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Not a Dream, but a Nightmare
Silene capensis, Sertraline, Lamotrigine & Estradiol
Citation:   Formula X. "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare: An Experience with Silene capensis, Sertraline, Lamotrigine & Estradiol (exp112645)". Erowid.org. Jan 3, 2019. erowid.org/exp/112645

 
DOSE:
1 g oral Silene capensis (tea)
BODY WEIGHT: 254 lb
After reading about the vivid/lucid dreams Silene Capensis (African Dream Root) produces in users, I decided to check it out for myself as I almost never have dreams I remember.

I ordered 14g of Silene Capensis root online, and attempted to measure it out into 300mg portions, but my kitchen scale was not precise enough, and so I decided to divide up the lot of root twigs into 14 more or less equally sized piles and then cut those in half to end up with 28 ~500mg piles of Silene Capensis root. Unfortunately, I got distracted and forgot to divide the groups in half after separating the root into 14 piles. I ended up accidently using ~1g of ground Silene Capensis root to make a tea which I consumed at 11:40am, as I read that one should drink a tea of Silene Capensis in the morning in order to feel its effects at night, and did not realize my dosage mistake until ~2:00pm.

Within ~3 hours of ingestion (~3:00pm), I became noticeably more lethargic.
Within ~3 hours of ingestion (~3:00pm), I became noticeably more lethargic.
This lethargy increased over time until I was nearly passing out in my chair at 11:30pm (~12 hours later). I finally decided to go to bed at that point, and I felt super comfy lying down.

I then awoke at 2:34am ( ~13 hours later) with a heavy cold sweat, nausea, dizziness, my body feeling like it is covered in menthol and pins/needles, my hearing all muffled, my neck very stiff, and rapid breathing. It immediately occurred to me that I may be having an overdose reaction and thought about driving myself to the hospital, as my understanding is that the active compounds in Silene Capensis have a long biological half-life. However, I began to feel concerningly lightheaded and decided that I may crash my car if I tried to drive there, so I called emergency services. Upon arrival at the hospital, I began to get mild chest pains above my heart.

At ~4:30am (~15 hours later), my symptoms began to subside, with my nausea, dizziness, body feeling like it is covered in menthol and pins/needles, muffled hearing, neck stiffness, and rapid breathing all abated, and the cold sweat reduced to mild clamminess. The doctor finally arrived at this time, and said he thought I may be experiencing a mild overdose and that I shouldn’t worry; he prescribed me IV Benadryl and saline solution.

I am writing this report at 7:20pm (~21 hours later), and I feel mild weakness, clamminess, and lethargy that I think are remnants of the Silene Capensis, but am otherwise generally okay.

I did not have any dreams that I can remember during the ~3 hours I was asleep.

Aside from taking over 3x the recommended dose in a tea, I suspect that there may have been interaction with my prescription medications: Sertraline and Lamotrigine.

Another potential explanation is that I had such terrible dreams that I awoke into a severe panic attack, which would account for all the symptoms and would align with the paramedic’s initial assessment. It is important to note though, that I have had a multitude of panic and anxiety attacks while awake before, and I have never experienced nausea, dizziness, cold sweats, chills, audio distortions, or neck stiffness while they occurred.

Prior to taking this oneirogen, I researched Silene Capensis and found no information reporting the majority of my symptoms. In fact, it was expressly stated on a couple web pages that there were no known deaths or major negative side effects, aside from nausea and vomiting if taken at too large of a dose.

Exp Year: 2018ExpID: 112645
Gender: Not Specified 
Age at time of experience: 29
Published: Jan 3, 2019Views: 3,032
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Silene capensis (386) : Combinations (3), Overdose (29), Health Problems (27), Alone (16)

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Experience Reports are the writings and opinions of the authors who submit them. Some of the activities described are dangerous and/or illegal and none are recommended by Erowid Center.


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