Ha, I appreciate that!. My original intent was indeed to follow the law, as well as to have a "clinical" setting. Now, if you look at the pictures of what you're getting for $3,500, it leaves a lot to be desired. It's not even really a premium experience so the cost ratio made no sense.
Having now been very frustrated, I did actually follow up and organized my own session through my network. I found a contact who worked in psychedelic research, and who had led sessions with others with psilocybin, had a couple friends join and rented an amazing AirBNB in the woods, and was ready for a night of exploration. The chocolate bars the provider gave us... didn't work. I was left with an upset stomach and nausea, without any of the benefits. Our provider was really into psytrance as well, which if you've never listened to is an acquired taste. They were understanding about it all, but suffice it to say I haven't attempted anything since.
When I was going through a rough time and SSRIs weren't helping, read all the research on what other solutions were out there. Psilocybin seems to be the most effective but is only legal in Oregon and price quotes were $3,500 for one session. Ketamine coupled with TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) was the second. Since both are legal and my insurance covered them, opted to choose these. I will say that the various meta-analyses have some conflicting results.
TMS seemed to be pretty effective for me. It feels incredibly silly to have your brain zapped and is a big time commitment (30 days, 1X a day for 10 minutes) but I can't argue with the results.
Ketamine was something else. I did it intravenously, which seemed to be the best way to manage dosage but required going into a clinic. The biggest downside to the whole treatment is that you'll be very drowsy and sometimes down after, and all I wanted to do was go to bed. Taking the Uber home is not pleasant. The esketamine nasal sprays allow you to do it at home at lower dosages.
Once you get over the feeling of leaving your body, it can be quite nice. Overall, it led to unblocking some life time hold ups I had, and made me a better person. I had 5 sessions, 4 of them were overwhelmingly positive. The last was a dark couple hours where I hyperfocused on all my internal fears and failures. It also led to a lot of existential thoughts and questioning the fabric of reality which isn't all bad in small doses. I can see how excessive use could start to be counterproductive, it's good to stay connected to this reality. I don't understand how people use this as a party drug.
I would absolutely recommend it in a controlled setting for limited treatment, but would caution those with addictive personalities to be careful, not to see it as a silver bullet or a crutch, to make sure you're in a neutral mental space and that you're comfortable wherever you're doing it. In tandem, I listened to a fair amount of buddhist podcasts from Joseph Goldstein that helped build out the spiritual/learning side.
I'd like to see psylocibin treatment be more readily available at a lower price across the nation as an alternative.
I have a few friends that are into this and have been praising it's benefits for a couple years. I tore a tendon in my ankle last year and am concerned this could hurt my recovery. Anyone have experience running barefoot post injury?
Having now been very frustrated, I did actually follow up and organized my own session through my network. I found a contact who worked in psychedelic research, and who had led sessions with others with psilocybin, had a couple friends join and rented an amazing AirBNB in the woods, and was ready for a night of exploration. The chocolate bars the provider gave us... didn't work. I was left with an upset stomach and nausea, without any of the benefits. Our provider was really into psytrance as well, which if you've never listened to is an acquired taste. They were understanding about it all, but suffice it to say I haven't attempted anything since.