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    Alyzarin

    Melatonin Experiment #2

    by , 02-25-2013 at 07:48 PM (880 Views)
    So, I decided to do another ridiculous supplement test this time. I took 80 mg of melatonin at 9 PM, and I washed it down with thin mints, for good measure. The result was interesting. First of all, my first dream of the night was lucid. That's pretty odd, especially considering the melatonin... not that I really mind. For the rest of the night I noticed that nothing overly trippy happened, except that all of the dream scenes were very, very vivid and had mostly bizarre video game themes. I was also a bit delirious whenever I woke up, which caused me to lose one or two dreams from memory before being able to write them down, so I actually had quite a few dreams this night. And I could've had even more, but I had to wake up early again, so....

    #1 - I've Yet To Make This One Work >:T [DILD]

    I remember being at a school and walking down a hallway somehow having control over what was playing on the intercom, and I was using it to mess with someone by blasting loud music whenever they started talking. Eventually I got to the class I was walking to and became lucid. I wasn't incredibly aware though, because I kept texting my friend N throughout it, and I can't remember what we were talking about now. At first I just stabilized a bit, and then I kept trying to summon a joint or a pipe into someone's hands so we could smoke, but it never worked. Eventually I just sat down next to one of the guys there and started cuddling with him, but soon afterward I woke up.

    And yes, let it be noted that 80 mg of melatonin was not enough to stop me from waking up several times throughout the night.

    #2 - Dream Fragment [Non-Lucid]

    I think I was playing as a video game character, or maybe meeting one, who was super violent and was accused of attacking someone over one thousand times "outside of battle"...? Or something like that, and I believe there was a scythe involved too, but it's hard to remember exactly.... I almost lost this one, I just barely was able to grab ahold of the memory.

    #3 - Bobolo [Non-Lucid]

    I was trying to help my cousin K with a school paper based on some kiddie game website called Bobolo that was specifically about some kind of disease or diseases, and I was slowly realizing that this topic wasn't really going to be usable to make a very good paper, but I didn't want to point that out to her because I felt bad that her paper was due the next day. What I remember of the website I could most quickly compare to Maple Story, but I wouldn't say it was exactly like that. There was also some set of medical record scans that I was able to unlock and look at at one point, but I wasn't able to make our what any of them said.

    #4 - I Would Definitely Play This Game [Non-Lucid]

    I was with my cousin G, who was living at some kind of trailer house I'm unfamiliar with with his immediate family now. We were in his room and I was playing some video game with pretty strange maps. I'm fairly certain that the way I was walking around and the character I was using were based on Phantasy Star Online, but the maps had colored grid squares with area effects that were very clearly (I even remember thinking it at the time) based on geo panels from the Disgaea series. The way the character jumped also reminds me of a Mario game thinking back on it now, but not enough to say it was based on that. I was excited about something on it, but I can't remember what now, and then I logged off and talked to G about watching kids do something pointless (the conversation is pretty hazy in my memory), and then I left the house. I got in my car and started trying to figure out how to get home while blasting some really crazy dubstep song which actually sounded pretty badass, but just as I was starting to find my way the dream faded.

    At this point I woke up and, after I got out of my mildly hypnotic state, my libido was running pretty strong. I rolled over and started basically molesting my body pillow for a minute, but I tried to do this passively so the energy would wear off and I could fall asleep again. Eventually I started drifting and had some light hypnagogia, I think of some text or something? I didn't make note of it, so it's hard to remember. And the same with not long after, I rolled over and had more hallucinations, I think it was some kind of ladder pattern running horizontal across my vision, or something... but then my mom came in and woke me up because I have stuff do. Ah, well. Not a bad night.
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    Updated 03-10-2013 at 04:30 PM by 50803

    Categories
    lucid , non-lucid , dream fragment

    Comments

    1. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Awesome!! You did it! Wow, I'm glad I just checked the main DJ page because I almost missed this entry! (There's an annoying bug where any DJ entry that gets saved as a draft before publication never shows up on Activity Feeds. I filed a bug report on this a few days ago.)

      It's crazy that you got lucid in the first dream of the night with all of that melatonin! I honestly don't know what to make of that. When I took just 12 mg of melatonin, I didn't have any dreams whatsoever until WBTB. And you took 6-7 times the dose, so I'd think you'd get more than two, if not three additional melatonin half-lives of REM suppression (1.5-2 hours more at the very least, I'd think.)

      Unless relative brain size plays a role in melatonin tolerance. But if that's the case, these results are not flattering to me, so let's not even go there.

