PERSONAL STORY: MY SON'S COMA, AND AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

ONE MOTHER'S STORY ABOUT AN ADVERSE REACTION TO DXM, POSSIBLY CAUSED BY AN ENZYME DEFICIENCY

by Kathy F. [[email protected]]

[Editor's Note: This story has been verified by both me and James Kent of Trip Magazine. It is included in this publication due to the mother's request and to inform people how dangerous DXM can be, especially when taken by someone who has a possible enzyme deficiency. Despite criticism for publishing negative experiences due to DXM, we feel it is important to be as informative as possible in both the positive and the negative aspects of DXM use.]

Introduction

In late September of 2002, James F., an 18-year-old Virginia man, was rushed to Inova Mount Vernon hospital following the ingestion of DXM and magnesium. It wasn't the combo that was particularly life-threatening; it was due to unknown circumstances - possibly the fact that James had an enzyme deficiency, which prevents DXM from being metabolized in the proper way. However, this hasn't been confirmed, partly due to the hospital not conducting the right tests. This isn't the first such case of a DXM-induced coma due to an enzyme deficiency; this 'zine had published a story about a man's girlfriend a few issues back which was also attributed to a deficiency. However, it is good to note that in both cases, the people involved recovered almost fully, with minimal damage.

According to Robert F. Golaszewski, who runs a harm-reduction site on DXM, 1 out of 14 Caucasians are poor 2D6 metabolizers. As with the case of James, he is now home and recovering quite nicely. The initial letter, written by his mother, follows.


A Mother's Plea

Its Saturday the 28th of September, 2002. My son, who turned 18 on the 24th had his birthday in the hospital, following an overdose of this wonderful, safe, legal drug DXM. Last Friday night he ingested this great drug, what a great high! and went into full blown seizure and stopped breathing right in my arms. I was in the next room as he did this drug, and wouldn't have known a thing until his girlfriend started screaming "James is having seizures!!!" and ran out of his room in hysterics. The first miracle was that she didn't have seizures too, or I wouldn't have been able to help him, mouth clamped shut, teeth jammed together, tongue blocking his throat, whole body stiff as a corpse. I screamed "call 911, call 911!" and pried his teeth open, grabbed his tongue and tried to breath for him, compressing his chest until the rescue squad arrived. Imagine seeing a 17-year-old, who isn't a dummy, dead on a stretcher on your sidewalk. He seized again in the ambulance and continued after the ER. It took 2 different drugs to stop it, incubated, blood pressure & pulse almost non existent, having to wait until the seizures stopped to wait for the CAT scan. I thought to myself "Will he be brain dead?? will I have to make the decision to terminate his life by taking him off life support??"

What the hell is DXM? The doctors had never seen a reaction to "cough syrup medicine like this in their collective careers. He was a learned men, baffled. The narcotics officer and police are less informed of this DXM than my son was; all this knowledge he obtained mainly came from a website! It's now 8 days

later, after he spent a day and a half in a coma, he is still in the hospital on constant infusion to continue flushing his system of this wonderful drug; CK levels, enzymes, are at 16000. The machine that measures these enzymes only goes to 16000. No one in the hospital who's treating him has ever seen anything like it. His liver has sustained damage, and we keep praying his kidneys won't give out. Imagine a lifetime of disability to dialysis, etc. and the frosting on the cake? You won't be a candidate for transplant because its SELF INDUCED. So anybody who wants to give a donation to keep this great site going might want to consider what exactly you are contributing to. 'Cause it ain't good. I'm his mom, and he is my youngest, and I almost had to bury him instead of continuing to worry. Im grateful God saved him, and his brain, and hope he can go back to skateboarding & school and his music and his life will be a long drug free one.


DXM Zine Exclusive Interview

Gravol: How did your son hear about DXM?

Kathy F.:I think my son heard about DXM from friends, then tried it, in Robitussin first, then started to look into it on the Internet. he told me to go to [censored] for the site he went to.

G.: Why did your son ingest magnesium with the DXM?

K.F.:He had researched it and was told that magnesium enhances the DXM, especially when mixed with grapefruit juice; he did a combination of about 1000 mg's of powder DXM and unknown amount of magnesium. As far as I could tell he hadn't touched the juice.

G.: What were the first indications that something was wrong?

K.F.: According to his girlfriend, just before the seizures he had an intense bout of itching all over, but I think especially in his joints; the inside of his left knee was raw from scratching it days later.

G.: When did the seizures start?

K.F.: The seizures started approximately 1 hour after ingestion. I was in the next room and his girlfriend, who also had done the stuff, but not as much, started screaming and ran from his room.

G.: What did they initially treat him for? Did the hospital know how to handle such an incident?

K.F.: It was written in his initial admittance chart as an overdose of DXM. Since there was panic & confusion as to what he actually consumed all they could do was treat it aggressively as a drug overdose, associated with Robitussin ingredients. I do not yet have a copy of his actual record, to be as specific as possible I need that.

G.: What was the diagnosis?

K.F.: He just had another blood work-up yesterday. There was muscle damage to the liver and all over generally due to the toxins and to the seizures. His leg, which had nerve damage, is much better now; the doctor didn't want to give him medicine due to the liver having to break it down.

G.: On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the worst, how would you rate the damage to his internal organs?

K.F.: On a scale of one to 10? I saw him do a ten right in his room in my arms. I did chest compressions and mouth to mouth until the EMT came in. He was a nine I'd say at the hospital - had almost no blood pressure or pulse on arrival, had seizures again in the ambulance and the hospital is 2 minutes from my house.

G.: What is his history with any medical conditions that may have played a role in his episode with seizures?

K.F.: He has had seasonal allergies and asthma. No adverse reactions to anything before.

G.: When did the police show up? How did they handle this incident?

K.F.: The police and narcotic officers came to the house after the 911 call because it was an overdose. I haven't talked to them after this incident although they did say they wanted to interview him and his friends.

G.: What role do you think the Internet has played in your son's adverse reaction?

K.F.: I do feel that places like [censored] on the Internet give a safe looking and attractive picture to this drug. The fact that the Internet is where my son got his research from is pretty indicative of the word out there being vast and available to anyone, no matter who they are or how smart they are. by answering you , and by people like you getting the word out that this kind of near death is possible I would hope some people will take a closer look at how dangerous this is.

G.: The Internet can also be good when it comes to accessing the proper information about a drug. If someone is that determined to take something, they should be able to get accurate information. However, I see what you mean by the Internet not necessarily being as accurate as medical texts. What steps are you doing, besides contacting us, to get the word out about the dangers of enzyme deficiency?

K.F.: I go into random chat rooms now and just drop in and ask if anyone knows about DXM... some people answer me, some don't... but I jump in and out and I'm just dropping the hints out there ...I've written Oprah....I will do what I can to spread the word on it.

G.: I realize how much this has cost you and your family emotionally. What about financially?

K.F.: Post the bill amount for 11 days in hospital, for an 80.00 bag of DXM, you could parlay that into a 35,000.00 bill!! and that's not including all the extra stuff they tack on. But what's important is that my son through some miracle lived through this, with his brain intact, and I haven't lost the most precious thing in my life, him. People ask me, what if he hadn't made it? I answer, I'd have gone with him.

G.: I can only empathize with how you feel. I do wish you and your family the best. I'm glad you contacted us to get the word out!

[Editor's Note: One final note; in the medical records, the hospital wrote that James was "heavily into drug culture and manufacturing" - this is something that his mother adamantly disputes, and she may take action against the individual who wrote such accusations. Also, The DXM Zine will soon be in possession of the medical records, and more information will be posted on this case in a subsequent issue.]





TWO THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN AND KINETICS OF CLOSED-EYE VISUALS

THEORY ONE - A LAYMAN'S LOOK INTO THE WORLD OF DXM CEV'S

by Mr. Boffo

I am trying to develop a rational approach to understanding my experiences, similar to the DXM plateaus. Rather than doing it just to get "fucked up" and summing it up as "Wow man, I was tripping balls!," I'd like to map out the path to better understand these experiences and perhaps apply them somehow. These experiences are not just visual, but also aural, and physical.

To me, the phrases "stoned" and "tripping" are almost useless. They really don't convey what is being experienced at all. So I've written this up to try and speak more clearly about my experiences.


The Visual Stuff that is Not Important

These are normal, everyday visual effects which I do not think are important. I am describing this so you know that this is NOT what I will be talking about next.



Spirals, Floating Patterns, Colors, and Kaleidoscope Visions

Now onto the important stuff. When people talk about seeing "spirals" or "motion trails" with LSD and DXM, I start wondering if perhaps what I can naturally experience is what these people are talking about. Maybe you don't need drugs to experience them, but it can be more difficult, may require more focus, and could take longer to occur. I used to experience this stuff quite frequently, especially in high school, even though I didn't use any drugs. Often this would occur after a day of intense thought in a math class. I'd go to bed, close my eyes, and see the detailed colored patterns floating about all across my field of view. Now as I've gotten older, it has diminished, until it seems to require a lot of effort to experience "on my own" (Stuff like nitrous oxide and marijuana seem to help these experiences"come back again", if only for a little while).

Go into a room with a bare wall, dim the lights, and look at the flat wall. You may notice that along with seeing the flat wall, you can also see this sort of "visual overlay", which is full of static, like tuning into a TV channel with no signal. This static is ever-changing, transparent, fairly neutral in its shading, and covers your entire field of view. If you are paying attention to the overlay, you can see it on just about anything that has a flat, even surface and is shaded or dark. If you stop thinking about it or look at a bright or complex object, the overlay seems to disappear. It seems that it is this overlay which is where the various patterns and colors can be seen, and the state of the overlay is dependant on my mental state. If I mentally relax, the static in the overlay changes to several other states:



It seems that if I enter deeper mental states (via nitrous oxide, so far.. DXM tests in progress), the patterns disappear, to be replaced by true 3D objects, then progressing to duplicating normal everyday objects, and eventually whole other realities. It also seems that by going deeper, the overlay becomes more and more "normal" and "real", until it becomes hard to tell which is really reality.. the overlay, or what is seen by the eyes. At the deepest levels, the overlay can take over, replacing "physical reality" completely.

Due to these effects, I have a theory that the "overlay" is where highly-developed spiritual people can see the aura of energy around people. (I feel that I tend to be "spiritually lacking" and I tend to have a very short attention span, both of which seem to count against the ability to focus the mind and "read" spiritual energies to do stuff like seeing auras.) By the way, this is not the same as visualization.. at least not for me. I am normally unable to "directly see" visualizations. I can "get a feel for" a visualization, or "see without really seeing" it. It is as though there are two methods of visual ability. One is via the eyes (where the overlay is present), and the other is via a "secondary system", which is not seen in a way which relates to normal vision. (The overlay is apparently not involved with this secondary visual system.) Only with the usage of mind-expanding chemicals can I reach a state where I can "directly see" visualizations with full details, and at that point I think I may be seeing these "direct visualizations" via the visual overlay. (More exploration is needed to clarify this.)


Motion Trails

When I get really tired and I have to be driving somewhere at night, bright objects like signs and road reflectors that zip by will have a sort of "stop motion" effect. As the object approaches the limits of my peripheral vision, it seems to change from smooth motion to several frames of images spaced a foot or more apart. As the object moves out of view, the "frontmost" image seems to zip off in the same direction of the moving object, erasing the other stop motion images in its path. Stop-motion effect on how a fast-moving object is seen:

The best understanding I have is that the mind normally runs fast enough that it blurs the sign in one continuous motion. As the sign approaches the side, it accelerates until it's too fast for my tired mind to blur smoothly.. so a staccato effect is seen and then the mind "catches" up by blurring the front most image in a very fast manner.


Listening to your Own Brainwaves

I have discovered that by paying careful attention to my hearing in a quiet room, I am able to hear my current mental state as a type of very quiet sound in my ears. As with the visual overlay, this is only apparent when the physical perceptions are idle (no loud noises or music), and my perception of it disappears when I stop thinking about it.I suppose some people might consider these sounds a form of tinitus, but the difference between this and tinitus is that I do not find it annoying, but rather a very intriguing way of monitoring my mental states. And it goes away if I don't think about it. There are several types of sound I hear, depending on my current mental state (someday I hope to get an EEG done, to "calibrate" against a known system of measurement):

 

Drug-Induced Sensory Changes

This is mostly related to my nitrous oxide explorations (I haven't explored much else, though I'm starting into DXM exploration). I found that if I moderated the amount of nitrous I used, I could "target" certain "levels of experience", so that what I was thinking about would directly affect my sensations of movement and location. For example, one time I was sitting cross legged on the floor, used some nitrous, and thought about "moving up in my spiritual abilities". While I was thinking about this interesting thought, I suddenly started to feel like I was sitting on a rising platform, moving upwards into the air, but after looking around a bit I realized I was still in the same place. (Afterwards, I realized there's two parts to "really" moving up... feeling it, and seeing it. I had the feeling but not the seeing. Would try to "remedy" this in the future.) I also explored the concept of visual changes, and at one time tried to visualize a complex 3D object (a sort of wire frame cube, but with thick faceted lines). I found that I could move around the object, and see it from inside and out, as though I had a little camera floating in space. (No feelings of movement here, though.) This progressed to seeing if I could coordinate these two experiences. I tried to again focus on moving up, as if riding an elevator. This time, I again felt myself moving up, and in addition my visual experience changed so that I seemed to be inside a circular building on an elevator. As I "moved up" I also saw the floor move away under my feet, and the walls moving downwards below me. Cool.


