Biosublime.com/LSD, Birth & TraumaThe Biological Role of the
Endogenous Hallucinogens
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2.1 PROCEDURE and SUMMARY
A few weeks after M’s first initial encounter with LSD described in Part 1 he participated in 7 or 8 sessions that were irregularly spaced over the next few years, all with increasingly larger doses (100 to 250ug). These sessions took place with M alone in his comfortable and private downstairs “den”. The experiences in all of these trials embodied the same motif, divided into three distinct phases. The first phase was a spike of autonomic activity, measured as blood pressure, heart rate and oral temperature, rising and falling within 10 to 15 minutes after ingesting the same lot of blotter LSD. The second (inebriation) phase of every trial was dominated, not by visions, past traumas or spiritual experiences, but by intensely energized muscular body movements. The third phase was a protracted time of after- effects, beginning subtly as the drug wore off and lasting for the next two or three days. This third phase was a remarkable existential departure from M’s ordinary life and was explored further with reference to physical and emotional states. Symptoms of the third phase could be eliminated by deliberately ignoring the call to movement in the second phase, indicating a strong autonomic coupling of all three phases. However, the time given to all three were unchanged; Return to normalcy still required the same 2 to 3 day period of the third phase.
Conclusion: The adult born by Twilight Sleep (TS) or, perhaps excess anesthesia, can experience the same activation and movement the fetus experiences in natural birthing. This sequence of three phases is thus far unknown to obstetric practitioners. During the labor phase of parturition, the loss of sensory and physical activity in a fetus subjected to the excess anesthesia and catalepsy of scopolamine and morphine interrupts the natural sequence of hypothalamic secretions at the point of the pharmacological target mediating fetal activaiton.
2.2 Variability of Drug Effects
Not all sessions in different doses, places and times were dominated by the “somatic”, three phase events. The well-known factors of set and setting (Szara S. 1994) may have had some influence, but this departure from the usual somatic effects appeared to be related more to the dosage. Once, in a different setting with other people, the somatic effects occurred with a dose of psilocybin (mushroom) so large that commercial tea bags were added to the boiling cauldron to prevent retching. This enterprising cultivator developed a strain of Psilocybe cubensis five times larger and considerably more potent than the wild type. A much smaller dose, taken as a 20mm length of a 5mm diameter stem in the “den”, produced visionary effects, but no muscular effects whatever. This same dosage pattern was experienced with the phenethylamine hallucinogen, 2C-B. Any dose smaller than 20 to 25 milligrams of 2C-B would not produce the somatic effects of the three stage LSD “den” sessions. Notably, M’s first LSD physical sensations with a small dose (Part 1) were never elicited with further experiments regardless of dose or hallucinogen type. With reference to this one-time experience, it is interesting that doses of DMT smaller than 0.2mg/kg elicit physical sensations only (Strassman, 1992).
At the time, M wondered if these somatic effects might be a marker for testing a suspected hallucinogen or another vehicle related to hallucinogenic effects. His participation in two “Holotropic Breathing” sessions, designed by Dr. Grof and administered by trained personnel, produced the same somatic effects, but included numinous experiences and revelations, as well. DOI, then legal and long lasting, was tested, also. With this substance, the muscular struggles continued for well over 15 hours, with a very slow descent to normal, punctuated by intense muscular contortions. The third phase was unlike the others, since the subject was very tired after a total DOI session approaching 36 hours. The movie, “The Red Shoes” comes to mind, in which a dancer must dance to the point of death as long as the red ballet slippers were on her feet. There seemed to be no way to end or truncate the muscular exertion, as no benzodiazopenes or nicotine, used early as a remedy for somatic effects, were on hand. Chance favors the informed mind.
2.3 RESULTS
2.3.1 THE FIRST PHASE: AUTONOMIC MEASUREMENTS
Immediately after LSD ingestion in the first and third sessions measurements of blood pressure, heart rate oral temperature and pupil diameter were begun. A representation of the averaged data is shown in Figure 11. These measurements increased to maximum values within five to ten minutes and returned to normal within 15 minutes. Peak values were: BP 160/110 (normal was 125/80 with medication), HR rose to100 from 72, and oral temperature +3.5 deg F above normal. Midriasis was measured with a small metric ruler under the eye reflected by a parabolic mirror, but it was too variable to record. Notably, it was not until these autonomic parameters fell to normal that the second muscular phase began some
minutes later. It was taken into consideration that this lag between the first and second phase might be explained by the attenuation of subjective effects resulting from mental concentration needed for taking the measurements and the onset of the subsequent influences was subtle. However, this subtlety of effect was experienced well after the measurements were done.
2.3.2 SECOND PHASE: SOMATIC EFFECTS
The second phase began with a profound sense of “healing” and relaxation and calm, positive anticipation. A surge of unaccustomed muscular strength and energy followed soon after. (Note again that this occurred some minutes after the autonomic measurements returned to normal). This energy was accompanied by a very subtle suggestion for M’s shoulders to move in certain ways (enumerated below) as to the kind of position seemingly orchestrated by an inner “guide”. At this point a choice presented itself. By submitting to this suggestion voluntarily, movements began to occur permissively and with progressively more automation and intensity, culminating in an alarming force of muscular contraction of the arms, abdomen and legs. On the other hand, if these suggestions for movement were ignored, a price was paid in the third phase as will be discussed below.
In following the “suggestions” i.e., doing the “work”, one position gave way to another with very pleasurable cues to change position and focus of effort. These movements took place In a rather mixed sequence of arm clamping, thorax twisting, back arching, shoulder contraction, head turnings, body extensions and abdominal contractions.
2.3.2.1 MOVEMENTS:
1) A cycle would begin with crossing both arms forcefully and tightly to the chest and rolling onto the side into a fetal position, with knees drawn up as far and as forcibly as possible. There was a distinct, almost sexual, pleasure that encouraged this effort. The shoulders forced upward toward each temple with arms crossing to the point that the hands extended on opposite sides as much as possible as if to reach the scapulas. The knees were raised and the stomach muscles contracted to form an overall fetal position. This position was held for about 20 seconds with all the force of contraction possible in all the involved muscle groups simultaneously.