      In any case, congratulations on the LD! So have you ever managed to smoke up in an LD? I also really like that you had so much video game content in your non-lucids! That's always good fun, especially if you manage to realize you're dreaming partway through and the game lets you keep going. There's something special about realizing that you are playing a video game being written and designed on the fly for yourself and by yourself.

      And I could've had even more, but I had to wake up early again, so....
      Wow, you did you 80 mg melatonin experiment when you had an early morning? You are fearless! I'd ask you whether you had to drive anywhere this morning, but I probably don't want to know.

      I'll be honest. In spite of how safe I know melatonin is, I breathed a teeny, tiny sigh of relief when I first saw you active today. =)
      Alyzarin likes this.
    2. dreamenaider's Avatar
      ya video games rock. lol any way i take 9mg a night of melatonin some times 12mgs but 80mgs and you had an early morning. wow fearless yup lol. i find melatonin does help with vivid dreams. i like your experiment im kind of doing the same maybe i could kick mine up a knotch.
      Alyzarin likes this.
    3. Alyzarin's Avatar
      Quote Originally Posted by CanisLucidus
      Awesome!! You did it! Wow, I'm glad I just checked the main DJ page because I almost missed this entry! (There's an annoying bug where any DJ entry that gets saved as a draft before publication never shows up on Activity Feeds. I filed a bug report on this a few days ago.)

      It's crazy that you got lucid in the first dream of the night with all of that melatonin! I honestly don't know what to make of that. When I took just 12 mg of melatonin, I didn't have any dreams whatsoever until WBTB. And you took 6-7 times the dose, so I'd think you'd get more than two, if not three additional melatonin half-lives of REM suppression (1.5-2 hours more at the very least, I'd think.)

      Unless relative brain size plays a role in melatonin tolerance. But if that's the case, these results are not flattering to me, so let's not even go there.

      In any case, congratulations on the LD! So have you ever managed to smoke up in an LD? I also really like that you had so much video game content in your non-lucids! That's always good fun, especially if you manage to realize you're dreaming partway through and the game lets you keep going. There's something special about realizing that you are playing a video game being written and designed on the fly for yourself and by yourself.
      Oh wow, I wasn't aware of that. You could always set up an email subscription if you want to make sure you catch peoples' entries. (That's what I do.) But hopefully they fix that soon!

      Hahaha, well thank you. I was pretty surprised by it as well. I do have a high natural tolerance to melatonin though, so maybe I do just need more to totally knock out. And I've been thinking about melatonin's hypnotic effects, which are supposedly GABAergic in nature. GABA itself has been known at times to increase vividness and lucidity, so maybe there's some kind of curve where melatonin will increase your odds at high enough doses as long as it's not enough to totally prevent dreams in the first place? Hard to say, but interesting to think about nonetheless.

      I've never smoked in a LD. And I've been trying for a long time lol. I barely ever get to enjoy drugs in dreams though, the effects are usually diminished, totally wrong, or over very quickly. The exception being mescaline, which I've never even tried in waking life, and that was a totally real and intense psychedelic trip. >.> (Of course, I can't say that it was completely accurate, and I doubt it was.) But I'm sure I'll be lucky enough to get something in a lucid one day. I just have to keep trying. >w<

      I'm not sure if I've ever become lucid while playing a video game, I'd think I'd remember that. That sounds like it'd be really cool! What kind of lucid game(s) have you played? :O

      Quote Originally Posted by CanisLucidus
      Wow, you did you 80 mg melatonin experiment when you had an early morning? You are fearless! I'd ask you whether you had to drive anywhere this morning, but I probably don't want to know.

      I'll be honest. In spite of how safe I know melatonin is, I breathed a teeny, tiny sigh of relief when I first saw you active today. =)
      Hehe. X) I actually had to work on a school project with a partner for a few hours, that's why I had to get up lol. I think we actually did pretty well, we made good progress and I felt pretty clearheaded for it.

      Aww, I'm touched by your concern. But don't worry, I wouldn't do something like that without knowing what I was getting into. There are human tests of effects observed at 100 mg doses. Those tests were not about lucid dreams though, so I felt it needed to be done. =P

      Quote Originally Posted by dreamenaider
      ya video games rock. lol any way i take 9mg a night of melatonin some times 12mgs but 80mgs and you had an early morning. wow fearless yup lol. i find melatonin does help with vivid dreams. i like your experiment im kind of doing the same maybe i could kick mine up a knotch.
      Good luck if you do! I would try to start "small", don't just jump all the way up to this dose. Melatonin seems to effect everyone pretty differently, and I'm guessing that it has a self-defeating dose curve where after a while it becomes counterproductive. 100 mg or more is probably enough for anyone to reach that, so I would probably not to more than 30-50 mg for a first test. Just some advice!

