Talk:Carbogen

Agree. It is very misleading. Simply following links shows that Meduna used a 30% CO2 formulation to get the psychoactive effects. This article suggests that 5% causes these effects. That would scare many 137.187.245.177 (talk) 12:23, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

This article is full of serious errors. One of these days if I have time I'll clean it up.

This page is bad enough to warrant deleting it. Does anyone have references to back any of it up? --Karuna8 15:44, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Ok, its coming along now, thanks Viriditas. --Karuna8 01:50, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Erowid as a source

I added some references but they refer to erowid.org. I have no idea how reliable the site is. Any input? Anyone know of a better source? --Karuna8 03:37, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

That site is certainly reliable. Erowid is a leading site that informs, about virtually every psychoactives,

always weighing the negatives to the positives and most of the time they even cite sources.

You should check out the rest of it! 87.66.94.119 (talk) 17:33, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Carbogen vs Carboxygen

I have found few publications that refer to a 95%/5% mixture of O2/CO2 as "carboxygen", while most list it as carbogen. Labs I have been in always refer to it as carbogen, but perhaps this is worth a mention?

It might also be worth noting that this is a commonly used gas in scientific research for keeping tissue alive, particularly brain slices. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zixaq (talk • contribs) 04:56, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Speculation of the mechanism of psychedelic effects of Carbogen

Ede Frecska has presented[1] that the enzyme indolealkylamine-N-methyl transferase(INMT) catalyzes the synthesis of DMT from tryptamine. Lungs are the largest reservoir of INMT in human and animal body. DMT being sigma-1 agonist protects cells from oxygen deficiency. When one is in extreme danger of oxygen deprivation, the lung reservoirs of INMT release DMT to buffer for the oxygen deficiency. This could also explain the psychedelic effects of carbogen.--Custoo (talk) 07:10, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

Clinical Effectiveness

Really need details on whether it is actually clinically effective, and if so why it isn't still being used.

Sorry to spam but here is all the extra info from the book interview parse and copy in as needed:

"After the second breath came an onrush of color, first a predominant sheet of beautiful rosy-red, following which came successive sheets of brilliant color and design, some geometric, some fanciful and graceful …. Then the colors separated; my soul drawing apart from the physical being, was drawn upward seemingly to leave the earth and to go upward where it reached a greater Spirit with Whom there was a communion, producing a remarkable, new relaxation and deep security."

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Over the four and a half years you did this work, how many subjects did you work with, and how many sessions did they have?

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There were 350 people, and mostly they just had one session each. Some had two, and then a few had psilocybin follow-ups. We primarily used LSD and mescaline. Especially with alcoholics, we felt that mescaline helped them break down their resistances and go deeper inside.

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What was the purpose with using Meduna’s mixture during this research?

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People would visit the therapist and review their autobiography. Then we would administer carbogen: Meduna’s mixture of carbon dioxide and oxygen. We usually gave them about three inhalations. They’d have an inhalation, share what they experienced, and then they’d have another one. It usually took about two or three. One woman I worked with personally, a nurse, said she got as much out of the two preparatory sessions as she got out of the LSD experience. And she had a great LSD experience. I once claimed that if I ever had to go back to work, I could make a living as a CO2 therapist. I enjoyed doing it, and felt I helped people through it quite well. But after it was all over, I’m not so sure. It’s pretty traumatic. I worked for two years with it myself, with a physician friend, and had a lot of tremendous experiences. But he stopped working with me because he said, “Myron, we’re just recycling.” I’d have a great experience, a good discharge, a lot of anger and stuff, and feel really wonderful for several days. Then I’d begin to load up again. We did this once a week. Myron Stolaroff 57 I’d have another discharge and feel great, and then I’d be back sort of in the same place. After a couple of years, he said, “Myron, we’re not getting anywhere.” If I could remember everything that happened in those experiences, I’d be the smartest man in the world. But they fade, the CO2 experiences usually fade rapidly. However, a few of them really stuck and were very significant.

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What was the purpose of that as an introduction to the LSD?

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There were several. First, it taught people how to let go to the experience. Second, it was a great abreactor or emotional releaser. If you have repressed stuff, when that CO2 hits you, it really releases. People experience unconscious material for the first time in their life. It’s strange, but you talk about the unconscious and you read about it, and then you think you know what it is. But you can’t know what’s unconscious. By definition, it’s unconscious! So people are always shocked when real unconscious material comes up, and a lot of unconscious material came up in these preparatory sessions. This made people realize how much more there was to be learned and gained. It gave them a lot of enthusiasm for the subsequent LSD session, because they often felt a lot better after abreacting. So it had a number of advantages as a preparation. Sometimes when people were psychologically “stuck” in LSD sessions, we’d bring in the carbogen tank. It would only take a few breaths while on LSD to break through a barrier. We didn’t do that very often, because we preferred that the individual work through any psychological obstacles that came up. But every once in a while it seemed to be very helpful to push a person through. <ref name="Meduna_1950">{{cite book — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.94.192.36 (talk) 05:25, 16 February 2021 (UTC)