Kombucha gave me LSD-like symptoms

I drank a bottle of GT's Kombucha today that I bought at Whole Foods. It was my first time having Kombucha, and I wasn't aware that it could have intoxicating effects. About 90 minutes after drinking the Kombucha, I noticed I was feeling fatigued. I had just finished a short workout at the gym, so I thought maybe I was just feeling tired from that. As I was driving my car, I began to realize that something was becoming more wrong. I began having difficulty focusing as I was driving, and stimuli were affecting me in a strange way. I felt that my mental and physical perception was being distorted, and that my motor skills were slightly impaired. It's difficult to describe exactly what it's like to be on LSD or Psilocybin mushrooms, but I almost immediately recognized that this felt like LSD, which I had taken a couple of times several years ago. I came up fast. An hour or so later I was feeling much more normal, but now several hours later I am still not completely back to normal. The experience has felt almost exactly how I remember the experience of taking a small dose of LSD. I was having mild hallucinations, and my thoughts were wandering in ways that they normally don't. I felt impared mentally and physically, and I still feel slightly intoxicated several hours later. I'm just wondering if anybody can shed some light on this for me. Does this happen to people often from drinking Kombucha? Does it mean the bottle I drank was contaminated? Could it have been an allergic reaction? Should I go to the hospital?
I also have to acknowledge that I can't be 100% sure the Kombucha was the cause of my smptoms. There is a chance that I came into contact with something else that may have poisoned me, but under the circumstances the Kombucha seemed the most likely cause by far.

I can be 100% sure that the kombucha, especially not GT's, was the cause of that feeling. Kombucha makes you feel a little funny, granted, but don't go to the hospital. I'm thinking either a flashback or you touched something lying around. In the words of Dan Akroyd playing Jimmy Carter "Try takin' some vitamin B complex, some Vitamin C complex, if you have a beer drink it, just remember you're a living organism on this planet and you're very safe, you've just taken a heavy drug"

Cheers

Your first sentence doesn't make sense. I take it you're saying you're 100% sure the kombucha was NOT the cause of the symptoms. I don't think you can be 100% sure of that. It's a fermented, unpasteurized product. There is definitely a risk of contamination by toxic microorganisms.

Drink another kombucha (perhaps a lesser quantity) when you're in a safe environment and have the time to ride it out if you experience the same symptoms. Its hard to draw conclusions from a single event.

Maybe you had an allergic reaction to something. Maybe it was tainted--I'd avoid that brand in the future.

Kombucha is a detox - sounds like you had a mild flashback as part of a healing experience. The Kombucha may have helped "dislodge" the toxins but it is highly unlikely you were poisoned by the Kombucha - more like you were poisoned by your own body and previous behaviors. In fact, it could be part of a Herxheimer reaction, which is a "healing crisis" and would be consistent with detox protocol: http://www.kombuchakamp.com/2011/09/kombucha-side-effects-herxheimer-reaction-healing-crisis.html

On a side note, I tried drinking kombucha after working out and although I'm normally a kombucha fan and would of thought it would be a refreshing post-workout drink - it wasn't!

Do you have another bottle you can give me?

Toxic organisms and detox?

Unless you went somewhere special, this is probably the newer, tweaked "Enlightenment" kombucha, which was changed to prevent any kind of alcohol production in the bottle. It's barely kombucha by any meaningful definition (and may not be by some). Most of them are high enough in acidity, and low enough in fermentables, to prevent any kind of "infection" with "toxic organisms."

OP, you probably just had a flashback or some other kind of reaction. Have another bottle, if you like, and see what happens. I doubt it was anything in the kombucha.

Flashbacks from LSD ingestion are an urban myth.

If I was in a significantly altered mental state, I'd get my ass to the hospital ASAP. I don't mean to sound like a hypochondriac/worrywart type, but we're talking about your brain here. If it's doing something it shouldn't be doing, I wouldn't brush it off so lightly. What if you had a little brain bleed coincidentally around the time you drank your tea?

A sore elbow you can wait and see if it gets better. A prolonged, hours long episode of hallucinations and ataxia calls for a trip to the ER.

Peruvian802 said:

Flashbacks from LSD ingestion are an urban myth.

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Depends upon what you attribute the symptoms to. If it's excess LSD sitting around in your system just waiting to pop out again and get you, you're most likely right. If it's a newly experienced symptom based upon changes, or damage, you've done to yourself by drug abuse, I'm not so sure. It all depends upon what the explanation looks like, and people's explanations differ quite a bit.

Man, I gotta get me a SCOBY culture going asap....

The first place you look for medical advice is a homebrewing forum?

orangehero said:

The first place you look for medical advice is a homebrewing forum?

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First two, and only, posts on the forum, too. Probably a troll, but this ought to be funny anyway.

From Wikipedia: Drinking kombucha has been linked to serious side effects and deaths, and improper preparation can lead to contamination.[1]

orangehero said:

The first place you look for medical advice is a homebrewing forum?

