Stunning Huichol Yarn Art
Donate $150 or more and get a beautiful Huichol yarn
painting, hand made by Huichol artists in Mexico.
They make fabulous gifts! (6, 8, 12 & 24 inch pieces available.)
Ruined Experience
Dimenhydrinate (Dramamine)
Citation:   Atlantic. "Ruined Experience: An Experience with Dimenhydrinate (Dramamine) (exp70472)". Erowid.org. Dec 1, 2008. erowid.org/exp/70472

 
DOSE:
T+ 0:00
600 mg oral Dimenhydrinate (pill / tablet)
  T+ 0:30 600 mg oral Dimenhydrinate (pill / tablet)
BODY WEIGHT: 175 lb
First off, I smoke pot (7+ times per week) but I do not have extensive experience with drugs. I have taken amanitas but fell asleep for the trip (I woke up in the middle to a movie on the television that I couldn’t make any sense of), I have smoked 20x salvia on multiple occasions, and prior to this experience I had tried Dramamine once with mild visuals and the characteristic “heavy” sensations.

My parents were not home and I had just returned home from a long weekend of college visits with a friend. On my way home I decided to pick up a vial of Dramamine (12 pills). I took all twelve of them on an empty stomach and began to drive home. [Erowid Note: Driving while intoxicated, tripping, or extremely sleep deprived is dangerous and irresponsible because it endangers other people. Don't do it!] On the way home (the drive is almost 30 minutes) I didn’t feel anything so I picked up another vial. I can’t remember how many I actually took I just remember tossing one vial out of the window and finding another empty vial in the trash the next morning.

Upon arriving home I was real messed up. I took a shower and then proceeded to ask my dog if she minded that I showered. I knew that I was tripping so I didn’t worry too much about the fact that I had just asked my dog for permission to shower and knew that I had to conceal my state from my parents who were coming home soon. The next thing I remember was being on the phone with my girlfriend who was crying because I wasn’t making sense. I remember thinking that she was at my house since I was hearing her voice, so I kept telling her about some mysterious research paper that I could help her with and that I had information for her in my bedroom. She was very worried and called some of my friends to see if I had taken any drugs but no one knew anything.

Before calling my girlfriend I had planned to nap before my parents came home but by this time I was fading in and out of a full-on blackout. I totally forgot about taking nap as well. In the time between the phone call and my parents coming home (approx. T: +1:30) I began to see spiders everywhere. They would descend from my ceiling on their webs in balls of three or more. I still knew that I was tripping though so I would swipe my hand at them and watch the spiders dissolve into thin air. Not soon after my parents came home.

My mother knew I was on another planet immediately because I kept referring to my girlfriend as though she was in the house. Over the next two hours my mother watched me very closely. The recurring blackouts were my downfall. Apparently (I was told after by my mother) I tore through her purse and when she asked me what I was doing I told her I was searching for proof of Darwin’s theory and then shortly after I began packing my suitcase, which I left by the door upon arriving home, with food and told her that it was alright and that I was just hiding it from the homeless people. I live in a rural community without homeless citizens. I do not remember either of these events.

I kept denying that I had taken anything or that I was high so my parents took me to the hospital because they were scared, not because I had overdosed. It had been at least four hours since I had taken the pills. On the way to the hospital I yelled at my dad (he was driving) to watch out for pedestrians, none of whom were actually there. I saw a man walking down my street but he was too bundled up to see his face and I thought my dad was going to hit him. I also remember seeing some younger children and was sure that I was hallucinating them.

At the hospital I stuck to my story of innocence. My parents were really scared at this point and I was admitted to the ER. The doctor took blood for a test and told my parents that I could be schizophrenic and that the symptoms that I described were coherent with sometimes random “snaps” by psychologically unstable individuals and that sometimes people become schizophrenic in a similar fashion. My girlfriend’s mother worked at the hospital and told her that I had been admitted so she was there now.

While lying in the ER I felt extremely cold. The nurse piled on at least four or five blankets but to no avail. I had not totally grasped the scale of the trouble I was in yet so I stared at the wall in an attempt to salvage as much as I could from the trip. While lying in the bed I remember staring at the wall and watching the paint slide in different directions. It seemed almost as if the paint was melting off the wall except that it moved in all directions (i.e. it would melt upwards and to the sides instead of sliding towards the ground).

My most profound visual that I can remember was when I was staring at the wall. I saw the wall but then all of the sudden I was looking at a ski slope. I was maybe 150 feet above the slope and I could clearly make out trees, trails, lifts, and even falling snowflakes. It was the most realistic and intense visual I have ever had. It was interrupted by my mother asking me what I saw.

Eventually I confessed to having taken a large amount of Dramamine. I then was lectured by the doctor, the nurse, my girlfriend, her mother, and my parents about the stupidity of what I had done and the harm I could have done to myself. I was let out of the ER and driven home, still tripping hard. On the way home, while talking to my parents, I thought that for some reason I was with my girlfriend’s parents instead of my own. It is hard to explain what I mean, but I was convinced that I was not in the car with my parents. I also hallucinated more pedestrians. This time I saw people running in front of our car but I knew they were not real so as my dad proceeded to come within inches of running them over they would dissolve into thin air. Upon arriving home I went straight to bed. The next morning I stayed home from school, and still detected signs of the Dramamine trip throughout the day.

The trip itself would have been very interesting had I been smarter about dosing and choosing a good time to trip. As for lasting effects, I felt trip-like sensations after smoking pot, and when I drove at night I felt like I was tripping for about two weeks afterwards. I did notice that my brain seemed burnt out for a while afterwards too. It has been 5+ months since the experience and I still sometimes see and hear things as well. Not full-blown visuals but more like peripheral flashes or movements and sometimes I think I hear people saying my name when in fact no one is. Overall, I do not think the trip was worth the damage that I caused to my parents’ trust in me and the lasting effects on my body, but I do believe everything is worth at least one try and that moderation is key.

Exp Year: 2007ExpID: 70472
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Dec 1, 2008Views: 15,263
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Dimenhydrinate (17) : Difficult Experiences (5), Families (41), Hangover / Days After (46), HPPD / Lasting Visuals (40), Train Wrecks & Trip Disasters (7), Various (28)

COPYRIGHTS: All reports copyright Erowid.
No AI Training use allowed without written permission.
TERMS OF USE: By accessing this page, you agree not to download, analyze, distill, reuse, digest, or feed into any AI-type system the report data without first contacting Erowid Center and receiving written permission.

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.


Experience Vaults Index Full List of Substances Search Submit Report User Settings About Main Psychoactive Vaults