[TheMercenary]

More on LSD long term effects:

More on LSD

LSD users quickly develop a high degree of tolerance for the drug’s effects: After repeated use, they need increasingly larg e r doses to produce similar effects .
LSD use also produces tolerance for other hallucinogenic drugs
such as psilocybin and mescaline, but not to drugs such as marijuana,
amphetamines, and PCP, which do not act directly on the
serotonin receptors affected by LSD. Tolerance for LSD is shortlived—
it is lost if the user stops taking the drug for several days.
T h e re is no evidence that LSD produces physical withdrawal
symptoms when chronic use is stopped. Two long-term eff e c t s —
persistent psychosis and hallucinogen persisting perc e p t i o n
disorder (HPPD), more commonly re f e r red to as “flashbacks”—
have been associated with use of LSD. The causes of these
e ffects, which in some users occur after a single experience
with the drug, are not known. P s y c h o s i s . The effects of
LSD can be described as drug induced psychosis—distortion
or disorganization of a person’s capacity to recognize re a l i t y ,
think rationally, or communicate with others. Some LSD users
experience devastating psychological effects that persist after
the trip has ended, producing a long-lasting psychotic-like state.
LSD-induced persistent psychosis may include dramatic mood
swings from mania to pro found depression, vivid visual disturb -
ances, and hallucinations. These effects may last for years and
can affect people who have no history or other symptoms of
psychological disorder. Hallucinogen Persisting
Perception Disorder. Some former LSD users report experiences
known colloquially as “flashbacks” and called “HPPD”
by physicians. These episodes are spontaneous, repeated,
sometimes continuous recurrences of some of the sensory
distortions originally produced by LSD. The experience may
include hallucinations, but it most commonly consists of visual disturbances such as seeing false motion on the edges of the field of vision, bright or colored flashes,
and halos or trails attached to moving objects. This condition is
typically persistent and in some cases remains unchanged for years after individuals have
stopped using the drug. Because HPPD symptoms may be mistaken for those of other
neurological disorders such as stroke or brain tumors, sufferers
may consult a variety of clinicians b e f o re the disorder is accurately
diagnosed. There is no established treatment for HPPD,
although some antidepressant drugs may reduce the symptoms.
Psychotherapy may help patients adjust to the confusion associated
with visual distraction and to minimize the fear, expressed
by some, that they are suffering brain damage or psychiatric disorder.