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Success, After a Fashion
Syrian Rue & Dimenhydrinate
Citation:   Gamera. "Success, After a Fashion: An Experience with Syrian Rue & Dimenhydrinate (exp40819)". Erowid.org. May 26, 2007. erowid.org/exp/40819

 
DOSE:
T+ 0:00
5.0 g oral Syrian Rue (tea)
  T+ 0:00   oral Dimenhydrinate (pill / tablet)
  T+ 0:45 5.0 g oral Syrian Rue (tea)
BODY WEIGHT: 240 lb
In anticiption of concocting an ayahuasca analogue, I though it prudent to experience syrian rue, more or less on its own. After some research regarding expected effects, dosage and dietary restrictions, I purchased seeds of syrian rue as esphand at a local persian market. Noteworthy for being a mere $3.00 for 4 ounces, without question the cheapest buzz I have ever gotten, short of hyperventilation. In anticipation of naseau, I also purchased a box of dramamine. I had coffee in the morning but no food.

A heaping tablespoon of seeds were crushed with mortal and pestle and placed in about 1 cup of tap water with the juice of half a squeezed lemon. This was simmered for about 30 minutes and strained through a tea strainer. The seed mush was returned to the pan, another cup of water was added and the other half of the lemon squeezed in, dramamine was taken at this point (about 11:00 a.m.). This was simmered for 45 mintues, strained and the liquids combined. The total volume was about 1 1/2 cups of foul smelling dark yellowish brown tea. The smell reminded me of morning glory tea, not a happy memory. Half the tea was mixed with 2 parts orange juice for flavor and gulped down at about 11:45 a.m. The taste was fine, not really noticeable. No gagging or naseua was noted.

The first noticeable effect was sleepiness, probably from the dramamine. After about 30 minutes, a slight sense of calm, light headedness and a light kind of buzzing noize crept in. Nothing dramatic, bearly a +1 on the Shulgin scale. The experience was pleasant enough and mild, so after 45 mintues the rest of the tea was consumed with orange juice and I lay down to try and focus on the effects without distraction at around 12:20. The experience reached a +2 level about 20 minutes later. As the experience peaked, marked naseau crept in and I found that lying in bed was about all that I was comfortable doing. As long as I didn't try to move around to much, I was OK, getting up to get a glass of water caused a sharp spike in naseau causing me to dry heave.

Overall I would have to give the experience marginal thumbs down. There were some interesting visual distortions, although these were not what I would decribe as psychedelic. Uneven surfaces would reveal faces, cartoonish characters and shapes, but no patterns. I had expected to see trails, but these did not manifest. Closed eye imagery was odd. I would flash on scenes lasting a few seconds at a time, all seemingly pointless and without any emotional resonance. A man in a suit, sitting at a desk, another man walks in, says something, walks out, scene fades. Mundane scenes like this were endlessly repeated.

Occassionally an interetsting visual pattern, usually slightly colored. At one point I was looking at my ceiling fan, then closed my eyes, and saw the fan in my mind, but covered with pastel colors. Not visionary, more 'imagine'-ary. Similar to DXM in that enhanced internal imaginal scenes could be influenced, although not construted. Mild auditory hallucination, voices, faint music and the like. A kind of hollow echoy character to sounds, not unlike nitrous oxide. I dozed off a few times for 5-10 minutes.

Physically, I was lethargic, sleepy, amd very calm. Certainly no euphoria. In fact, the experience was singularly devoid of emotional significance. The experience peaked about an hour after the second cup of tea. I conclude that the naseau is an intergral part of the high, as it peaked simulataneous with the mental effects. This was probably mediated by the dramamine, however. I would be curious to know if naseau accompanies the high from pure extract, my suspicion is that it would. At least in my case.

The peak lasted around one hour with a gradual return to baseline within about 4 hours. I was ready for the expereince to end, more because I was getting bored lying still in bed than anything else. No hangover, no lasting effects.

On the issue of dietary restrictions, I was not particularly cautious. I had coffee about 2 hours prior to the experience and less than 24 hours afterward without noticing any effect. Probably not wise to disregard the dietary limitations entirely, but my conclusion is that its unlikely a serious problem would develop unless the wrong sorts of drug combinations were tried, at least as far as syrian rue goes (versus a prescription MAOI). YMMV.

My conclusions:

Not worth repeating, although benign enough to use as a part of an ayahausca analogue.

If I were to repeat, I would probably take half this amount and not expect much out of the experience. I would definitely take an antiemetic. My research indicates that half this amount would be ample to make DMT orally active in any event. At that level the psychic effects from the rue would be minimal.

Finally, I was struck by just how cheap this is. I estimate I used about 25 cents worth of rue and 25 cents worth of dramamine, making one fresh lemon the most expensive component of the experience.

Exp Year: 2005ExpID: 40819
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: May 26, 2007Views: 7,424
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Syrian Rue (45), Dimenhydrinate (17) : Alone (16), First Times (2), General (1)

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