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A Sensory Experience
Dimenhydrinate & Caffeine
Citation:   OccamsRazor. "A Sensory Experience: An Experience with Dimenhydrinate & Caffeine (exp57274)". Erowid.org. Jun 1, 2009. erowid.org/exp/57274

 
DOSE:
T+ 0:00
300 mg oral Dimenhydrinate (pill / tablet)
  T+ 0:00 118 mg oral Caffeine (liquid)
  T+ 1:00 150 mg oral Dimenhydrinate (pill / tablet)
  T+ 1:45 150 mg oral Dimenhydrinate (pill / tablet)
BODY WEIGHT: 180 lb
I had been reading online about psychoactive substances, because I consider myself a psychonaut, and these kinds of things interest me. I stumbled upon dimenhydrinate and was intrigued by the 'dreaming while awake' effects it claimed to provide. However, I had only done naturally occurring psychoactive drugs in the past (Psilocybin, Salvia Divinorum, Cannabis), so I was somewhat wary of synthetic drugs. I began reading all the trip reports to find out what exactly people were experiencing, and became even more intrigued. It wasn't until the song Dramamine by Modest Mouse played (it was on random) that night while I was at work, that I decided to see what dimenhydrinate was all about. So, after work I bought a box which had 24 tablets of 50mg of dimenhydrinate.

Setting & People:

I was at my house with my two best friends E and B. We chill together all the time at my place, so it's a comfortable environment for us. E said he would be the sitter since his prescription MAOIs prohibited him from participating. B said he wanted to try it, as he has tripped with me in the past. B was at his friend's house smoking, and E had to take his friend home real quick. B was taking a while, so I began without him once E got back.

Experience:

12:00am - Ingested six 50mg tablets and washed down it with some Vault to keep me awake.

12:20am - Didn't feel anything really yet... I felt a little relaxed.

12:35am - B finally arrives and takes five 50mg tablets with a swig of my Vault. E put one tablet on his tongue as a joke and noted how bad it tasted, and threw it away.

1:00am - Both of us didn't really feel anything yet, so we both took three more.

1:30am - I was beginning to feel a bit spacey with some sporadic peripheral visuals, but nothing profound yet. B said he was beginning to feel something and noted that my carpet looked like it was blowing in the wind.

1:45am - We were getting bored of sitting around waiting for the full effects to kick in, so E drove my car to go get some food, since neither me or B had eaten that day. B and I had three more each, finishing the box and drank the rest of Vault. We were both beginning to feel it now. When I stood up my legs felt like they weighed 100lbs each and I stumbled around like I was drunk. Both E and B noted how wide my pupils were.

2:00am - We went to Steak N' Shake, since it was the only thing open at that hour. Once we got our food, we sat in my car in the parking lot to eat. I got a shake and some fries, but the fries were giving me really bad dry mouth so I gave them to E, and I only drank half of my shake. A few minutes later, I was starting to zone out a bit, but I was able to snap out of it fairly easily. My shifter and TransPod touch slightly when my car is in Park, and I was just staring at where they met and zoning out. The space between the objects seemed to get bigger and bigger the longer I stared at them, but as soon as I moved my eyes the objects would snap back together. Then I realized that I had to pee really bad (probably from the Vault), so I said, 'I'm going on a journey' and walked inside to use the restroom. I don't remember anything significant happening while inside, I just felt strange. An employee greeted me, and I greeted him back with no problem or paranoia.

On my walk back to the car, I thought I saw something like 'Good you guys' written in the asphalt in really weird handwriting, it kind of looked like the character Frank's handwriting from the movie Donnie Darko, but when I took a step backwards to look at it closer, it disappeared. Back in my car now, just staring at stuff and constantly zoning out. I was staring at the bushes directly in front of where we were parked, when I realized that I was actually beginning to see things. The leaves of the bushes moved like they were in a time lapse film, and little wisps of light were shooting out of some of the leave in every different direction. I was getting excited because I knew that I was definitely hallucinating now. I proceeded to stare at the bushes and just zone out. I kept seeing random ordinary object appear that weren't actually, and they would disappear as soon as I stopped focusing on them. I saw people walking, a parked car, a dog, and other random objects none of which were actually there, though it was possible they could be.

