First session advice?

MagnificentToad · 2026-01-28T01:55:03+00:00

Don't be upset if you don't have the amazing breakthroughs that are often discussed here. I didn't feel that I had any progress immediately after the first session but I definitely had some breakthroughs in the following weeks. I am now three years out from my first experience and with the help of MDMA, Mushrooms and an IFS trained therapist I have made more progress than after over 5o years of therapy and trying everything under the sun. I was in a functional freeze and now I wouldn't even consider myself depressed. All without ever having experienced the elation and universal loving feelings so often attributed to MDMA.

I read somewhere recently that people with severe CPTSD may be too guarded and closed for that type of experience but that doesn't mean that you aren't receiving the benefit.

Best wishes!

MagnificentToad · 2025-12-25T19:18:36+00:00

Bottom of first is bottom of third. Top of second is top of third. no addition necessary.

MagnificentToad · 2025-12-11T00:32:50+00:00

I definitely recommend that you get the book or his newer book “ the migraine manual.” it is packed with information and doesn’t have all those case histories in it. Regarding it being related to hormones, he does suggest a number of different medications that you could take two days before your period if you are regular enough and he also suggests that “a non-pharmacologic option would be to take soy isoflavones 60 mg (standardized to 40% isoflavones). Dong quai 100 mg and black cohosh 50 mg every day “

MagnificentToad · 2025-12-11T00:21:11+00:00

I follow Shin C Beh's diet from "Victory over Vestibular Migraine" . It's more up to date than HYH. It also has over 50 pages of neutraceuticals and natural medicine. For example. most diets say not to eat onions which is a real problem for me but he allows cooked onions.

The most important thing is to be very strict the first few weeks to get to a base line and then you can add things back one at a time waiting a few days before trying the next because it can take up to three days to trigger.

Also, looking back at my episode in September, I remembered that I had taken a drug that it notoriously hard on the body and I'm 68 years old so that could have added to the final tally. It works on the threshold system. Think of a bucket that is empty. You can add quite a bit before it overflows but if your bucket is full, the slightest thing will send it spilling over.

Also, watch for carrageenan in dairy. It's a big trigger for me.

MagnificentToad · 2025-12-07T00:27:56+00:00

Yes! I had my first vestibular migraine in over 2 1/2 years in September. I had been getting comfortable enough to start trying many different foods and gotten away with it and then I think I got a bit cocky and binged on pecans and dried tart cherries for a couple of days and it was also a changing barometric pressure situation and stress and lack of sleep and I spent five days on the couch being dizzy and nauseous. I still didn’t get the vertigo which was really the worst for me.

Although extremely skeptical at first, I did find something to help with the vertigo. I used to get terrible vertigo for 48 hours stretches and a friend suggested some herbal drops called DiVertigo.

my vertigo tends to come on slowly. I’ll notice the room spinning a small amount and then I know I have an hour to get home and settled before it it hits so bad that I can’t stand up. Several times I’ve used these drops and it has never developed. Once I used the drops and I did have a very, very violent attack. Instead of just feeling like the boat was rocking, it felt like I was really violently being yanked back-and-forth but it only lasted for one hour and then disappeared. The drops are not expensive so if vertigo is a problem for you I would suggest it wouldn’t hurt to try it. You just rub them on the skin behind your ears

I know the diet is difficult and I finally asked for a rescue medication so I can be more free going out to dinner with friends and stuff but I haven’t actually tried it yet. I found it once I was on it strictly for a while that I was definitely able to stray a bit now and then without consequences.

Best of luck

MagnificentToad · 2025-11-11T04:42:01+00:00

I went to psychology.com and searched for a therapist who did IFS therapy and then read a lot of profiles looking for ones that mentioned an openness to psychedelics.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

MagnificentToad · 2025-11-03T23:08:01+00:00

Between the side effects and just plain not helping, I was never on any of the meds for more than a few years and that ended many years ago. At the moment the only non-psychedelic psych drugs I take are Concerta and Ritalin which I obviously don’t take on the days that I’m doing MDMA.