Chemical Exploration Notes

This is about where I am right now. Nitrous is interesting, but the experiences are very short-lived and not really worth the effort. Each of the above three only lasted for maybe 10-20 seconds at maximum, before reverting to "normal reality". Nitrous is a tough chemical to use, because it takes effect in seconds and is extremely powerful. Moderating the amount of chemical is very hard.. how can I measure how much I'm using? If I used too little, I could not get these sensory changes to occur, and if I used too much, I'd lose conscious control over the experience with me just "being along for the ride" until the nitrous wore off... 30-90 seconds later. So, I've had enough of this trouble of nitrous exploration. It's too hard to use in a rational, progressive manner. Time for DXM exploration, where I can control the amount of chemical extremely precisely. (Still working up slowly, exploring 2nd plateau right now.) I'd prefer to find some LSD and explore that, but locating it has been almost impossible so far.. sources tend to be very unreliable.

THEORY TWO - A MORE TECHNICAL AND CONCISE APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING CEV'S

by Lysdexia [[email protected]]

[Editor's Note: This individual is currently doing research on DXM CEV's at UUIC and we will keep you updated on his progress.]

Introduction

I find there are various categories of CEVs that can be manifested in DXM experiences, depending on dosage but, from my experience, usually more contingent on lighting and mental focus.

That is to say, there appears to be a qualitative difference in the types of visuals explored when approaching CEVs in a no-light condition versus a day-light condition (eyes still closed)...

First, let's explore the bright-light conditions. Upon closing one's eyes, there appears to be a grainy, almost beige-khaki background color that permeates the entire visual field... this field appears to flicker every so often in a strobe-effect, and yet maintains that same malleability that pertains to most DXM eidetic imagery, in that you can focus in at a part of the visual field arbitrarily and perform any number of transformations on this data.

This isn't so much as interesting as the low-light conditions, particularly in complete darkness. I have experienced the CEVs of "people" walking around... usually, these aren't so much "people" as they are primitives that behave in an animated, "gestured" (almost stylistic) way as would a person in the same environment. That is, given a more detailed and scrutinizing examination of the detail involved in the depictions of "people", it appears that they are indeed formed of primitives and/or amorphous geometric shapes, quite often unfilled and/or nonsensical, and yet always demonstrating a very lifelike quality that would never be confused for anything other than human gestures... This is very likely due to perceptual processes that detect animated sequences and basic gestures (such as one's ability to determine gender by looking at one's gait without other qualifying information), which are indeed likely either hard-coded at birth or emerge from the analysis period from infancy to early childhood in which the brain fills in the values for basic environmental stimuli. However, I encounter other forms of CEVs to the degree that often outweigh the moving-people CEV's. Again, there are often primitive-laden fields of geometric, amorphous solids...


Five Types of CEV's

I will qualify the types of visual phenomena based on qualitatively different genres of visuals...

Quite often, one will see a surprisingly lucid representation of human gestures, almost as if actually looking at another world (and not just a mental representation)... oftentimes, i will be in an encounter where one of these "people" reacts with surprisingly lucid behavior... for example, I may "drop" something on the floor, and see it crash and break, and the person with whom I am interacting will behave as if to react to this, such as perhaps moving backwards, or jumping away...

I have often wondered if this is indeed a visual landscape that is, in a sense, "real" (outside myself and my mental abilities)..... when pressing the issue, I am able to manipulate the gesticulations and behaviors of the entities, to the degree where I am under the conclusion that these are simply free-floating representations of fantasies or alternate realities within my own mind, perhaps prefrontal scratch-pad realities which are played out in parallel as emergent phenomena of the prefrontal cortex's relationship with the limbic system... this scratchpad is always playing in the background, representing whatever may, and when called upon will thereupon react accordingly and manipulate whatever data need be processed to satisfy the limbic system's necessity for resolution...

In addition, this particular frame of visual phenomena is by no means limited to "people".... I often look at inanimate objects, such as luggage or boxes or shelves or rooms or walls... surprisingly, I have been able to "interact" with these visual creatures in much the same way as a conscious entity, which leads me to believe that the semantic encoding for objecthood is independent from those for animacy and gestures... that is, there appears to be a very low-level bias for inferring animacy and life-like-ness onto objects in the visual landscape, whether indeed they are alive or not, and quite often I will perceive a wall or a rock or other inanimate object within these CEVs that displays the same range of "emotion" and gestural ability as any one of the "people" within this same landscape.

This type of CEV domain is entirely different from the previous one, and yet is approachable from within that same environment (that is, one need not alter dosage or change lighting)... indeed, it appears to be simply an act of mental "focus", wherein one alters one's ability to see to a different plane, much as one would alter one's visual understanding when looking at a 3d- stereogram.

This landscape appears to be a computer-like raster-scan field, often flickering in a sort of strobed effect. There appears to be a very definitive refresh rate to this field, and quite often, one can see eidetic imagery forming before one's very conscious experience, as if the imagery is taxing one's mental faculties.

This domain appears to be the most eidetic, in that any shape or form, however complex, can be drawn within this domain of thought... I have played with these abilities to many degrees, quite often blown away by the degree to which the mind can render objects, with such lucidity to make any SGI graphics station suffer in comparison.

For example, i will be looking at a wall... I will then "project" a particular bitmap upon that wall, such as a particular picture or shape.. I will then "move" this bitmap across the wall... when I get to a corner or recessed part of the wall, the bitmap will move and transform appropriately, as if actually projected upon the wall in the real world. the transformation would require enormous computational power, but is done in real-time with seemingly no problem.

Then, I will perhaps add a certain luminance to this wall, or give some relief to the bitmap and allow the pixel-values some depth... all the manipulations occur in real-time and can be manipulated and kept in tact, regardless of how much I push the system. However, there are occasions whereupon I can tax this rendering system... I will have to go back and go through specific examples (as I can't remember any right now).

This domain is one of strong 2-dimensional representations, almost in a sort of anime-style way of rendering. Quite often, this type of rendering can be overlaid or superimposed upon another domain of representation. This leads me to believe that the rendering system allows for different types of representations and is not simply isolated to any one particular mode. . I have often been able to superimpose a 2-dimensional lucid anime-style image over-top the "CEV moving people" landscapes"

I have always been able to implement a sort of freeze-frame stoppage to any particular domain of animation. given enough mental acuity, I can completely halt any imagery, regardless of which domain it is in and what is going on in that particular domain... this is quite effective when trying to determine the veridity of the landscapes that I am seeing (that is, am I looking at a "real" alien landscape, or just mental constructs of my own making, however alien they may be to my sense of judgment and reality). This allows me to fast-forward or rewind certain visual landscapes, and definitely gives me more control over the visual phenomena.

There are various other domains of visual thought, and I find that I can reach more and more as I gain more experience with DXM.. this is one aspect of the DXM 3rd-plateau experience that never seems to bore me, in that I am somehow always able to reach these visual domains and quite often am surprised by what I see... this may be because I refuse to abuse the dxm experience (quite often only doing it once or twice a month at most, and often going several months without doing it). This allows a certain refresh ability and gives a certain clarity that may be missing from those who do it every few days or even once a week.


Conclusion

I will look for more records of further experiences, but I must say that there is a wide variety of CEV domains that, while difficult to express in words, seem to be recurring and inherent to the DXM experience, and whether this is simply a conclusion based on my own experienced, I hope that by documenting these particular domains that perhaps this may serve as a more holistic map of the possible imagery domains that may be reached by this and other psychedelic substances (and perhaps illuminate whereupon these domains touch in regards to maps in human consciousness and understanding).


Tips for Increasing Occurrence of CEVs

If you want to maximize the occurrence of CEVs during your trips, try the following - every one of these methods have been proven to work in individual cases, however your mileage may vary.





THE FIRST DXM NOVEL - CHAPTER TWO

THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF --- Edited Out By Authors Request -----'S NOVEL ABOUT DXM USE

by --- Edited Out By Authors Request ----- [[email protected]]


Mike's Place

Mike lived in a small apartment that was next to a huge cathedral. Mike cleaned the cathedral in turn for free room and board. Mike had a small frame and was slightly deformed. A group of skinheads had crushed his face with their boots because they thought he was queer. No one ever asked Mike if he was queer and no one cared. Mike had good drugs and that's all that mattered. David pounded on Mike's door. Mike looked out of the frozen window, his eyes red and half open.

"Can we come in Mike?" David pleaded.

Mike slowly opened the door, asking "What are you guys doing, it's late?" I shuttered "we are freezing our ass's off; can we come in?" Mike opened the door completely and gestured for us to come in, "you guys can crash on the floor." Mike grabbed some blankets from his closet, "here you go just make a bed." Mike's apartment was old and smelled like patchouli, pot and cat urine. Mike had nine stray cats that took up with him. Some would stay outside but most lived in the small apartment.

I woke to the sound of Jane's Addiction playing on the stereo. Mike and David were sitting Indian style on the floor smoking hash from a ceramic bong.

"Do you want a hit?" Mike passed me the bong and a lighter. I sat up and pressed the bong against my lips and lit the bowl. Thick spicy smoke entered my lungs the warm smoke absorbed into my lungs tissue. A yellow smoke seeped out of my nostrils and mouth. I laid back on the floor and rubbed my eyes. David spoke very slowly.

"What is this shit? This is like some Jimi Hendrix shit, man." Mike laughed and told David his brother had brought it back from Morocco.

"Damn Mike this is some good shit." Mike laughed and blew smoke a crossed the room. Mike passed me the bong and I took a gigantic hit and blacked out. Several minute passed and I awoke feeling like I was sitting a crossed the room.

"David?" David looked at me with red eyes, "Am I here or am I across the room?" David moved closer to me. "Willy, just listen to the music you are fine." A liquid pool of motion and color passed before my eyes.

"Are my eyes opened or closed Dave?" Mike handed me a cold can of beer. I was only 9:00 AM and I was fucked up again. Mike blew a huge yellow puff of smoke in my face.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Mike shouted "Hold on! I'm coming!" A blast of cool air hit my face and I sat up slowly. I could see several figures covered with snow in the doorway. Two of the figures pushed past Mike and one stood in the doorway - it was Drew and Amy. I couldn't make out the third figure in the doorway. Drew turned around "come in Kris these guys don't bite." I put my beer down and climbed on to the couch. Mike looked very excited "shut the door!" Mike yelled at Kristie. "Did you guys score? Where is my shit?" Drew dropped several balls of foil on the coffee table. Mike grabbed one of the balls of foil and opened it up. David looked closely at the foil. "Mushrooms?

Drew sat on the ground and lit a smoke and handed me one. The other girls relaxed and sat on the floor. I couldn't take my eyes off of Kris she didn't look like the typical street urchin. Her hands and clothes where clean. A sleek blood red a bob rested on her delicate shoulders. Flakes of snow melted against her porcelain skin. Magnificent brown eyes glistened behind long black lashes.

"Kris these are my friends Mike, David and William." She smiled and nodded. Mike unwrapped one of the foil balls and ate the contents. Mike gathered the remaining balls and brought them back to his bedroom. Drew grabbed the bong and a piece of yellow hash from the baggy on the table and began to smoke.

David blurted out, "Show them the shit you found last night." I looked at David and whispered, "Shut up David." Amy and Mike looked at me.

Mike said, "Are you holding out William?"

"No. It's nothing." I assured them. David tried to grab the leather case from my jacket.

"Stop!" I said firmly and jerked away. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have cared but I didn't want Kris to think I was a junky. Drew moved closer to me.

"What do you have William?" Reluctantly I pulled the leather case from my jacket and unzipped it revealing what was inside. Drew's eyes grew wide with delight.

"Where did you get that?" David replied for me, "We found it on a dead junky downtown."

Drew asked, "Do you have any H?"

