Haven't Projected in a While

[personalreality]

As I shared in Astral Chat, I just detoxed off of opiate replacement medication.  I was worried for a long time that the medication was preventing me from projecting.  Not only did it make me fall asleep easily when I was on a high dose, but I was also worried that it had some psychic and energetic effects.  Nevertheless I was able to eventually project (for the first time) when I got to a low enough dose on the medication.  I still have suspicions that it hampered my projection ability some.

Anyway, I am now off of the medication but I went through 2 weeks of opiate withdrawal and the symptoms haven't entirely gone away yet.  I'm still really anxious and my heart rate and blood pressure are still relatively high when I don't take the blood pressure medicine I was prescribed.  Naturally, I haven't been able to project and I was expecting that.  My heart rate has been too high for me to relax enough, I mean I barely sleep.

I'm having some concerns though.  I know this is probably an unusual situation and there probably aren't many people with experience in this area.  But I was wondering if anyone has high blood pressure or some other ailment that they think may prevent them from projecting and if so have you been able to remedy the problem?

Also, I kicked and screamed but my doctor insisted that I take a mood drug, Zoloft.  I am hugely anti-mood medication, I think they're zombie pills created to hamper spiritual expression.  But, being dependent on opiates for a number of years causes your brain to stop producing neurotransmitters at your normal levels.  The result is a lot of anxiety, depression and mood swings which can be detrimental to a recovering addict.  It's those crappy moods and anxiety that often lead to us using again.  So I agreed to take it for a couple of months, at least until I can start to get back to normal production levels.  My question is, does anyone else take Zoloft and can you say whether or not it effects your ability to project?  Have you projected before the Zoloft and after so you have a comparison?  I suppose any mood drug experience would be helpful.

[Fresco]

Have you tried looking into natural mood elevators??

I take the following herbs to stay energetic:

St. Johns Wort
Catuaba
Horny goat weed
Muira puama
Oat straw
Sarsaprilla
Tribulus

All these will send your testosterone skyhigh, which in turn lifts your mood and energy levels.
I'd try these before turning to synthetic, unnatural drugs.  But hey, thats just me

[personalreality]

I do take quite a few of those, but I am in a bit of an extreme situation.

My levels of serotonin and dopamine are ridiculously low.  Lower than what one might consider normal for someone with a mood disorder.  It's not even that they're so low that's the problem, it's that my brain has had agonists for these types of chemicals for a long time and so it stopped making them on its own in normal levels.  I agree with you, like I said, I'm really anti-mood drug.  I was kind of "beaten" into it. 

[missym]

Mood drugs are synthetic but in a situation like yours it's really the only option right? Better to take those then suffer the consequences if you don't, and at least it's only for a little while, nothing permanent.
I don't know anything about mood drugs and projection, so sorry I'm of no help, but I do hope you get better soon 

[Fresco]

I do take quite a few of those, but I am in a bit of an extreme situation.

My levels of serotonin and dopamine are ridiculously low.  Lower than what one might consider normal for someone with a mood disorder.  It's not even that they're so low that's the problem, it's that my brain has had agonists for these types of chemicals for a long time and so it stopped making them on its own in normal levels.  I agree with you, like I said, I'm really anti-mood drug.  I was kind of "beaten" into it.  

I do respect your honesty re: your drug problem though.  I'm (originally) Dutch and we long ago realized its better to let drug-inclined users to just let them go their way instead of making criminals of them.  Its done Dutch society well IMO.

USA is a basketcase when it comes to this, they still havent realized the same people that do drugs today, will be the same people that
do drugs once drugs been legalized tomorrow.  Yet they insist on continuing this silly war  

[nickspry]

 Some people report getting very vivid and even lucid dreams when using Zoloft. So you may find it could be a help rather than a hindrance...

[personalreality]

I've had that effect of vivid dreams from other medications and I'm hoping that's what happens with this.  But like I said, I'm very skeptical.  I'm a bit of a conspiracy person (and conspiracy is just a subversive action, things done behind closed doors) and I just don't trust these types of meds, so it's worrying me.

I'll keep at it though.  I think the biggest problem now is that my body is having to use soooo much energy to heal itself that it may be a little while before I've got good energy again.  I'm still doing energy work, but it feels like it's all going to healing.  On the plus side, one of the psychics I work with does this "health" touch thing, where she basically just reads the body's energy to find places that need attention.  She said that I was one of the most energetically balanced people she had read in a while, my aura wasn't skewed to one side, it was nice and even.  So I guess all this energy work does pay off.

[Fresco]

CORRECTION: 

I didnt mean legalize drugs, I meant decriminalize.  Thats not the same thing.
In Holland you cannot be arrested for using drugs, only if you deal (large-scale) in them.

The money they save on war ond drugs they put into treatment programs if a user wants to enter one

[personalreality]

Decriminalization here would basically entail a fine as opposed to jail time.  They wouldn't put the money to treatment though.  They would spend it on wars or some equally ridiculous pursuit.  But if you think about the money they could rack up from those fines.  Damn.

