Hallucinations?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

What causes hallucinations? I have them occasionaly in the middle of the night, when I am really tired. And how do drugs cause them?

[-Demosthenes-]

You get Hollucinations in the middle of the night? Could they be dreams? Just a thought.

[Neurocomp2003]

perhaps your parietal lobe is playing tricks on you.

[NavajoEverclear]

hallucination is wacky, sometimes fun. You know if you stay awake for enough days straight you'll start hallucinating

[alt_f13]

Yah, I get small random hallucinations late at night as well. I think those are just microsleeps with accompanying microdreams.

[fafalone]

Hallucinations are most likely the result of the disruption of serotonergic neurons, which are primarily located in the brain. The connection exists that these both be disrupted by a lack of sleep, which has numerous effects on neurochemical concentrations (serotonin in this case), and drugs that act on serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) systems, like DMT (dimethyltryptamine), a hallucinogen far more powerful than LSD.

[alt_f13]

fafalone said in post # :

Hallucinations are most likely the result of the disruption of serotonergic neurons, which are primarily located in the brain. The connection exists that these both be disrupted by a lack of sleep, which has numerous effects on neurochemical concentrations (serotonin in this case), and drugs that act on serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) systems, like DMT (dimethyltryptamine), a hallucinogen far more powerful than LSD.

 

Yah, but how does that cause hallucinations?  What is the process?

[fafalone]

Blocks reuptake of serotonin, drastically increasing its activity. The mechanism by which neurotransmitter activity translates into cognitive effects is very poorly understood.

[alt_f13]

That's too bad, it's very interesting. I'm sure it's secret is the cure to many a brain disease.

 

It's kindof like how I caused a power surge at work, totally messing up a terminal. It still managed to create patterns on the screen of random flashing pixels in rectangular blocks.

[BrainMan]

From what I understand, DMT actually competes for serotonin receptor sites rather than blocking reuptake. It works on some of the same sites that other hallucinogens (like LSD) do- 5-HT2 being the most prominant one. But LSD does all sorts of other things as well that make the drug so damn hard to understand.

 

Activating the receptors leads to a dramatic reduction in the number of receptors in the brain. This, in turn, presumably leads to the disinhibition of visual senations and visual memory. This is where we get "tracers". The images from moments ago are not properly inhibited, so they are interposed over current images (sort of, this is a crude explanation). The decreased receptor number can remain for long periods of time after the drug has not been used anymore, which is where many residual effects and flashbacks come from. It is also the basis of HPPD (hallucinogen perceptual persisting disorder) where people continue to experience the visual effects of a trip either permanently or for long periods of time. That is one type of hallucination partially explained. I don't have a clue about many other hallucinations caused by LSD.

 

One of the most common hallucinations reported by everyday people are auditory hallucinations (like voices). Hearing voices is also the most common hallucination for schizophrenics, and we now know that schizophrenics are generating speach themselves, and they just dont recognize that it is themselves they are hearing.

 

Some hallucinations can be induced by stimulating the brain with magnets, but this really only gives us a rough idea of what some brain areas are doing.

 

Does any of this help?

[fafalone]

Thanks for the correction on the mechanism of action.

 

One tends to see a world created by their mind while on DMT/DPT... completely replacing the real one in higher doses when smoked or IV... in fact with those methods you're not even able to move around for a short while... it's a bit beyond the simple visual distortions with lower doses or with less powerfull agents (lsd, psilocybin).

 

Another physciological effect associated with LSD is the complete cessation of electrical acitivity in 5-HTergic cells of the raphe nuclei,

 

I am not aware of any physiological evidence of neurotoxicity to 5-HT2 receptors; and flashbacks are a non-specific response that are triggered by intense emotional experiences rather than just the drug. Some LSD-related changes to light sensitivity were hypothesized to be the result of permanent damage, however this conclusion was not supported by any kind of molecular studies and hence it's very hard to rule out a psychological cause.

With DMT, permanent receptor changes are even less likely because unlike LSD, DMT (and another simple tryptamine derivatives) do not create tolerance.