      Also, thanks for the add! ^_^
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    4. dreamenaider's Avatar
      thanks for the tip i will take note of that. i might do the 30mgs this weekend when i dont have to get up early.lol im not as frealess.
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    5. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Quote Originally Posted by Alyzarin
      Hahaha, well thank you. I was pretty surprised by it as well. I do have a high natural tolerance to melatonin though, so maybe I do just need more to totally knock out. And I've been thinking about melatonin's hypnotic effects, which are supposedly GABAergic in nature. GABA itself has been known at times to increase vividness and lucidity, so maybe there's some kind of curve where melatonin will increase your odds at high enough doses as long as it's not enough to totally prevent dreams in the first place? Hard to say, but interesting to think about nonetheless.
      Ohh neat! I didn't know that melatonin had any GABAergic properties. That's a really thought-provoking theory. Now I really want to know how this works! This could explain the wildly diverging and rather unique ways that melatonin affects different people. You've got this range of people that get knocked out (me?) as well as this range of seemingly total non-responders.

      And thanks, good idea on email subscriptions. I stopped using them because they were so overwhelming, but if they just kept me up to date on DJ entries it'd be perfect.

      Quote Originally Posted by Alyzarin
      I'm not sure if I've ever become lucid while playing a video game, I'd think I'd remember that. That sounds like it'd be really cool! What kind of lucid game(s) have you played? :O
      Yeah, it really is cool! I can think of just two examples from my own LDs right offhand. I got to play a couple seconds of Street Fighter II, but it didn't really work right and the game ended up shutting off. (Interestingly, this was a menthol dream.) The Menthol Arcade - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

      I had another one Christmas morning that was a completely original video game concept. It wasn't very sophisticated but I got to spend a fun few minutes playing. It had a title screen and a demo mode, too. The Subconscious Arcade - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

      Quote Originally Posted by Alyzarin
      Aww, I'm touched by your concern. But don't worry, I wouldn't do something like that without knowing what I was getting into. There are human tests of effects observed at 100 mg doses. Those tests were not about lucid dreams though, so I felt it needed to be done. =P
      Ha ha, I know... it's hilariously irrational! Totally agree on the safety. The fact that they couldn't find an LD50 for melatonin in mice speaks volumes. It's pretty amazing when scientists can't kill an animal with a substance no matter how hard they try. I do still have concerns about melatonin's effects on gonadotropin (since melatonin seems to stimulate the release of gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone) but I'm truly shocked by how safe the stuff is. It's pretty wonderful.

      Other REM supressants like 5-HTP, for example, require serious care. I use that stuff on galantamine nights, and out of all supps I use, that's the one I watch by far the most carefully. Always low doses and low frequency with that stuff.
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    6. Alyzarin's Avatar
      Ohh neat! I didn't know that melatonin had any GABAergic properties. That's a really thought-provoking theory. Now I really want to know how this works! This could explain the wildly diverging and rather unique ways that melatonin affects different people. You've got this range of people that get knocked out (me?) as well as this range of seemingly total non-responders.

      And thanks, good idea on email subscriptions. I stopped using them because they were so overwhelming, but if they just kept me up to date on DJ entries it'd be perfect.
      No problem. I try to mainly use them for DJs now, too.

      Yeah, melatonin is pretty interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if the GABA stuff is actually a big part of it, though, because I'm resistant to most GABA drugs anyway, so it fits well. I wonder how much research they've really done on melatonin? I don't think I've really looked much into it besides that and comparisons to some synthetic melatonin receptor agonists and antagonists. It might be worth taking a closer peek at!

      Yeah, it really is cool! I can think of just two examples from my own LDs right offhand. I got to play a couple seconds of Street Fighter II, but it didn't really work right and the game ended up shutting off. (Interestingly, this was a menthol dream.) The Menthol Arcade - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

      I had another one Christmas morning that was a completely original video game concept. It wasn't very sophisticated but I got to spend a fun few minutes playing. It had a title screen and a demo mode, too. The Subconscious Arcade - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
      That's pretty awesome, especially the second one! I would love to have something like that happen. I think I might make this a lucid goal now!