2:30am - The car ride home was a little fuzzy. I kept trying to play a song that would trip me out, but I found I couldn't really concentrate on the music. Once we got back to my house, E said he had to go, but to call us if we freaked out. We were both acting pretty mellow, so I don't think E was too worried. B and I decided to smoke a cig on my porch and just relax so we could really trip. That was a good idea. Sitting on my porch, I was looking at the house across from mine and the gutter looked like it was moving. It looked like a train or monorail moving swiftly across my neighbor’s roof. It was getting a little harder to snap out of being zoned at this point, but it was still manageable.

I directed my eyes to the clear night sky, and saw a tiny dot of light dancing in the sky. Suddenly, the dot exploded into a thousand smaller dots and they all dispersed in different directions. Then, I stared at the bushes by my porch and saw random objects in them like before. I saw a mini-fridge with a picnic basket on top of it, several toy-looking objects like cars and small Legos or action figures on a glass dish, a baseball cap, and several other random ordinary objects that I don't remember just sitting in my bushes. B kept asking if I could hear people talking to his right, and I noted that it sounded like people were having a conversation in my parking lot to my left (opposite direction of B). I could perfectly hear every word they were saying, which would have to be pretty loud, and at this hour I doubted that there was anyone in the parking lot shouting. They were having a completely normal conversation and just saying things like 'Hey what's up man?' 'How's it going?' ...etc.

2:45am - We go inside because we were starting to get cold. I turn off the light in my room and turn on my bathroom light because the bright lights hurt my eyes. B said to play some music, so I played some Ugly Casanova to possibly trip us out. B is lying on my bed behind me, and I'm sitting in my computer chair facing my computer. I stared at the wood grain on my desk and just watched random objects and amorphous shapes appear and disappear. At some points my vision would go slowly to black, but my eyes were still open. I touched my eyes at one point when this happened to make sure. But I could snap out of it every time and it would go away. I couldn't really concentrate on the music, so I proceeded to just stare at random places in my room and purposely zone out for a while to see what happened. Several times I was able to stop zoning completely, turn around, and say something to B with no problem. The visuals only seemed to come if I willed them to by zoning out.

3:30am - B decided it was late and that he wasn't feeling the full effects anymore, so he went home. I decided it would be a good idea to go to bed since I had class at 11:00am. Laying in my bed in silence, I could hear those loud voices in the parking lot again, but it sounded like they were right next to me in my room. I could hear them all talking and greeting each other and car doors slamming. I stared into the darkness of my room and the shadows whisked about the room changing into random amorphous shapes as tried I fall asleep.


10:25am - I woke up from my deep sleep feeling refreshed, but a bit spacey still. On my way to class riding my bike, I thought I saw a white van in the corner of my eye and hit my brakes, but when I turned my head there was nothing there. My first class was hard to pay attention in, as I was still feeling spacey, but that feeling wore off as the day progressed. I was also in a great mood. I felt whimsical and energized for most of the day.

Conclusion:

Dimenhydrinate isn't like the other psychoactive drugs I've tried. Unlike the intense emotion and spiritual effects of psilocybin, my experience with dimenhydrinate was entirely sensory. I felt like I had complete control of the visuals, and if they were too much for me, I could easily snap out of it. I'm glad I read about this substance a great deal before I actually ingested it, because that made the whole experience better. The set and setting were near perfect, and the Vault worked perfectly against the drowsiness associated with Dramamine. The description of 'dreaming while awake' is quite accurate. It felt like a strange and lucid, yet fuzzy dream.

Exp Year: 2006ExpID: 57274
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jun 1, 2009Views: 22,945
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Dimenhydrinate (17) : First Times (2), General (1), Small Group (2-9) (17)

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