The Recreational Drug Thread (member, quote, memory, 2005, hands)

[[MERIT]]

Originally Posted by cardboard adolescent

it's not like it would be that hard to mistake something for
an acid trip, many of the things you experience on acid
are classic symptoms of psychological disorders -- depersonalization
and hallucinations are some obvious ones. general consensus
on "acid flash-backs" are that they are a form of Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder, where simply the intensity of taking acid marks
it as a traumatic event that you get sucked back into like a vet
gets flash-backs of vietnam. in the story a couple posts up
of someone getting nearly knocked out having a "short acid trip,"
that sounds like something that can happen to anyone
regardless of whether or not they've actually taken acid
(expression "seeing stars" sound familiar?)

so, just because your friend had whatever sensations
undergoing this medical procedure doesn't mean that it
re-activated acid stored in his system, a claim for which
there simply is no medical basis, and sorry if i think that
research happens to be more reliable than anecdotes,
but this isn't the middle ages anymore

also the rest of your story is a little sketchy, since from
what i know about spinal taps they're used mainly to
test you for something, i'm not sure why they
would be used for a slipped disk. of course, this is only a
minor point

He slipped a disk which in-turn pinched a nerve and caused pressure and fluid build-up in his lower back. They did the spinal tap to relieve pressure and check for any infection in the site. Just a minor point.

I agree that an LSD trip is aken to many psychological events/disorders. But I just find it hard to believe that my friend magically developed a psychotic disorder at the exact instant of the spinal tap, call me pessimistic. They gave him a small shot (general anesthetic) to numb the area beforehand, but I doubt that any sort of small general anesthetic would induce an LSD-like trip. And I'm pretty sure my friend wasn't having a Vietnam war flashback, so let's rule that one out as well.

I simply find it hard to believe that you can ignorantly shoot-down and try to discredit a first hand account (my friend's, not mine, since you want to get technical) w/o any knowledge of the situation or the persons involved. There may be no medical basis (according to you), but this "myth" must have been started and must still exist for a reason, my guessing that that reason is some shred of truth behind the whole thing.