2) This fetal position was transformed smoothly into the urge to roll to the left, followed by a turning of the thorax from the hips into a front-down position and a turning of the head and extension of the left leg. At this point the intense effort was abandoned and M’s body rolled to the right to lie fully extended on his back for a rest period and recovery of rapid breathing.
3) Now on his back, the cue to contract the stomach muscles reappeared, but this time the back muscles, those of the rump and the back of the thighs contracted to an arching backward of the mid-section. Consciously, M intensified this to a conformation where, at times, only the back of the head and feet were touching the floor without strain or discomfort.
4) Rolling was cued once again with chest to floor. In this position the legs were extended fully and the head was pressed forcefully against the right shoulder. This was accompanied by the turning of the neck and head, which was a cue to bring the arms tightly to the sides of the body, arms crossing across the stomach at the elbow and strong contraction of the stomach muscles, pulling the upper body up and forward. Then, the legs would be brought forcefully, knees to chest with more turning, once again, to a fetal position, followed by a repeat of the overall sequence. Occasionally, with legs extended, strong tremors would begin in thighs, knees and calves in a manner similar to people succumbing to a heart attack. The sequence of these four postures was variable and, at the time, was not considered an issue. Always, the strongest cue was the first that led to the fetal position.
There was a tidal quality of these movements, In which the exhausting effort, to the point of becoming breathless and physically spent, was followed by a short permissive release Into comfortable relaxation with a sense of profound stillness, enjoyment and a sense of re-grouping for the next effort. During these rests, there were some changes In the perception of light, as if it was radiating evenly throughout the visual field with a hint of yellow or gold. Once again, an urge, no longer subtle, began to dictate the same movements and muscular contractions. These resumed without any sense of fatigue. Rather, there was distinct physical pleasure as an invitation to work even harder and to cooperate with the urges with renewed vigor. While the rest periods lasted about 7 minutes, the time for these four contortions varied from a one to three quarters of an hour. On some occasions more than half dozen of these intense experiences took place during the seven to nine hour session. These vigorous movements always took up the entire session and faded only when the Inebriation began to end on its own. This transition period finished with calm relaxation interspersed by occasional and diminished urges to contract shoulder and back muscles.
2.3.3 THIRD PHASE: AFTER EFFECTS.
The fading of the Inebriation could be sensed on some vague levels other than the decreasing muscular urges. As the muscularity gradually disappeared, it was replaced by a profound sense of well being, relaxation and complete lack of fatigue from the enormous effort. M felt completely rested. An hour or two later, M would have some confidence that his personal behavior would not appear strange to others. Then, he could leave his comfortable den downstairs and ascend to rejoin his unsuspecting family.
The after effects of these sessions for the following two or three days clearly depended upon the willingness to follow this "work". If M acquiesced each tidal cycle to the early subtle suggestion and worked fully with the ensuing crescendo of muscular Intensity to the point of exhaustion and until the Inebriation came to an end, the next three days’ mental and physical states were unlike those he had ever experienced. He felt centered, confident, happy, fully relaxed, and contemplative with the full range of creative thinking and physical coordination. Conversely, in two of the LSD sessions M attempted to ignore the call to movement by focusing on some separate Issue. In these cases the next few days were notable for annoying Irritability with some residue of the urge for exertion. Running or climbing stairs was tried, but without the ordinary stamina. It was obvious that the muscles used in these activities were inappropriate. Whether the “work” was done or not, after effects disappeared after two or three days and M returned to his old neurotic self.
The “work” rewarded M with a sense of profound relaxation, awareness, well- being, calm Insight and a kind of volatility In being moved with uncharacteristic appreciation for the “newness” in the colors of his surroundings. Music heard or played evoked fresh emotional pleasure, perhaps providing a look Into the psyche of the composer, especially Ravel or Debussy. His playing of music invaded more deeply, as If M was experiencing the same emotional state as the composer felt when writing the music with the chosen harmonics. His hands at the piano obeyed the emotional Interpretations he placed on the music and It seemed as if M’s entire body was Involved. The satisfaction of having performed well was noticeable during a performance.
The following days after doing the “work” revealed an equally striking change In M’s athletic ability. Since his golf handicap at the time was In the mid 20s, somewhat above that of a duffer, he decided to see If this “after period” had any effect on his game. Daring to take out a 2-Iron and try for the green 200 yards away, M dropped the ball onto the green six feet from the pin. M noticed that waist and back muscles no longer interfered with the backswing. Other players asked M’s companions If he was a golf professional! His score reflected a drop In handicap to less than 5. Of course, this was not mentioned to other golfing cronies Interested In taking his money. M had asked other (psychedelic) friends about this after-effect and a few of them agreed. They became "Joe DiMaggio" a day or so after their psychedelic trip. One hockey buff, after sampling a psilocybin mushroom, recalled that no players could touch him the day following, as he made almost all of the goals for his winning team. Positive after effects such as these have been described by many others, but not in the context of somatic domination of the inebriation phase (cf Hofmann 2005). The greater frequency of this phase in others might imply that this level of after-experience is not really connected to the character of the previous phases. That it might be will be considered below.
One more after effect emerged, which was unknown to M until a change occurred in the behavior of other people in his presence. After one session, M was called upstairs to dinner during the last stages of a session and he emerged from his “den” after checking himself to ensure that he had a low profile. As M sat quietly at the dinner table, his two teenage daughters became animated in their attempts to interact with him. This behavior was entirely different from their usual habit of silence and ignoring him entirely. Having no inkling of what M was doing downstairs in his “den” while they were in school, somehow they sensed that he wasn’t the same dour, lifeless, stooped entity they saw each day. Now, they began to compete for his attention. M couldn’t know whether it was from unconscious body language, inadvertent signaling of relaxation, facial color or a charismatic aura that invited his daughters’ unusual reaction to his presence at dinner. Their exuberance escalated to a point that they had to be restrained a bit. His dog's behavior was unchanged. For a few days, M was a different person: calm, centered, effortlessly aware, confidently effective, receptive, intrinsically self-accepting, emotionally appropriate, de-habituated to color and the senses, relaxed and completely relieved of neurotic muscular tensions that persist to interfere with his athletic coordination, his posture and his energy.
