FAQ : Developing Your Healing Relationship With Dimitri

Sadly, this is a very common question, and one which I believe exposes a detrimental breakdown of information transfer within the community. Be aware that there's no common definition of a breakthrough, everyone has their own. And be under no illusion - if you think that the pinnacle of Dimitri experiences awaits those who could only dose high enough then you will probably be heading towards some extremely difficult trips, and an early termination of your association with the medicine

What's the best way to use Dimitri?

By "best" I mean an approach that minimises the chance of negative trips, minimises anxiety levels, heart palpitations/rate (and I suspect blood pressure) increases, whilst maximising the positive effects. We're all different but for me, this means observing the guidelines described in my video and on this page, the section "Using The Intensity Levels Incrementally". If anyone introducing you to the medicine claims otherwise, then your best interests may not be their top priority

The gradual approach Is hogwash, why are you saying we should do it?

I'm not saying how anyone should do anything, and how you conduct your trips is your business entirely. It's something that works very well for me and I'm sure has helped keep my trips extremely positive. It might also work for you but there's no guarantee, it's simply another option which you may wish to be aware of

Hang on, why can't I just dive straight into a high intensity trip?

If you're a noob who's never vaped, then it's unlikely you'd be able to handle the vapour temperature/concentration needed to reach higher levels, and epic coughing would likely result. But this issue aside, yes of course you can dive into whatever level you are able to reach, but it's not something I recommend. This is exactly what I used to do every time and often all was fine, albeit with far more anxiety/heart rate increase. However, after considerable experimentation I now find that by using the gradual approach I have a much higher proportion of blissful euphoric trips, whilst greatly minimising negative effects

I've heard there's no such thing as a "bad trip", and the medicine always shows us what we need to know

I definitely disagree, and will do all in my power to avoid negative trips - I suggest you do the same. For one example, burning coils on d-juice methods can IME trigger ghastly demonic trips and a painful persistent headache for weeks afterwards. Impossible to see how this and other negative experiences can be beneficial. I personally only accept Dimitri as a truly loving and forgiving experience, taking anything different as a sign of something unproductive & best avoided

How often can I use Dimitri?

That depends on you & your individual circumstances. Personally, if I'm not testing kit etc, then I'd tend to aim for a monthly L3 session (i.e. several gentle pre-trips of gradually increasing intensity, leading to one or more Level 3 trips) with gentler trips weekly or thereabouts. However, there have been periods (for example testing for YouTube videos), where I've used L3 sessions (and higher) most mid-week nights for months on end, and I once kept this up for almost an entire year. I would never repeat this and definitely don't recommend such excesses. I seem to have recovered fully from the adverse side-effects but you might not be so lucky with even a quarter of my overuse.

What happens if I use It too frequently over a period of months/years?

Again I can only speak for myself, but during my year of irresponsible excess (see above) I noted the following ...

- Trips began to lose their special magic, reduced music enhancement, less euphoric, and higher chance of negative ambience
- My sleep deteriorated into a long series of weird dreams, few if any of these were pleasant
- I developed a very disconcerting "wavy feeling" under the top left of my scalp, which persisted for over a year. I now believe this was greatly exacerbated by using d-juice made from waxy yellow "hot pull" Dimitri (without filtering)
- I became increasingly irritable & intolerant of day-to-day annoyances such as queues at supermarket checkouts, unwanted noise etc
- I did little else in my life apart from trip and plan the next trip, kidding myself that I was doing it for the greater good and generating increasingly absurd justifications to continue this selfish behaviour.

As a result I took a 4 month break, which returned all to normal except the "wavy head". When I started filtering my djuice, and then started using dptek extraction (video here), which for me renders filtering unneccessary, the head feeling began returning to normal. Nowadays it is completely healed, thank goodness.

Are there any short/long-term health issues?

