My Personal Introduction to LSD-25

LSD-25 is the generic name (code name) of d-lysergic acid
diethylamide. 9,10-Didehydro-N,N-6-methyl-ergoline-8B-carboxamide
is another one of the numerous ways to describe the molecule. Delysid
is the trade name of the drug originally dispensed for research by Sandoz.
The molecule is the very cornerstone of neurochemistry. LSD
has allowed neuroscientists to explore brain biochemistry; e.g. mental
illness, serotonin receptors, serotonin receptor subtypes and numerous
binding comparisons with other active molecules. Some drugs which
have been found to block the effects of LSD are useful antipsychotics.
Early studies described LSD as a psychotomimetic, yet this is a general
term applied to all phantasmogens.
LSD was invented by Dr. Hofmann in a search for potential
medications. There have been few studies on the use of migraines. At
fifteen, I had my first hemi-paraesthesia type migraine. There is no
known cure. The conventional medications are narcotics, ergot alkaloids,
barbiturates, NSAIDs, triptans. All are used chronically and have
several toxic adverse effects such as paralysis and death to name a few.
You weigh the risks...
9/15/71
I was 15 at the time. The Vietnam war was raging, the nightly
body count aired on the black & white. Hippies, antiwar protests, and
riots were the media frenzy. A nation of discontent, on fire.
All I did was study, I had a suit case for all my books. The thing
held a dozen books. A suit coat and tie were mandatory in school.
2:30 PM. I unlocked the cellar door to let myself in. Walked
upstairs and was greeted by my dog. "Psychodog," a super hyperactive
Boston Terrier jumped up to say hello.
I am unsteady and having problems walking. I pat the dog and
get her a couple of Dog Bones and let her outside in the yard. My vision
is bothering me. I can't focus. It looks like I am seeing from both eyes
separately. I was getting this splitting headache, like I never had
before. My right arm was having tingling sensations like it was asleep,
but it wasn't asleep. I was having a hard time to walk as my right leg
was also affected. A glass of water didn't do anything. I couldn't feel my
right hand when I opened the door to let the dog in. I called to her and
was having a hard time to talk, I couldn't get out the words, they were
all garbled. I knew that there was something wrong.

I called my mom at work. She could barely understand me. But said
that she would pick me up and was on her way.
My vision was two fields as she pulled the Chevy into the driveway.
I was having a hard time to open the car door. I could not feel my
right side. My mom was nervous and told me that I would be OK as she
bolted to the local hospital.
I was given a room and several physicians looked at me. I couldn't
talk coherently, my vision was blurry and I had a screaming head ache,
like a knife in my head.
The family doc asks me to follow a pen with my eyes, he takes a
light and looks in my eyes.
I was given x-rays, blood tests, throat cultures, and Darvon
Compound 65mg. 4 times a day.
9/17/71
Nurses Notes: "complains of headache only when he turns his
head."
Dr. Lopez was called in. He did the same thing as my family
physician and scribbled in his notes, "Migraine".
9/20/71
Nurses Notes: "has a slight headache."
9/21/71
Discharge: "Remained completely symptom free, while in the
hospital," Dr. Dunbar.
I would be given a spinal tap; which came out normal color. A
couple of EEG's. The first one didn't take (abnormal) cause I was thinking
different emotions to see what it would do on their machine. The
second one, I was dosed with chloral hydrate for a sleep EEG and it was
normal.
Sept. 20, 1971
Another test. I had spoken with my parents and we decided that
I was not going to take any more "monkey tests" after this one.
The hospital didn't have a brain scan machine, so I was sent to
another hospital. The light shined into the windows and the people
were friendly. The tech that was going to run the test was cute.
"There is nothing to worry about. No one is going to hurt you."
All I could think was she is so cute and what do you want me to
do?
"Just tell me what you're going to do."
"I want you to lay down and put your head over here to be scanned.
But first you'll have to drink this liquid and it'll taste metallic, but just
drink it down. It's safe."

So I take the glass like Socrates and drink it down with a smile.
It tasted horrible. Then I notice that she is taking out this huge syringe
and has a smile on her face.