I pulled the baggy from my pocket. Mike gasped, "You pulled this off a dead junky?"

"Yes," I replied.

Mike looked concerned, and asked, "Have you tried it?"

David replied, "We slammed some last night." Drew grabbed the baggy from my hand.

"I want a fix." Amy stood up and closed David's curtains "Is there enough for me William?" I grabbed the bag from Drew.

"You don't want this shit... it will make you sick!" Drew giggled, "Oh come on, please," she begged. David grabbed the baggy, saying "fix her up Willy." I grabbed Drew's arm, "Okay honey take, your jacket off and roll up your sleeve." Drew ripped her jacket off.

I walked into Mike's kitchen and grabbed bleach and a glass and sat down in the front room. "I need to bleach this hypo and needle then I will cook you up a shoot." David tied the surgical tubing around Drew's bicep and told her to pump her fist. Drew grabbed the back of David's hair and gave him a wet kiss. After I fixed Drew up Amy and Mike were next. They had never slammed junk before so I gave them half the amount I took the night before. David was able to maintain himself through the rush both Drew and Amy where on the nod. David was next in line. I told David I would fix him the bathroom in case he got sick. Chris followed us into the bathroom and asked to go next. I can do this do her she is too delicate. After David took his shot she asked me for a shot. Her hand caressing my face, gently speaking "William it's ok, I will be okay." I began to speak and she placed her fingers on my mouth.

Small bubbles of junk boiled and popped in the spoon Kris anticipated the rush. I tried her arm off and tapped for a vein. Small green veins shown through white skin.

"Don't hurt me William," I popped her skin and into a vein. Blood filled the dropper as I carefully pushed the plunger. Kris loosened the tubing and closed her eyes and exhaled her warm body melted onto the bathroom floor. I pulled the hypo from her arm crimson blood flowed from her punctured vein and ran down her arm. I open the medicine cabinet and found a box of dusty bandages and covered her wound. I cradled Kris in my arms and carried her to Mike's sofa. Drew pulled her self from the ground and mumbled, "Will I am really fucked up, is Kris ok?" I grabbed Drew's hand and told her Kris was ok. The next shot was mine.

Several hours pasted and we where no longer high, so Mike suggested we all take another shot and go for a walk. Kris held my arm as the rest of the crew followed our lead. A cold breeze blew through my hair as we stepped into the cold surreal world of crystallized skeleton trees and snow-covered brownstones. We walked behind the Cathedral next to Mike's apartment - it was giant, cold and covered with lifeless ivy. Amy gasped.

An abandoned baby stroller stood motionless, it's wheels frozen to the sidewalk. Amy gasped again and suddenly a slap of reality hit us.

Drew peered at Amy, "You don't think there is something in the stroller?"

Carefully I walked toward the stroller. "Oh shit!" I jumped back and fell on the frozen ground. David approached the stroller "It's a baby, a fucking dead baby!"

Tears of distress streamed down Kris's face. Mike screamed, "Leave it alone! Don't touch it!" as he walked towards the stroller. Mike peered into the stroller and removed the blankets and lifted the infant from the bedding and hurled it towards me, angrily chastising us.

"It's a doll, you assholes, a fucking doll, people do this shit all the time." Mike kicked the stroller down the street. My heart was pounding as walked further from the Cathedral.

© 2003 --- Edited Out By Authors Request -----.




SMOKING DXM - A MYTH OR REALITY?

SEVERAL POINTS OF VIEW ON ONE ISSUE - CAN DXM BE SUCCESSFULLY SMOKED, AND IF SO, IS IT WORTH IT?

Exclusive by gravol, with contributions from Boris Gjenero [[email protected]], Reach The Sky [[email protected]], and Ryan [[email protected]]

Many people have wondered over the ages - Is it possible to smoke DXM? And if so, what are the effects? Is it really worth it? By the time you are finished reading this article, you should be able to decide for yourself whether to embark on a smoke-filled journey of chalky powder or to stick with oral consumption.

One user, Boris, has successfully vaporized DXM. "I've never smoked DXM but I have vaporized it. The difference is that the flame doesn't touch the powder, it just heats whatever the powder is on. I was using DXM HBr powder that had been in psychedelic booze (vodka solution). I evaporated the vodka and then vaporized the powder using one of two methods. One was with a jar that contains the smoke. I cleaned off the paint from the inside of a jar lid, punched a hole in it, put a hose through the hole, put some DXM powder on the cleaned out area with the lid upside down, loosely put the jar on top of it, and then heated the lid from below/outside with a lighter. When a bunch of visible vapor gathered in the jar I inhaled it through the hose. The other method used a small aluminum pie tin and a straw. You could also use aluminum foil. Just put the DXM on top, heat from below, and suck vapor through the straw or whatever other similar thing you can get.

I guess a crack pipe would be ideal. Maybe try it a few times with foil and if you like that then get a crack pipe. They're quite cheap and I don't think that aluminum is a good idea. A crack pipe has a thin glass globe with a relatively small hole on top and a tube sticking out of it horizontally. You put the material in through the hole, heat from below (not above as if you're smoking MJ) and then when it starts vaporizing inhale through the tube.

The high is more purely mind-bending at first and not very dissociative (I guess DXM only). It then turns into a purely dissociative high (I guess DXO only). It's a lot shorter lasting than when you eat DXM. The dosage is quite low. I can feel 30 mg or so quite well.

Another user, Reach The Sky, claims to have smoked DXM on two occasions: "I did smoke DXM on 2 different occasions; I made the description of the first one below, the second method involved small pot balls made for hot knifing...I had a baggy with pure DXM in it, dropped the goodness in it, shook the stuff for a while, the hot-knived them. It should be noted that I used a blowtorch, stoves don't get as hot as needed. It was surely a weird buzz, enjoyed it a lot less than oral DXM, short-lived too.

"I've been able to smoke regular DXM hbr, just used a toilet paper cylinder screwed a hole in it and place the joint there, (pot smokes knows what I'm talking about) we placed a gram of bud plus .3 g of DXM, we lighted the joint with a propane torch, so it really damn burned, had problems burning the DXM, but with enough patience and stubbornness you can make it all burn and inhale through the toilet paper tube. The smoke didn't taste bad, but hell, the room smelled like burning plastic. I was already stoned on oral DXM (.4 g) and this thing really made the trip very powerful for 30 minutes, then came back to normal."

And yet another user, Ryan, laced a joint with DXM powder: "I have done DXM a lot, like way over 100 times at high doses and after a while I wasn't throwing up at all when I took it but one day we decided to lace a 2.5 gram blunt of hydro with 150 mg of DXM and after the blunt I felt extremely sick and threw up for a good hour and if you know how throwing up on DXM is then you know it wasn't a pleasant experience to say the least! I hate those horrid thoughts that race through your head at 100 mph when you are throwing up on DXM.

According to the Green Party Drugs Group, DXM emits a small amount of smoke when heated, then turns the reagent black after 5-10 seconds. This is used to differentiate between DXM and MDMA tablets. As far as the effects of smoking DXM, I think you can clearly see what you're dealing with.





A COMPLETE LISTING OF 24 DXM-RELATED DEATHS

CONFIRMED DXM-RELATED DEATHS DATING BACK TO 1970, A LIST INDEPENDENTLY COMPILED BY THE DXM ZINE, verson 1.6

compiled by gravol

Following is a list of all confirmed DXM deaths. Most of these deaths are not attributed solely to DXM, but DXM was involved in one way or another. Several of these are suicides; one is a negligent homicide that probably would not have occurred if the individual's friends would have known the proper first aid procedures. There are several drug interaction cases as well. Unfortunately, the true intent of the user cannot be discerned in most of these cases - whether it be recreational or medicinal use, we have listed their deaths as accidental, because that is most likely what would have appeared on the death certificate.

Confirmed Deaths, v. 1.6

The main difference in this one is I listed "recreational intent" in the cases where it is known that they were taking recreational doses in combination with other intoxicants or had a history of abuse. The ones which involved a large dose but is unclear whether their intention was recreational has been listed as "more-than-recommended dose."

Finally, the matter of the causes of death themselves - whether it be suicide/homicide/ or accidental, I have classified all recreational doses and more-than-prescribed doses under the accidental category because they did not set out to purposely end their lives.

Copyright 2002 All Versions - The DXM Zine/Erowid

1. Canada, 26-year-old female, 1970, from 2 oz's of syrup and 30 mg phenelzine. Rivers and Horner, 1970. [accidental death involving a more-than-recommended dose]

2-3. Sweden, 1988, one death ruled suicide; other death accidental, from tablets; both unrelated. Rammer et al 1988. [first one suicide; second accidental, involving more-than-recommended dose]

4. France, 22-year-old female, 1992; interaction with terfenadine. DXM blood concentration level 5.09 mg/L. Kintz and Mangin 1992. [accidental death involving more-than-recommended dose]

5. US, infant, 1993, from syrup. Blood concentration level .61 mg/L. NameNews Sept. 93. [accidental death involving non-recreational dose]

6-14. Korea, 1993, interaction with zipeprol. Blood concentration levels avg 18.3 mcg/mL. Yoo et al 1993. [all accidental, involving recreational intent]

15. State of Minnesota, 1998, 20-year-old female (Summer Rose Pray) from powder. Independent Media Institute 1999. [suicide, with known history of recreational abuse]

16. State of Nevada, 1999, 18-year-old male, from powder. R. F. Golaszewski 1999. [accidental death involving recreational intent]

17. State of Washington, 2000, 13-year-old male (Adam Dorris) from Coricidin. The Columbian, Dec. 8. [accidental death involving recreational intent]

18-20. State of Washington, 2001, 3 deaths, all unrelated. Epidemiologic Trends in Drug Abuse Advance Report, 2001. [all accidental, involving recreational intent]

21. State of Washington, 2001, 18-year-old male (Joshua Davis) from Coricidin and marijuana. The Bellingham Herald, October 12. [accidental death involving recreational intent - ruled a homicide because of asphixiation]

22. State of Michigan, 2002, 17-year-old male (Matthew Davis) from Coricidin (240 mg) and cocaine, marijuana, heroin, alcohol. Source Newspapers 2002. [accidental death involving recreational intent]

23-24.. State of Ohio, 2002, 17-year-old male and teenage girl, from Coricidin and morphine; both unrelated. http://nbc4columbus.com. [both accidental deaths involving recreational intent]



DXM FACT SHEET - A SYNOPSIS OF DXM

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AS "A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF DXM AS A DISSOCIATIVE AND A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PROPERTIES AND CLASSIFICATIONS OF DXM"

by gravol (molecule courtesy of Erowid.org)


Introduction

Notice the similar structural formulas for PCP, ketamine, and DXM. All three drugs each have one benzene ring and in the case of PCP and DXM both have one carbon ring. DXM's structure is also very similar to that of levorphanol, with the only difference being an extra methyl group instead of an HO (perhaps levorphanol in high doses also exerts a dissociative effect?).


Properties

Dextromethorphan, which is (+)-3-methoxy-17-methyl-9a,13a,14a-morphinan, is the methyl ether of the dextrorotatory isomer of levorphanol, which latter is a narcotic analgesic and from which DXM can be synthesized by methylation of the phenolic hydroxyl group (U.S. Patent 2,676,177, issued in 1954).

The name dextromethorphan is broken down by prefixes and suffixes. Dextro- means of the right, meaning the right isomer of levorphanol, and -meth refers to of the methyl group, since DXM has an extra methyl group that levorphanol doesn't. The last part of the name actually refers to the drug methorphan, which is a methyl analogue of racemorphan, as codeine is of morphine. DXM is the right isomer of levorphanol as levomethorphan (LVM) is the left isomer, and may also have dissociative properties, but unfortunately this chemical has long since been banned


History

Dextromethorphan HBr was first prepared by Grussmer Schnider while working for Hoffmann-LaRoche. Being an opiate it is considered a controlled substance listed in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21 Part 1308.12 (1987); however for over 40 years it has remained a unique psychedelic and one of the single best legal ones available. In fact, according to the American Journal of Medical Science (227, 291; 1954) it is of equal antitussive effectiveness as codeine.

As recently as 1971, the drug was still under close scrutiny by the Council on Drugs of the American Medical Association, which stated that final assessment of its antitussive efficacy and relative potency must await results of objective clinical trials.

The brand names for DXM when it first appeared in the 1950s were Methorate (Roerig) and Romilar (Sauter).


DXM as a Narcotic Antitussive Analgesic?