2.4 2.4 GENERAL DISCUSSION
In the first LSD experience of sensory recall in specific areas of the skull (Part 1), there was no question that it was a memory that corresponded to the insults the fetus would experience at the time of birth. As trauma, these feelings were alarmingly intense at first, but relatively mild as they were accompanied by feelings of anesthesia and catalepsy. Further confirmation of this as traumatic memory was learning of the obstetric procedure used in M’s birth, in which the scopolamine’s expected potentiation of morphine catalepsy and anticholinergic action accounted for the nature of the adult LSD experience. Because of the memory’s purely physical character and the similarity of DMT and LSD as indole structures binding to the raphe 5-HT1a receptor, its storage location was deemed to be subcortical, most likely in the complex interpostis nucleus of the cerebellum. The daily flashbacks, which were exact repetitions of the memory as first experienced, became less frequent and disappeared entirely after some weeks. There was a strong impression that this memory was slowly, but entirely erased, after its first activation by LSD. These factors are consistent with the suspicion that the spontaneous appearance of flashbacks in general requires inhibition of raphe nuclei in response to the secretion of the endogenous hallucinogen (EH).
The LSD effects of this second series of trials were completely different. Autonomic activation, muscular contractions continued in the same way, over and over without a hint of resolution anticipated from the first experience. These moderate doses of LSD produced symptoms remarkably similar to those of “serotonin toxicity” or “serotonin syndrome” that appear at high blood levels of 5-HT. Notably, the main symptoms are: large temperature increases (to 104 F), hypertension and muscle contraction, which diagnosticians label as “clonus” (Boyer & Shannon, 2005). However, many other symptoms of 5-HT toxicity are seen: mental agitation, hallucinations, muscular rigidity, shivering, twitching, diarrhea and midriasis. Apparently, the reliable repetitions and clarity in the timed sequence of the three distinct phases described in this second set of LSD experiments represent a natural pharmacological target that is activated rarely or not at all under normal conditions, but is awakened by 5- HT levels in the "toxic" range along with a mix of other functions naturally mediated by serotonergic receptors. As discussed in Part 1, cont'd (1.9 What is the endogenous hallucinogen), the fact that the effects seen for M with LSD are seen also, with excess 5-HT toxicity might argue against serotonin as the pharmacological agent as the alternative to the endogenous hallucinogen. It is possible, but uncertain, that, as the sessions progressed, the onset of the muscular effects appeared to occur more “easily”. Also, M’s muscular movements were triggered by other non-drug factors, e.g., hyperventilation at rest with Grof’s Holotropic Breathing. The conclusion is that M’s three phases induced by LSD are not faxcimilies of some aberrant injury by 5-HT poisoning, but a real-time pharmacological effect of LSD having crucial value in parturitionf (see below).
According to practicing neurologists, hyperventilation (at rest) produces global attenuation in brain activity to counter-act the excess of oxygen. Also, the blood pH would rise because of the depletion of blood carbon dioxide from the faster respiration, since there is no compensating production of CO2 as in exercise. Notably, the increase in blood pH (alkalinity) of 0.3 units would double the amount of free base of an indole amine like serotonin, LSD or DMT. To determine if the free base of 5-HT might be the hallucinogenic agent and unaware of a previous publication, the author performed binding studies on 5-HT competition with 3H-ketanserin (rat frontal cortex) for a wide range of pH values. As expected, 5-HT displacement of ketanserin increased markedly as the pH rose to higher values. However, a statistical analysis provided a good data fit only for an assumed pKa = 7 and pKa= 9 for 5-HT and similar psychotropic amines. These results were in agreement previous published data and might suggest involvement of histidine (pKa=7).
The question looms: Were these LSD effects of this second set of trials even components of memory? During birth, the fetus was able to sense and store impulses that originated from the skull distortions described in Part 1. As memory, the LSD effects of this second set do conform to some characteristics documented in clinical trauma and PTSD research. For example, there is little or no resolution to PTSD recurrences for trauma victims (Van der Kolk, 2006 and references therein). Furthermore, observations of a decreasing threshold for onset of PTSD has been related to the development of more easily accessed “states” postulated by workers in the area of synaptic plasticity (Perry, 1991). It has been shown that the balance between synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) within a well-defined learning model can be altered to modulate both the consolidation and release of memory (Doyere et al, 2007; Sigurdsson et al, 2007). At the cellular level it would appear that the un-resolved effects of M’s trials might qualify as PTSD (memory) touched of by LSD.
But, there is a problem with these effects as memory. For one thing, the LSD effect in this second series of sessions was not a passive experience, but the activation of the autonomous system followed by a call to action that had to be obeyed in several repetitions. There were no spontaneous flashbacks; additional drug intake was needed to initiate the process. While it is true that these effects were the kind the fetus might sense in a conventional birth and be stored as memory, this particular fetus was stoned, cataleptic and over-anesthetized, too seriously hampered to respond to or even sense the call for muscular activity. The muscular movements could not have occurred. The distortions of the skull with movement of bone against bone felt in M’s first LSD session testify to an inert fetal state, as it had to be dragged with considerable force from the birth canal by the roof of its mouth. The brief spike in heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature preceding the second muscular phase, may have happened to be stored as memory, owing to scopolamine’s potentiation of hallucinogenic effects, but this is questionable. The difference between the effects of the first and second sessions is completely qualitative. Here, it was not a release of a sensory event as in the first. Rather, it was a call to vigorous activity following autonomic activation as preparation for the birth struggle. Consequently, continued discussion of these effects will derive from their properties, not as traumatic memory, but as evidence of a pharmacological entity awaiting activation by LSD or EH.
This LSD effect, taken as a group of all three phases, may not be unique to one born by the TS method and may occur more generally in the proper set and setting. However, is seen in M’s case that the LSD effect is evidence of a pharmacological entity that was not exercised in this TS fetus and still awaits pharmacological activation. Thus, it remains as a developmental deficit. In either case, the conclusion is made that this is the first clue to the action of LSD and EH in real time as conventional pharmaceuticals.