"Now if you could hold out your arm."
"No way. You didn't mention needles to me."
"It won't hurt."
"Ya, for you. You're not on the receiving end."
She starts freaking out.
"If I don't give you the injection; the radio-isotope will adhere to
your brain".
"Radio-what-the-fuck? You said that this was safe?"
"It is, just let me give you this injection." (10 millicuries technetium
99; half-life of about 6 hours). Fussy girl, needle in her hand. She
is fidgeting. The Krypton's gonna make my head glow.
I figured I'd better go for it. She tied my arm with rubber hose,
stuck the needle in the vein and released the hose like a pro.
I laid down and put my head in this ancient device. The flickering
of the fluorescent lights really bothered me. The lights were strobing.
I could feel the mild headache growing into a migraine.
"I can feel a migraine coming on."
The tech operating the gizmo is fidgeting while looking into my
head. Her voice is high pitched and excited, "I can actually see the spasm
in your the blood vessels!"
1 0/1 8/71 Prescription: "Cafergot 20 tablets"
1 0/1 8/71 Prescription: "Bellergal 30 tablets"
There are many forms of migraine, there are also many different
medications that have been used and are used in the treatment of the
disease. Conventional 'migraine' medications approved by the FDA will
kill, addict or cripple you.
I was walking in the hallway in school. I was floating off the
ground and the books were weighing me down. A twilight world on
Bellergal. My arm bothered me, it was the migraine and it was still
there. I felt nauseous from the meds. A friend bumped into me and
knocked my books everywhere in the hallway. I was in slow motion.
My friend said, "Excuse me," picked up my books for me. "You
look really wiped out, what's going on dude?"
"Migraines man, they gave me some goofy pills, I feel real strange.
I still have a pain in my head. It effects my speech and movement. My
side is stiff, tingly."
"Marvelous cure, too bad we lost the patient. Hemingway. A
friend of mine takes some pills for migraines and it works great. He
only has to take it once in a while."

"Do you have a couple I could take? Now!"
"You don't take it like that. Plus I don't have any with me."
"Shit. So can you get some for me."
"Sure I want you to read about it first. And the man who
invented it, a Dr. Hofmann. Here's your books and will see you in the
library at lunch. Be there."
I made it through the next class wondering if Doc Hof has an
office locally; with brains in jars; rats in cages with wheels; the bell rang;
I bolted to the library. Yota was there. His nose in some books.
"What ya reading?"
"About Doc Hofmann. He works for Sandoz."
"They make these goofy pills I am taking. What the fuck Yota?"
"Hear me out. He found something better. He was working on
many drugs and the most advanced one helped my friend. He turned
the book and it said LSD.
"Oh my God. People leap out of windows and pregnant women
have babies that look like tree stumps."
"Fuck no. That's all bullshit. Well almost. We'll be doing it on
ground floor. Your not pregnant are you? You want to get rid of those
headaches don't you?"
"Ya, but does your friend have hemiparaesthesia type migraines.
Cause that's what I have. And they are no Goddamn fun. They last,
they hover like a grim dream and when they hit, I am out of it for days.
I am jagged for days after. I can't think right and feel like crap. Then I
repeat the whole damn sequence. The pills are just as bad. It sucks."
"All I know is that helps him, he was crippled by them."
"You say when."
"It will be nice and smooth. Have your mom drop you off at my
house on Friday and we'll go to the dance. Here, read the book. Don't
take anymore of the meds the docs gave you. They don't know or care
what they are doing, its just a job."
It was Monday and I read the book through lunch and put the
book in between my study books for the rest of the classes. Generally I
did my homeworks for the previous class during the next class so that at
the end of day I would have time to go for a walk. But this book was
more important, so I pushed my homework for the evening.
My mom dropped me off at Yota's house on Friday. His sister was
a fox. Long blonde hair. Nice shape. Red puffy lips.
"Pleased to meet you, Otto. That's a unique name."
"Thanks." She shakes my hand. "I know that you will like this
band. They are so cool."
"Come here Pavlov," says Yota pulling me by the arm into his
Profile of Laboratory Chemist 5
room. "I got the acid."