To many people, DXM is many things. According to Henry Hitner, Ph.D., who is the Vice Chairman of the Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Barbara Nagle, Ph.D., who is the Director of Program Planning and the Medical and Pharmacy Education Director of III Associates in Bryn Mawr, PA, and according to the Glencoe Basic Pharmacology Textbook (4th ed., 1999), DXM is a Narcotic Antitussive.

The book states (pp. 220-222, 223) that "Certain narcotic analgesics (codeine and dextromethorphan) are antitussive (suppress coughing). In general, the antitussive analgesics are much less potent analgesics than morphine and possess a lower addiction liability. Therefore, codeine and dextromethorphan are considered relatively safe and are frequently found in over-the-counter remedies."

It should be interesting to note that the majority of doctors and the companies that manufacture DXM do not promote the drug as a narcotic; however, the above doctors and most pharmacology textbooks show DXM as a "narcotic antitussive analgesic."


DXM as a Psychedelic?

There is even less medical information available regarding DXM as a psychedelic. The term "psychedelic" first appeared in 1956, and is in close conjunction with a hallucinogenic drug. In fact, the term psychedelic is not used in medicine, but is instead referred to as hallucinogenic/psychotomimetic.

There is much debate whether DXM is a true psychedelic, as is LSD. However, most anyone who has taken DXM in large-enough dosages agrees that the drug is not only a hallucinogenic but a psychedelic as well.

The characteristics of a psychedelic drug is simply a drug that causes A) sensory distortions, B) pseudohallucinations, C) perceptual distortions, and possible D) dissociation. The only category DXM does not fit under that is common of most hallucinogenic drugs is that it is not a CNS stimulant. However, under the common defintion of a psychedelic, it is not stated that for a drug to be a psychedelic it must stimulate the central nervous system.

As for the other characteristics of psychedelics, DXM does cause sensory distortions (merging or floating into the back of a chair), pseudohallucinations (closed-eye visuals), perceptual distortions (the slowing down of time) and dissociation (feelings of separation of part of the body, or loss of a part of the body, or failure to recognize a part as one's own body). In fact, most people who use DXM on a regular basis do classify it as a psychedelic. Just because DXM doesn't neatly fit into any certain category (LSD-like, tryptamines, and phenethylamines) of psychedelics doesn't mean that it is not a psychedelic. In fact, DXM doesn't neatly fit into any category of any drug. Its actions are five times the complexity of marijuana.


DXM as a Dissociative

DXM is most commonly known as a dissociative. As stated before, it has a similar structure to that of PCP, and has even been referred to as "Poor man's PCP."

And like the characteristic of most dissociatives, DXM is being used in post-operative surgery as a general anesthetic.

DXM exerts its dissociative action by binding to the NMDA receptor site and plugging it up, just like PCP and ketamine does. It is known that ketamine inhibits NMDA receptors by two mechanisms by a blockade of the open channel by occupying a site within the channel in the receptor protein, and a reduction in the frequency of NMDA channel opening by drug binding to a second attachment site on the outside of the receptor protein. Those are the exact same effects that DXM produces, and PCP probably also shares this duality of action.

The NMDA blockade has to do with most of DXM's intoxicating and dissociative effects.


DXM and its Relationship with PCP

Phencyclidine (PCP) was investigated for use as a general anesthetic in humans. It was developed in 1956 as a potent analgesic-amnestic-anesthetic agent. It was briefly used as an anesthetic in humans before being abandoned because of a high incidence of bizarre and serious psychiatric reactions. However, because of a high incidence of emergence delirium, it was dropped from further consideration for this purpose. It is still used in veterinary practice to immobilize primates. Like DXM, because of its psychotomimetic effects, the drug has gained wide popularity as a drug of abuse.

Also like DXM, the pharmacology of PCP is complex. Phencyclidine and dextromethorphan produce multiple pharmacological actions, including CNS depression, peripheral autonomic effects, analgesia, and anticonvulsant activity. The only difference between the two is that PCP may also produce CNS stimulation as well as depression.

Phencyclidine interacts with several neurotransmitters, and these interactions are known to account for many of the actions of PCP.

Much like DXM, the effects of PCP vary significantly with increasing dosage. At low doses, there are CNS stimulation, euphoria, and sympathetic stimulation similar to the effects produced by amphetamines. With increasing dosage, thought processes become disoriented and speech is slurred. This is followed by paresthesia, slowed reflexes, and ataxia. Disorders of body image are common, with both elongation and shrinkage of extremities. This state may last 4 to 6 hours, after which a depressive state occurs, along with a paranoid behavior pattern. It may take several days before the affected individual returns to normal.

DXM may also cause a false positive for PCP, which is quite common, and because of this, a positive assay requires secondary confirmation. One case involved a blood test showing a possitive assay for PCP after ingestion of dextromethorphan powder.

As you can see, the effects of PCP and DXM are different from another. However, in a general sense, DXM is similar to PCP. More similar than DXM is to most drugs, including other narcotic analgesics. The dissociative effects are actually a lot closer to those of ketamine.


DXM and its Relationship with Ketamine

Ketamine was first synthesized in 1964 in Belgium (see Patent 634,208). According to the United States Dispensatory (27th ed., 1973), "Ketamine hydrochloride is a rapid-acting general anesthetic that produces a dissociative state of the central nervous system in which amnesia and profound analgesia are induced although the patient does not appear to be asleep." This is very similar to the effects of DXM in high dosages.

"The compound is neither a barbiturate nor a narcotic, and its action is quite different from that of conventional anesthetics." The only main difference between DXM and ketamine is that ketamine is short-acting and DXM is long-acting.

The psychological effects of ketamine include pleasant dream-like states, vivid imagery, hallucinations, along with possible confusion, excitement, and irrational behavior. This state is very similar to the dissociative action of DXM.

Ketamine is still occasionally used in humans to provide anesthesia in patients who cannot tolerate the cardiovascular depressant effects of other anesthetics, and DXM is likewise being used in high dosages for post-operative surgery.


DXM as an Antidepressant?

William White states that "The music euphoria and motion euphoria are probably partly due to PCP2 activity, and partly due to other activity. As NMDA blockade and sigma activity can both lead to dopaminergic activity, reuptake inhibition would potentiate these effects.

"Interestingly, DXM seems to be much more potent at this site than other sigma/NMDA ligands (such as PCP or ketamine) in comparison to activity at other sites. Also interestingly, at least one tricyclic antidepressant has been found to be active at related receptors (sigma, PCP); it is possible that the PCP2 site may be a target of some antidepressants."

This makes the case for some that DXM also has antidepressant action, but not by the reuptake of serotonin, in the traditional sense.


Metabolism of DXM and Grapefruit Juice; 5-HTP

DXM enters the bloodstream through the GI tract within 30 minutes. It is ultimately metabolized to 3-hydroxymorphinan (3HM). DXM is converted to dextrorphan (DXO) by a liver enzyme called cytochrome P450-2D6 (debrisoquine 4-hydroxylase). This is the same enzyme that metabolizes caffeine and other drugs. One thing William White failed to note, is that by ingesting grapefruit juice (GFJ), which contains naringin, it greatly alters and prolongs the metabolization of DXM, and may lead to a more euphoric effect.

The following foods are known to interact with cytochrome P450 isoenzyme: grapefruit; broccoli; cabbage;

other cruciferous vegetables; spinach; leeks; onions; garlic; parsley; fried and charcoal broiled foods; smoked fish or meat; ham; and sausage.

There is also much debate over the use of 5-HTP to increase the euphoric effects of DXM, by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain; however, the safety of this combination has not been effectively reviewed.


Conclusion

DXM is very similar in both properties and effects to other dissociatives, like PCP and ketamine. One sidenote is that there are many more dissociatives, which are inhaled. Nitrous oxide (N2O), for instance, is a powerful anesthetic and dissociative. The combination of N2O and DXM can be quite a euphoric experience. However, DXM is most similar to PCP and ketamine in both effects and its action on NDMA receptor sites.

DXM stands alone in that it is both legal (though regulated by the federal government) and hallucinogenic. The most common trait of DXM is its dissociative action, and thus should be classified as a dissociative at higher dosages, and as an antitussive in lower dosages.

References

Henry Hitner; Barbara T. Nagle. Basic Pharmacology; Glencoe Allied Health Series (1994): 183-184; 213; 224-225 - 4th ed.

Robert M. Julien. A Primer of Drug Action: A Concise, Nontechnical Guide to the Actions, Uses, and Side Effects of Psychoactive Drugs (1997): 370-374; 358-365 - 8th ed.

Arthur I. Osol; Robertson Pratt. United States Dispensatory. (1973): 88; 406 - 27th ed.



DXM IN SCIENCE

A SCIENTIFIC LOOK AT THE MANY USES OF DEXTROMETHORPHAN IN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY

compiled by gravol, rfgdxm [[email protected]]

The following reports highlight the many uses that DXM has in the medical community. It is far from being banned in this country due to its many uses in everything from aiding people with CNS disorders to testing for certain types of cancer. This is a new monthly section that is devoted entirely to the scientific aspects of DXM. For further information on these articles, you can find them at PubMed online.


Treatment of Cough with DXM Hbr (Romilar) in Cases of Tuberculosis (1955).

Kummer, A.: Praktische Erfahrungen mit einem neuen Hustenmittel Romilar Roche. (Practical experience with a new cough medicine Romilar Roche). Praxis,1955, 44: 6,p. 132. http://www.undcp.org/odccp/bulletin/ bulletin_1956-01-01_1_page009.html

Robert F. Golazsweski: "Note not only were they testing DXM HBr for cough caused by TB, they specifically mention the brand Romilar. I can only conclude Romilar with DXM was being sold in 1955. Because codeine already was known to have recreational potential, I have to figure that as soon as Romilar was marketed people tried high doses to see if it also had potential.


Drugs of Abuse in the Future (1975).

Alexander T. Shulgin, Clin. Toxicol. 8(4), 405-456 (1975) http://www.rhodium.ws/chemistry/shulgin. futuredrugs.html

"Past examples abound of this transition from "harmless" to "abuse" status. A single illustration may be presented in the case of the substance dextromethorphan, an effective antitussive mentioned earlier in the section on opiates. This drug was widely available in tablet form under the trade name of Romilar some 15 years ago. Although the nominal dosage needed for effective cough suppression is 10 to 20 mg, it was found that 10 to 20 times this dosage produced a severe state of intoxication that resembled several of the atropine-like parasympathomimetics. There was an abrupt upswing of sales and abuse, and the chemical was withdrawn from the OTC market. Recently however, it has reappeared under a host of new names but only in a mixture with such quantities of excipient syrups that intentional overdosages would require Herculean devotion. Nonetheless, there was a recent broadcast mailing to "Householder" of free trial samples of "Vicks44" diluted with some appealing flavoring, and it is possible that this cycle may yet be repeated."


A Possible Trend Suggesting Increased Abuse from Coricidin Exposures Reported to the Texas Poison Control Network: Comparing 1998 to 1999.

Baker SD, Borys DJ. Texas Poison Center Network, Scott & White Clinic and Memorial Hospital, Scott, Sherwood and Brindley Foundation, Texas A&M University System Health Science Center College of Medicine, Temple 76508, USA. PMID: 12046973

Coricidin products seemed to be one of the over-the-counter medications being reportedly abused by adolescents, as observed from the Texas Poison Center Network data. This retrospective chart review investigated the occurrence of abuse, developed a patient profile, and defined the clinical effects resulting from the abuse of Coricidin products. Data collected from the Texas Poison Center Network Toxic Exposure Surveillance System database included human exposures between 1998 and 1999, patients > or = 10y old, intentional use or abuse, and single substance ingestion of I of the tablet formulations of Coricidin. Thirty-three cases from 1998 and 59 cases from 1999 were reviewed. Of these cases, 85% met the inclusion criteria. Of the 7 medications searched, only 4 substances were coded for: Coricidin D, Coricidin D (long acting), Coricidin D (cold, flu & sinus) and Coriciding HBP. These contain a combination of dextromethorphan hydrobromide, chlorpheniramine maleate, phenylpropanolamine hydrochloride, and acetaminophen. Of the 78 cases, 63% were male and 38% were female. The mean age was 14.67 years, 77% being between 13 to 17 years old. Eighteen different symptoms were reported: tachycardia 50%, somnolence 24.4%, mydriasis and hypertension 16.7%, agitation 12.8%, disorientation 10.3%, slurred speech 9%, ataxia 6.4%, vomiting 5.1%, dry mouth and hallucinations 3.9%, tremor 2.6%, and headache, dizziness, syncope, seizure, chest pain, and nystagmus each 1.3%; 12.8% of the calls originated from the school nurse. The incidence of abuse reported increased 60% from 1998 to 1999. This worrisome trend suggests increased abuse of these products.