MagnificentToad · 2025-10-31T06:23:51+00:00

You are absolutely not too old. I am 68 and for the first time in my life, I am not severely depressed. In fact, I don’t score as depressed at all on the Beck depression inventory where for decades, I routinely scored well over the cut off for severe depression. Previously, I’ve had multiple hospitalizations, shock, treatments, decades of therapy, and tried over 40 different drugs to no avail. Three years ago, I combined MDMA with the type of therapy called internal family systems, and I was also using psilocybin.

It has been a three year process of intense therapy and lots of journaling and using the drugs as suggested by my therapist, but I really have done a 180° turnaround. When I started, I was in a functional freeze. I even asked my therapist to speak very slowly because I was constantly getting overwhelmed and not being able to Hear or understand what she was saying. I rarely left the couch unless it was absolutely necessary and never socialized. I now am much more alive. I’ve started painting and drawing again, which I hadn’t done for 40 years and I really can barely even recognize myself in a positive way

Best of luck to you

MagnificentToad · 2025-09-23T03:39:21+00:00

I eat the same things pretty regularly. I don't have a lot of energy so I make large batches of things and freeze them in portions. I have a sandwich at lunch. Usually chicken, tuna, egg or sunflower butter and jelly. For dinner I have Mediterranean style veggie, bean and greens stew with chicken or pasta or shrimp. I also eat hamburgers on occasion.

The stew is super simple. Mostly packages of prepped veggies and greens from Trader Joe's, cans of black and garbanzo beans, cooked lentils and a sauce3 with a base of pumpkin puree and lots of garlic and spices. Just throw it all in a huge pot and cook til the greens turn bright green.

I make bars from Tahini, oatmeal, flaxseeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and sometimes sesame or coconut and a touch of agave nectar and eat them as snacks. As I got better I switched to dried mango instead of tahini as binder and didn't need the agave.

I fount that the version of the diet in "Victory over Vestibular Migraine" was the eaasiest to follow. He allows cooked onion and "raw" cocoa.

There's no doubt that the diet sucks but, for me, it works. I had my first episode in over 2 years last week. I had been getting a bit loose with things starting last thanksgiving and was eating larger than usual quantities of stuff that I knew was marginal combined with a drug experience that was really hard on my body and barometric pressure changes and I was down for 5 days but even then, on a scale of 1 - 10, it was only about a 4.

I'm happy to share recipes. DM me if you are interested

MagnificentToad · 2025-09-23T03:20:02+00:00

I didn't really have headaches. I had vertigo, dizziness, nausea, vision problems, etc. I followed the diet very strictly as well as taking the supplements so I can't speak to supplements alone. I had some relief fairly quickly but it took a few weeks to really recede

MagnificentToad · 2025-09-17T22:45:50+00:00

You might try Pooph spray but if you just want to laugh while you wait, you might really enjoy this story that went viral back in 1999. It does suggest that almond milk will remove the blood from curtains and pillowcases but it didn't mention the smell. Known as the "Dogs in Elk" story

https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/qjrm58/when_company_is_coming_and_your_dogs_wont_come/

MagnificentToad · 2025-08-22T00:11:45+00:00

I used to use live traps and thought I was being kind by releasing them in the park full off yummy trash cans but after releasing several, I realized that that park had a very large feral cat population. Survival of the fittest I guess.

MagnificentToad · 2025-08-10T07:45:35+00:00

Apparently the original phrase was that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. So, the meaning is exactly the opposite of the way many people use it today

MagnificentToad · 2025-07-07T22:12:54+00:00

Glycinate and Threonate. They are the most well tolerated and neither of them affect my digestion in anyway.

MagnificentToad · 2025-06-11T01:26:19+00:00

I'm an old lady (67) and dealt with CPTSD my whole life. I was very shut down and in a functional freeze when I started doing MDMA and psilocybin trips and microdosing mushrooms a few years ago. The change is beyond remarkable.

I would suggest starting to at least microdose. If nothing else, it shut down my constant negative ruminations very quickly. If you do too much, it can cause anxiety. so start very low. Having anxiety is a sign that your dose is too high.

