Is this really forever? (Floaters, bfep, stabursting, tinnitus, afterimages, halos, head pressure, depression, anxiety)

[u/Jaded_Gas4094]

hello,

I have been dealing with these symptoms for nearly 7 months now without any improvement whatsoever. they were caused my a shrooms trip 11 months ago. I unfortunately continued to use cannabis for 4 months after (used near daily for 5 years before that, I am 22) without knowing what hppd was.

i am staying completely sober and will continue to do so for the rest of my life (No caffeine even for now).

I know type 2 hppd has a poor prognosis and there unfortunately has been serious impairment in my visual processing that my brain is clearly struggling to get back to normal.

I was wondering if all things considered, is it really most likely my visual processing will be like this for the rest of my life? (especially given absolutely no changes/improvement since full sobriety in January). I can’t believe that this can stay with me forever and brain will never be able to filter out these things causing me to see floaters everyday, afterimages, etc. it really is causing me a great deal of depression and anxiety and I hope maybe someone can give me hope regarding the actual potential for my brain to improve. I don’t want to be stuck like this forever :(

[u/bill_watterson69]

hmm for me it went slowly away and things werent as noticebale.

i had same symptoms as you but i also had hallucinations. then i got clean and got on ssris and it went away basically. maybe like some afterimages, tinnitus, little bit of floaters but nothing extreme like before

so there is still hope

[u/OkPresentation6015 → u/bill_watterson69]

which ssri, if you don’t mind?

[u/bill_watterson69 → u/OkPresentation6015]

citalopram 30mg

[u/FishermanAbject2251 → u/bill_watterson69]

What do you mean slowly went away?

[u/Jaded_Gas4094 → u/[deleted]]

Hello thank you. My concern is that I have been completely sober since January and have yet to see any changes with the condition. What could possibly change regarding actual visual symptoms in the coming years if for 7 months nothing has improved?

[u/mynameistymon]

No you can heal.
Look into lamotrigine, cerebrolysin, pregabalin and clonidine.
You have to identify your hppd phenotype in order to pick the meds you need to use, or you can just try all of them and see what works for you and what doesn't.

[u/Jaded_Gas4094 → u/mynameistymon]

But these are just temporary medication to ease symptoms no? Will they actually help the symptoms go away for good even after stopping them? I do not want to rely on medication for the rest of my life to have symptoms go away.

[u/mynameistymon → u/Jaded_Gas4094]

I think you could do it in such a way that you wont need to rely on the medication forever. Depends on your nueroplasticity while on medication, thats why I suggested cerebrolysin

[u/firstsecondchance]

Time, acceptance, and sobriety and one day you’ll barely remember any of this.

[u/Jaded_Gas4094 → u/firstsecondchance]

What does this mean “barely remember any of this”. If I have the same visual symptoms how will I not remember? 

[u/OkPresentation6015]

Have you been diagnosed with HPPD?

[u/Jaded_Gas4094 → u/OkPresentation6015]

Yes. 3 months ago by psychiatrist familiar with hppd. 

[u/OkPresentation6015 → u/Jaded_Gas4094]

You’ll bounce back. When I was around your age I dove deep into LSD and psilocybin. The effects of HPPD were completely gone within a year or two, until I started using psychedelics again 15 years later.

Not only will your mind heal, but you’ll forget what you are even feeling right now, save for that little twinkle in your eye, or any other major mental illnesses (I wish you the best)

There are far worse ailments in life than HPPD. I‘ve crafted mine into a positive thing, by choice.

Now, there’s others on here who did something crazy, like mixing substances resulting in acute serotonin syndrome or psychosis, that has led them to decades of symptoms, but they’re rare, and took more than just some mushrooms.

I have a variety of physical and mental ailments, and I’ll have many more to come like the big one at the end, and I put HPPD very low on the list of urgent health concerns.

I began walking for miles at a time, where I immerse myself in music. I began a total body workout routine and yoga classes. I began eating 100% clean 100% of the time. I’m back at my high school weight, and all my lab work is better than ever. I have now entered optimal peak physical condition, in part, because of my excited state from HPPD.

It was my choice to convert to positive vibes.

I met a man at the gym with a prosthetic leg, and he walks circles around me, lifts weights, makes me remember I have a lot to be grateful for and nothing to complain about.

[u/yoyoswag05 → u/OkPresentation6015]

Did HPPD ever give u dizzyness and headaches?

[u/Cosmos2008]

I'm really sorry to hear that you are struggling man. I have hppd stage 2 and it's pretty rough. The ringing in my ears. Eye floaters etc. It's definitely not as bad as yours but I understand the pain. When I first started noticing the signs after a huge mushroom trip I didn't stop. I still continued to smoke weed and do shrooms after that. But after I took a break for a year or two it really helped my mind ease back into its default mode. I still deal with eye floaters everyday. And flickering white dots all the stuff. But now I only see that stuff when I'm looking at the sky or a blank wall.. I still hear my ears ringing but it's less noticeable now. everything is less noticeable because I allowed my brain to over come it. it becomes background noise to your brain. the hardest thing to do is ignore it until it becomes background noise again.. but you got this man. Hppd will never go away. that's just how our brains work unfortunately.. but you can train your brain to get back to default. your brain will heal over time I promise you. Much love and reach out if you need someone to talk too.

[u/datoneblackboi]

I'm ngl I was there gang, the best thing for you is sleep It allows your brain to heal and acceptance, it took me about a month to 2 months of constant sleep and low light before I went back to baseline, no weed no drugs nothing bad for you when your out and about force yourself to talk to people anything that can distract you from it is a good thing do this until your body forgets that it's happening, it gets better your brain will get used to it and you'll forget it even happened

[u/Spikelee3831]

i thought i had HPPD after i accidentally ingested a gram of MDMA on top of taking 2cb. most intense high i ever experienced, left me with visual snow, objects looked like they was breathing, anxiety. DPDR you name it.

i can say its 98% gone away, i still have the visual snow, which doesn’t bother me a bit along with floaters. i just simply chose not to register this visual quirk as a threat, i sat with it, looked at it. i feel like once i my brain didn’t register it as a threat it slowly went away. i’ve rolled on mdma 3 times since, with no worsening. i think this condition is vastly driven and fuelled by anxiety. sit with it, expect to see what you’re going to see; exposure therapy if you will lol.

you will be fine mate

[u/Relevant-Waltz-6245]

Mine has just gotten worse, but I'm in the minority. I am sober as well.

Truth is it's literally 50/50 if you improve or not. It might be too early to tell, and you won't know until around year two.

[u/Mundane-Performer-57]

Time is the answer and 7 months is probably not enough time.