DXM: An Overview of Safety Issues.

Bem JL, Peck R. Pharma Division, F. Hoffmann-LaRoche Ltd, Basel, Switzerland. PMID: 1503667

Dextromethorphan is a highly effective and widely used nonopioid antitussive drug. As it has been in use for more than 30 years, a large body of clinical experience has been used to formulate a safety profile. An anthology of adverse drug events has been analysed, drawn both from published case records and a data base recording dextromethorphan-related adverse events spontaneously reported by physicians or pharmacists. The resulting safety profile indicates that adverse drug reactions are infrequent and usually not severe. The predominant symptoms are usually dose related and include neurological, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disturbances. Particular safety concerns arise when monoamine oxidase inhibiting (MAOI) drugs and dextromethorphan are coadministered. In addition to adverse drug reactions, the safety profile of dextromethorphan is affected by episodic and sporadic abuse. In fact, abuse appeared to be the most significant hazard identified by analysis of spontaneous adverse event reporting. No evidence could be found that the well documented pharmacokinetic polymorphism observed with dextromethorphan is correlated with any clinically significant safety risk if it is used for short term treatment. In summary, the safety profile of dextromethorphan is reassuring, particularly relating to overdose in adults and children.


DXM- and Pseudoephedrine-Induced Agitated Psychosis and Ataxia: Case Report.

Roberge RJ, Hirani KH, Rowland PL 3rd, Berkeley R, Krenzelok EP. Department of Emergency Medicine, Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh 15224, USA. PMID: 10195488

Pseudoephedrine and dextromethorphan are therapeutic constituents of numerous commonly used, over-the-counter cough and cold preparations. Although this drug combination is generally considered quite safe if utilized in recommended doses, overmedication or overdose can result in serious neurologic and cardiovascular abnormalities that occasionally can be life-threatening. We present a case of a 2-year-old child who developed hyperirritability, psychosis, and ataxia after being overmedicated with a pseudoephedrine/dextromethorphan combination cough preparation, and discuss probable mechanisms of toxicity and risk factors for adverse events.


DXM Maintains the Function of the Detached Retina.

Gotoh T. Department of Ophthalmology, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Japan. PMID: 8533637

In order to evaluate the effect of dextromethorphan (DEX), an antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, on ischemic damage in the detached retina, transretinal electrical responses (trans-retinal electroretinogram: TR-ERG) to photic stimulation were recorded from the detached retina of rabbit eyes in vitro. In experiment 1, 0.1 ml of 0.1% DEX was injected into the subretinal space to produce retinal detachment (RD) of 8 mm diameter (DEX group). For the control, the same volume of Hanks' solution was injected instead of DEX (control group). In experiment 2, 0.1 ml of 0.1% DEX was dropped onto retina, and RD was produced by injecting 0.1 ml of Hanks' solution into the subretinal space (DEX group). For the control, the same volume of saline was dropped onto the retina instead of DEX (control group). In experiment 1, the averaged b-wave amplitude of the TR-ERG decreased significantly (p < 0.01) at 3 hrs after RD in the control group, but it was almost stable and did not show significant decrease in the DEX group. In experiment 2, the averaged b-wave amplitude of the ERG decreased significantly (p < 0.05) at 2 hrs after the RD in the control, but showed no significant decrease even at 3 hrs after RD in the DEX group. These results indicate that DEX injected into the subretinal space and dropped onto the retina before producing RD may reduce ischemic damage in the detached retina.


DXM for Phantom Pain Attenuation in Cancer Amputees: A Double-Blind Crossover Trial Involving Three Patients.

Abraham RB, Marouani N, Kollender Y, Meller I, Weinbroum AA. PMID: 12218498

BACKGROUND Phantom limb pain is an intriguing pain syndrome that may result from damage to peripheral nerve tissue but could also involve central amplifying congeners. -methyl->d-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor antagonists were recently shown to alleviate neuropathic pain in both animal and human models. Dextromethorphan is a noncompetitive NMDA-receptor antagonist.STUDY DESIGN Oral dextromethorphan (120-180 mg daily) was administered to three selected cancer patients during a 3-week study and an additional 1 month of treatment with the dosage subjectively judged to be best.RESULTS Oral dextromethorphan effectively reduced postamputation phantom limb pain, bestowing improvement in feeling and minimizing sedation in comparison with the pretreatment or placebo conditions, with no side effects. Pain recurred in one patient 1 month after treatment was stopped.CONCLUSIONS Further clinical trials are warranted to determine the optimal dosage and identify which patients with phantom pain would benefit the most from this therapeutic approach.


Long-Term Use of High-Dose Benzoate and DXM for the Treatment of Nonketotic Hyperglycinemia.

Hamosh A, Maher JF, Bellus GA, Rasmussen SA, Johnston MV. Center for Medical Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. PMID: 9580775

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to test the hypotheses that reduction of glycine and blocking of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor channel complex would be beneficial for both seizure reduction and developmental progress in patients with nonketotic hyperglycinemia. METHODS: We administered benzoate (at doses of 500 to 750 mg/kg/day) and dextromethorphan (at doses of 3.5 to 22.5 mg/kg/day) to four infants with nonketotic hyperglycinemia with follow-up of 3 months to 6 years. RESULTS: Benzoate reduced to normal the glycine concentration in plasma and substantially reduced but did not normalize the glycine concentration in cerebrospinal fluid. Dextromethorphan was a potent anticonvulsant in some but not all patients. There was remarkable interpatient variability in dextromethorphan metabolism. Three patients are living (ages ranging from 4 to 6 years) and are moderately to severely developmentally delayed; two are free of seizures. The third patient, with the slowest development, had intractable seizures for nearly a month before diagnosis, and although seizure-free for 30 months, now has grand-mal seizures. One patient died of intractable seizures at 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: These outcomes suggest that benzoate and dextromethorphan are not uniformly effective in nonketotic hyperglycinemia, but for some patients they improve arousal, decrease or eliminate seizures, and allow for some developmental progress. Trials with additional patients and other receptor channel blockers are warranted.




TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE


AND OTHER MACABRE TALES OF STRANGE BEHAVIOR AND OCCURRENCES BY DXM USERS

compiled by gravol


I have updated this section to include not only strange behavior but other strange events that have come over individuals using dextromethorphan. While many of these reports may seem amusing, some are actually quite serious.


Yet Another Trip to the Psych Ward.

This is believed to be the third straight trip to the psychiatric ward for this user, cykros: "Well, just over a week ago I downed 16 oz syrup at my friends house, tripped balls for a few hours, and woke up in the ER, yet again...it was way too familiar. They actually were gonna send me home, but this time i voluntarily asked to go to the psych ward, and because I did, I averted being moved to a boarding school (score! Yea, well, anyway, I'm gonna lay of the dex for a year for the most part, 'cept maybe a few social occasions...gotta let the liver heal and tolerance die down. Although my liver may take a while to heal, cuz yesterday i went out and bought 100 Benadryls for only $9, and took 12 last night...as soon as i run out of them I'm goin clean for a year...wish me luck.


Drinking a Pound of Robitussin and Eating Mushrooms.

One user reported drinking 16 ounces of syrup (sound familiar?) And eating psychedelic mushrooms. He had 911 called on him by his own parents after reacting to them strangely because he thought they were hallucinations. He is fine now, and continues to use DXM with mushrooms in large quantities.


Freezing to Death.

One person writes to me about his friend; his friend took approximately 600 mg and combined it with a lot of "dope" - I'm assuming he means marijuana. The person who wrote to me also took some DXM and reported a sensation of being a balloon, on the "edge of leaving my body." He states the sensation lasted 1 hour or so, and after this he had a lot of strange noise sensations the next day.

He was outside in the cold with his friend and discovered that his friend was "frozen" and could not move. He worked on getting his friend's awareness back to his body. His friend would acknowledge communication via his right thumb - a thumb up meant yes, and a thumb down meant no. Step by step, his friend slowly came back to his body, out of the trance. He states "I can tell you this is not really funn,. and the whole experience started from one moment to the other... not even 5 minutes between awareness ... and somewhere else."

One image comes to mind: The end of The Shining where Jack Nicholson becomes a human icecub.


The Pyscho Dexer.

This is a letter I received from a mentally disturbed person who uses DXM and likes to destroy things. His mayhem includes ripping the phone out of the wall, only to crash it through a glass coffee table because he likes the way it sounds, and throwing air conditioning units outside of windows and onto cars. I would like to think that this was a joke, but it does not appear that it is. Unfortunately, this person no longer responds to his email, which may be an indication he had a visit from the men in white suits and butterfly nets. You will probably find his new address at Bellevue. And now, for the letter, which I left in its original state:

Red or yellow grapefruit juice? dxm or pussy? or should i say love and affection? ..because never in my life do i feel more loved than while on dxm and im sure the aliens return my great affection towards them. so not only do they treat my accute loneliness, but they allow me to enter their conscious enviroment, allow me access to the grid, ceremonies, knowledge, unearthly occurances, and strange 1/2 prophecies that fall together in the oddest ways and places. having become fully aware of their customs and traditions i may feast upon eggplant and pasta with a glass of seltzer water while dressed in a teal and orange robe on september 18th for the traditional celebration of the remembrance of arrival of Cegalusse.. not thinking twice of the fact that other people dont. "dude.. how many years have you done this now?" "september, this is the aliens thanksgiving like ritual isnt it?" "i remember this one from a few years ago" my guests say, their glances hitting the empty bottles of cough syrup and coricidin boxes piled in a corner as i weigh them out a bag of marijuana and 2.5 ounces of coke not speaking a word, constantly eyeing them peculiarly till they leave locking the door behind. after 30 or so minutes pass i remembered what i was thinking about and ripped the phone off the wall taking two cord things with it, and put a post-it-note on the outside of my door saying "no drugs". i went back inside and tried to return my meal but then went over to the phone, picked it up (and its 2 attached cords) and dropped it through my glass top coffee table (i dont drink coffee). i wanted to hear the sound it would make, it was a

great sound, thousands of pieces of glass singing and crashing obliviously onto my floor. my next thought was to next time purchase an old fashioned phone.. maybe a rotary one with an actual bell in it, because it would have sounded even better. i go thru alot of furniture.. most of it glass and neo-post-modern. i go thru alot of appliances too. it was last week i knocked my airconditioner out of my 4th floor appartment window, it didnt

land on a honda this time but still was pretty cool. i always care for my hermit crabs, so noone can say im a bad person. but i dont like people. im not sure people like me either, i mean sure, i know lots of people, lots of

"friends", but i suspect to a good majority of them im just their weird dealer, i have other friends, other dealer friends.. i suspose they're my actual friends because they come and check on me even tho i dont sell them

anything. they say they understand me, that they've been there before, they've been hooked so they started selling.. they've all stopped since, but that was just coke or ketamine. i dont touch anything i sell but the weed,

and never been addicted to anything of the sort. my love is dextromethorphan, not people. maybe. allow me to explain if i may ramble longer (your zine is precious, i do not wish to waste space within it). i have this other friend, he's in a death metal band, he doesnt sell, he doesnt use. ive dosed him up a couple times on dxm, but he's by no means aware of its power. i take him with me to a town (findlay) 30 miles from our town (lima) (both in ohio) when i get rid of stuff there, we go to this driving range. besides breaking or throwing clubs, we're pretty good (when we make contact with the ball), its like a release, therapy. no worries, just hitting some ball as hard as you can. we're by no means accomplished golfers, and always stand out not only for our shouting but our clothing. he knows of my dxm use, he doesnt know the extent of it, but has a damn good idea. then he had a little sister. fuck, i guess she'd always been his sister and always lived with him.. i guess i didnt know her, and didnt realize how incredibly fucking hot she was. metalish chic, pentagram tattoos and whatnot. she had ofcourse heard of me "the psycho ass drug dealer" she first referred to me as, as we were introduced. she immediatly smiled and said she was just kidding. i knew by the dirty look her brother was giving

me she was hitting on me. so young.. energetic.. satanic..damn, i was in trouble. i asked the aliens that night for their opinion of her and the whole situation, they warned of others who want her affection, but gave me their blessing. (it turns out she did have a boyfriend) everything appeared peachy from their responce, and i off'd my new 52" tv (it was purchased as a replacement's replacement purchased earlier that month..) the next day i went to their house to inform my friend he was coming with me to purchase a TV but ofcourse the reasoning behind my visit (and killing of my tv) was to see her. things went well, and have ever since.. i've taken her to hookahville, to see tool, and stuff.. all the time did my best to act as sane as i know how to anymore.. and hit on her as much as possible. it's amazing how well we get along, and after sometime our feelings for each other became known. now im realy in trouble. what do i even want a chic for? i have everything, a job i love, plenty of cash, a lincoln, extraterrestrial beings from different dimensions as best friends, and all elderly neighbors that dont even call the cops when i unload my 9mm into a refrigerator or tv. damnit. people tell me not to quit doing what i like for anyone, they remind me lots of people will suck your dick if you share your drugs. im fucked. i go thru more boxes of coricidin a week than i do packs of cigarettes, i eat more coricidin than i do food, and ive been told by the one person (person like.. human) that i care about that i do too many drugs. all other chics ive met not only didnt have a problem with the drugs, but used it to their full advantage. and i find one that tells me i do too many. she doesnt want the money she doesnt want free drugs. i dont know what i want. well, i do. i want dxm, & i want her. is it even possible for me to end my relationship with the dxm aliens? wont i loose the last bit of guidance i have? how could i stop using dxm? how could i live without her? both sound so atrocious. the nazis couldnt have planned a more dreadful situation.


