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One Very Harsh Trip
Cannabis & Nitrous Oxide
Citation:   Waldo. "One Very Harsh Trip: An Experience with Cannabis & Nitrous Oxide (exp24521)". Erowid.org. Feb 28, 2006. erowid.org/exp/24521

 
DOSE:
2 bowls smoked Cannabis  
    inhaled Nitrous Oxide (gas)
BODY WEIGHT: 120 lb
My friend S and I got stoned the other day, and we realized how much we wanted to try Marijuana with Nitrous Oxide. So the next day, my friend looked for whippets but he couldn't find any so he just bought some whipped cream. Before we were stoned I inhaled some and I felt a very subtle change. I felt like I was floating, and slightly euphoric. I enjoyed this small and short (about half a minute) trip. Having already run out of nitrous, S went and got two cans of whipped cream and came back to my place.

We took turns hitting my bong for ten minutes or so. My friend wanted to keep hitting the bong (which in hindsight was a much better idea), but I remembered the Nitrous and decided it was time to try my first combination out. I put on a song that had special meaning to me and sat down on this little couch in my room. As my friend sat back and watched, I took the biggest lungful of Nitrous that was possible. It went down relatively easy compared to the marijuana smoke. It was cool and light. I stopped and I held it in as long as possible.

I remember I was just sitting on my couch, not moving at all because I thought the effects would already begin affecting me. Then S said 'you did it man' and I looked at him. As my head turned, my body was suddenly dropped into oblivion. I got an uncontrollable feeling that I was in a different place. I was looking at my room, sitting on my couch, but somehow everything had completely changed. It felt as though my mind had suddenly invented a couple of new senses, and through each one I was getting so much information that I was left comatose in these surges of fear. I tried to relax, to tell myself that this was only a bad trip and it would end soon, but my body wouldn't let me go. I never had such a bad trip in my life.

I got up and began pacing back and forth. S was staring at me, and I could see by the look on his face that he was unsure whether I was tripping really hard or just anxious. He asked me what was up, and I realized there was no point in stressing my bad trip. I had a friend who always claimed to have experienced the worst trip possible, but few felt sympathy because it was hard to tell whether he actually had such a bad trip or if he just couldn't handle the effects of our extremely dank marijuana. I really didn't feel like dealing with my friend S trying to help me out because I can assure you, nothing anybody could ever do would pull me out of what I was going through. It was like I was thrown into a world of cold surreal dispair, where reality wasn't what I saw and interpreted, but how I felt, and that I had suddenly become aware of what reality truly is. I felt so utterly doomed, and I tried to tell myself repeatedly that it was only a bad trip, and that it would end, and I knew so, but I was constantly reevaluating the situation and coming to the conclusion that I would never be the same again.

I began to miss the way I felt before I took the Nitrous. I remembered my pleasantly stoned'd self. Compared to what I was experiencing at the time, before I'd taken nitrous was heaven. I wished so hard that I could just return to that feeling but it was impossible. I remembered that Nitrous generally lasts only about half a minute, but this feeling of total fear hadn't left. I started to wonder if this was actually what I was supposed to be feeling, or if I had my own unique reaction to nitrous and cannabis. My friend S decided to inhale his nitrous at this point and I gave him a thorough warning on how different a feeling it was and that it may be too powerful for him. I asked him to consider the consequences of two friends having equally bad trips. At first I scared him out of doing it, but after my attention switched back to my horrible trip, I heard the release of nitrous and I saw my friend with the can in his mouth. In part, I didn't care anymore.

All of my senses were destoyed. I felt as though I was swimming a massive sea of needles. I found that trying as hard as I could to control the trip took away some of my attention from how cruel it really was. It was like the effects of the trip were riding me around in the saddle. To push the fear away I had to try to trip myself out intentionally. In this sense, although I was still tripping just as hard and just as horribly, it was in a way my will to trip that hard, and I just felt insane instead of doomed. It was like riding myself with a saddle.

I came close to tears at one point because of how much I missed just being simply stoned. My friend S didn't seem to be doing that badly with his Nitrous. He tooks two hits and he was nowhere as bad as I was. He tried to help me trip out on optical illusions on my computer but they only made me feel more naseous. I turned the music off, it was really beginning to make my trip worse. It was like all of my senses were storing everything in my mind, so as I stored more, things just got louder and brighter and heavier on me. I was absolutely exhausted by this point. Constantly trying to dominate my bad trip was such a mental workout. I grew so tired I couldn't think of anything but how badly I wanted it to stop. I finally decided that I had to try to go to sleep.

I went to take off my contacts, and this was very painstakingly cruel. After I took off my contacts I was worried that I scratched my cornea or something and for the rest of my life I would have this scar in my sight that would forever remind me of this trip. I tried to relax and crawled off to bed. I sleep on top of a bunkbed, and I must say this was truly the most sickening experience of my life. If I layed on my back, I felt like I was falling at an incredible speed and there was nothing that could stop me. When I layed on my chest I was alright but my head felt horrible. I tried to comfort myself with thoughts of waking up the next morning and being alright and getting just plain old stoned again for the next hour, sleep was nearly impossible.

I woke up today and I still felt stoned. I got really worried. I lay in bed as long as possible and tried to get some sleep. Eventually I leaned up and I realized that for the most part my feeling of stoned'dness was a result of not moving. I got up and took a shower. I felt very weird. I still feel weird right now.

I can definitely say that my experience with Cannabis and Nitrous Oxide was a most unpleasant one. I can't put into words how horrible this trip was. I can imagine cruel despots using this as a form of torture. I was in hell, truly. I would suggest not trying this combination. Even though it may have been an isolated incident, I fear for you if you wish to try it. I may be alright with inhaling nitrous alone but never again with any other psychoactive substance. My fantasies about drug combinations have been killed. I would never wish that experience upon anybody, not even my arch enemy. I now have fears that when I smoke pot again it will trigger a relapse. I still have the whipped cream cans in my room, and somehow I have grown intense hatred for them. I'll tell you one thing those cans are good for, whipped cream, that's it.

Exp Year: 2003ExpID: 24521
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Feb 28, 2006Views: 56,280
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Nitrous Oxide (40), Cannabis (1) : Combinations (3), Hangover / Days After (46), Bad Trips (6), Small Group (2-9) (17)

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