2.4.2 PHASE I, THE AUTONOMIC SPIKE: COMPARATIVE STUDIES
This rapid rise and fall in heart rate, blood pressure and oral temperature was measured before and soon after the ingestion of LSD. These were not accompanied by any overt symptoms and seemed to be the mobilization of the body in anticipation of a titanic struggle. With one exception, this spiking is not seen in other clinical settings with hallucinogens. In a recent Johns Hopkins study a much more modest elevation in these parameters accompanies the inebriation throughout the four hours of psilocybin influence (Johnson, 2007). However, this early spike, especially in heart rate, has been reported in the careful DMT studies in a hospital setting (Strassman and Qualis 1994). In this study heart rate rises immediately after injection, in contrast to ~10 minutes after M’s oral ingestion of LSD. Mean arterial blood pressure follows the same pattern. However, in their report, the rectal temperature rise is delayed and slowly climbs 0.14 degrees C (or 0.25 F), where it remains during the hour-long session, well after the DMT inebriation has ended. By contrast, the larger (3.5 degree F) rise in M’s oral temperature, spiking just as HR and BP did, returned to normal in about ten minutes. This temperature unusally high temperature is seen in cases of "serotonin toxicity" and is not suspect. Also, the spiking of HR and BP seen with Strassman/Quail’s study occurred simultaneously with the onset of inebriation, owing to the very fast and short-lived effect of injected DMT. In M’s case with the much slower onset of LSD inebriation, the somatic phase didn’t begin until the autonomic spike was clearly over. The different effects of DMT and LSD on the early rise of body temperature may reflect the means of administration and the fact that body temperature in M’s case was not measured in Phase 2.
If the spiking data of Strassman and Qualis can be compared to these results, then we may see another similarity between DMT and LSD on their non-psychological effects, which would implicate their interaction with the same receptor. It has been reported previously that a specific agonist, (DOI, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodo-methylamphetamine) to the 5HT1a receptor does not elicit HR increases in the rat and actually decreases BP for mediation by the 5HT1a (Dabire et al., 1989, Rittenhouse et al, 1991: Dreteler et al, 1989). However, phenylalkylamines like DOI have been shown to interact with fewer select serotonergic neurons within the raphe than do indole-based hallucinogens like LSD and DMT (Nichols, 2004). The highly potent 5HT1a agonist, flesinoxan, decreases blood pressure and heart rate in (adult) humans (Seletti et al, 1995). According to these findings the action of DMT and LSD at the 5HT1a receptor is doubtful in producing the autonomic effects seen with M and the clinical DMT studies.
Autonomic activation of this kind indicates that the hypothalamus/pituitary axis is activated to produce adrenaline from the adrenal medulla (for example, Himsworth RL, 1970). It is known that the dorsal raphe nucleus enervates the magnocellular area of the hypothalamus and is involved in activation of this area in rat parturition (Lin et al, 1995). Once again, the issue of species variability impacts arguments on the general conclusions about receptor function. in rat studies the phenalkylamines DOI and DOM produce hyperthermia together with secretion of prolactin, ACTH, and cortisol through the mediation of the 5HT2a receptor (Aulakh et al, 1944; Nichols, 2004), awakening the temptation to invoke an hypothalamic role for EH in rat parturition. As previously mentioned in Part 1 some 5-HT2a behaviors of the rat is attributed to 5-HT1a in the monkey. A consequence of this temptation is the extrapolation of he role of EH to activation of the magnocellular hypothalamus to produce the supportive hormones in human parturition, at least as an open question. Taking the human and animal studies together, it would appear that the autonomic spiking response to DMT and LSD could involve the 5HT2a or 5HT2c if it occurs in the rat. The question is whether or not this hypothalamic function can be extrapolated to the same function of 5-HT1a in the human. Both the rat 5HT2a and human 5HT1a may have similar sub-cortical roles in parturition: 5HT2a for the rat hypothalamus and 5HT1a for the human. Regardless, the 2a and 2c can’t be discounted as players in human parturition at the sub-cortical level.
2.4.3 AUTONOMIC SPIKES ARE SEEN IN FETAL HEART MONITORING during Labor
Modern obstetric practice at three out of four US hospitals pays close attention to three kinds of measurements of fetal heart rate (FHR) during the first (contraction) stage of labor: accelerations, decelerations and variability (Cunningham et al., in Williams Obstetrics 2001). Decelerations are reassuring only when they coincide with the mother’s contractions; otherwise they are ominous and generally indicate a parasympathetic (vagus nerve) response to high uterine pressure, umbilical chord choking, etc. Variability (changes in FHR over a minute or so) is reassuring as an indication that the fetus is responsive to intrapartum conditions, e.g., changes in uterine pressure and maternal blood acidity. It is the accelerations or “accels”, which are the most important indicators of fetal readiness.
As seen in routine obstetric practice (Figure 11), the accelerations or “accels” are five to ten minute rises and falls in FHR and occur early with the onset of labor.
These early “accels” are generally sporadic, rather than universally synchronous with the contraction. One study group found sporadic “accels” in 99 % of 2000 births (Krebs et al., 1982). Occasionally, “accels” also occur in association wit uterine contractions resulting in a pattern (Sadovsky et al, 1984). Obstetric personnel look for these as reassuring signs of a functioning sympathetic nervous system and intact neurohormonal cardiovascular control linked to fetal behavior. Accels are so important that, if they are not seen, the fetus is submitted to irritants to stimulate them (Percastaing 2008). If this is unsuccessful, intervention is imminent and labor can be halted. Accels are the key sign that the fetus is ready (Hutson et al, 1982).