The Strange Tale of "Matty," the Homeless Dexer.

This story was contributed by James Kent of Trip magazine: "The only person I ever met in person who swore by DXM was a guy I knew named Matt. Matt was an interesting guy who had done a lot of drugs in his time, but when I met him he was basically a robo man. He would do acid now and then when he could find it, and he smoked weed constantly, maybe a little GHB now and again, but robo was his daily thing.

Now Matt didn't really have a permanent address, he kind of drifted from crash space to crash space until he got kicked out or was forced to leave. By the time I lost contact with him he was homeless and sleeping in a various parks in Seattle, emerging every now and again to check his e-mail at one of the few internet cafes he hadn't gotten himself kicked out of, which was a common problem for Matt I guess, something about being belligerent and freaking out the other customers.

Matt's day started with a fat bowl of pot and a bottle of Robitussin maximum cough. He said he liked the flavor. He wouldn't chug it, he'd sip on it for about an hour until it was drained then go out walking around the city spare-changing and trying to hook up little dope deals on commission for people. I never saw him once eat a single piece of food (espresso sure, food no), but the robo bottle was never far away. In the evening he would start on another bottle of robo, which I guess was dinner, and then around midnight he would puke his guts out and fall down unconscious somewhere. I knew him for a span of maybe two years and this was pretty much his daily routine.

I never knew Matt pre-robo so I don't know how sketchy he was to begin with, but I did find out later from someone who had known him longer than I had that he had actually gone to UW and was married for a while before his life kind of fell apart. I don't know if the robo was the reason he fell apart or just something that came along with the package, but he said he did robo because it made him feel better about his situation, and it made him less angry about all the bullshit in the world and all the shitty things people had done to him in his life. I don't know specifically what these shitty things were and why he was angry, but he styled himself as some kind of robo bodhisattva, wandering around the city with no shoes and sleeping in the park as if it was some kind of spiritual pursuit.

Although he could carry on very intellectual discussions about many things, most often about paranormal and metaphysical topics, sometimes about politics and the future, it was evident at times that Matt had lost something upstairs. Sometimes he would talk and what came out was pure gibberish, and then he would get upset when asked to repeat what it was he was trying to say and say something like, "Forget it, you wouldn't understand." He mumbled a lot when he wasn't sure what he was saying. Matt was also constantly under the impression he was being followed by someone, sometimes narcs and sometimes just people who were spying on him for some unknown reason, maybe to steal all his spiritual secrets. He would always be looking over his shoulder saying things like, "We have to go this way, they won't follow me in here," cutting though people's backyards and stuff like that. He also thought some people could read his mind, though he claimed the robo helped shield him against psi attacks.

I once asked him if he would consider not using robo for a while and he told me that it was the only thing keeping him alive. I don't know if this meant he would commit suicide without it, or if he actually thought he was deriving nutrition from the syrup, but he was pretty serious so I didn't push it. He talked endlessly about the big DXM article he was going to write for the magazine, and actually wrote a few paragraphs before deciding he needed to do more "research", which I suppose meant doing more robo.

Matt once told me that he did robo to keep from getting lonely and depressed, because in the robo space he felt accepted and at peace and "didn't have to deal with anyone else's bullshit." This bullshit theme came up over and over again, and was pivotal in one of the last face-to-face conversations I had with Matt when I tried to explain that dealing with other people's bullshit was just a fact of life, and could even be fun sometimes (you know, like getting intimate with someone) and that unless he was going to be a hermit he needed to get over it and just get on with things. He sort of agreed that he was really lonely and afraid of being intimate with people, but claimed that robo only helped him overcome those problems, not the other way around.

I received a phone call from him a few days later saying he could be finished with the article in a day or two but was having trouble getting his notes off a disk because the guy at Kinko's was being an asshole and was out

to get him, or something like that. He wanted me to drive him thirty miles north to his friend's place so he could use his computer, which I guess was stored there with a bunch of his other stuff, but I was unable to just drop what I was doing to taxi Matt around that day. Matt was fond of calling me up and asking me for rides to do all kinds of strange things, which I would often do because I genuinely liked talking to him (when he was coherent), and he knew a wide variety of unique and interesting people who we would ultimately wind up hooking up with just for fun or in the hopes of finding Matt a place to crash for a few nights. But that day I was busy trying to potty train my two-year-old son and could not just step away at Matt's request.

That was about four months ago, and I have not seen or heard from him since. Perhaps he got pissed at "all my bullshit" because I couldn't give him a ride on that particular day and decided to stop calling me. Perhaps he's dead. Perhaps he got arrested for something. I don't know. No one I know has seen him or heard from him, though one person said he may have left town to live in the country and eat raw food or something like that. It is still a mystery.

While I knew Matt for a few years and hung out with him probably once a month or every couple months he never talked about himself so I never really got to know much about him. He could play guitar like a motherfucker (no lie, one of the best I've seen) and every time I hung out with him he would mention this ad he saw for a guitarist needed to do licks for some videogame company that he was interested in replying to. Over a span of two years he mentioned this ad *every time*, like he seriously thought he could just walk into the videogame office after a year and a half and say, "I'm responding to your ad for a guitarist, when do I get paid?" I never had the heart to tell him that the job and the videogame company were most likely gone by

now, he probably would have perceived it as "more bullshit" meant to make his life tougher than it already was. My wife wonders why I ever hung out with him at all, but he was without a doubt one of the most interesting cats I've ever met, and I sort of felt like I owed him something even though I didn't. I even tried to give him a guitar once but he wouldn't take it because he didn't have anywhere to keep it. Finding a place to keep his stuff was just more bullshit, which he didn't need to deal with anymore because he had robo.

Why I am telling you all this? Well, because Matty was pretty sure he was supposed to be the robo messiah, and his article was going to be the first step in turning the world on to the wonders of DXM, making it a bullshit-free place to live once and for all. I'm guessing he's probably not going to finish the article, so I'm here to spread the book of Matt in his stead, though I think I may be preaching to the choir already. Matty, wherever you are, this one's for you.

DXM POETRY & ARTWORK

PART ONE: A COMPILATION OF DXM-INFLUENCED POETRY

compiled by gravol

[Editor's Note: All work is copyrighted by the individuals who created it, not The DXM Zine.]

This was sent in by Brian Preece [[email protected]]: "I wrote this poem day after I had tripped really hard at a rave (the music at the party was mostly hardcore techno) and it's pretty much based on some images that were in my head that night which revolved mostly around this hallucinated character that I kept seeing out of the corner of my eye which was like a cross between spiderman (in the black costume) and a sort of bionic ninja....plus my friend that I was watching dance (he's a good dancer) he kinda inspired it as he was wearing this weird mask and a laser tag vest and he looked very strange to me....it was a weird trip. I was very sick at the time and had gulped down a bunch of RoboMax early in the evening (about half a bottle) then took 3 hits LSD on the way to the party (at the time I was unaware of the whole DXM being psychedelic thing) and the DXM did influence my trip a hell of a lot looking back on it...anyway, here it is..."

The Rave Ninja

Stealthing on a another
deadly techno spy mission
the rave ninja strikes on the dancefloor
moving with nimbly silent
ninja quickness.

Grooving in laser dojos he goes
in dark vibes clad
flinging glow-in-the-dark ninja stars
and blowgunning dosed darts
into the unsuspecting.

There goes the rave ninja
defying the laws of mind and matter
backflipping
candyflipping
ceiling creeping...

Like a lethal shadow
the ronin raver somersaults through blacklight
descending atop blasting megaspeakers
abruptly busting sonic thai chi robotics
(such is the way of the rave ninja)

He spars his way through bass
deftly executing maneuvers in a bionic blur
slashing and stealthing
on another deadly techno spy mission
the rave ninja strikes on the dancefloor...

...and try as you may to glimpse him
you'll catch only darting trails....


The next two poems were submitted by our staff writer, Cliff Anderson [[email protected]]:

Dissociated

The teeming masses stand light-years removed
above and beyond, "I" enjoy a superior view
an alien anthropologist, or perhaps a fallen angel
privileged to view this world from an *objective* angle
impervious to all the games and passion plays
privileged to stand aloof amidst the fray
"I" survey these creatures like Christ on His Cross
wondering whether or not they grasp their loss
finally free of single vision and Newton's sleep
though "I" don't know whether to laugh or weep
drifting across empty galactic spaces
briefly spotting other drifting, lonely faces
all to briefly hoping "they" bear light to shine in
to reconstitute "my" life, and make "me" young again
but no, "they" always go their way, and "I'm" left alone
spinning helplessly across the Great Unknown
beyond life and death, pain or pleasure
"I" realize it isn't only man that is the measure
bored with life in this world of clouds and mud
so very bored with "being" flesh and blood
"I" want to slip back to the home I dimly recall
where there is no "I", only the All in All
(or None in None) less esoterically: there "I" "am" "everyone"
but it seems that it's ending as it's just now begun
and again "I" fall from Heaven, separated from the Source
suffering the endless heartache of the Great Divorce


Why Must I Return from Ecstatic Realms to Find a Grinning Midget Monkey at my Helm?

upon analysis
my paralysis
has been the result
of various insults
my ego perceives
it's received...
causing it *great* distress
now, true, I must confess
that simian b.s. has it's own allure
it's delightful to feel so pure
*really* *fucking* *mad*
embroiled in good versus bad
pointing fingers steadily
anointing my own cause readily
cause it's clear to see:
fate favors me famously
don't you know
this is my show?
you dare come in here
and defiantly interfere
with my scripts, routines
my own few means
of ensuring happiness
and then dare rap me this
litany of your own desire
of which I quickly tire
'cause it's so clear:
*I'm* the star here!
Nah, just delusion again
my constant companion sin
and I see with utter clarity
the rarity of sincerity
how alien openness seems
afraid to pierce this opium dream
I've woven for my senses
it almost convinces
and makes a fine shield
because who'd want to be healed
when sickness *seems* so sweet?
a phantom flame bereft of heat
an abyss concealed within a shell
these define the private hell
so casually labeled the psyche
hell, I don't even like me
but since I have a name
I must defend my claim
even if it in fact claimed me
meet life on maimed knees
perverse in my pride
at how well I hide
each day's fresh scar
'cause remember: *I'm* the star.


PART TWO: A COMPILATION OF DXM-INFLUENCED ARTWORK

compiled by gravol

[Editor's Note: There was not enough artwork sent in this month to continue with this section. This section will resume in the following issue. We apologize for any inconvenience.]





DXM MUSIC & MOVIE REVIEWS

COOL MUSIC RECOMMENDED BY DXM USERS AND REVIEWED FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

by various authors


TriAna. Musica Electronica.

by Unknown

This album opens up with Scary, a haunting piece, semi- techno/ambient in nature which begins with a soft yet dramatic faint siren overlayed by more complex shuffling of synthetics and keyboard melody. It's a song to chill out to... Me-Retro is yet another track rich in minimal texture and interjected with subtle playful loops that are easy to follow yet diverse enough to keep the listeners attention. The next track, Fly is a more upbeat, busy composition yet still retains it's surround sound of ambient structure, and leads into Slip, another wonderful piece of music integrating a peaceful and calming resonance throughout. Loop is a bit more complicated incorporating a faster paced background of percussion layered with a brief piano melody. Into The Beat captures the neo-tribal side of TriAna's work on this cd. Another good dance tune -- with a few fast breaks in the drumming area. This track: My Reality sounds as if it were influenced by the "salsa cha-cha-cha" of the latino culture and woven with a synth melody of siren's. Where Life Goes reminds me of a slow moving stream in warm late summer days. It's a very peaceful well blended piece with a good flowing background sound of an old Hammond B3 and snappy snare and cymbol. More upbeat and jazzy, One Off articulates the resonance of a clear design of drum patterns and the knob twisting eerie interjections of high pitch noise projections. I.C.Y.U.B. is another good dance song layered with melody and straight forward drift into tasty piano riffs. The cd ends with Exotica, a rich blend of excellent synthetic drummig, snappy clicks and flute harmonics which again create an atmosphere of peace and beauty. Overall this album is a wonderful example of ambient semi-tribal jazzy creations brought forth by Daniel Triana.


