Just One Look Forum Archives

Does anyone have experience with the looking and taking psychotropic drugs, either before, during after the process? I am thinking in particular about SSRIs and other antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds. Just curios if this affects the outcome and the 'effect' of the looking.

Thanks,

J

Hi Jackx

I was told that I had "major depressive disorder" about 10 years ago, so I took Paxil for a couple of years, before I met John. It made me numb and fat, and my marriage began to disintegrate after I went on it. I got off that and switched to a lexapro/wellbutrin cocktail around the time I first started looking. Soon after I had the desire to get off the stuff. I just felt stuffy and didn't care about anything. I stayed off until I started having trouble doing math in college, so I tried wellbutrin again by itself for a little while, to help me focus. Looking back I can see that it just made me more anxious. Around that time the reality of life-in-my-face started hitting me hard. I stopped taking all medication and started experimenting with food. I stopped eating gluten on a hunch and found my energy level and ability to concentrate went way up . Since then I've been Juicing vegetables, eating organic, and trying to re-build my broken digestive track after decades of eating food-like products laced with pesticides and god knows how many man-made chemicals. My exercise regime is sporadic, but when I do take long walks with my dog, I notice the difference. It seems that my sensitivity to what I eat has increased, along with the sensitivity I have to people who are steeped in the disease. I've been doing well now for several years without taking any medications. I have a lot of hope, and am happy to see and feel the more natural results that are starting to shine in my life. Depression meds were just another failed attempt at a cure. I do know some people though, who seem to have some really wild chemical imbalances, for which meds seem to help. But I'm glad I don't need them anymore. Hope this helps.

Best

Mike

Hi Jackx, as it is your mind that is actually creating the universe you perceive anything you take will alter the way the universe appears to you. As the "looking" is only the "looking" then I would assume it would make absolutely no difference to that. Some psychotropic drugs do cut out the mind's chatter and so may bring about an increased ease in "Looking". But as with all artificial drug stimulation a price is payed in the body one way or the other... but I guess you know that? In some shamanic rites hallucinogens are used just to introduce the user to the possibility of seeing beyond the mind's limited view and I have even heard that certain addictions can be cured using these substances. There was an interesting case of people suffering from hellish migraines that would occur on a daily basis. Those sufferers able to take LSD once a month stopped getting the headaches... It's sad that so little is know about this class of drugs but I get the feeling they have quite miraculous qualities.

I suffered from depression related to a chronic illness that started up when I had a slipped disc, fibromyalgia... It's basically a whole load of pain and a complete drop in energy levels. Not surprising to hear it has one of the highest suicide rates of all illnesses. It completely disrupts your life in all ways imaginable... I had a rough time at the beginning and tried antidepressants but found it made the symptoms worse and made me even more depressed. One of the things with Fibromyalgia is that it makes you more sensitive to any drugs... so early on I realised meds were out for me. So one particular day, a shall I live or die day? I decided to carry on and plunge everything I had into meditation. And it worked. The results were pretty fast in arriving. It was really a great opportunity, in that I really had little choice in the matter and as such had to pull out all the stops. Depressions would lift within a couple of days. These days they hardly touch. Seems that what meditation was achieving was cutting out the pointless inner mental conflict my mind was throwing up. The chronic aches and pains that accompany the illness continue but there is no longer any conflict with this state. This constant conflict served absolutely no purpose anyway, and just helped drain the body of life energy. So now when I run into an attack, I'm really lucky I get long breaks free of it, it's retreat time. Time to slow right down and live an aesthetic life style.

all the best

Thanks for both replies.....I'm not taking SSRIs, but my wife started them after she did the looking. She's not as tuned into her inner self or the process of the looking as much as I am, so she isn't really marking the effects of the looking as I do. She feels less anxious all around and didn't seem to have much trouble with recovery, so I was wondering if the meds blunted or masked the effects of the looking, or actually helped the recovery process? Friends I of mine who take Paxil, celexa, and other meds seem to have a similar effect to the looking....a loss of anxiety and depression, almost a disinhibition with their relationship with life. I have had similar experience as both of you, in that my depression and anxiety are virtually gone and I am much more sensitive to what I put into my body and how I work my body. It seems psychotropics would be antithetical to what I experience with the growing, almost deep urge for healthy living, plant based diet, and exercise. Just curious what other people experience.....also I am a school-based therapies working with learning disabled kids, many of whom take an eye-popping amount of meds and eat the SAD you mentioned, Mike. Thanks for your replies, J

Mike and Nigel, I wrote the previous reply after traveling all day, a couple of beers, and while watching Brazil take Czech to school in the World Cup......I believe I failed to communicate my deep gratitude for your replies and for your other recent posts. I appreciate your honesty and ability to clearly communicate your experience. I find it extremely helpful to hear from those that have gone before. This is true for John and Carla and all the other posters, of course. Thanks again.

Hi JackX,

The only drug I have taken whilst doing the looking was Cannabis and I used this drug heavily. I stopped just after starting the looking, but went back to it again two or three times till eventually it just dropped away. I found that at first the drugs helped me to take a look at me, it made it so much easier to take the inward journey. But I found that in the end my mind was never crystal clear, and I was always just that little bit fuzzy. The looking made this apparent to me, and since I have been doing the looking without it, my mind feels free and crystal clear, and it just dropped away by itself. I know now that I will never need such substances again. I smoked dope daily and drank copious amounts of alcohol for forty or fifty years. The looking has made it so I am completely free of any yearning for any drugs, I am glad to say. All the best, my friend...

Peter