"How many tablets do I take?"
"No man, you don't do it like that. A whole tablet will put you in
orbit. Can you remember Loopy? He took a whole tab and his mom
called him for dinner. He said he wasn't coming out of room unless he
could have a banana split. He was busted by mom." My friend laughed.
"He was jumping around the kitchen chasing trails."
"Trails?"
"You see all those burnt out hippies. They're toast. It's a little
bit, just enough," as he cracked off a half. "I've done it before and know
what to expect." He looked up and smiled. "It melts in your mind and
not in your mouth," and laughs, shows me a piece on his tongue and
swallows it.
"Here, I'll give you a third of the tablet, just a little cause we
want to see how it goes."
He passes me the third.
"Where did your friend get it?"
"He goes to college and gets it out of a research lab. Its called
clinical, white lightening or something like that."
I looked at the small white tablet and images of the spinal tap,
the brain scan. The poison meds the docs gave me are making me sick.
"I hope that this helps." I crunched the small piece in my mouth.
"Do you think I took enough?"
"Ya. You'll see. It will be fun. Fun is good."
His mom dropped us off at the dance. Many of my friends were
there. A joint was being quickly passed around at the door. A friend
passes me the joint. Yota puts his arm up against the persons arm and
says, "no, we don't want any contamination. The experience must be
pure."
The band was great. My friend Gwag came over. He has real
thick horn rimmed glasses, skinny, and smelling like cigarettes, he asks,
"how do you feel?"
"Ok."
"Do you still have the migraine?"
"Yes, but I can feel something happening."
Gwag went to get something to drink. I was noticing that the
lights were a little brighter and the colors of banners in the gym were
more vivid. The people dancing were a mass of colorful sticks moving
with beat of the music. I am seeing movements of people in the gym like
an old fashion movie, when the frames get choppy.
I move my arm an see a series of latent images of my arm and
giggle. Gwag brings two paper cups of Sprite.
6 LSD
"Trails, that's what they're called. Have something to drink."
"Thanks." I held the cup and watched the bubbles fizz in the cup.
"Witches brew, magic stew," and sipped the beverage. It was effervescent
and appealing, the very first sip of something exotic from a far away
land. It took on an enchanting appeal. I look at the crowd and sense
their feelings, their emotions, I am reading their body language. I
listen to various groups of people as we are hanging around on the floor.
They are all taking about stupid shit.
I said to Gwag, "they have the consciousness a little bit higher
than that of chimps. Monkey people."
"Sleepwalking," says Gwag.
I stop moving to the music and there is a major rush of energy
that moves through the crowd and into my body. It feels like the
migraine is a veil that drapes my forehead. It is lifting off, from the
front of my head to the back, transforming it into sparkle dust in my
mind and dissolves (psycholytic effect).
"My migraine is gone." I am experiencing a profound euphoria
and bliss for a few minutes.
The experience was safe and effective. We approximated the
dosage at 5Oug. LSD. I speculated that the migraines were caused by
adolescent neuroses. The medication kept the migraines at bay, once
every few weeks in a variety of environments. Then there was no more
LSD available, my friend Yota moved, kids were selling d-Con and
scopolomine in capsules as mescaline or acid or what ever you wanted it
be.
I was sixteen at the time, and could not obtain LSD from my
doctors. The migraines were coming back. So I went looking for the
finest LSD that I could obtain for myself. I met many people who were
much older than me. I met other migraine sufferers. Several had high
positions in the corporate world. Then there were alcoholics and Zen
men and women who explored the eternal now with me. LSD is not a
`party drug' to me, it is a medication.
In an area, where the economy is based on high technology, I was
able to estimated that 10% of total population used LSD at a 100 ug.
dosage (mid-seventies).
Over the years, taking LSD at 100 ug. every six months, then
once a year, then every several years, the crippling migraines were kept
at bay for 14 years. Sessions were most effective in appropriate setting
with a guide that was one of many good friends. Only those who are
experienced and appreciate psycholytic sessions (each and everyone I
hold in my heart). Sharing these moments together will always be sacred.