Unfortunately, info on this is largely anecdotal/uncertain. One potential issue relates to heart valve damage or "Drug-induced valvular heart disease" which has been linked to other 5-hydroxytryptamine2B (5-HT2B) receptor agonist drugs. As far as I can tell this seems to have been initially noticed from certain appetite surpressant medications (possibly since taken off the market) but has now also been linked to MDMA use. As far as I'm aware this hasn't yet been associated with DMT but this could change in the future. For reference see ..

Possible association between 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine abuse and valvular heart disease

Valvular heart disease induced by drugs

I've also seen regular reports of Dimitri use triggering tinnitus, or making exisiting tinnitus far more noticeable. I have certainly experienced this during the last few years, (oddly only in my left ear), although I have no idea whether this is related to Dimitri use.

Also see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33242285/

Perhaps less alarmingly, regarding daily use or more over a period of a week or more, I find I have a constant feeling of needing to clear my thoat and my breathing is very slightly wheezy. A short break has been an effective remedy

Can I listen to music whilst tripping?

I'd certainly suggest testing out some music during tripping, for me the right kind can direct the experience in an extremely positive and even entheogenic way as well as maintaining a reassuring link back to the real world. I'd suggest testing any tracks out at lower intensity levels first because to my ears, some music than seems calm & relaxing when "sober" can sound frenetic and unpleasantly jarring whilst tripping. I have several playlists but so far only Enya and Mimi Page make it onto my "L3 playlist". But when I get the music and tripping intensity into my sweet zone, the sound feels unimaginably majestic like it's filling the entire universe, I can feel every ounce of emotion in the sounds - a truly amazing and overwhelmingly beautiful experience. At levels higher than L3, music can be less pleasant with a few seconds of the track missing, tempo slowing down (or even speeding up), volume fluctuations, very tinny sound, harsh ripping and other interruptions. Some of these effects can actually be quite disconcerting. Of course, not everyone is musically oriented, plus individual tastes vary so much.

Can I use Dimitri recreationally, i.e. for "fun"?

You alone decide your boundaries, I'm not aware of any hard and fast rules on the 'how's or 'why's, but I'm sure many would agree it's easy to use Dimitri in ways that risk negative consequences. I'd suggest utmost caution and respect, using only in a totally secure & safe environment, and becoming totally comfortable with any intensity level before exploring it in a different setting.

I've just suffered a breakup/bereavement/other personal crisis, is it best to avoid Dimitri until my life settles?

I would suggest great caution but again this is something only you can answer because we all have such different personalities, circumstances, and reactions to Dimitri. For myself, I tend to avoid Dimitri sessions or at least wait until I have sufficient time to ensure even more caution for the gradual approach as decribed on these pages. And I'll be doubly careful not to go in deeper unless I'm getting an unequivocal feeling of welcome from the molecule

What are intentions and should I set them for each trip?

Some find it helpful to meditate on or at least think about certain questions/problems/predicaments/etc that they would like the molecule to help provide clarifications or similar. Personally, I prefer to rely completely on Dimitri to guide me without any pre-considered thoughts. Of course, you may be very different so it might be worth at least testing this out to see if it suits you.

Dimitri trips are very short, can I extend them somehow?

At lower intensity levels, it's generally viable simply to take top-up tokes when the effect starts to fade. However another way is to dose an MAOI (e.g. syrian rue or freebase harmalas) some time before vaping (known as vapourhuasca), and is my favourite way of using the medicine. However, reasearch will be needed before attempting as well as much caution. I released a video about how I do this , and although it's a few years old I still do almost exactly the same nowadays (I now use ejuice methods instead of "the machine" as was shown).

Can I dose dimitri orally, like a tablet?

Yes, it's known as pharmahuasca. However you won't normally feel any psychedelic effect from dosing freebase Dimitri alone apart from bloating and nausea, to make it orally active it must be consumed some time after dosing an MAOI. To reduce nausea, some report success by dissolving the freebase in a weak acid like lemon juice or 5% vinegar and dosing this. However, the only way I've found to eliminate gastric discomfort is to orally dose the fumarate form of Dimitri (made using FASA process) and not the freebase.

How do I persuade my partner/sibling/friend to try Dimitri?