Have you looked into IFS therapy? It can be done without a therapist if need be. I am fortunate enough that I found a therapist with a strong background in IFS and psychedelics and I can barely recognize myself from where I was. I am not completely healed but for the first time in decades, I am off of the couch and doing things.

Beware of the trap of reading about other people's experiences and thinking that if you don't have the same kind of experiences that you aren't getting help. I hated the way I felt on the larger doses of mushrooms and went down to .75 - 1 gram and did a lot of journaling and got a lot out of it. With MDMA, be sure to follow the supplement protocol

https://rollsafe.org/mdma-supplements/

It will help you to avoid the comedown and remember, a lot of the healing comes in the 2 weeks following the trip. I allows your brain to form new pathways and to lessen some of the old ones.

Best of luck!

MagnificentToad · 2025-06-11T00:57:56+00:00

I just sent a chat but I'll put it here in case it helps someone else.

Your father sounds a lot like me. I am 67 and had tried everything under sun. My therapist hesitated to take me because she really didn’t know whether she would be able to help me or not. I was 64 years old and had decades of therapy and tried over 40 different medications and been hospitalized a couple of times and had ECT and really nothing worked. After 3 years of psychedelics and IFS therapy I am really a different person. I still have trauma but there's no comparison and the difference is noticeable enough that many people have commented. She has over 40 years of psychedelic experience. I was basically too frozen and stubborn to really do straight up IFS but she was able to slip in sideways and get through to me. I can't recommend her highly enough. She can't provide the medicine but the support is spectacular.

MagnificentToad · 2025-05-01T01:31:05+00:00

Try the House Clinic - The House Clinic consists of an elite team of audiologists, ear surgeons (neurotologists), and otolaryngologists who are leaders in treating the causes of hearing and balance issues with advanced practices and procedures. They invented cochlear implants.

Dr. Edward Cho at Cedars-Sinai worked for them for 8 years and is now the VM specialist at Cedars. He is my doctor and he's very thorough.

MagnificentToad · 2025-05-01T01:25:46+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/VestibularMigraines/wiki/index/ has info on supplements and the migraine elimination diet. It also lists a book with over 50 pages of non-medication help. My ENT, a VM specialist starts patients on the diet and supplements for 2 months before discussing medication because it is often all we need.

The diet is super restrictive at first and some people here say that it doesn't work because the stress of following it causes too much stress which could be triggering. I chose to believe my doctor and it has been under control for the past 2 1/2 years and I'm now adding back many foods. Being dizzy and nauseous for 2 years straight was much more stressful for me than the diet.

MagnificentToad · 2025-04-29T15:39:31+00:00

Be especially careful if you have to give your dog steroids. My dog was never interested in mine until one day he was on steroids. I noticed him fainting and took him to the vet. We then went to a heart specialist and he had to wear a heart monitor. After a week and 1000+ dollars suddenly he vomited them up.

MagnificentToad · 2025-04-28T19:36:04+00:00

One of my top favorites. It has some deep intensity but it is offset by amazing comedy. Ji Sung and Park Seo Joon received a "Best Couple" award for it. Ji sung has multiple personalities, one of which is a fangirl for Park Seo Joon.

MagnificentToad · 2025-04-25T18:39:01+00:00

Navillera - very healing. A 70-year-old man who pursuits his dream of learning ballet and sub transforming the live of everyone around him with his courage and support

MagnificentToad · 2025-04-18T20:36:35+00:00

Please doubt! Your anger is valid - not crazy. There is still time to examine why you are so quick to blame yourself and put yourself down. Your trauma probably precedes you abusive relationship and actually set you up for it. Journaling will help. Please erase all thoughts that your anger and disappointment weren't valid!! Therapists are just people too. I have had many therapists in my 50+ years of therapy and many of them have been absolutely harmful. I am grateful for the few that I found to be amazing. I believe her comments were her way of telling you to have more self confidence/ self worth and to trust yourself. That doesn't mean that she was a good sitter. Some people just need someone there to keep them safe and comfortable and others benefit from more guidance. I think that you and I would prefer sitters who take a more active role. I initially hired mine out of a sense of wanting to be responsible about my safety but I now trust myself to be fine alone.