      Ha ha, I know... it's hilariously irrational! Totally agree on the safety. The fact that they couldn't find an LD50 for melatonin in mice speaks volumes. It's pretty amazing when scientists can't kill an animal with a substance no matter how hard they try. I do still have concerns about melatonin's effects on gonadotropin (since melatonin seems to stimulate the release of gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone) but I'm truly shocked by how safe the stuff is. It's pretty wonderful.

      Other REM supressants like 5-HTP, for example, require serious care. I use that stuff on galantamine nights, and out of all supps I use, that's the one I watch by far the most carefully. Always low doses and low frequency with that stuff.
      That's interesting, I didn't know about it's effects on gonadotropin. I barely ever use it though, so I'm not too worried. Of course, I've been known to take chemicals that dramatically alter hormone levels before without worrying about the consequences just to see what happens before anyway, so it probably wouldn't have changed anything even if I did take it all the time.

      Neurotransmitter precursors are definitely something to be more careful with. Serotonin is not something you want to screw around with. I honestly can't even take more than like... I want to say 250 mg of 5-HTP without getting nauseous or anxious. Supposedly a lot of it is converted into serotonin peripherally, and serotonin doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier so then that would provide only physical effects. I know an easy way to get around this though, but I haven't really tried it. I am considering trying L-DOPA for dreams, though. Have you ever given that a shot?
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    7. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Yeah, melatonin is pretty interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if the GABA stuff is actually a big part of it, though, because I'm resistant to most GABA drugs anyway, so it fits well. I wonder how much research they've really done on melatonin? I don't think I've really looked much into it besides that and comparisons to some synthetic melatonin receptor agonists and antagonists. It might be worth taking a closer peek at!
      Interesting that you are sort of GABAergic-proof. I am quite inexperienced with GABAergics. The only substance I use with GABAergic properties is L-theanine, which I generally use to calm my mind for sleep if I've got a WBTB cocktail going that I think could give me insomnia. (Most crucially for the Galantamine / choline salt / Alpha-GPC stack at WBTB.) Does L-theanine have any effect on you at all? It sounded like it didn't do much for Xanous.

      That's pretty awesome, especially the second one! I would love to have something like that happen. I think I might make this a lucid goal now!
      Cool! I'd definitely love to see something like that pop up in your dream journal!

      Neurotransmitter precursors are definitely something to be more careful with. Serotonin is not something you want to screw around with. I honestly can't even take more than like... I want to say 250 mg of 5-HTP without getting nauseous or anxious. Supposedly a lot of it is converted into serotonin peripherally, and serotonin doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier so then that would provide only physical effects. I know an easy way to get around this though, but I haven't really tried it. I am considering trying L-DOPA for dreams, though. Have you ever given that a shot?
      Yes, great point. And if it's not winding up in the brain, now you've got high serum levels of serotonin doing... other things. I've never gone over 100 mg on 5-HTP since that seems to be plenty to deliver beautiful deep sleep -> REM rebound for galantamine night. That's all I ask, so gimme the lowest dose I can find that'll do the job!

      Edit: Oops! Forgot to answer the L-dopa question! I have not, but I will definitely mix it in at some point. Xanous didn't have a lot of luck with it but I'd read good things about it in Yuschak for dream control, and I think that CosmicIron has played with it. Definitely on my list.
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      Updated 03-04-2013 at 01:13 AM by CanisLucidus
    8. Alyzarin's Avatar
      Interesting that you are sort of GABAergic-proof. I am quite inexperienced with GABAergics. The only substance I use with GABAergic properties is L-theanine, which I generally use to calm my mind for sleep if I've got a WBTB cocktail going that I think could give me insomnia. (Most crucially for the Galantamine / choline salt / Alpha-GPC stack at WBTB.) Does L-theanine have any effect on you at all? It sounded like it didn't do much for Xanous.
      You've gotten drunk before, haven't you? (Haven't you? ) That's a very GABAergic high, though there are other factors involved as well.

      L-theanine is an interesting one. It was mildly sedating when I tried it, but I don't know if it would significantly help me fall asleep or anything. The main thing I noticed about it when I first tried it and walked around the park by my house is that it caused an enhancement of visual appreciation that feels like an increase in dopamine levels. It was similar to the type of thing you would get from weed, psychedelics, or stimulants, without all the other effects of course. It was also more mild than those would be (without tolerance, anyway), but it stood about because GABAergics don't normally cause that for me. It did feel overall a bit more natural or "connected" than the other drugs in this respect as well, but my understanding is that it effects more neurotransmitter systems than just GABA, so I'm guessing there's something else causing this. Then again, select GABAergics can be quite psychedelic....