[Pinch Paxton]

I used Magic Mushrooms a couple of times, I think that's LSD. All of my senses seemed to be allowed the full use of my brain. Like, touch, hearing, sight, but taste seemed to stay the same. Also, sight seemed to be connected to creativity. I could mould the shape of a cat into anything I wanted. I changed it into a chinease man, and I somehow zoomed in on the image, so that I was magnifying the hairs on the cat's body. Each hair had a true light source, and seemed to be in a higher resolution to normal vision. I am a lucid dreamer, so this was similar, I was able to control my experience, similar to the way that I can control my dreams. This experiment should not be attempted...

 

Pincho.

[fafalone]

Magic Mushrooms contain psilocybin as the active chemical, which is structurally and chemically dissimilar to LSD, not nearly as strong.

[Guest guyoncoach]

is it true that taking mushrooms more than 3 times in a month can cause permentent brain damage? hardcore damage i mean...

[chari1]

Hallucinations are sensory perceptions that are unrelated to outside events -- in other words, seeing or hearing things that aren't there. :

 

Fever, which can occur with almost any infection, frequently produces hallucinations in children and the elderly

Intoxication or withdrawal from such drugs as marijuana, LSD, cocaine/crack, heroin, and alcohol

Delirium or dementia

Sensory deprivation such as blindness or deafness

Severe medical illness including liver failure, kidney failure, and brain cancer

Some psychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia, psychotic depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder

[BrainMan]

Re the brain damage question-

 

 

If I remember correctly, shrooms *can* cause brain damage to some extent, but such effects have not been demonstrated for LSD. I would have to do a bit of searching to make sure, and Im too lazy right now... anyone able to verify this?

[YT2095]

you may want to have a look around here when you`re not feeling so lazy

 

http://www.erowid.org/

 

it`s a true goldmine of information with regards to this type of thing

 

 

Cap`n: look up the words "Hypnogogic" and "Hypnopomic" they`ll help towards your question also

[Firedragon52]

I know this sounds silly, but are there some hallucinations that occur from dreaming when you are still awake? Like a being half awake and half asleep.

[badchad]

The main receptor is actually the 5-HT2A receptor subtype; as others have said, this is a serotonergic recepto. It is interesting that LSD is classified as a partial agonist. This means that in some tissues, LSD acts as an antagonist, and blocks the action of serotonin, while in other areas in can activate the receptor and mimic serotonin. This is a simple picture however, as LSD can bind to many types of serotonin receptors (not simply 5-HT2A) as well as dopaminergic, and adrenergic receptors. As fafalone stated, LSD will inhibit firing of the raphe nuclei. The raphe nuclei project to cortical brain areas, which are usually associated with "higher cognitive function" sensory perception etc. However, the cessation of raphe nuclei is more then likely not the main mechanism by which the drug exerts it's effects. There are two schools of thought regarding the effects of LSD on neuronal firing: 1. One group states LSD can increase neural activity and firing; another says the opposite (I can provide these if you're interested). The reason for flashbacks is unknown.

 

One of the best (and very recent) reviews I've read is by Nichols et al. Pharmacol Ther. 2004 Feb;101. The pubmed link is: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14761703

[BrainMan]

LSD can increase AND decrease neural firing, but the question is about which effects at which times cause the effects we know LSD to have. As I mentioned, exposure to LSD induces down-regulation of 5-HT2 receptors. This may well imply increased activity of 5-HT2 receptors leading to down-regulation, which in turn results in decreased activity of the 5-HT system at 5-HT receptors (due to there being fewer of them). This down-regulation can be a long lasting effect of acute exposure to LSD. People on LSD lack the ability to inhibit after-images- which also occurs during flashbacks of HPPD subjects. [What I meant in the other post was not that this is a cause of the flashback, but that the same mechanism is at work.] Given the inhibitory nature of 5-HT in the visual system, the lack of inhibited afterimages, and the known down-regulation of 5-HT2 receptors (where LSD is known to act), I would say it is a fair bet that this one aspect of visual hallucination is a result of lowered 5-HT activity, not increased ativity.

[Duke]

Eating magic mushrooms more than 3 times a month wouldn't cause brain damage unless you ate a serious amount. Im sure the British goverment wouldn't try and tax them if they were that dangerous. Iv done them 5 times in a week once and I felt fine.