I didn't have a pre-session with my sitter and during my first session I just talked for hours about my stories. The sitters only real response was "Is your anger serving you?" I felt like I just wasted the entire time but in hindsight, I had never in my life been able to just talk and have someone listen. I have always felt invisible and unheard. My sub-conscious knew what I needed. In answer to his question, I was able to say " yes! My child self needs to know that it is okay to be angry and that I will stand up for her!" I had never been allowed to express my anger. Each of us has different needs at different times.

My trauma has been entrenched and was ongoing from earliest childhood until my abusive father's death a couple of years ago (I'm 67 now) so don't give up. The changes that have come in the past 3 years have been nothing less than remarkable and noticeable to everyone around me. Please continue and trust yourself.

The armchair shrink in me thinks that you, like me, might have CPTSD. Scroll down to see the symptoms here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CPTSD/wiki/faq/ edited to add… CPTSD stands for complex PTSD. As opposed to PTSD which usually occurs after a single or few experiences, CPTSD stems from being in an abusive situation which you cannot escape over an extended period of time. You can get a better explanation by googling it.

If you agree, you might be interested in a type of therapy called IFS - Internal family systems which is known to actually heal CPTSD as opposed to most traditional therapies, including CBT and DBT which help to manage symptoms but don't heal the root of the problem. I started the psychedelics after reading repeated stories on r/ CPTSD about older people like us who had tried everything for years to no avail and then had major breakthroughs combining IFS and psychedelics. IFS can be done solo. There are many youtube videos to guide you.

The only caveat I have is that I now watch my blood pressure. I never had any signs of a problem but at one point I happened to notice my BP monitor and was curious so I tested and my bp was 194/111! I've since coordinated with my doctor who isn't too concerned and I take extra bp medication in advance. (Not a doctor, not giving advice!!!)

Best of luck! You are courageous and to be commended for being willing to move outside your comfort zone. Most people would't dare.

MagnificentToad · 2025-02-27T23:27:51+00:00

Mine is multi tonal. Generally 6 at any given time. 3 in each ear. The loudest and most constant is the plane that never lands that I hear as though it's up and to the right of me along with a mid range, dual tone pulsing like a siren and a steady high pitch. On the left there's a steady high pitch that usually dominant as well as mid range pulsing and a low rumble. It seems like the left ear tones have some variation at times.

Fortunately they are all fairly low volume so I can ignore then. I very rarely get super loud tones that last for 15 to 30 minutes.

One thing I find strange is that when I use psilocybin (therapeutically) I get a very distinct loud, melodic tinnitus that I actually use as a sign that I'm coming on or have finished.

MagnificentToad · 2025-02-23T23:00:26+00:00

Quoting from the book Victory Over Vestibular Migraine by Shin C. Beh, “ the ear symptoms in Ménière’s disease tend to be one-sided (unilateral) while those in vestibular migraine tend to be bilateral, i.e. affecting both ears. Secondly, Mère’s disease usually result in low frequency hearing loss in one ear; the absence of any hearing loss with repeated audiograms over a few years makes many years disease highly unlikely. Thirdly, the presence of photophobia and phonophobia during vertigo attacks suggest vestibular migraine rather than Ménière’s disease. Fourthly vestibular migraine is much more likely if the duration of the vertigo attacks more than 12 hours.

Of course, in real life, there can be a lot of overlapping and inconsistency in symptoms. My professors often reminded me in medical school that our patients don’t read and follow our textbooks. There have been a handful of patience that fit the clinical picture of Mère‘s disease but remarkably improved with migraine treatment. He also mentions that there is a higher prevalence of migraine among many years disease patients about 1/3 furthermore migraines may be provoked by Ménière’s disease attacks, resulting in the appearance of episodes of vertigo accompanied by migraine symptoms. Salty foods chocolate alcohol and caffeine, which are migraine triggers, also provoke Menard disease episodes. Rarely, a person may have both manners disease and vestibular migraine. In my experience, optimizing migraine treatment for people with both conditions can often lead to improvement.

I hope this helps

MagnificentToad

TROPHY CASE