[tingles]

Throughout my high school and college years I was a typical pot-smoker who enjoyed experimenting with recreational drugs on occasion, especially psychedelics. I have used recreational drugs more times than I can count, and had never had any adverse health reactions, that is, until sometime in July 2009. Here is my story....

It was probably 3 years ago when I began seeing articles and posts online about a magical chemical called DMT. This is one of the most powerful psychedelic drugs known, and when smoked, it is supposed to send people into a psychedelic trance that only lasts a few minutes. So being the curious person that I am, I decided that one day I would try it. I ordered the root bark which contains high amounts of the substance online (mimosa hostilis), and followed a recipe for extracting it. The chemicals used for the extraction were Naphtha (a hydrocarbon solvent bought from a hardware store) and Lye (Sodium hydroxide used sold as drain cleaner, also bought from a hardware store).

So after performing the extraction, I collected the crystals, let them dry, and smoke some out of a glass pipe. I closed my eyes expecting to be thrown into another world, but nothing happened. I stood up after a few minutes, and I only felt slightly light-headed. A few minutes later I felt a strange tingling on the top of my head, but it went away. I thought that I probably didn't smoke enough of it to feel the effects, so I smoked three times as much of the substance, but still only felt the same effects as before. I didn't think much of the experience, and went about my day feeling a little light-headed.

The next morning I woke up completely numb from head to toe. It was then that I realized that whatever it was that I had smoked had damaged my body. I went to see a doctor, and all she could tell me was that I must have poisoned my body, and to wait a few days to see if my symptoms subsided once the toxins had left my body. The numbness eventually subsided, but I soon started getting very strange sensations in my body, particularly on the top of my head and the bottom of my feet and lower legs. It was the strange tingling sensation I had felt before, although now the feeling was accompanied by a feeling of being stabbed with a needle from time to time. I eventually started feeling tingling and hot/cold sensations throughout various parts of my body at random.

About two weeks later, I was referred to a neurologist, and was diagnosed with having sensory neuropathy. I saw two different neurologists, and they both ordered some tests, and told me that the symptoms would eventually go away on their own. But here I am, almost a year and a half later with no improvement. I also tried amitryptyline, and lyrica but could not stand the side effects of either. I asked to try a drug for anxiety, as my symptoms worsen when I get nervous. I found that xanax really helps, as long as I don't take it all the time and develop a tolerance to it. I was also advised to take a B-complex with 100mg of thiamine per day, but that doesn't seem to have helped any. I have recently read about alpha lipoic acid, so I decided to give that a shot, taking 600 mg per day.

So this is how I introduced myself to the terrible world of neuropathy. Every day I wake up and think of how much better my life would have been had I never experimented with drugs, but then I thank God that he didn't let my experience turn out any worse than it could have.

Thank you all for reading my story, and I hope that one day I will be able to turn this negative experience into a positive experience for all neuropathy sufferers. I am now planning to pursue a career in neurological research.