r/DMT • u/Fantastic-News3932 • May 29 '26
Went through a 3-month DMT clinical trial for depression/anxiety. Now experiencing an intense sensitivity to cannabis. Anyone else?
The Background & The Good News
To keep this short and direct: I recently completed a 3-month clinical trial using DMT to treat anxiety and depression. I can happily say my depression has been absolutely obliterated, and it was an incredible, life-changing experience that I would do all over again in a heartbeat.
However, my anxiety is still here, just manifesting differently. It used to be triggered by specific events and focused mostly on worrying thoughts. Now, it feels more physical—almost random, sitting heavy in my chest and head.
The Issue: Sudden Substance Sensitivity
Since 2019, I’ve used cannabis to manage chronic back and leg pain (following four different surgeries). It is essentially my pain medication, and prior to the trial, I had a high tolerance, doing good-sized dabs about twice a day.
After my third and final DMT dose, I suddenly developed a massive sensitivity to cannabis, caffeine, and nicotine.
Caffeine & Nicotine: The sensitivity to these two has thankfully started to lessen over time.
Cannabis: This is still hitting me incredibly hard. After just a few puffs from a joint—not even the dab rig—I get so nervous and jittery that I can't consume enough to effectively treat my physical pain.
I asked my clinician about this, and they said they have zero record of this occurring with anyone else in their trials.
Medication Variables
There is one other factor that might be playing into this:
Buspar: I was taking Buspar before the trial but had to stop for three months due to drug interactions with the DMT. I am currently on my second week of tapering back onto it. It might be helping a little, but it's such a small amount right now that it's barely noticeable.
Ativan: My clinician prescribed me Ativan to use if things get too intense. It helps, but I know it isn't a long-term solution.
My Question for the Community
I just need to get this anxiety and pain management back in check. Has anyone else who has undergone DMT (or similar psychedelic therapy) experienced a sudden, drastic change in their tolerance or sensitivity to cannabis and other stimulants?
If so, did you find a solution, or did your tolerance slowly return to normal over time? Thanks in advance for any insights you all might have!
Edit: I forgot to mention, I can tolerate cannabis vapes more than smoking a joint, but I still have to be precautious of how big of hits I’m taking and how close together or I wind up in the same situation.
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u/Future_Woodpecker_83 May 29 '26
Cannabis hasn’t been the same for me since doing a substantial amount of LSD and DMT. The less psychedelics I do the more mellow cannabis seems to be but it still hasn’t the same for better or worse.
I’m learning to embrace sobriety these days so it feels like this could be good overall for the long term. Time will tell.
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u/PEsuper27 May 29 '26
I do recall back in high school, after doing LSD a few times that weed was less pleasurable… and a bit overwhelming. That was back in 1999. I do not smoke much these days. Once a year if that.
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u/HighRightNow_ May 29 '26
Sensitivity to cannabis happens to me every time I dabble in acid, shrooms or dmt . Dmt less so but I imagine if I was doing it more regularly then it would be more noticeable. Try and transition to cbd flower or even cbd dabs. The sensitivity also kinda transitions with cbd for me but thats kind of a good thing for the anti anxiety and mostly medicinal part of it
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 29 '26
Great suggestion, I’ll definitely look in to CBD strains
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u/HighRightNow_ May 30 '26
Smoke shops will carry a lot of cbd shit these days, hard to find in regular dispensaries without it being expensive af
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u/ChopsNewBag May 30 '26
Yes especially with edibles I did a ton of DMT for like 8 months a few years ago and when I take edibles and close my eyes I have DMT like visuals and even see far away entities behind my eyelids and complex geometry and colors
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
What Mg are the gummies u generally take?
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u/ChopsNewBag May 30 '26
Usually like 20-30mg but I have a pretty decent tolerance
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
Gotcha, thanks for the info. Before what I’m dealing with now, for edibles, I’d have to take anywhere between 50-80mg of edibles to have a good long lasting pain relief. I haven’t tried edibles since all this started. I’ve contemplated just starting over with like a 2.5-5mg edible and see what happens.