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Dear HomeBrewTalk,

I recently (about 90 seconds ago) dropped a fully-loaded class carboy on my foot. It shattered and cut me up pretty bad, and now I am bleeding out at an alarming rate. I can no longer stand, and my vision is going dark. I see a light at the end of a tunnel, and I can hear Grandma beckoning me onward.

Should I make the switch to plastic buckets? Or just write this off as a learning experience and be more careful next time?

Also, can anyone provide me with detailed instructions on how to apply a tourniquet? Or how to make a suture from things I can find in my basement within arm's reach of me? Time is of the essence.

Kindest regards,

- hunter_la5

kh54s10 said:

From Wikipedia: Drinking kombucha has been linked to serious side effects and deaths, and improper preparation can lead to contamination.[1]

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[sarcasm]Mighty kind of you to include the endnote reference, and the entry you pulled this from[/sarcasm]. Did you read it? There's nothing to worry about from a commercial product unless you have a compromised immune system. There's no meaningful risk of death, and no meaningful connection to any death made there. Anything prepared improperly can be harmful.

Wikipedia being Wikipedia.


Besides, this is "GT's Kombucha." I know I didn't brew this improperly. No nightshade, belladonna, ayahuasca, or any other fun herbs were used, I promise.

Peruvian802 said:

Flashbacks from LSD ingestion are an urban myth.

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Obviously, you've never been there and are completely clueless. Please stop spouting off on subjects you know nothing about....

hunter_la5 said:

Should I make the switch to plastic buckets? Or just write this off as a learning experience and be more careful next time?

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go with plastic and a lesson learned

by the way say hello to grandma

all the best

S_M

The neurons that fire together, stay together. Example: let's say you were studying for a test, and under the effects of an amphetamine. There are those that believe, if you are not under the effects when you take your exam, your recall may not be as sharp as you would like it to be. Fast forward a decade or so, how is your recall of the amphetamine studies versus your recall of studies w/o the amphetamines? Is there a difference you can see?
I realize I wasn't discussing LSD, but the point is valid. If a person saw something scary let's say while tripping out, and got through it w/o harm, anything related to the bad trip cold cause a paranoid "flashback". Even something as simple as re- watching a tv show, or seeing a copy of a comic book when they were tripping, could cause that person to go south again.

im making some Kombucha in my erlenmeyer flask and am going to laff like a maniac whilst doing so.

Peruvian802 said:

Flashbacks from LSD ingestion are an urban myth.

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See what the guys below said.

GuldTuborg said:

Depends upon what you attribute the symptoms to. If it's excess LSD sitting around in your system just waiting to pop out again and get you, you're most likely right. If it's a newly experienced symptom based upon changes, or damage, you've done to yourself by drug abuse, I'm not so sure. It all depends upon what the explanation looks like, and people's explanations differ quite a bit.

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MindenMan said:

The neurons that fire together, stay together. Example: let's say you were studying for a test, and under the effects of an amphetamine. There are those that believe, if you are not under the effects when you take your exam, your recall may not be as sharp as you would like it to be. Fast forward a decade or so, how is your recall of the amphetamine studies versus your recall of studies w/o the amphetamines? Is there a difference you can see?
I realize I wasn't discussing LSD, but the point is valid. If a person saw something scary let's say while tripping out, and got through it w/o harm, anything related to the bad trip cold cause a paranoid "flashback". Even something as simple as re- watching a tv show, or seeing a copy of a comic book when they were tripping, could cause that person to go south again.

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As some personal experience, this isn't related to LSD, but PCP, and while I can't speak to the reality of chemically induced flashbacks from residual substances or flashbacks caused by damage from substances, I can speak directly to PTSD-type flashbacks from psychological trauma caused initially by them.


Back to the OP, I'm not a kombucha drinker regularly. I've had small amounts a couple times with nothing resembling like what you had. Given that it was commercial, I'd say contamination is unlikely. My thoughts would be some sort of allergic reaction.

And I would also agree with seeing a doctor just in case. You don't mess around with your brain like that.

Peruvian802 said:

Flashbacks from LSD ingestion are an urban myth.

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I beg to differ. It may not happen to everyone who has taken it, but it definitely can happen.

Sorry guys but there is no peer reviewed proof of solely LSD related flashbacks.

Oh and troy2000 - I'm not a chemist, but I attended approximately 80 Grateful Dead shows in my day. 😉

Peruvian802 said:

Sorry guys but there is no peer reviewed proof of solely LSD related flashbacks.

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Proof isn't the kind of thing that gets peer reviewed. It wouldn't help if it somehow could. Publications do.

I'm curious to hear what resources you searched, and how you searched them, to reach this conclusion.

Peruvian802 said:

Sorry guys but there is no peer reviewed proof of solely LSD related flashbacks.

