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Comment by undefined3840 | Hacker News Reader

I really want to try DMT but terrified to do that without professional help nearby e.g. on an Ayahuasca retreat.

I have experienced both LSD and shrooms but have heard DMT is on another level.

DMT is far less risky than LSD and Shrooms. It lasts 10-15 minutes and you are mostly in awe of what you experience. Lsd/shrooms give you hours to self reflect in good or bad spots and entangle your thoughts in good or bad spots... i’d say DMT is far easier to experience than a full on acid trip

While DMT is typically only 10-15 minutes, it can certainly feel like hours, days or longer, so I'm not sure if the end result is really much difference in the sense of how long you are tripping should it go bad.

> you are mostly in awe of what you experience

careful there, some people had really bad trips on DMT with their deepest fears coming to haunt them. Set and setting...

Ayahuasca last a lot longer and the active ingredient is DMT.

You absolutely want to find an experienced group in order to guide you. Never do it while taking prescription meds like anti-depressants, opioids or others. Ayahuasca is very different from taking straight DMT. I haven't done the latter, but the experiences I have heard differ significantly in certain respects. You should never do Ayahuasca recreationally in the spur of the moment.

All that being said, there are experienced groups, in Holland for example, that lead safe group Ayahuasca ceremonies, such as a long weekend with 2 ceremonies. Peru is an option but it's much more of a raw experience and less gentle to a western mindset.

Depends on the dose. Personally I've had stronger trips with LSD and mushrooms. Also in all ceremonies I've participated you get to drink ayahuasca a number of times so you can judge if you want more or not.

In a ceremony I saw a woman drink ayahuasca just once and she had a much stronger trip that the rest of us, but this is uncommon.

Smaller doses of DMT are also enjoyable. You can mix a bit with some tobacco, roll it into a cig and smoke it slowly. It wont take you to the level of ego death but will give you a feeling of the effects while you still maintain full control of the trip.

Edit: This works when you smoke changa. I never tried it pure so I don't know how well that would work in a cig.

I concur. LSD is heaven, shrooms are ok, and salvia is just weird. However, both DMT and ayahuasca feel just too extreme or scary to me. Could also be that I just grew older before this stuff became popular.

I don't see how DMT can be on another level. LSD is already in another dimension. How much more freaky can it get?

Quite a bit.

For me: LSD is like the walls of reality melting before your own eyes. Mushrooms is like you mind melted with a wild animal. DMT is like your consciousness melts with your imagination.

That's an interesting take.

I wonder if other people would agree with that description, but it sounds almost palpable.

I agree w the above r.e. lsd/shrooms .. never done dmt tho.. not particularly interested. I've done salvia which I've been td is like a super light version of dmt, and was not a big fan.. thought at least salvia is only about 15 minutes :D lots of ominous dread.

On LSD I've always still been in the room, or at least had some idea of where I was. On DMT, I'm not even on the same planet and I don't remember where my body is.

It really depends on how much you do. On a sufficient dose of LSD or mushrooms, you can lose all connection with physical reality for (what seems like) eons, and "travel to" (or construct?) arbitrarily weird places. But for those substances, it may require more careful setup (quiet, dark room, eyeshades). With DMT you don't have much choice.

I totally agree, depends on the amount you take, and also your state of mind and how willing you are to "let go".

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