The similarities between “accels” and the spike of Phase 1 are compelling: Their early appearance in labor, their early anonymity (sporadic) with contraction cycles and their spontaneous appearance. Like the Phase 1 spike that introduces the muscular movements of Phase 2, “accels” appear to be associated with fetal movement, which leads obstetric workers to assume that the movements are the cause. However, it may be that the “accels” precede fetal movements in ordinary birthing. Their early spontaneous appearances are not associated with any known stimulus (Cunningham et al, in Williams Obstetrics 2001 Page 34). Fetal movements are cyclic in nature and appear within 40 to 90 minute cycles. Because of these facts, the timing and sequence of Phases 1 and 2 in M’s experience are taken here to be the enactment of fetal physiology and movement during normal or natural birth.
2.4.4 Phase 2. The Somatic Effects
It follows that the hallucinogen induces the same pleasurable energetic urge to contract muscles for both the fetus and the mother in labor. The somatic experiences of the mother during this time can be characterized in a very similar way. Indeed, was it not for the variety of body positions that M displayed, his experience might be interpreted as some of the mother’s own during labor, particularly with the contraction of M’s abdominal muscles. As the mother’s uterine contractions represent the activity of smooth muscle, her urge to push calls upon her abdominal (skeletal) muscles and is often anticipated with pleasurable sensations that encourage her to make a strong effort. This pleasurable urge is seen by midwives, provided the mother is not coerced into pushing when she’s not ready. When she is calm, into herself in a warm, safe place, “Then came the crowning. As quickly as this rush of contraction came it stopped. I felt hot and high. I was excited. –After climbing a very high mountain. I could now sit and enjoy the exhilarating view. I love this part of the labor—calm, high, ready feeling. I greeted the next contraction with satisfaction. Surprised by its intensity, I let my body do it” and “it feels marvelous to push when you want to” (Kitzinger, S 2001).
2.4.5 LSD as Surrogate to EH by Conventional Pharmacology
The high variability and unpredictability characterizing the effects of LSD on different individuals is well known (Grof, 2001). Introspective realizations, spiritual revelations, visions, synesthesia, dehabituation or time distortion, taken individually, can be the experiences of different individuals at any dosage. Others may not experience them at all. A fraction of this cohort will experience the twistings and turnings of the so-called somatic effects (M’s case). Currently, as pointed out by Nichols (2004), dose-response is only crude at best within a psychological context. However, It is difficult to avoid the idea that M’s repeating muscular (somatic) performances each session were a response to a pharmaceutical in the conventional sense. Aspirin, for example, is classed as a conventional pharmaceutical from its ability to produce analgesia in a predictable dose-response manner for virtually anyone who takes it. By contrast, the prevailing view of LSD’s effects and dosages as unpredictable universally has been derived from the symptoms seen most often as psychological, which may have obscured the onset symptoms originating sub-cortically, as mentioned previously in Part 1 (scopolamine). Accordingly, the LSD had been considered non-specific drug that merely amplifies any issue that might emerge during a session (Grof 1980, 2001). And yet, for M, the issue of straightforward pharmacology of this drug was compelling, because for him, the LSD effect was predictable, happening each session time after time in the same way and producing the same aftereffects. As to dose, it was known qualitatively as a moderately high dose, presumably sufficient to reach the threshold for the somatic effects.
One explanation to this pharmaceutical LSD conundrum could be that in M’s case the central nervous system was trained somehow in the first somatic session to elicit the same sequence of neural sequalae in the following sessions. A problem with this view is that these somatic effects were not always seen later under different conditions of hallucinogen inebriation. The somatic effects always occurred with moderately high doses when M was alone in a comfortable, secure room. Under this condition, LSD always produced the predictable effect of a pharmaceutical. M’s somatic effects were not experienced with lower doses, as mentioned previously.
It's safe to say that all molecular agents in the body such as neurotransmitters are conventional pharmaceuticals and this would include the endogenous hallucinogens. This is borne out by the dose-response studies of DMT (Strassman and Qualis 1994, Strassman et al., 1994). In M’s birth, the real pharmacological target of the hallucinogen was isolated functionally from other brain areas, probably through the anticholinergic action of scopolamine (Part 1). Thus, in accord with the original assumption of similarity between the brainstem conditions at birth and decades later with LSD, it follows that the somatic symptoms of Phase 2 were the effects of LSD as a surrogate to EH, evoking the same drive for muscular activity in both the fetus and the adult – and, this drive to fetal muscular movement by EH may be universal, at least for all mammals.
Other elements of M's sessions could fall in place with this view. The superb aftereffects of Phase 3 can be seen as one expression within an over sequence of consecutive neural activations unleashed by LSD or by the endogenous agent in natural childbirth. This aftereffect might be the same as the experience of the newborn after its birth struggle and its emergence through the birth canal. Similarly with the mother, much of her recovery behavior involves the same kind of dehabituation that M experienced in the third phase. After each struggle, M may have been experiencing the satisfying effects of proper neural synchronization of a healthy newborn. The second occurrence fitting M's LSD sessions was the early autonomic effect of synchronous spiking of blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature before the somatic effects began. Again, the pharmacological effect of the drug must have included early secretion of hormones from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-gonadal axis (H-P-A-G axis) in preparation for a titanic struggle to follow. The implication is that three consecutive pharmaceutical events in the “normal” birth of a baby involves activation of the autonomic system, energetic and pleasurable contraction of skeletal muscle and the subjective experience of fulfillment in that order, which is consistent with the early, spontaneous onset of fetal heart accelerations.
2.5 DOES THE OBSTETRIC PROCEDURE IMPACT FETAL DEVELOPMENT?
The onset of these somatic effects with LSD occurs with a small percentage of subjects within a diverse mix of clinical evaluations (Grof, 2001). Our subject, M, witnessed this kind of reaction to LSD on two occasions with another individual in a form of psychotherapy based on provoking "abreactions". In this approach, the subject was encouraged to re-awaken some hidden neuroses through devices that lowered his or her mental defenses. Resolution of the neurosis would occur immediately after conscious re-living of its history, a claim made in Arthur Janov’s best selling book, “Primal Scream” in the 1970s. However, this man on LSD seemed to be “stuck” in the same somatic effects of Phase 2, repeated in the same way in two LSD sessions that M observed. These showed no hint of resolution and the second session was every bit as energetic and forceful as the first. It seemed apparent that the context of abreaction was inappropriate to this person’s somatic struggles with LSD. The question is, why do some small percentage of people on LSD go through the somatic kind experience, that is, how are they different from others who do not?