Oh and troy2000 - I'm not a chemist, but I attended approximately 80 Grateful Dead shows in my day. 😉

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May not be a peer reviewed journal, but I'd call this pretty credible. And with some digging (that I'm working on), there's sure to be a peer-reviewed study this is coming from.

And it seems to directly disagree with you.

It says they're rare, and they don't know what causes them, but they're real.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-08/fyi-can-acid-trip-really-give-you-flashbacks

Greenbasterd said:

im making some Kombucha in my erlenmeyer flask and am going to laff like a maniac whilst doing so.

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Heating it with NH4NO3 can get hilarious as long as it isn't heated too high.

krackin said:

Heating it with NH4NO3 can get hilarious as long as it isn't heated too high.

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This has Mythbusters written all over it...

kh54s10 said:

From Wikipedia: Drinking kombucha has been linked to serious side effects and deaths, and improper preparation can lead to contamination.[1]

Click to expand...

GuldTuborg said:

[sarcasm]Mighty kind of you to include the endnote reference, and the entry you pulled this from[/sarcasm]. Did you read it? There's nothing to worry about from a commercial product unless you have a compromised immune system. There's no meaningful risk of death, and no meaningful connection to any death made there. Anything prepared improperly can be harmful.

Wikipedia being Wikipedia.


Besides, this is "GT's Kombucha." I know I didn't brew this improperly. No nightshade, belladonna, ayahuasca, or any other fun herbs were used, I promise.

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I looked up Kombucha on Wikipedia to find out what it was. Read and copied the first line, did not read the rest. Do not necessarily believe anything I read on the interwebs!

Qhrumphf said:

May not be a peer reviewed journal, but I'd call this pretty credible. And with some digging (that I'm working on), there's sure to be a peer-reviewed study this is coming from.

And it seems to directly disagree with you.

It says they're rare, and they don't know what causes them, but they're real.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-08/fyi-can-acid-trip-really-give-you-flashbacks

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From the article:

In a 2002 review of the scientific literature on HPPD over the last 50 years, psychiatrist John Halpern and his co-authors found most studies provided too little information to estimate the prevalence "even crudely" of HPPD in the population. "It is often unclear whether symptoms occurred exclusively following hallucinogen intoxication," they write. "It is also difficult to rule out other medical or psychiatric conditions that might cause 'flashbacks', including current intoxication with another drug, neurological conditions, current psychotic or affective disorders, malingering, hypochondriasis, or even other anxiety disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."

Either way, pass the kombucha! :beard::cross:

I just tried some GT's kombucha for the sake of science and it gave me a jenkem flashback.

Peruvian802 said:

Sorry guys but there is no peer reviewed proof of solely LSD related flashbacks.

Oh and troy2000 - I'm not a chemist, but I attended approximately 80 Grateful Dead shows in my day. ��

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I'm not a chemist either. But I don't need 'peer reviewed proof' of something I've experienced first-hand.

If you brought up the Grateful dead concerts to imply that you've used LSD without ever having a flashback, that hardly proves no one has them.

troy2000 said:

Obviously, you've never been there and are completely clueless. Please stop spouting off on subjects you know nothing about....

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But see, this is where you were wrong.

...and you are absolutely sure that your "flashbacks" were LSD induced, correct?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Peruvian802 said:

But see, this is where you were wrong.

...and you are absolutely sure that your "flashbacks" were LSD induced, correct?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

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I think you're setting a very narrow definition of "induced". And that's framing this in a way where people can't really debate you. Regardless of what the technical cause is, flashbacks associated with psychadelic drug use is well recorded.

Unless you're saying it's all in people's heads and denying the existence of flashbacks altogether.

In any event, I'm not going to keep hijacking the thread with this discussion.

This thread is a front-runner for the "Lots of Heat, Little Light" award.

Peruvian802 said:

Flashbacks from LSD ingestion are an urban myth.

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Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean that it doesn't happen to others. There have been ocassional glitches in the matrix, seemingly random metabolic warps and such...


Oh, this is an interesting analysis:

http://simson.net/ref/1970/LSD_Flashbacks_ocr.pdf


OP: But to suggest that drinking kombucha triggered a flashback? Possibly it did. But you could drink kombucha a hundred more times, trying to verify, and it won't happen again.

I'm amused that people think this thread has sufficient purpose and substance such that it can be hijacked.

Peruvian802 said:

But see, this is where you were wrong.

...and you are absolutely sure that your "flashbacks" were LSD induced, correct?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

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The only thing I'm 'absolutely' sure of is that someday you and I will both die. But I'm sure beyond a reasonable doubt.

I didn't have flashbacks until I had used LSD for a couple of years, and I was using no other drugs aside from an occasional joint. The flashbacks were basically mini-acid trips - and they tapered off and eventually stopped, after I quit using LSD.

I find few things more obnoxious than smug ignorance and contrariness for its own sake, and I'm done encouraging you. Go display your incredible brilliance and vast knowledge to someone who cares....