[Fresco]

Decriminalization here would basically entail a fine as opposed to jail time.  They wouldn't put the money to treatment though.  They would spend it on wars or some equally ridiculous pursuit.  But if you think about the money they could rack up from those fines.  Damn.

Fine revenue would be huge.  And think of the money they save from decriminalization:

No DEA
Less court costs
Less prison cells
Less policing
Less crime (much of crime is drug-related, addicts trying to feed their habit)

In Holland they had to close jails because there werent enough criminals: http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2246821.ece/Netherlands_to_close_prisons_for_lack_of_criminals

Its win/win, but it'll probably never go through in my lifetime, its just not politically correct.
Maybe in the year 2100 when they realize how futile it all is.

BTW in Portugal they decriminalized and drug use actually went down

[Fresco]

oops  double post 

[abadboy]

What about the crimes committed by drug addicts to support their habit?
What about taxpayer expense for health problem, and/or treatment for their addictions?
What about the poor slobs living on the street because of the monkey on their back?
You have to draw the line somewhere. The US's policies might not be perfect, but at least they are making an attempt.

[personalreality]

The US government are the one's supplying the drugs.  Then they charge you for treatment.  They don't pay for addiction treatment.  There are ways to get assistance, but its really hard and a lot of insurance companies don't cover addiction treatment, or they don't give enough coverage.  No one is saying that people shouldn't be convicted for crime.  The argument is that more resources should be spent on recovery than a drug war.

But it wont happen, the government makes too much money off of all this.

[abadboy]

The US government are the one's supplying the drugs.  Then they charge you for treatment.  They don't pay for addiction treatment.  There are ways to get assistance, but its really hard and a lot of insurance companies don't cover addiction treatment, or they don't give enough coverage.  No one is saying that people shouldn't be convicted for crime.  The argument is that more resources should be spent on recovery than a drug war.

But it wont happen, the government makes too much money off of all this.

This has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever read.

[Fresco]

This has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever read.

Really?? 

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT5MY3C86bk

Remember he was a cop, he ought to know

[bondgirl3007]

I was on zoloft once, and it made me really sleepy. I then switched to wellbutrin, and it didn't affect my OBEing at all. Now I'm on lexapro, and I my OBE's have almost stopped since being on it. I would say, wellbutrin is probably the best thing to be on, if you want something that won't hamper your OBEs. Zoloft might just make you fall asleep like it did for me.

[personalreality]

thank you for answering my question.  I knew someone around here had to have experience with this.

[vipassana]

I take Zoloft and have been for several years. I've never noticed any adverse effects from it. It takes the edge off when things get stressful. I once tried to abrupty stop it and that was a mistake. If I decided to try and get off of it, I would wean myself off slowly. I've wondered if it may be the reason why I have never had a true OBE and only an occasional lucid dream. I may try to wean myself off and see if anything happends. I'll keep you updated.
And by the way, since this topic has creeped into this post, it is absolutely true that the government (CIA) controls the drug trade not just in the US, but around the world. Why isn't the military destrying opium fields in Afganistan? 90% of the world's heroin come out of there. There is so much evidence out there to support this fact that it is overwhelming. That's how the CIA gets cash to do their covert operations that the US congress would never want to have on record as funding. Not only are people waking up to their spiritual nature that we talk about on this board, but they are waking up to the false reality created by governments and the illuminati types around the world. The two go hand in hand.  It's absolutly shocking to learn the truth. It's right there in front of you. Once you start connecting the dots, it all starts to make sense. And by it, I mean all of the BS in the world today.

[Fresco]

it is absolutely true that the government (CIA) controls the drug trade not just in the US, but around the world. Why isn't the military destrying opium fields in Afganistan? 90% of the world's heroin come out of there. There is so much evidence out there to support this fact that it is overwhelming. That's how the CIA gets cash to do their covert operations that the US congress would never want to have on record as funding

And they do it very intelligently, once in a while they make a big "bust" just to make it look good.  It hits the newstands and makes the DEA look like they're doing their jobs.   If people think thats just a stupid conspiracy story, they are being very naive

[Xanth]

And they do it very intelligently, once in a while they make a big "bust" just to make it look good.  It hits the newstands and makes the DEA look like they're doing their jobs.   If people think thats just a stupid conspiracy story, they are being very naive

See... the opposite can also be said.
If people think that it's real, then they're just huge conspiracy theorists.

The only fact here is that there are no facts.
Nobody can dispute that fact.  LoL

[personalreality]

There's intuition.

[kurtykurt42]

Xanth seems to be lacking in that department...

[Xanth]

Xanth seems to be lacking in that department...

Personal attacks now, Kurt?  :/

Dude... despite what you think, I don't hate you.  I'm not sure if you can wrap your head around that.
You've seriously gotta lose the ego buddy... it has no place on this forum.

[kurtykurt42]

It's not an attack it's an observation. I want you and everyone here to become better at astral projection, I really do. By pointing out the areas that we need to work on we can all improve our skills.

[Xanth]

I'd like to apologize to Personalreality for this temporary de-railing.
Hopefully this can get back to the topic at hand.