After experiencing similar movements years later with LSD, there remained little doubt to M that the recurring somatic sessions were birth activities of the fetus. Recalling the events of Part 1, M as a fetus was unable to respond totally or at all to the pharmacology of the endogenous hallucinogen. The memory recall revealed that M entered the world stoned on morphine/scopolamine and was probably rigid from catalepsy. As an adult on LSD, he may have experienced for the first time what the fetus would have felt, had the obstetric procedure been managed without scopolamine. The possibility arises that, being unable to respond as a fetus according to these three phases M experienced. M was left with something unfulfilled that was acted out again and again with the action of LSD as an adult. The question: Was the fetal M incapable of receiving sensory signals needed for continuation of his development at a critical time during labor? What were the stimuli?
An obvious answer to this hypothetical question is that the stimulus that M missed was the pleasurable sensual feedback of his own vigorous muscular contractions and, possibly, the pressure of his mother’s contractions. The cataleptic and over-anesthetized fetus would have been unable to move or sense its own movements, owing to scopolamine’s effect. This feedback may have been a necessary step in a window of developmental time necessary for full development in later life. This might explain why M, among others in a small percentage of “somatic” responders, experiences the autonomic and physical energy on LSD time after time. The question is whether this can be viewed as a window of developmental opportunity that closed before he could fulfill this part of his birth. If so, then M was left with a developmental deficit manifested as somatic symptoms when on LSD as an adult or in some other way associated with not having fought to be born. As Dr. Grof introduced the correlation between fetal experience during birth and adult neurotic behavior, this notion may have some merit (Grof, 1980).
The idea of a critical window of development began in 1900 with the observation that imposing various physical or chemical insults to the embryo produced effects on the adult that could be differentiated on the basis of the time of the insult (Anderson, 2006). Little or nothing is written on the subject of fetal development outside the purview of environmental toxins and the idea of critical windows is controversial. The notion of “critical periods of development” in studies of very young children has been called into question (Balley et al, (xxx); Robert and Finger, 1987). However, the development of the fetus or newborn is of a different class than that of a young child, because the latter exhibits higher, more complex cognitive functions on examination, e.g., they are highly suggestible.
Fetal development would belong to the more trustworthy considerations of the less complicated events more associated with vigorous research on imprinting of young geese and on the vision of young kittens. Once the gosling has imprinted the image of the first “parent” it sees, it can’t be changed, whether the imprint is a mother goose or a man flying a motorized kite. The adult cat can’t see vertical lines if it has been deprived of seeing these as a kitten. Beyond these critical times, there is no remedy. It is quite plausible to expect that there are critical periods of development as labor progresses through the contraction and expulsion phases in human parturition. Some insight might be gained by accepting M’s unfulfilled repetitions as evidence of a closed window, in view of the sequential neural processes that change rapidly in the progression from late pregnancy to final birth and lactation (Lin, et al, 1998). Like the cat blind to vertical lines, M remained in an incomplete state.
2.5.1 Is the progression of neural changes interrupted during TS birth?
-----as when a group of stars appear through a brief gap in black and driven cloud, --
(From the poem, Mayflies, by Richard Wilbur)
Obviously, the function of this pharmacological entity producing fetal activation and movement has a beginning and an end as the progress of birth continues to the expulsion phase. This principle applies to other neural ensembles temporarily carrying out their function, only to be replaced by the next ensemble for the oncoming stage of labor. New proteins are formed quite rapidly to mediate the next phase. As discussed in Part 1 on rat parturition, the events of DNA expression must change quickly and dramatically throughout parturition to produce new receptor proteins as one stage approaches the next. Of the fifteen or so mesencephalon elements involved in parturition, an ensemble of several must change their neural interactions to form a new ensemble appropriate to the stage of labor (Liu et al, 1995, 1998). For the mother, the opiate inhibition of oxytocin must give way to the activation of prostaglandins and oxytocin for uterine contraction. Similarly for the fetus, these "constellations" of neural functionality must exist only for a time and be rearranged into new forms as the stages continue. It is conceivable that proper fulfillment of fetal sensory feedback from muscular activity is a requirement for the organization of the next functional ensemble, say, for the expulsion. In this case, a more serious consequence of fetal brainstem development is possible. In addition to a psychological neurosis, an interruption in the proper sequence of hormonal secretions could occur, leading to a retardation of brainstem development. Of special interest is the demonstration that birth-related hormones are, indeed, secreted in a sequence that is appropriate to the phase of labor (Strassman and Qualis, 1994). Their emergence in the blood of their volunteers after DMT injection followed the order, corticotrophin = beta endorphin (5 minutes), prolactin (10 min.) and, lagging far behind, human growth hormone, reaching a plateau at 60 minutes. Thus, the unrequited constellation that functions to mediate these pharmacological responses of activation and muscular effort may have remained into adulthood, signaling a deficit in brainstem maturation. Perhaps this can be taken a step further.
The RaRN model alerts us to the idea that, during birth or during traumatic insult, activation of a blocking nucleus by raphe suppression opens a memory substrate awaiting sensory input. In M’s birth this input was not forthcoming; he could neither move nor feel, except for the dimly felt pressures imposed on his skull. The memory substrate awaiting the signals at this critical time did not receive the muscular stimuli, but rather than remaining empty it may have received the intense sensations forthcoming from another source, the doctor’s pressure on his palate, and crunching skull distortion. It is these insults , which may have nestled within the open substrate. Once the skull memory was destroyed with M’s first LSD adventure, an empty substrate remained with all the accoutrements needed for pharmacological stimulation of fetal movements. No matter how many times the surrogate, LSD, triggered these movements, there is no remedy, as in the gosling or the kitten.