Aphex Twin. Richard D. James.

by Michael Lund

Once again, the master of intelligent techno-ambient-experimental-whatever thrusts out his new album entitled Richard D. James Album. Although very different from his last album, "I Care Because You Do," the new release still has the classic Aphex trademark of home-made synths and gadgets. Tracks such as "4" and "Cornish Acid" combine the elementS of jungle and techno, without even classifying either as jungle or techno. Aphex Twin designs his music so layered that a classification is very hard to come by. This is more upbeat and dance-orientated than some of his previous works, but it is just as good. The domestic also includes the Boy/Girl EP which was originally released by itself as an import, but later became packaged with the original album for domestic release. The EP consists of 7 new tracks, along with Richard on vocals for 2 tracks!!! I must say that the lyrics are somewhat peculiar that you just have to love 'em. Hear for yourself to find out.


Band of Pain. Reculver.

by Kim Alexander

Bookended by an opening explosion of pummeling noise-beats, and an exit of slow, conspicuously resolved chimes; Band Of Pain's new CD Reculver is a slow walk through a twilit nightmare zone of dark, menacing atmospheres. The CD has great unity; with the nine tracks being almost exclusively based in disconcerting layers of droning and other eerie sounds. Shattering monotone beats are present here and there, but otherwise percussions are absent; and, although voices are occasionally heard, neither are there any vocals as such on Reculver. Like their first full-length (You're Miss Fortune), which came out in 1996, Band Of Pain's second album is also released on Iris Light.

After the brief brutal noise attack of "Our Little Secret," Reculver shifts into a slow-motion landscape of large, turning monoliths of solid, hovering sound. "You Won't Meet Again" is underscored by a deep thematic presence, and the fragile sound of a human breathing through a life support system marks the passing hours of the piece.

Sustained signals separated by moments of nearly complete silence open "KOOA IBB + ILU ILLU.M". Then, feverish, rhythmic impacts, as of an enormous metallic piston, arrive. A hauntingly beautiful theme fades in beneath the apocalyptic stomps -- the effect is chilling; a musical depiction of the end of everything. And, the end comes, with the abrupt, squelched sound of a radio being tuned, but never receiving a clear signal. Band Of Pain's music is almost surreal in its overpowering darkness, and Reculver is a potentially very depressing album to listen to. However, like anything that carries within it the potentiality to be uncomfortable and unsettling, it is also intensely fascinating and compelling.


Collapsed System. Berlin 2007.

by Michael Lund

My girlfriend almost got this CD out of mine -and your- attention, as she kept it at her place. She loved it more than the usual industrial stuff I bring over. The reason for that probably lies in the soft voice, which has the timbre of Front's Jean-Luc, but it sounds more friendly. The uncomplicated technobody, that invites for a slight headshake, pleases her and I can't disagree on that. The used beats can also be heard in commercial techno- dump stuff and the rhythms are typical body, but this is a Zoth Ommog record, which still guarantees a certain quality.


De Fabriek. Save the Planet.

by Kim Alexander

The strange Dutch musical collective De Fabriek released this monumental concept album on Artware in 1994. Save The Planet features the participation of about a dozen artists, and it is a work that, despite its division into eight tracks (neither of which have been assigned a known title), is best experienced in its entirety.

Intensely rhythmical in nature, the more than seventy minute long program of Save The Planet is a vivid aural mosaic that incorporates a broad spectrum of musical styles, ranging from moments inspired by jazz and funk, to the more dominant industrial and electronic sounds normally associated with De Fabriek. Integrated into this continuously evolving soundscape are also a wealth of radio and film samples that, along with the plastic shifts between musical genres, help to create the impression of a world -- or, global village -- pieced together from an incredibly diverse variety of fragments.

The image that emerges, however, is not necessarily a pleasant one. As the title suggests, the concern of the CD is -- as so often -- the ills that plague our planet. Here are snippets of speeches by military spokesmen, a sample of Clint Eastwood's brutal screen presence, another of the icon of righteous violence himself: John Wayne -- in which he praises the splendorous landscape of the United States, and the list goes on. Whereas the themes of violence and environmental pollution -- as pounded home both by these samples and by the brief texts and slogans in the CD booklet -- are hardly original, the way in which all the diverse musical elements and samples have been smoothly weaved together makes for a listening experience that is both rich and dynamic.

The CD exists in two different versions: a standard jewel case edition, and an exclusive edition that comes in a gorgeous sand-covered case. The latter is priced slightly higher and limited to 1000 copies, but both versions are still available directly from Artware.


Electronic Control Organization. 1997 Demo Tape.

by Kim Alexander

eCo is Jason Taylor and Steve Archer, who combine the best in upbeat industrial/elektro influenced by techno and bands such as Skinny Puppy, and Orbital to Marillion. This four song demo is high energy stuff! I am hoping a CD gets cut with these guys soon. eCo has a good intensity and back beat for those of you who like to do some dancing when you go out. I can't say the quality of this tape is great, but I can imagine that seeing eCo live must kick ass! They have a very dynamic sound with plenty of effects that keep me interested (not an easy task there!)


Ergot. Stinkhorn.

by Daniel Marvin

I really hadn't the slightest idea of what to expect when I put this on for the first time and I still am not sure what to call it. I guess experimental - technoiseambience works partially. There are some noisy aspects and a boat-load of electronics in each track. Some songs are bereft of any percussion while others have some sort of repetitive technoesque beat. It almost sounds very much like improvisional work since most of the predominate aspects are looped with some sort of 'lead instrument' going off on its own tangent. The production quality is pretty low and gritty on some of the tones as if they were played too low on the keyboard to sound natural although all the tracks do flow very well for what they are. The only track which really stands out is 'Well Down' which has a flowing guitar line, almost spacy, delayed vocals and slow percussion. The majority intermixes noise, weird soundscapes, and some odd percussion here and there and a few other parts are more noiseambience based with some eerie feedback. That is what like on here the most such as "Burning World" and "Shores of Deimos" where it basically builds with a very warm, dry sound scraping across the black, Plutonian sands as the waves cascade. At times the music is not really 'abrasive' but loud and oppressive, and at other times it really builds and falls through various points in the composition, layering and unfolding different aspects which are typically overlooked. I'd like to hear the next ergot and I'm sure there will be progression regarding production and such.


Fockwolfe. Die Toten Weg.

by Christel Loar

Fockwolfe hails from the Seattle area, but their debut CD "Die Toten Weg" belies the northwest's reputation for muddy, harsh sounds. Instead, Fockewolfe offers pristine, crisp, and very danceable gothic synth pop. Grand swells of pulsing beats and throbbing synthesizer surround vocalist Severina Sol on the opening track, "Terror and Withdraw." Sol's voice has a quality that is tremulous, yet self- assured. "Accidents With Scalpels" and "Frail Doll" shows off programmer R. Wilhelm's menacing lyrical and vocal talents, as well as his cleverness with blending beats. The usual gothic lyrical motifs of death, desolation, sorrow and suffering pervade songs like, "Nihilistic Automaton, "Famine Harvest" and "Everything Becomes Ash." However, programmer R. Wilhelm's inventive arrangements combine with Sol's urgent vocal to create a musical setting where those topics seem fresh.


Front 242. Tyranny for You.

by Michael Lund

At the release of Tyranny For You, the members of Front 242 expressed that to them the 90s represented a return to values. This sentiment shines through in the music of this album in several ways. First, while the sound is still dominated by the fast and heavy percussion elements of the past, a number of the songs feature melodic arrangements of a neo-classical orientation. Secondly, as is apparent from several of the song titles, the themes explored are also of a more classical/historical nature. And, finally, the vocals are closer to actual 'song' than on any of their previous releases.

The new turn in Front 242's musical interests is most apparent on the grandiose opening track "Sacrifice," the melancholically beautiful "Gripped by Fear," "The Untold" and the short piece "Leitmotiv 136." "Moldavia" and "Neurobashing" are the most dynamic tracks on the album, and sound like nineties reinterpretations of "Take One" (from 1983's Endless Riddance EP). The two single releases -- "Rhythm of Time" and "Tragedy for You" -- are the most structured and dance-oriented songs, and also the the tracks most reminiscent of the sound on Front 242's previous album -- Front By Front. "Soul Manager" is a chaotic maelstorm of percussion and samples, and plays like a statement on the moral climate of the Western world today. Echoing through the barrage of other sounds are such demonic whisperings as: "I am the guide of the lost" and "I am here to save you" -- the meaning, if any, remains ambiguous.

A minute or two after the end of "Soul Manager," the album reveals a pair of hidden tracks. The first is an even more frantic reprise of "Soul Manager" itself, with additional 'commando yells' and snippets of classical arrangements thrown into the chaos engine. Afterwards follows a remix of "Trigger" -- one of the less distinguished tracks on the CD -- a rather odd choice of track to include an additional version of, since the album otherwise is of a consistently very high quality.


Hoodlum Priest. Hoodlum Priest.

by Michael Lund

After seven years of waiting, Iris Light's release of the self-titled second album by Hoodlum Priest will easily prove to be one of the stranger and more eccentric CDs of 1998. Fusing everything from classical themes to hip-hop rhythms, the album also incorporates a true lexicon of film samples, and tops things off with suave vocals that are more reminiscent of various 80s new wave bands, than anything presently heard on the British music scene.

Hoodlum Priest essentially is the musical alter ego of Derek Thompson; all the music on the album was written and performed by Thompson himself, although he relied on Mary Magdelyte to write and perform vocals for some of the songs, and Karl Leiker, Sly Diva and Apollo 440 to add additional instrumental touches here and there. The eight tracks comprising Hoodlum Priest all share the eclectic mixture of elements outlined above, but otherwise vary quite dramatically in length, compositional approach and mood.

Hoodlum Priest really has it all. It features a wonderfully detailed and rich sound; it successfully brings classical music into contemporary electronica; it has humor and good vocals, and -- above all else -- It is a CD with many great dance tracks that any self-respecting DJ should have in his repertoire.


Infrastructure. Wasteland.

by Matt Simpson

Stacia Tucker's solo EBM project, Infrastructure, presents a small demo called "The Wasteland" and revealing a penchant for clever programming and hidden elements within textures. Infrastructure is a fairly well established act with a few compilation appearances and live performances on the west coast. This release combines elements from Intelligent Dance Music and Electronic Body Music styles in a light mixture with slightly distorted female vocals punctuating the mix. The rhythms aren't as harsh as general formulaic EBM goes, which is a nice plus, and the programming, akin to more recent Haujobb but not as deep, separates the synth lines, giving a jumpy feel to the lightly distorted tracks. A nice and welcome demo, this could help Infrastructure reach more polished levels with her distinct structure.


Lycia. Estrella.

by Kim Alexander

Lycia takes on yet another direction with the release of Estrella. Recorded in the southwest USA of Arizona and producing an imaginative, dreamy and creative work of ambient darkwave; it's another splendid addition to the collection. Tracks range from instrumentals "Clouds In The Southern Sky", "Dome", "Distant Fading Star" and "The Kite", the latter bassed on a painting "The Kite" by Armando Norte (1998) a rich drum, bass, guitar synth winding throught sonic backdrops of what may be memories of flying a kite and its freedom lost to telephone wires as an innocent bystander's killed from gunfire, and set free by death. The other tracks involve Tara singing and some very revealingly beautiful lyrics. In "Orion", "Stars fall, and we catch them, like snowflakes of light danceing. Glitter silver moon, time stands frozen, satellites spin me dizzy. I fall into yours arms...Angels dreaming for you." How ROMANTIC! Tara on vocals with drums, synth work of angelic melodies. Again, Lycia conjures up images with their music and lyrics of the west with Estrella. This CD is a "must have" for the serious listener of ambient-gothic edge music.


