LSD and Lithium I posted this article to alt.drugs in May 1994 and received the responses that follow. - Mike Brown > I have a friend who is bipolar and is taking Lithium to control > her chemical imbalance. I've been telling her about my postive > experiences with LSD and she is interested in trying it. > I checked the FTP sites and I don't recall seeing this being discussed > here before, but I could be wrong. > Can someone post or email me with any information they have concerning > the interaction of LSD with Lithium? Surely there are some bipolar > folks on the net who have tripped before. Is it too risky? What are > the dangers? What advice can you offer? ---1st response--- Not advisable. Potentially very dangerous. If your friend is planning to do this, then she MUST research LSD intensively before taking it...and get a good understanding of exactly what risks she will be taking. LSD has been known to 'trigger' latent mental illnesses - it doesn't cause them, but it can exacerbate the condition - even if the person doesn't yet know that they have any 'condition'. This is probably where the myth that "lsd can make you crazy" originally came from. On the other hand, hallucinogens can cause a profound change in outlook...enough to lift a severe depression - I know that this can happen because it happened to me when I was around 22 - I'm 27 now. I attribute my current mental health, and even my continued existence, to a batch of mushrooms I took when I was suicidally depressed - turned my head around completely, and within a few weeks I was well on the road to recovery. It wasn't an instantaneous, magic cure but it provided the impetus that I needed to get started. I would probably have topped myself within a few months otherwise - suicide was constantly on my mind, and I was evaluating different methods trying to come to a decision...no way to be sure, but I expect that I would be dead by now if it weren't for that mushroom trip. So, tell your friend to BE VERY VERY CAREFUL. LSD could teach her something, or it could send her into a downward spiral. ---2nd response--- I'm not sure if there are any known harmful interactions between LSD and Lithium. In fact, I don't think anyone is _sure_ why Lithium is effective in stopping bipolar cycles. However, I am SURE that LSD is not something that should be introduced to anyone with manic-depressive disorder. My girlfriend is also bipolar, and LSD will cause a triggering effect in her that sends her straight into mania, almost immediately. All it took was one trip. She had gone without an episode for more than 5 years until she decided to dose one day. Can you imagine how unpleasant that must feel? Full blown mania PLUS an acid trip (which would probably become a bad trip.) I hate to be one of thos e types that perpetuates these drug horror stories, but it's just not a good idea for anyone who has a clinical disorder to take mood altering drugs. Clara actually had to drop out of school that semester and seek treatment at a hospital she ended up staying at for six weeks. Mind you, she was'nt being treated for "Post LSD psychosis" ( a condition which is a complete myth in my opinion.) but for the mania which the LSD catalyzed. I've also had positive experiences with LSD, so I have no bias against it. But please don't let your friend take it! If you do decide to do it, keep a close eye on her! (as if you wouldn't :) ) ---3rd response--- I've never heard of this exact situation before, but it seems like it Might be dangerous to me.. Lithium, as I understand it is used to stabilize a person's personality, to lop off the manic and the depressive parts , and leave the person more level.. but LSD can really send a person reeling in either direction quite quickly.. I wouldn't recommend that anyone with mental problems severe enough to me medicated in the long term try LSD... ---4th response--- Generally I lurk here in alt.drugs for lack of pertinent info, but here I must comment... I was diagnosed manic-depressive in March, and was put on lithium soon after. Contrary to popular belief, being manic-depressive is not an "I'm so out of control everyday" sort of problem. It comes and it goes, many people go years without a significant episode of mania or depression. I have combined my lithium with LSD and had no problems. The only effect I noticed at all with a slight increase in my tolerance of LSD (previously I had very little - when friends dropped 2 tabs, I dropped 1, etc.). The LSD didn't swing me into a mania or depression. However, this is my experience. In the drug books I've read, the warning with mixing lithium with pot or LSD is "possible psychosis". although no one in any manic-depressive support group or online group I've talked to has experienced such. Just a little slice o' my life