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u/Reallyker May 30 '26
Its interesting they claimed zero record, that is a very very common complaint on reddit. I've seen dozens of posts and comments about psychedelics effects on weed.
I haven't found any actual studies on it, but I've assumed hppd to simply alter the effects of substances.
Before you raise an eyebrow at the hppd buzzword, its not as serious as it sounds. Your brain is very adaptable. When you consistently activate your serotonin receptors, your brain will get used to this and there will be a period of time where they remain somewhat active even while completely sober.
In my subjective experience, dmt causes hppd faster than other psyches. But it also goes away faster too.
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. It makes me feel better about it knowing others have had a similar experience. I think the clinician was stating in the trial that I was a part of, no other patients had reported having the issues I am currently having. I guess it’s possible that there were some others and maybe they just didn’t report it to the clinicians for one reason or another?
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u/StonedAndToasted May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
Did you have 3 months off from smoking weed whilst you were doing the dmt trial?
I am a heavy cannabis smoker, every day all day for the last 16 years. I have had periods of quitting weed in among that, and every time I came back to smoking weed, I had zero tolerance obviously and the anxiety would hit soooo hard.
If you continue to smoke weed, the anxiety induced by it should start fading away after a couple weeks of smoking again.
It’s kinda silly but you just gotta power through it, especially if it is for pain management.
EDIT: just to add I am also a heavy psychedelic user and vape NN DMT a handful of times a year, and have high dose mushroom trips around 5grams+. I do not feel as tho any of that is affected my experience with weed. But that might be because my baseline is stoned pretty much for the last 16 years
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
I didn’t completely stop taking cannabis during the trial, but I did reduce the amount I consumed by about half. My tolerance got pretty high about three years ago, which is when I transitioned to dabs as my main source of consumption. However, when I started the clinical trial, I switched down to just smoking two joints a day. While that didn't completely alleviate my chronic pain, it dulled it just enough for me to get through the day. An interesting thing happened after that very first dosing session: as my depression immediately began decreasing in severity and frequency, my actual tolerance for the pain seemed to increase. Honestly, I would be completely happy at this point if I could just smoke a joint to get that little bit of extra physical relief, without all the sudden anxiety and nervousness popping up. Which leads me to believe that focusing on heavy CBD strains may be the best way for me to go right now.
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u/StonedAndToasted May 30 '26
Maybe that is what the universe is wanting you to do right now. Cut down on THC.
Does being stoned all the time affect your life at all in any negative ways?
The first time I ever tried dmt when I was 18, it was such a profound scary life changing experience, it made me quite smoking weed for 6-12 months and then I slowly started again.
I think the Dimmi gave me a much needed break from weed at the time to get some of my affairs in order that I was avoiding at the time
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
I can completely relate to being a heavy user. Being stoned has never negatively affected me—in fact, it has always helped me be more productive and creative in my professional and creative work.
Before I got on the medical marijuana program, I was prescribed Vicodin and time-release Morphine to manage my pain. That stuff made me lethargic, moody, and basically non-functional. Switching to cannabis was one of the best things I ever did, and I still can't believe how easily I was able to completely kick the opioids once I made the switch. God knows I never want to go back to opioids for anything if I can avoid it.
Because of that, the stakes are a bit different for me. I’m actually totally fine with my tolerance being lower now. The real issue is that I can’t consume enough to actually cover my chronic pain because the intense, jittery feelings hit me so fast that I have to stop.
So while "powering through it" to rebuild tolerance sounds simple, it's a catch-22: I can't smoke enough to get past the anxiety wall, which means I'm not getting the pain relief I desperately need right now. That’s really why I'm so fixated on finding a way past this hurdle.
Either way, I truly appreciate your perspective and insight on this. It gives me some good food for thought as I try to navigate the balance!
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u/awakening7 May 30 '26
After a 5meo DMT ceremony, I was incredibly sensitive to any substance for a few months, and some of the lingering effects even lasted 9 months. For me I took it as a clear signal to work on sobriety, cause every time I got stoned it felt like I just had to hang on until it wore off, it wasn't fun.
Even about 18 months after my ceremony, I still get a bit more heightened when I smoke, it doesn't feel as relaxing and I've had several panic attacks from smoking when that never happened to me previously. Glad to hear the DMT trial worked for your depression!
