I'm planning on taking mushrooms), which I know could cause some of those visuals and I'm not sure what effect those would have on me. I would start with a low dose anyway, but it would still be nice not having those worries in the back of my head, while I'm experiencing unfamiliar states of consciousness.

So my question is, does anyone have experience on taking psychedelics with an background of epilepsy? Could those visual effects actually trigger an epilepsy seizure? Do psychedelics even have a negative effect on epilepsy?

I just started researching online a bit on this topic, but i could not find much so far, thats why maybe some of you guys have knowledge about this :-)

Thanks for any tipps or suggestions!

 

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Mormegil said:

Could those visual effects actually trigger an epilepsy seizure?

Highly unlikely. It's nothing flashy.

But do your research. Try searching Reddit. You can find everything on there if it's a thing.

[mrPixel]

I had a seizure on mushrooms once. I have taken mushrooms since, but in smaller quantities. But even then, my body always feels like it's buzzing in a strange way. I also feel like my ears are popping. On the other hand, I can take solid amounts of LSD without any issues. I like to trip on at least 200ug and that gives me no problems. Going forward, I probably won't take more than 2 grams of mushrooms because I always feel like any more than that may yield bad results.

[Girzo]

There is some possibility, especially after prolonged use. If you don't abuse the substances by tripping 3 times a week and stick to the classics (that is Shrooms, LSD, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT) then you should be okay.

[Mormegil]

20 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Highly unlikely. It's nothing flashy.

Interesting, I think I already heard different trip reports on this about shrooms. I guess it just depends on the person, the dose, etc.

 

20 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Try searching Reddit.

I'm on it, thx :-D

 

19 hours ago, mrPixel said:

I had a seizure on mushrooms once.

Crazy, I hope everything is fine. Will definetly be careful. It's always scary when experimenting with your brain chemistry ^^

 

17 hours ago, Girzo said:

If you don't abuse the substances by tripping 3 times a week and stick to the classics (that is Shrooms, LSD, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT) then you should be okay.

Definetly gonna stick with this, thx!

 

Thanks for your tips, guys. I will report it, should anything noteworthy happen!

[flowboy]

I don't think you'll find a definite answer of "yes you will" or "no you won't" have a seizure.

I've read reports of people who don't have epilepsy, having a seizure during a trip.

I guess we're all taking that risk somewhat.

 

Whatever you do, for you I recommend a tripsitter present who is willing and able to physically take care of you, if that were to happen.

[flowboy]

On 21/06/2022 at 9:29 AM, Mormegil said:

the feeling of "aura" before an actual seizure starts

What's that feeling?

Are you hallucinating an aura before the seizure?

Or feeling some kind of presence?

Sounds interesting.

[Mormegil]

On 23.6.2022 at 1:47 PM, flowboy said:

I don't think you'll find a definite answer of "yes you will" or "no you won't" have a seizure.

I've read reports of people who don't have epilepsy, having a seizure during a trip.

I guess we're all taking that risk somewhat.

 

Whatever you do, for you I recommend a tripsitter present who is willing and able to physically take care of you, if that were to happen.

Yes, I also heard people without epilepsy suddenly having problems after psychedelics.. very weird but it seems the odds for that to happen are rather small.

Yes, I'll definetly get a trip sitter

On 23.6.2022 at 1:50 PM, flowboy said:

What's that feeling?

Are you hallucinating an aura before the seizure?

Or feeling some kind of presence?

Sounds interesting.

The term "aura" in epilepsy as far as I know has nothing to do with auras in the usual sense. It's a change of one's perception before the actual seizure hits.

I found this description online: "An 'aura' is the term that some people use to describe the warning they feel before they have a tonic clonic seizure. An epilepsy 'aura' is in fact a focal aware seizure. "

To me the effect is always very similar. My visual field gets strangely desaturated (almost like I see black & white) there's an uncomfortable flickering everywhere. Also sound changes, everything get's kinda numbed down, as if I would stick pillows on my ears or something like that ^^ it's very hard to explain and extremely uncomfortable. Luckily, I only had a few numbers of actual seizures in my life, but i experiences this aura state quite often, but could most of the time sit down and calm myself down so that I would get out of it again without anything further happening.

This is until today the biggest obstacle for me with psychedelics. Since I don't have really experience with those, I'm not very familiar with other states of consciousness and awareness (except alcohol and a little weed). Now I'm very sure that once I try some substance I will get nervous as soon as I start feeling my awareness changing again, because I always get reminded of those aura states and I get scared it might happen again.

But yea, nothing I can do about it I guess just have to start with very small doses to get used to the feeling.