Matrix. The Frequence Coupler EP.

by Kim Alexander

Loaded with electronica-synth and samples, this release is a powerful blend of Industrial-EMB mesh, hence the name: Frequency Coupler. Excellent demo, I LIKE IT, LOTS! First track: Humanity, is a high energy piece of work with great drum effects, vocals and puppyish style synth effects. Great keyboards! Convergence is equally good with a hard-driven mood, infiltrated with XMTPedwalkish power-beat type of synth/drumbeats and sound and that overall industrial flare. Give is an incredible piece of work, more EBMish in nature, excellent vocals (John Sepulveda), theramin which I really enjoy hearing in this type of music, and those fast-speed programmed drums. The music of Matrix is great dance music. DJ's get a copy of this CD release now. Overall, Matrix kicks ass. They reside and play live on occaision in NYC. If you live there, don't miss them. One of the best Industrial Demo's I have ever heard.


Opium Jukebox. Music to Download Pornography by.

by Jed Hartgrove

Opium Jukebox is a side project of Martin Atkins, of Martin Atkins and the Chicago Industrial League, and head of invisible records (which gave us such incredible acts as DVOA, Pigface, Killing Joke, Test Dept., Not Breathing, as well as being the current home of Genesis P. Orridge). From what I understand, this is just a pet project of Atkins's and Bobdog, I would find it surprising if they ever release another album of this type, but we can hope! As one might be able to glean from the track listing, this is a cover album of songs from what is commonly referred to as the "alternative" scene, but this is hardly your ordinary industrial cover album, in fact it doesn't really qualify as industrial to me. The music is all done in a sort of pseudo tribal/Indian style, with a few samples mixed in to add a little color. The basic feel of the song is still there, all be it without the words and at a much mellower and significantly slower pace than one would expect. This is especially apparent on the cover of Gary Numans cars. Over all, this is a very good and highly original disk that straddles the border between absolute musical genius and sheer goofiness. Best enjoyed in an altered state of mind, or as a backdrop for creative processes.


Joe Renzetti. Talking to the Dead.

by Kim Alexander

Joe Renzetti brings out an eerie and downright scary release with "Talking To The Dead." Dubbed as 'ambient goth', this release has much more to offer the listener by way of spooky sampling and "ghostly" sounds from horror films which tend to keep me on edge waiting for the next insertion of aural drama. Ambient textures, orchestral torment and aggressive rhythms add to the dark overtones.The spirit world definitly is the audio target with this work. Inspired conceptually by the exploration of the supernatural world, "Talking To The Dead" is an excellent release encapsulating the dreamlike sounds of the afterlife. Gonging bells, moving timbre and sweet melodic passageways enhance the aural story of the "attempt at contact with a spirit that went terribly wrong and is tormented by unseen entities unwillingly brought into his world." This release is sure to capture your heart, spirit and attention.

You can hear tracks from this CD at http://www.mp3.com/renzetti


Skinny Puppy. Remission.

by Michael Lund

Originally released as a six-track EP, Skinny Puppy's first official release Remission appeared with a number of additional tracks over the years on various releases of it on CD, tape and vinyl. Nettwerk's 1993 re-release of the 'EP' on CD collects all of these extra songs together with the original six, and in effect transforms the EP into an album with eleven tracks. Remission has a particularly corroded and decrepit sound, and, is a solid, powerful debut that points the direction, which Skinny Puppy would travel throughout their 11-year career. cEvin Key combines acoustic, metallic and synthetic percussion into a hollow, reverberating grind. Samples of church bells and chimes appear on a number of the songs, and the overall mood is one of strolling through a gothic churchyard encapsulated in a concrete bunker. Behind Key's dynamic rhythms is spread a tattered fabric of primitive synth melodies that melancholically spin out of control.

Velvet Acid Christ. Fun with Knives.

by Kim Alexander

Not having ever heard VAC with the exception of one track off a Culture Shock Magazine CD compilation [the zine is now extinct], which gives me no base from which to compare, all I can do basically here is try to describe for you the sounds I hear. From what people are saying about Fun With Knives who have followed VAC from it's beginnings, it's "quite different from previous releases." This new release includes vocals by Josh Wilson, and help from Lisa Wilson, but for the most part, VAC is a solo project: Bryan Erickson. Luxt has also made some contributions to this CD in terms of vocals [Anna Christine], and lyrics [Erie] on "Slut," which is quite melodic, and Delerium-esque with a good dose of synth programming. Luxt just came off of a rather lengthy US tour. To read more about them, go to http://www.luxt.com.

I won't be sympathetic to VAC just because Bryan thanked me on the release notes, nor because I consider him to be a friend. I will say however that I am a lover of Industrial/EBM, of which I believe this release falls under, yet it has elements of other non-industrial/EBM sounds as well, like trance (Jason says so), and some bits of harsh noise. The tracks are laden with samples from movies, thrusting dance beats, melodic undertones, sparky synth treatments, and an overall theme, "Fun With Knives"," and drugs. The release is as feisty as is Bryan!


MOVIES RECOMMENDED BY DXM USERS - NO REVIEWS NEEDED - GO AND SEE!

compiled by gravol

Mantis in Lace

The Dark Crystal

Fantasia

Beyond the Mind's Eye

Deep in the Woods

Dead Man

From Hell

U-Turn

Clockwise

DXM PRODUCTS - NEW!!!

A LOOK AT PRODUCTS AND SOFTWARE WHICH ENHANCE THE DXM EXPERIENCE

compiled by gravol

[Editor's Note: The DXM Zine has not been paid for any of the following advertisements. We feel that they greatly enhance the DXM experience and that is the only reason why we are reviewing them here.]


Magnetic Stimulation Device - by James Clayton Roberts

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/magstim

This website has a wealth of information concerning Roberts' magnetic stimulation device for the human brain, called The 4th Eye. His invention seems to have unlocked his creative potential and otherwise effected many positive changes in his life. The device causes a perturbation of routine brain activity and chemistry, resulting in unique altered states of consciousness, vivid dreams, and more. He is selling his device along with subliminal CDs. The two methods of produce more results when used together than by themselves. The device can, when used as instructed, add something very special, useful and new to the human experience. Be part of the future now.

Here are several links to explain why the device works:


The Explanation of Magnetic Crystals in the Brain (which is how the device affects human neuro function):
http://www.gps.caltech.edu/users/jkirschvink/pdfs/COINS.pdf

The Orgasmic Brain (recommended to read this first):
http://www.paradise-engineering.com/brain/index.htm

CV Volume & Schizophrenia:
http://www.spl.harvard.edu:8000/pages/papers/levitt/cereb/levitt99.pdf

CV Controls Brain Blood Flow:
http://www.cns.caltech.edu/~emark/text/CNS93.html

CV Development - Effects of Drug Abuse, Sexual Abuse:
http://remfractal.mclean.org:8080/vermis.html

CV Role In Affect & Psychosis (Dr. Jeremy Schmahmann):
http://remfractal.mclean.org:8080/schmahmann.pdf


This is just a fraction of the links available on the site. I recommend checking them all out - this is far from 'crackpot' science, and I believe devices like these will help herald the new evolution of the human psyche.



The CyberShaman - by Ernest Vega and Multiaxiom, Inc.


http://www.gocs1.com/


Ernie Vega, who recently appeared on the Jeff Rense radio program, has come out with a revolutionary device, which I myself have had some interesting results with. Please note that the software download is FREE. He encourages you to download it, as do I, and try it out for a month to see what happens.

It all has to do with energy fields. The program uses Sacred Geometry, Quantum Computing, and other factors to help you tap into energy fields and change the reality around you - quite literally! The science behind it is Psionics. Similar devices were used in the 60s and 70s as Radionics Machines - but now with the fast processing speed of the home computer, you can turn your own PC into a radionics machine. Actually, as Vega puts it, is a causal manifestation interface.

I'm not hip to all the science and formulas behind it (Fibonacci spirals, etc.), but I can tell you this - I've heard, by word of mouth, quite a few weird things that have occurred with people tinkering around with this software. Before using it you really must read up on psionics and how to use it - it's quite an overwhelming program, especially if you don't know what you're doing. Vega says it's like Martial Arts, and takes a lot of time and practice to perfect it.

The basics of the program is as follows: It is a first cut at computerized causal engineering. It is based on Radionics and Sacred Geometry. It applies principles of hyper dimensional physics as a connecting and tracking mechanism, as well as a power supply for the sustained intent of the user. In doing that it relieves the user from having to perfect focusing skills that are sustainable for the duration of a successful session or program.

What is required from the user is the following:


As far as what others have reported to me so far, is that two lightbulbs blew out for two different people; the program started by itself for two different people - one person got extremely nauseated and almost passed out; one man is currently conducting an experiment in which two plants are placed next to each other, and one has energy focused on it - the results have been startling, to say the least - I expect to have pictures to back up his claim shortly; my own experiences, involving a strange dream about Crowley, doorbells ringing by themselves, and other strange phenomena. More time is needed to conduct tests, but I advise you to get the free version while it is still available!



The Brain Wave Generator - by Noromaa Solutions


http://www.bwgen.com/

This program uses binaural beats to synchronize your brain waves with certain frequencies that can alter your state of consciousness. All you need is a soundcard and headphones. Uses for this software range in everything from sleep induction to self-hypnosis and astral projection.

EEG (Electroencephalography) technology is used to measure brain's electrical vibrations from the surface of the scalp. The resulting EEG pattern will contain frequency elements mainly below 30Hz. The frequencies are categorized into four states as follows:

Delta 0.5Hz - 4Hz Deep sleep

Theta 4Hz - 8Hz Drowsiness (also first stage of sleep)

Alpha 8Hz - 14Hz Relaxed but alert

Beta 14Hz - 30Hz Highly alert and focused

The dominant frequency in the EEG pattern determines what shall be called the current state of the brain. If the amplitude of the alpha range frequencies is highest, then the brain is said to be in the alpha stage. Note, that other frequencies still exist and it is impossible to give any "exact frequency your brain is operating on". However, later references to the brain states use the simplification of assuming that such a single frequency exists.

If external stimulus is applied to the brain, it becomes possible to entrain the brain frequency from one stage to another. For example, if a person is in beta stage (highly alert) and a stimulus of 10Hz is applied to his/her brain for some time, the brain frequency is likely to change towards the applied stimulus. The effect will be relaxing to the person. This phenomenon is also called frequency following response.

When the brain's state is close to the applied stimulus, entrainment works more efficiently. Thus, when doing a sweep from one frequency to another, the starting frequency should be as close to your current brain state as possible. The sweep speed should be such that your brain's state changes steadily with it, so that the difference never gets very large. In practice, it is difficult to determine your brain state without extra equipment (like EEG devices). However, you can quite safely assume that during the day your brain is in the beta stage (about 20Hz) and you can start the sweep from there. If you are already somewhat relaxed, you can use a start frequency of 15Hz or a few Hz lower.

The easiest way of applying stimulus to the brain is via ears. Other senses could be used as well, and vision is actually used quite often (often in addition to hearing). However, humans cannot hear sounds low enough to be useful for brain stimulation, so special techniques must be used. One such special technique used is called binaural beats.

If the left ear is presented with a steady tone of 500Hz and the right ear a steady tone of 510Hz, these two tones combine in the brain. The difference, 10Hz, is perceived by the brain and is a very effective stimulus for brainwave entrainment. This 10Hz is formed entirely by the brain. When using stereo headphones, the left and right sounds do not mix together until in your brain. The frequency difference, when perceived by brain this way, is called a binaural beat.

As mentioned above, applying a stimulus to the brain will eventually bring the brain's state closer to the stimulus frequency. The following paragraphs describe some possible effects of this.

Note, however, that just passively listening to binaural beats does not necessarily alter your state of consciousness. For example, willingness and ability to relax and focus attention affects how effective the binaural beat stimulus is for inducing state changes.

There are a lot of presets available on the site - one is the Astral Travel Enhancer, which has worked quite well for a lot of people. You can download it here:

http://www.bwgen.com/presets/desc250.htm

Another very useful link is the Brainwave/Cymatic Frequency List, which lists the precise frequencies and what they are used for. Good luck!

http://www.lunarsight.com/freq.htm


[Editor's Note: I have been told by Ernie Vega, the creator of the CyberShaman software, that the combination of both the BWG and the CS are optimal for inducing OBEs.]



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank everyone who either contributed to the Zine or helped provide information on DXM.

About the Editor: Gravol, also known as Jeff, is 25 and works on the Zine in his spare time. Born in Phoenix and having lived in Akron, Ohio, for several years, he now resides in St. Augustine, Florida. He is also the author of the Dramamine FAQ, found at lycaeum.org, and an artist in his spare time. To check out some of his work, goto http://www.lesia.org/amiens.jpg. You can find him posting at Usenet's alt.drugs.psychdelics, as he is a regular there.

* If you'd like to contribute an article or any information to the DXM Zine, email [email protected]. The Zine is free, but any contributions reduce the tremendous amount of time it takes to complete it would be helpful in maintaining its free distribution. Thank you!