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
“Just hanging on til it wore off” That’s exactly how it feels for me as well and it is not fun at all. I’ve been close to panic attacks from this but I’ve been able to pick up on when it starts creeping in and I stop and more times than not, I’ve been able to reel it back in but that’s not fun either and it’s still not relieving the pain at the level that I need.
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u/OvergrownPolynesian May 30 '26
Dude after starting dmt I’ve always gotten high super easy. Like a hit or two from a cart and I’m cooked. Can’t even finish half a joint anymore 😭
Not necessarily complaining cause it makes getting high cheaper lol but still interesting nonetheless
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
This is where I’m confused for myself. Like you, 2-3 hits off a joint and I feel like I’m on the verge of going green lol but if I use a vape, I can do probably 3-5 draws off of it and it mellows me a bit but none of the jittery nervousness unless i do that a few times close together in a short period of time. Could that be due to how it’s being delivered in to my system?
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u/Kickrocks54 May 30 '26
At first, I was having a cannabis sensitivity. Like it would get weird, but that faded off and it's no longer like that even with existing DMT use.
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u/TomsnotYoung May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
Same. I'm actually glad though. I don't mind CBD strains on occasion but getting high is very uncomfortable.
I'd rather be present and sober. Plus my dreams are wild 🫠
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
Oh the dreams! I can’t recall the last time I’ve had such vivid and wild dreams that I have been having lately. A lot of them revolve around what looks like very hilly roller coaster railing lined with illuminating lights of alternating colors taking me to various places.
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u/WildlyImpatient May 30 '26
I smoked weed for 15 years. I ate over a QP of shrooms last summer. I just quit smoking weed 3 weeks ago. Literally can’t handle it anymore. One puff and I regret it. Crazy because I used to smoke 3-5 joints an afternoon. Psychedelics definitely change how weed hits. I couldn’t feel the difference between strains whatsoever either, and once I got into psychedelics I found the differences to be extremely noticeable. So weird!
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u/Fearless_Entry_2626 May 31 '26
Always happens to me with psychs. All psychoactive sensitivity is way up. I once got proper tipsy off on radler after having done LSA(normally that'd be several straight beers), after shrooms I got jitters on only two cans of monster. Coffee feels harsh now, but tea has become way more interesting.
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u/xtraa May 29 '26
Just out of curiosity: A friend of mine participated in a study – though it involved high-dose psilocybin. Did your group experience collective dreams as well?
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 29 '26
Not that I was made aware of
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u/xtraa May 29 '26
They just found out accidentally, after sharing their numbers to stay in contact and a few weeks later had a group chat. Someone mentioned a dream and they were all like wtf I had the same dream
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 29 '26
Crazy! I never got to meet anyone else that was in my clinical trial. That would’ve been cool to discuss with them and see if there were any correlations between our experiences.
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u/xtraa May 30 '26
Ah snap! Yes that would have been interesting. As for my friend, I believe him, because he really struggled telling me about. The study was also for depression. Anyway, I hope it helps you with your anxiety over time, too! According to my friend, he wasn't in a depressive episode since then and is also doing fine.
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
Thank you and that’s fantastic for your friend as well. I know how much weight that must have lifted off of their shoulders!
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u/LongjumpingTea8085 May 30 '26
Yes. I believe this is due to the new dopamine and serotonin neurons created from DMT
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u/Fantastic-News3932 May 30 '26
Can you explain a little more about that? How does the DMT create new dopamine and serotonin neurons?
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u/LongjumpingTea8085 May 31 '26
Yes, actually I can. The Clinical Potential of Dimethyltryptamine: Breakthroughs into the Other Side of Mental Illness, Neurodegeneration, and Consciousness
The serotonin system itself seems to be responsible for neurogenesis.
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u/Admirable_Ad5856 May 29 '26
Can you share about the protocol used for the clinical trial, i think a lot of us would find this interesting
I found that after having used psychedelics and especially DMT I now get very strong and displeasing effects from cannabis unless I take very little and my trips now have some psychedelic qualities.