This, of course, is highly speculative and weakened by the finding that the autonomic effects with the administration of DMT appeared in the majority of subjects tested (Strassman and Qualis 1994, Turner and Merlis, 1959). However, none of the DMT subjects experienced somatic symptoms or M’s temperature spike in these studies. Physical sensations were experienced at the lowest DMT dose, which could correspond to M’s LSD dose. It is unlikely that any of these subjects were born with Twilight sleep, considering their ages. Consequently, the notion of a developmental deficit arising from the absence of a stimulus during birth is maintained as a central hypothesis in the interpretations of M’s somatic experiences. The possibility that this critical period of development may operate for the fetus in labor calls into question any exceptional use of anesthetics in parturition as well as the option for scheduled cesarean section.
2.6 What is a Birth Memory?
The connection between adult behavior and parturition was made several years ago Dr. Stanislav Grof, who had treated thousands of mental patients with LSD. In his early book, “Realms of the Human Unconscious”, Grof outlined specific phases of parturition that would provide insight into the adult behavior of the patient (Grof, 1980). For example, a fetus stuck in an unduly prolonged phase of uterus contraction would exhibit adult attitudes and behavior suggesting something like cosmic futility in life’s activities. In his comprehensive review, “LSD Psychotherapy”, the appearance of different responses to LSD was described in terms of the patient’s personality traits or pathology. Those exhibiting the somatic or muscular motif were classified as obsessive-compulsive (Grof 2001).
Grof’s “perinatal influences” seemed to have been concerned chiefly with negative influences imposed on the fetus during birth, as if they were memories similar to that of M’s skull sensations. This may be the case. The similarity is seen in Grof’s therapeutic success with LSD by the resolution of memory derived from at some phase of the mother’s labor. These perinatal memories, like M’s skull traumas, were resolved to the extent of some therapeutic success in relieving the patients of the neuroses. In other words, the consolidation of Grof’s perinatal influences as memory would have occurred according to the RaRN model, which would support Grof’s theory and explain the biological means to the healing process. The psychological nature of LSD responses to relieve neuroses in Grof’s study would mirror the effects of raphe inhibition by LSD. The attitudinal aspect of Grof’s patients would involve the dorsal and medial raphe nuclei that project to the amygdala and hippocampus. In RaRN terms, Grof’s perinatal influences are manifestations of birth trauma. Of course, this connection between Grof's perinatal influences and the RaRN mechanism would not be very useful, if it weren't for the hypothesis that a specific brainstem functional element and a specific receptor are involved to confirm Grof's hypothesis by biological experimentation.
2.6.1 A New Perinatal Influence: Tying Parts 1 and 2 together.
Here, with the results from the second set of trials, a new kind of “perinatal” influence emerges. This distinction is based on the repetitive nature of the somatic symptoms on moderately higher LSD doses in marked contrast to he experience in Part 1, which returned as diminishing flashbacks and disappeared, never to return. In normal births this somatic expression would reveal the momentary existence of a pharmacological ensemble, i.e., a grouping of neural forebrain elements arranged temporarily to manage autonomic activation and fetal movement. M’s ensemble persists as a pharmacological target that remains un-exercised and sits in wait to trigger this activation and neuromuscular activity. In this case, LSD is not a retriever of memory, but a surrogate to EH as a conventional pharmaceutical. The persistence of this LSD/EH target is plausible, because fetal movements did not occur to provide sensory feedback to be consolidated as wholesome memory. This perinatal influence (or developmental deficit) could be called a “non-memory”. What follows:
Perhaps the substrate awaiting this wholesome sensory feedback received the skull sensations instead. These insults, however, lacked the qualities of wholesome feedback that would initiate progress to the next stage of birth. In one scenario, normal consolidation of the memory could be the step needed to progress to the formation of the next functional birth ensemble. Again, the plausibility of this process can be argued from the documented facts showing the changes in protein synthesis as new genes are opened with the approach of new phases of labor (see “Biology of Parturition” in Part 1). In normal progress through the birth phases, each pharmacological ensemble would be expected to produce an inhibitor against its own destruction during its functional moments. Since stimulus feedback could not be consolidated, the inhibitor is not digested. In the same sense, the naturally programmed loss of this constellation as normal birth progresses would account for the majority of LSD subjects, who don’t respond to LSD this way.
Here, the concept of changing neural arrangements or constellations is imagined to account for the persistence of an unfulfilled developmental window. Many regularly spaced LSD sessions over a long period of time would be required to determine permanency of this deficit, if indeed, it is one. Although the answer would hardly be worth such a protracted effort, a person with this deficit might benefit from an occasional LSD vacation from his or her chronic mediocrity and, for a time, be born into what he or she might have been, starting with the few days after birth. A session the day before golf, Karate or tennis match might level the playing field for an unknown number of individuals.
A few weeks after M’s first initial encounter with LSD described in Part 1 he participated in 7 or 8 sessions that were irregularly spaced over the next few years, all with increasingly larger doses (100 to 250ug). These sessions took place with M alone in his comfortable and private downstairs “den”. The experiences in all of these trials embodied the same motif, divided into three distinct phases. The first phase was a spike of autonomic activity, measured as blood pressure, heart rate and oral temperature, rising and falling within 10 to 15 minutes after ingesting the same lot of blotter LSD. The second (inebriation) phase of every trial was dominated, not by visions, past traumas or spiritual experiences, but by intensely energized muscular body movements. The third phase was a protracted time of after- effects, beginning subtly as the drug wore off and lasting for the next two or three days. This third phase was a remarkable existential departure from M’s ordinary life and was explored further with reference to physical and emotional states. Symptoms of the third phase could be eliminated by deliberately ignoring the call to movement in the second phase, indicating a strong autonomic coupling of all three phases. However, the time given to all three were unchanged; Return to normalcy still required the same 2 to 3 day period of the third phase.
Conclusion: The adult born by Twilight Sleep (TS) or, perhaps excess anesthesia, can experience the same activation and movement the fetus experiences in natural birthing. This sequence of three phases is thus far unknown to obstetric practitioners. During the labor phase of parturition, the loss of sensory and physical activity in a fetus subjected to the excess anesthesia and catalepsy of scopolamine and morphine interrupts the natural sequence of hypothalamic secretions at the point of the pharmacological target mediating fetal activaiton.