The short answer is you don't. Not everyone will benefit from this medicine and we can't assume the same positive effects will apply to anyone else. Instead, consider respecting the choices of others following their own life journeys, irrespective of whether this involves taking on board your ideas & principles.

My Dad's in his 80s and seems keen to try my vape, is this a bad idea?

One problem with this for me is that a friend who's 70 (and has managed hypertension for some years) reports that vaping Dimitri raises his blood pressure to extremely high levels, at times verging on critical. So for this reason alone I'd suggest great caution with your Dad, and to be frank I wouldn't want to redline a high mileage engine too often. If things go pear shaped, you've lost your Dad, and the police will want a quiet word. Only you will be able to gauge the risk and decide if it's worth any potential benefits

How do I obtain a reliable supply of good quality affordable Dimitri?

I suggest learning to extract your own from mimosa hostilis root bark. This is a relatively simple process, akin to baking a cake, and all ingredients are readily available in most countries. There are several techniques (teks) to achieve this, the one I'd recommend is our own community "dptek", see here for the details , and a video showing how to do this is here Note: the entire site is disguised as a promotion for a quack detergent additive.

What's the best vape tool for Dimitri?

Beware claims single line reviews such as "works amazing" or "best tool I've ever tried", users of totally unsuitable vape tools often claim we should all be using them. In truth vape tools are a mix of pros and cons (although some have far more cons than pros in any situation), suiting different individual requirements. Here is a simplified comparison table ..

Why is Dimitri so difficult to vape properly?

It might feel like this if you're a noob, and especially if you're using non-recommended vape tools. For Dimitri vaping to be effective pre-requsites include...

Vapour consistently transported to lungs within a certain temperature range (vapour that's been allowed to cool appears far less effective)
Vapour consistently transported to lungs within a certain concentration range of vapour/air
Vapour must held in the lungs at within the temp/concentration range for long enough to be absorbed
You must be capable of handling point 3. without undue discomfort/coughing/etc

Things break down if any of these stages fail. Of course, there may be other reasons for lack of expected effect.

How do I overcome tripping anxiety?

Like me, you may find that gaining mastery over tripping anxiety to be a massively rewarding process, sending out a powerful message to yourself that you remain in full control of your own free-will. I suggest following the gradual approach as described here and considering the tips & tricks outined in my video on how to overcome fear & anxiety

Will alcohol with Dimitri help settle my nerves

For me, it used to be an irresistable urge to reach for my Dimitri vape after a glass or two of wine. However, from my own experiences I strongly suggest avoiding combining with alcohol. For me it kills visuals, removes magic, and enforces a shallow limit on how deep I can get. And the harder I try to push through, the more unpleasant it becomes with seemingly no limit on how ghastly the experience can get. I have heard occasional anecdotes of successful use of this combination but amost all seem to mirror my own experiences, plus with intense nausea/barfing included. If you go ahead and experiment, I'd recommend (as always) extreme caution, and starting off with small threshold L1 doses and taking it from there.

Can I build up a tolerance to vaping Dimitri?

In my experience, yes but not in the same way as oral dosing of other tryptamine-based psychedelics. The tolerance I've noticed has been in a short and longer term sense. Examples are ...

Two tokes on a 1:1 cart (7 seconds) used to be sufficient for me to experience bright coloured geometric visuals. Sadly, 4 years later I'm lucky to get even indistinct monochrome patterns from the same dosing
If I take a potent toke from emesh, I seem to need to wait for a full hour before I'm able to obtain a comparable effect from the same dose/settings/technique. For some unknown reason this apparent short-term tolerance seems far less with d-juice methods and I seem to be fine to dose almost freely and achieve comparable effects.

There are those who ignore the evidence and steadfastly deny the existence of any kind of Dimitri tolerance, IME this is nonsense. At best, this assertion may be a projection of findings on studies based upon IV injection/infusion of fumarate form of Dimitri with very limited subjects, and performed over days or even hours rather than years or decades. In short a totally different mode of how we operate and experience tolerance with Dimitri.

- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-023-02477-4.pdf

- https://maps.org/research-archive/w3pb/1996/1996_Strassman_22710_1.pdf

Is Dimitri Addictive?

Not in the same sense as substances such opiates, benzodiazepines or even weed. In the early days I found that tripping fear was acting as a subconscious barrier to overuse but once I'd conquered this, plus developed incremental techniques as outlined on these pages, I enjoyed such a hugely improved relationship, totally devoid of tripping fear, that I needed to seriously rethink avoiding overuse. Right now that boils down to sheer will power but this has never been my strong point, so I'm constantly working at it.

How Do I Accurately Dose To Specific Trip Intensity Levels?

For levels 1 and 2, this is simple with any suitable vape tool (e.g. carts or sub ohm (either rebuildable or non-rebuildable will be fine). Using a few gentle tokes on a lower Wattage will normally suffice, and these tools are also perfect for supplying top-up tokes without reoading. However, when aiming for level 3 (or higher) then a hotter/more concentrated vapour will generally be required. Good vapour acclimatisation will be needed plus to avoid overshooting, proficiency with your chosen vape tool. I'd suggest rebuildable sub ohm (non-rebuildable will work as long as great care is taken not to scorch the coils). Emesh can also work, but in my experience the intensity reached can be somewhat unpredictable, plus the hassles of reloading can interfere with the planning of gentle warm-up trips. I'd suggest rebuildable sub ohm as the tool of choice for the gradual approach. We're currently working on "thundertek" on the Discord, which (among other things) is looking very promising for attaining desired higher levels of intensity more reliably. Any emerging conclusions will be reported.

When I've taken a toke, how long is it best to hold the vapour in my lungs

Although you'll see guidelines of ~20 seconds, this is a noob's rough rule of thumb. A more realistic answer is hold the vapour as long as it takes for your lungs to absorb as much Dimitri as possible. Although this may not be what you want to hear, there is no universal specific hold-in duration for everyone in all conditions (and anyone claiming otherwise is IMO talking nonsense), your hold duration depends largely upon you, your vape tool, how it's set up and the toking style you adopt. Basically, you'll need to find out what works best for you. Here are some factors which may help you decide.

Three main factors for efficient toking

Vapour temperature - the higher it is, the quicker and more efficiently it seems to be absorbed by the lungs. Plus warmer vapour will ensure that less condenses in the mouth/airways on the way to the lungs
Vapour concentration - a higher concentration of dimitri (against ambient air) seems to be absorbed much more efficently and quicker than weaker vapour
The duration of the time frame where optimal conditions in 1. and 2. above exist for efficient absorption of the vapour

So bascially, hot concentrated vapour for as long as possible in the lungs appears to increase speed of absorption (and probably the total amount absorbed resulting in greatly enhanced vape efficiency), so a shorter ess hold in time may be appropriate. From experience, with common vape tools the simplest way of achieving all three is to use slow, longer tokes, which will have the following effects

A slow toke means less ambient air is drawn in to dilute and cool the dimtri vapour being produced by the atomiser, so the inhaled vapour remains hotter and more concentrated
IME, a longer duration toke means an extended period where sufficient heat/vapour concentration exists in the lungs. Basically the vapour seems to be absorbed just after production, which apears to maintain a more optimised temperature/time profile.

With some vape tools/djuice mixes, quickly repeated tokes with a shorter hold-in may prove more effective as a way of best achieving the conditions above.

However beware

I suggest avoid experimenting with hotter more concentrated vapour until you have some experience at regular settings/techniques with your chosen vape tool
Inhaling uncomfortably hot vapour may lead to or exacerbate adverse lung issues, so I suggest keeping things reasonable to reduce risk.
Some vape tools (e.g.non-rebuildable sub ohm) can easily burn coils with longer duration tokes, so suggest building up slowly and carefully (appropriate selection of wattage will also be key to prevent burning).
Care might be wise when experimenting with hotter, more concentrated vapour as things can get unexpectedly intense very suddenly!
Overly long hold-in (extending to after efficient lung conditions have expired) may cause pointless breathlessness