A Cool Roller Coaster Ride
Harmine
Citation:   Albert. "A Cool Roller Coaster Ride: An Experience with Harmine (exp71055)". Erowid.org. Jan 29, 2020. erowid.org/exp/71055

 
DOSE:
200 mg oral Harmine (capsule)
BODY WEIGHT: 190 lb
It was late in the evening. I had just finished eating a later dinner. At 10:30 pm, I decided to take 200 mg of freebase harmine (legally purchased on-line). I weighed it out and placed it into a size 00 gelatin capsule and swallowed it down with a glass of water. I then went to take care of some stuff around the house.

At 10:45 pm, the effects were evident. It felt very similar to a strong cup of coffee. I felt a little bit nervous, a little excited, and slightly tingly. That was about it.

At 11:00 pm, I still felt very stimulated, but also mentally and emotionally relaxed at the same time. I went into the bedroom to watch the local news on TV.

While watching the news I didn’t notice any psychedelic effects. After the news I stayed to watch the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which I normally watch on the weekdays. This show comes on at 11:30 pm in my area. In the beginning of the Tonight Show the camera swoops around the audience and flies all over the place. This is a camera sequence they always have at the beginning of the show while the band plays rock music. They zoom in and out of the audience, the band, etc. This is all done really fast. Normally I think nothing of it. However, this time, during the camera sequence I noticed that I felt as though I was moving with the camera. It was quite a fascinating effect from the harmine. I could actually feel the motion of the camera, as if my whole room was moving around with the camera. It felt like I was on a roller coaster ride.
I could actually feel the motion of the camera, as if my whole room was moving around with the camera. It felt like I was on a roller coaster ride.


With the harmine, I was able to become very deeply focused on the TV screen, as if it was a window I was looking through. I could easily focus on all the details of the Tonight Show. I felt as if I was actually there watching it live from a seat in the audience. This was not a “hallucination”, but rather an alteration of perception. I knew I was there in my bed, but I still felt as though I was there with the people in the show. The show felt so real. It’s hard to explain exactly, but LSD and psilocybin also have this effect at high doses along with a whole bunch of other psychedelic effects. With harmine, I didn’t feel very intoxicated, not yet anyway.

As the show progressed, I got more deeply engrossed in the show. The stimulant effect of the harmine was starting to fade as the effects became more psychedelic. I was not expecting this. While watching the Tonight Show, the room around the large TV screen began waving and flickering. It looked as if the only real thing in the room was the TV screen and the rest of the room was merely a distraction. At about 12:00 midnight the psychedelic effects were quite strong. I turned off the TV and noticed that the fan in the room sounded different. Instead of the normal smooth blowing sound, it had a buzzing sound. I thought there was something wrong with the fan so I powdered it down and back up again, jarred it a little, etc., but the buzzing sound wouldn’t go away. I got up and walked around the house and noticed that all the fans sounded like this. That’s when I realized the harmine was actually altering my perception of sound. As I walked around my environment I noticed a slight delay in visual data. There was a definite lag present between me walking around and what I was seeing with my eyes. This effect of delayed visual stimuli is supposed to cause “cyber sickness” in some people. I’m not one of those who gets “cyber sickness”, so I never got nausea from it.

At about 12:30 am (2 hours into the effects) I'm attempting to write down my experience with the harmine. It was very difficult to write type. I kept making simple mistakes. I normally can type pretty fast without making many mistakes. But the effects of the harmine made me type nearly every word wrong. I had to force myself to type the words correctly. My mind kept drifting from one thought to the next. It’s hard to concentrate. I decided to stop trying to fight the effects and just let go. So I went back into the bedroom to lay down, close my eyes, and let my mind drift.

I kept entering short dreamlike episodes. During this time I could feel the presence of a woman sitting on the bed next to me. With my eyes opened I couldn’t see the person, but I could feel the person there. It was a dream character that came out of one of the dream episodes I was experiencing. She sat there talking about different things. I felt as though she was there to guide me, but I didn’t pay much attention to what she was saying. I closed my eyes and started dreaming and shortly fell asleep. I don’t remember the dreams I had while sleeping. I woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed.

Harmine really gives a unique psychedelic experience unlike anything else. It’s also unlike harmaline (which I’ve also tried many times) in many ways. I don’t know why, but most references make little distinction between harmine and harmaline. They have some very different effects but do share some similarities. For me 200 mg of harmine is a strong psychedelic dose. It’s maybe comparable to 150 mg of harmaline. At 200 mg, harmine is a psychedelic stimulant. At 150 mg harmaline is a psychedelic sedative. They feel very different from each other. Harmine feels more like LSD and harmaline feels more like passionflower. Neither compound is a true psychedelic though. These are more like dream stimulants than true psychedelics. Both harmine and harmaline can induce day dreaming easily. They both also cause the mind to easily drift. But the feeling tone of harmine is completely different from harmaline. Harmaline is more euphoric, and laid back. With harmine I felt revved up, as if I had a strong cup of coffee. Both made me feel mentally and emotionally calm. It seems to me that the psychedelic effects of harmine are cleaner, clearer and stronger than the psychedelic effects of harmaline.

At 200 mg, there are basically two negatives. First off, my mind easily drifts. If I had some really technical task to perform, harmine is going to make it really tough to perform because my mind keeps drifting. (Oddly enough, if I take a small amount of DMT with it (about 15 mg), the DMT actually blocks this drifting effect helping keep my mind focused). Secondly, the effect it had on my perception of motion (making me feel like I was moving when I wasn’t). I really enjoyed feeling as though I was riding a roller coaster while watching the zooming camera scenes during the Tonight Show. That’s a really cool effect. But then again, I LOVE ROLLER COASTERS. A small amount of DMT (about 15 mg) will intensify this motion effect. This is probably why ayahuasca makes some people get extreme “cyber sickness”.

I did find that chocolate makes me feel a little nauseated if I eat it during the peak of a 200 mg harmine trip. So I avoid eating it during the trip. I’ve eaten pizza, tacos, quesadillas, hamburgers, and all sorts of other foods during the peak without a problem. But for some unknown reason I can’t tolerate chocolate. I know that harmine is a RIMA and not a full MAOI, so that explains why I can eat foods rich in aged cheese without a problem, but why I can’t tolerate chocolate is a mystery. Maybe the theobromine in the chocolate is reacting in a bad way with the harmine? Who knows.

Exp Year: 2008ExpID: 71055
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jan 29, 2020Views: 2,744
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Harmine (315) : Alone (16), Entities / Beings (37), Glowing Experiences (4), Retrospective / Summary (11), General (1)

COPYRIGHTS: All reports copyright Erowid.
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