Do Our Brains Produce DMT, And If So, Why?

[Chip (OP)]

whilst researching one of my illnesses I discovered the magic that is within us all.

yep, I have doing some psychoneuroendcrinology research into my Hyposmia (loss of smell) and that took me to a range of therapies that actually effect genomic change.

I also discovered that one of the main places where nuerons are "born" is in the Olfactory bulb and mine is faulty (often a very reliable indicator of ensuing neurological degeneration so I must address it (to eliminate it from my enquiries)).

A N Y W A Y ... check this if you're into endorphins > https://draxe.com/what-are-endorphins/

source: http://beckleyfoundation.org/2017/07/05/do-our-brains-produce-dmt-and-if-so-why/



For such a simple and widespread molecule, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine^Wiki (DMT) has done a remarkably good job at frustrating scientists. Famously dubbed “the spirit molecule” by Dr Rick Strassman, this tryptamine alkaloid produces an intense psychedelic experience when ingested, and appears in trace amounts in human blood and urine, suggesting it must be produced within the body. The purpose it serves, however, remains a mystery.

Though no one has managed to identify the source or function of endogenous DMT – meaning DMT produced within the body – a number of romantic theories have been put forward. The pineal gland – which psychonauts and pseudo-scientists have equated with the “third eye” – is often claimed to be the body’s DMT factory, and Strassman popularised the notion that the brain releases large amounts of the compound when we dream and during death, thus explaining the profound imagery we experience when we sleep and, supposedly, when we enter the white light.

Last weekend at Breaking Convention – Europe’s largest psychedelic science conference – researchers grappled with the mystery of endogenous DMT, among other things, in order to shed a little light on what we really know about this highly revered molecule.

Among the presenters was Dr Ede Frecska, who spoke about how DMT has been found to bind to the sigma-1 receptor, which is found throughout the body. This receptor plays a key role in protecting cells from dying when oxygen is low, making room for the argument that DMT may indeed be released in large quantities during death in a last-gasp attempt to keep our cells alive. Extrapolating from this finding, one might be tempted to hypothesize that this sudden flood of DMT may provoke the mystical encounters on the border between life and death that are often reported by those who die and are revived.

Also present was Dr Jimo Borjigin, who reported on the recent discovery of DMT in the pineal gland of rats, adding weight to the claims that this small gland may well be the source of endogenous DMT. However, before the crowd could get too carried away, Dr David Nichols took to the stage to provide a dose of scientific reality.

Explaining that the primary role of the pineal gland is to secrete melatonin in order to regulate our sleep cycles, he reminded the transfixed audience that we are yet to uncover any evidence of DMT actually being produced in the pineal gland of humans.

Furthermore, the quantity of DMT found in our blood is nowhere near enough to actually produce any effect when binding to sigma-1 receptors, which means that any claims about the compound playing a role in keeping cells alive or providing us with a mortal psychedelic send-off are, at this stage, mere conjecture.

Nichols went on to reiterate that one could just as easily theorise that endogenous DMT is nothing but metabolic waste, generated as a by-product during the synthesis of neurotransmitters like serotonin or tryptophan.

Ultimately, it seems we still have more questions than answers when it comes to endogenous DMT, although we can at least be more certain about the effects of DMT on the brain when ingested. A recent Beckley/Sant Pau study found that regular drinkers of the DMT-containing brew ayahuasca experience a prolonged increase in many traits associated with mindfulness, leading to enhanced mood. This effect has been correlated with a decrease in alpha brainwaves under ayahuasca, as well as a reduction in size of a brain region called the posterior cingulate cortex in long-term ayahuasca drinkers.

The Beckley/Imperial Research Program is now preparing to begin a new brain imaging study led by Chris Timmermann,  using both EEG and fMRI to monitor the neural activity of participants while under the effects of DMT. In doing so, we hope to uncover exactly how the compound triggers its remarkable acute effects, including the strange phenomenon of encountering “entities”.

[MoeMentim]

i read the book in 2002 when i was just entering my longest stint with h after 7 years clean.  my biggest love since age 15 (1985) has been hallucinogens & the book captivated me.  i HAD to find some.  it never left my mind and i enquired anytime i thought there was a chance.  that didn't work.  fast forward to 2008.  my best friend came home for a visit.  we met in na 1989 & had many sober shenanigans, way more mischief than i ever got into drunk or high before or since.
last time i'd seen him was 1998 when he returned home from 5 years in central america.  while he was away we each started smoking pot again despite our pact to first smoke together.  i picked him up from the vegas airport & on the way he started pulling bags from his luggage, panama red, oaxan gold, columbian gold, all shitty looking & brown, seedy.  but the highs...  i digress for the tangent...

2008.  he, being the hippie he was immediately integrated himself into the emerald triangle, CA.  he bought a  few secluded acres & proceeded to do his thing until he got very good at it.  he came to vegas on business & stayed with me fo ra week.  i was trying to get off h, on low dose subs & dope on the weekends.  he invited/urged me to come stay with him to kick for good.  "i have and have access to all the best weed and any clean hallucinogen you could want.  come up here and freak out in the woods for a week or three." 

a week later, with a single gram of h in my pocket i make the drive north.  12 hrs, arrived, gram mostly gone.  we smoked some weed & talked about what the next few days would be like for me while i did the last of my dope. 

to be continued...
Post Merged: November 11, 2018, 04:16:59 AMi arrived high & well but with nothing left over, we smoked, drank & got cought up.  i hit the sack telling them what's to come for me.  slept solid, woke up shaky.  they both had to go to work, i headed to downtown reno to try to score, spent 8 hours, nothing.  returned now fully sick & began the inevitable.  they nursed me for a week at least, until i could function.  a bottle of nerves but at least coherent again.

