DOSE:

10 g

oral

Heimia salicifolia

(tea)

BODY WEIGHT:

68 kg

As a musician I had been wanting to try this reported auditory hallucinogen for a while. My girlfriend L was also keen, so we obtained some from a friend who is an experienced and knowledgable supplier of ethnobotanicals who has tried Heimia numerous times.

I put 20g dried leaves in a pot with water and lemon juice on Friday night intending on trying it sometime during Saturday. I let it simmer for an hour or so and then poured the liquid and leaves into a wide-necked, lidded bottle which I put in the fridge.

The following day saw too much activity to try an unknown entheogenic experience so I put the bottle outside in the patchy sun - the weather was variable that day. In the evening I put the bottle back in the fridge. On Sunday I put the bottle back in the sun.

By 8pm that night we were finally free of commitments to go beyond. I strained the leaves from the bottle and simmered the liquid down to a shot glass each with a cup of hot chocolate as a chaser. We downed the bitter liquid at 9pm and watched a video while we waited for effects.

After about 30 minutes I noticed my body temperature had dropped a little and when a stood up my coordination was slightly affected. I was trying to pay attention to auditory effects and I felt perhaps I was noticing the sounds of the city in the distance more than usual. That could have been down to the fact that I was paying more attention, though.

I began to feel very heavy and fell asleep in front of the TV. My girlfriend woke me and suggested I go to the bedroom and get into bed where I would be more comfortable. I noticed that my coordination was very shaky now with slight discomfort in my muscles. I lay in bed for a while noticing an increasing stiffness in my muscles and a swelling in my throat. L joined me, complaining of the same symptoms.

Throughout the night the symptoms got worse until we both felt like we had chronic flu. Our muscles ached and movement caused even more pain. We both had an urge to pee a lot and walking back and forth from bedroom to toilet was an agonising shuffle involving a monumental effort just to put one foot infront of the other. I felt like I was 110 years old and looked like it in my movements. My throat was very swollen by this stage and drinking water to replace lost fluids was extremely uncomfortable. I kept expecting it to end, but it only got worse.

When we did sleep it was fitfull and filled with anxious dreams. In the morning I tried calling the supplier to see if he could shed any light on what was going on, but his mobile phone was off. I left a message. L had important appointments at work and had to go at all costs. She was worried that if I went back to sleep I might not wake up (heart = muscle). I was worried that she would not be able to handle a car, but she seemed in slightly better condition than myself. By this time I also had a headache.

My supplier eventually called at about 11am, waking me up. I noticed I felt a little better. He was baffled, explaining that he had tried 30g from the same batch just the other day. He suggested that it may have been the fact that it sat for two days causing one of the unknown alkaloids in Heimia to react and/or become active... Who knows?

It's 11:45 now and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it. I'm still sore and shuffling, though and my headache is still there. Going to risk an unknown combination with an aspirin...

Exp Year: 2004	ExpID: 32545
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 5, 2004	Views: 43,278
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Heimia salicifolia (150) : First Times (2), Health Problems (27), Small Group (2-9) (17)