      I have a high natural tolerance to narcotics too, so maybe I'm just downer resistant. I rarely noticed anything at all from GABA drugs until after I started having anxiety, so of course it was really just because they were curbing that, but it still allowed me to feel out the drugs more. Aside from alcohol and L-theanine, I've used diazepam, alprazolam, lorazepam, zolpidem, and muscimol. I think that's all of them.... Diazepam was probably the one with the most effect at a regular dose, I took it with mushrooms and went to school once and it kept me really mellow and spacey the whole time. Alprazolam I tried at recreational doses multiple times and did nothing but completely black out before any other effects even hit; I've never really gotten anything other than anxiety relief from it, back when I actually had a prescription for it briefly. Lorazepam was given to me at the hospital when I was in the middle of a panic attack after a night of doing too much speed, among other things. It was the only drug I ever took by injection, and of course they gave me enough to calm me down, but the circumstances are kind of hard to compare to anything else. I took it one other time in pill form, but it was with alcohol, so it's again hard to say. Zolpidem I got from a friend who went to the psych ward from an acid trip and I tried to stay up through two pills spaced fifteen minutes apart; things got a little trippy and wavy, kind of like alprazolam but with psychedelic thought loops, but other than that there wasn't much to speak of. And the muscimol was the oddest, but that's to be expected.... I ate Amanita muscaria mushrooms on a couple different occasions and mostly got some odd delirium where I could close my eyes and see some really psychedelic hypnagogic stuff, but nothing really with eyes open. Neither experience was incredibly notable.

      So as you can see, GABA drugs just aren't really my thing most of the time. I honestly wonder if lot of the effects that I enjoy from alcohol consumption come from the NMDA antagonism that becomes more significant with higher doses.

      Edit: Oops! Forgot to answer the L-dopa question! I have not, but I will definitely mix it in at some point. Xanous didn't have a lot of luck with it but I'd read good things about it in Yuschak for dream control, and I think that CosmicIron has played with it. Definitely on my list.
      Cool, I'll look forward to that then. I have rarely heard people mention trying it and having good effects, but obviously it's not a really widely-used dream supplement. It does come with the unfortunate side effect of increasing dopamine levels all over the brain, some of which can be bad for REM, but it still promotes the very chemical essence of dreams and lucidity (I'm fairly certain), too, so it's sort of a trade off I suppose. Plus... it increases libido. Probably control too, if you find the right dose. It's certainly intriguing, but make sure you go easy on that one, too. Frequent high levels of dopamine can have some nasty side effects, especially if it's not balanced out with serotonin!
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    9. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      You've gotten drunk before, haven't you? (Haven't you? ) That's a very GABAergic high, though there are other factors involved as well.
      LOL. Actually, I have not. The closest I came was after drinking about 10-12 beers at my cousin's beer-sampling themed bachelor party. But we were simultaneously stuffing ourselves with so much fried bar food (including alligator!) that I was probably not more than tipsy.

      L-theanine is an interesting one. It was mildly sedating when I tried it, but I don't know if it would significantly help me fall asleep or anything. The main thing I noticed about it when I first tried it and walked around the park by my house is that it caused an enhancement of visual appreciation that feels like an increase in dopamine levels.
      Very observant. I'm impressed by how well you can introspectively pick apart the effect that these substances are having on you and zero in on why you might feel the way that you feel. Well, your instincts were correct... L-theanine indeed does increase dopamine levels! The neuropharmacology of L-theanine(N-et... [J Herb Pharmacother. 2006] - PubMed - NCBI This was something that Xanous and I discussed when his experiment with L-dopa led to very unstable dreams. Since he had included some L-theanine I was wondering whether that combined with the L-dopa was pushing him over the line.

      You know what's funny? The reason I looked into whether L-theanine had any influence on dopamine was because after taking it I had a lucid where I was super confident and aggressive to the point that I even yelled "L-dopa!!" in the middle of the dream. On the Back of the Sphinx - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views This is all in spite of never taking L-dopa in my life, so it was an interesting way to behave. (My lucids are filled with things that I charitably call an "interesting way to behave".)

      I have a high natural tolerance to narcotics too, so maybe I'm just downer resistant. I rarely noticed anything at all from GABA drugs until after I started having anxiety, so of course it was really just because they were curbing that, but it still allowed me to feel out the drugs more. Aside from alcohol and L-theanine, I've used diazepam, alprazolam, lorazepam, zolpidem, and muscimol.
      Wow, thanks for the amazing rundown! And I hope that your friend who went to the psych ward was okay!