"i have something for you"
Post Merged: November 11, 2018, 04:31:47 AMit found me.  at the worst possible time, i'm a bundle of withdrawling nerves, everything is a threat.  the last thing i want is to translate my current state into a trip, bad news for sure.
Post Merged: November 11, 2018, 05:25:57 AMso in full on h withdrawls i smoked my first dmt.  whoosh!  everything went digital.  that smell, i see it in everything.  gone.  elsewhere. 

[Chip (OP)]

DMT is rare and i only stumbled across it as i had a younger friend find it through his University contacts.

He said that the guy he got it from had assumed a shamanistic role and was a bit "funny" about it.

i tried to shoot it but it didn't break down (as i expected) so i just smoked it.

It was a short but intense trip where everything broke into a grid pattern with a kaleidoscopic effect notably at the intersections.

It was amazing and interestingly repeatable as i wanted to explore the dose/response curve but alas, it's no longer accessible.

Still, happy lasting memories and another fat deposit in the trip bank.

[MoeMentim]

"we have more for you, can you handle it?"  "yes"  enter the space monkeys, bio-mechanical entities from elsewhere, a big boss gorilla behind my head, unseen  giving orders to the monkeys & taking over my thoughts.  asked me how much more i could handle now... "not much more" & i was out of it, back on earth, in withdrawls but with a spike of adrenalin.  stayed a week more smoking pot & eating shrooms, drove home clean
   

[Chip (OP)]

You withdrew from opiates only using pot and "mushies" ..? Wow -- the last time i had Psilocybin, i was entering opiate withdrawal and it was notably unpleasant.

You're made of tuff stuff, Moe ... the trip sounds quite wild too. DMT, a short but significant trip that is recommended for the whole family

[Raine]

I did shrooms while in withdrawal...never, ever again.
I had never done them before. Even just eating them
was a nightmare, because I was gagging non-stop.

[Chip (OP)]

Ah, i addressed that gagging issue by chopping them up into small slices and throwing them into a basic omelette mix with lots of soy sauce. YUM.

[MoeMentim]

not shrooms in w/ds, dmt smoked.  i mostly did it hoping it'd help having read about the theraputic benefits of ayahuasca and smoked dmt's brevity.  the experience was horrifying, undoubtedly made worse by the state i started in. but the resulting adrenaline/endorphine rush gave me very real relief from withdrawls that lasted through the evening wearing off gradually.

[Tainted]

DMT is rare and i only stumbled across it as i had a younger friend find it through his University contacts.

He said that the guy he got it from had assumed a shamanistic role and was a bit "funny" about it.

i tried to shoot it but it didn't break down (as i expected) so i just smoked it.

It was a short but intense trip where everything broke into a grid pattern with a kaleidoscopic effect notably at the intersections.

It was amazing and interestingly repeatable as i wanted to explore the dose/response curve but alas, it's no longer accessible.

Still, happy lasting memories and another fat deposit in the trip bank.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to import in your country, but it's pretty easy (well not pretty easy, but its possible) to find an online source for Mimosa Hostillis or Acai Confusis normally from like peru or one of those central/south american countries. The extraction is a basic acid/base extraction, something anyone with a recipe can perform. While I was clean, me and my roommate were doing constant extractions. The last 2 years, I've probably smoked at least 20 grams of DMT, although I've never fully broken through, closest I came was when I mixed it with ketamine, it was like a mixture of a breakthrough and a k-hole, really weird. I've tried shooting it, but I had a kind of entity contact tell me I was being denied entry (who knows, could be because I read online earlier that week about a similar experience and just didn't do enough)

As far as DMT in the Pineal Gland, it's been found in the pineal gland of mice, I believe like 2 or 3 years ago. I've also heard theories that it was an ancesteral neurotransmitter. That it's a remnant of our ancient evolutionary history and serotonin came to replace it. Forget where I heard that though.

edit: the one time I did it while partly withdrawing (i was on methadone maintence at the time. my roommate had done an extraction on cactii about a year earlier and saved 2 doses of mescaline, which we each ingested. At around the 16 hour mark, it was like 3-4am, we were incredibly bored but still sort of tripping, and we had a really really old creepy basement that was like half finished, yet the floor was disintegrated, so we decided to go down there with some candles, "smoke deems and look for ghosts" (neither of us believe in ghosts) but at the time I was starting to get sick, my done was wearing off, my nose was running, I generally didn't feel good. When I smoked the deems, I barely remember anything except feeling like i had candle wax burning my hands (the candle was on the ground in front of me, not burning me) and I had this overwhelming feeling of anxiety and dread, I can't even put the feeling into words. I Kept trying to get up but was unable to. I guess my roommate had an entity contact , a woman who kept telling him it was okay and not to look over there (towards me.) When it was all over my roommate said that I kept repeating "I CANT HOLD ON ANY LONGER I CANT HOLD ON ANY LONGER" it had me so shaken I went upstiars and immediately went in my room I can't even describe how shook that experience made me. The feeling subsudided within an hour and I was able to return to the living room and talk about it, but to this day I've never felt feelings of such intense dread or anxiety. I didn't get any geometric hallcuinations, I didn't even really get any hallucinations from it, it's like I was there, but I was disconnected and just in an awful way.