      Cool, I'll look forward to that then. I have rarely heard people mention trying it and having good effects, but obviously it's not a really widely-used dream supplement. It does come with the unfortunate side effect of increasing dopamine levels all over the brain, some of which can be bad for REM, but it still promotes the very chemical essence of dreams and lucidity (I'm fairly certain), too, so it's sort of a trade off I suppose. Plus... it increases libido. Probably control too, if you find the right dose. It's certainly intriguing, but make sure you go easy on that one, too. Frequent high levels of dopamine can have some nasty side effects, especially if it's not balanced out with serotonin!
      Absolutely. I appreciate the advice, and I'll definitely take heed. I imagine that thanks to my alcohol tales from above you are getting that I am cautious by nature. LOL.
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    10. Alyzarin's Avatar
      LOL. Actually, I have not. The closest I came was after drinking about 10-12 beers at my cousin's beer-sampling themed bachelor party. But we were simultaneously stuffing ourselves with so much fried bar food (including alligator!) that I was probably not more than tipsy.
      Oh wow, alright then. Yeah, I kind of realized while typing that that I couldn't actually say for sure whether or not you had lol. Good to know.

      Very observant. I'm impressed by how well you can introspectively pick apart the effect that these substances are having on you and zero in on why you might feel the way that you feel. Well, your instincts were correct... L-theanine indeed does increase dopamine levels! The neuropharmacology of L-theanine(N-et... [J Herb Pharmacother. 2006] - PubMed - NCBI This was something that Xanous and I discussed when his experiment with L-dopa led to very unstable dreams. Since he had included some L-theanine I was wondering whether that combined with the L-dopa was pushing him over the line.

      You know what's funny? The reason I looked into whether L-theanine had any influence on dopamine was because after taking it I had a lucid where I was super confident and aggressive to the point that I even yelled "L-dopa!!" in the middle of the dream. On the Back of the Sphinx - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views This is all in spite of never taking L-dopa in my life, so it was an interesting way to behave. (My lucids are filled with things that I charitably call an "interesting way to behave".)
      Hehe, I've actually read that before. It's still significant though because it doesn't happen with something like, say, caffeine. At least not for me. I didn't know before I actually took it for the first time and realized that, though. But dopamine effects are usually very easy for me to pick out, that increase in visual effects comes from D2 specifically. And I could never miss D2.

      That's pretty funny about your dream, though. Considering that it was L-DOPA that created that dopamine in you, whether it came from a supplement or not, you weren't entirely wrong! I wouldn't be surprised if that was making a difference for Xanous though, since both L-theanine and L-DOPA inhibit REM.

      I actually started taking L-theanine as a supplement yesterday and today, I'm thinking about trying to make it a daily thing and hoping that there are no side effects. Since it's just from tea you wouldn't imagine there would be, but I have odd sensitivities to things now from how I messed myself up with all the drug use. How much I've cut down on smoking should help, though. I was actually looking up info about L-theanine earlier today, about how it effects serotonin. I read studies saying that serotonin and 5-HIAA levels dropped after L-theanine administration, but L-tryptophan levels went up. I think that's pretty intense! It would suggest that it's preventing the L-tryptophan from being converted into serotonin... but I wonder if it effects its other metabolism routes? More specifically, the way it's metabolized into tryptamine, directly through the aromatic amino acid decarboxylase rather than tryptophan hydroxylase. I have a passing curiosity about the effects of endogenous tryptamine, so if this enzyme is still free to act, which it could be considering that other chemicals created by it are not altered, it may help provide some kind of insight. Particularly if there are any noteworthy effects from combining L-theanine and L-tryptophan....

      Wow, thanks for the amazing rundown! And I hope that your friend who went to the psych ward was okay!
      No problem! And yeah, he's fine. X) He took three hits of acid and freaked out, he punched his mom in the face while saying "Fuck you, Mother Nature!" and threw orange juice on his dad, and they took him there where he was sedated and kept until he came down, and then for two weeks afterward because they did a drug test and found THC and dubbed him with "cannabis psychosis". Biggest load ever, but eventually he got let out with a few temporary prescriptions and just went back to how he was beforehand.

      Absolutely. I appreciate the advice, and I'll definitely take heed. I imagine that thanks to my alcohol tales from above you are getting that I am cautious by nature. LOL.
      Yeah, I'm starting to see that. =P Of course, that certainly never hurt anyone!