2.2 Variability of Drug Effects
Not all sessions in different doses, places and times were dominated by the “somatic”, three phase events. The well-known factors of set and setting (Szara S. 1994) may have had some influence, but this departure from the usual somatic effects appeared to be related more to the dosage. Once, in a different setting with other people, the somatic effects occurred with a dose of psilocybin (mushroom) so large that commercial tea bags were added to the boiling cauldron to prevent retching. This enterprising cultivator developed a strain of Psilocybe cubensis five times larger and considerably more potent than the wild type. A much smaller dose, taken as a 20mm length of a 5mm diameter stem in the “den”, produced visionary effects, but no muscular effects whatever. This same dosage pattern was experienced with the phenethylamine hallucinogen, 2C-B. Any dose smaller than 20 to 25 milligrams of 2C-B would not produce the somatic effects of the three stage LSD “den” sessions. Notably, M’s first LSD physical sensations with a small dose (Part 1) were never elicited with further experiments regardless of dose or hallucinogen type. With reference to this one-time experience, it is interesting that doses of DMT smaller than 0.2mg/kg elicit physical sensations only (Strassman, 1992).
At the time, M wondered if these somatic effects might be a marker for testing a suspected hallucinogen or another vehicle related to hallucinogenic effects. His participation in two “Holotropic Breathing” sessions, designed by Dr. Grof and administered by trained personnel, produced the same somatic effects, but included numinous experiences and revelations, as well. DOI, then legal and long lasting, was tested, also. With this substance, the muscular struggles continued for well over 15 hours, with a very slow descent to normal, punctuated by intense muscular contortions. The third phase was unlike the others, since the subject was very tired after a total DOI session approaching 36 hours. The movie, “The Red Shoes” comes to mind, in which a dancer must dance to the point of death as long as the red ballet slippers were on her feet. There seemed to be no way to end or truncate the muscular exertion, as no benzodiazopenes or nicotine, used early as a remedy for somatic effects, were on hand. Chance favors the informed mind.
2.3 RESULTS
2.3.1 THE FIRST PHASE: AUTONOMIC MEASUREMENTS
Immediately after LSD ingestion in the first and third sessions measurements of blood pressure, heart rate oral temperature and pupil diameter were begun. A representation of the averaged data is shown in Figure 11. These measurements increased to maximum values within five to ten minutes and returned to normal within 15 minutes. Peak values were: BP 160/110 (normal was 125/80 with medication), HR rose to100 from 72, and oral temperature +3.5 deg F above normal. Midriasis was measured with a small metric ruler under the eye reflected by a parabolic mirror, but it was too variable to record. Notably, it was not until these autonomic parameters fell to normal that the second muscular phase began some
minutes later. It was taken into consideration that this lag between the first and second phase might be explained by the attenuation of subjective effects resulting from mental concentration needed for taking the measurements and the onset of the subsequent influences was subtle. However, this subtlety of effect was experienced well after the measurements were done.2.3.2 SECOND PHASE: SOMATIC EFFECTS
The second phase began with a profound sense of “healing” and relaxation and calm, positive anticipation. A surge of unaccustomed muscular strength and energy followed soon after. (Note again that this occurred some minutes after the autonomic measurements returned to normal). This energy was accompanied by a very subtle suggestion for M’s shoulders to move in certain ways (enumerated below) as to the kind of position seemingly orchestrated by an inner “guide”. At this point a choice presented itself. By submitting to this suggestion voluntarily, movements began to occur permissively and with progressively more automation and intensity, culminating in an alarming force of muscular contraction of the arms, abdomen and legs. On the other hand, if these suggestions for movement were ignored, a price was paid in the third phase as will be discussed below.
In following the “suggestions” i.e., doing the “work”, one position gave way to another with very pleasurable cues to change position and focus of effort. These movements took place In a rather mixed sequence of arm clamping, thorax twisting, back arching, shoulder contraction, head turnings, body extensions and abdominal contractions.
2.3.2.1 MOVEMENTS:
1) A cycle would begin with crossing both arms forcefully and tightly to the chest and rolling onto the side into a fetal position, with knees drawn up as far and as forcibly as possible. There was a distinct, almost sexual, pleasure that encouraged this effort. The shoulders forced upward toward each temple with arms crossing to the point that the hands extended on opposite sides as much as possible as if to reach the scapulas. The knees were raised and the stomach muscles contracted to form an overall fetal position. This position was held for about 20 seconds with all the force of contraction possible in all the involved muscle groups simultaneously.
2) This fetal position was transformed smoothly into the urge to roll to the left, followed by a turning of the thorax from the hips into a front-down position and a turning of the head and extension of the left leg. At this point the intense effort was abandoned and M’s body rolled to the right to lie fully extended on his back for a rest period and recovery of rapid breathing.
3) Now on his back, the cue to contract the stomach muscles reappeared, but this time the back muscles, those of the rump and the back of the thighs contracted to an arching backward of the mid-section. Consciously, M intensified this to a conformation where, at times, only the back of the head and feet were touching the floor without strain or discomfort.
4) Rolling was cued once again with chest to floor. In this position the legs were extended fully and the head was pressed forcefully against the right shoulder. This was accompanied by the turning of the neck and head, which was a cue to bring the arms tightly to the sides of the body, arms crossing across the stomach at the elbow and strong contraction of the stomach muscles, pulling the upper body up and forward. Then, the legs would be brought forcefully, knees to chest with more turning, once again, to a fetal position, followed by a repeat of the overall sequence. Occasionally, with legs extended, strong tremors would begin in thighs, knees and calves in a manner similar to people succumbing to a heart attack. The sequence of these four postures was variable and, at the time, was not considered an issue. Always, the strongest cue was the first that led to the fetal position.
There was a tidal quality of these movements, In which the exhausting effort, to the point of becoming breathless and physically spent, was followed by a short permissive release Into comfortable relaxation with a sense of profound stillness, enjoyment and a sense of re-grouping for the next effort. During these rests, there were some changes In the perception of light, as if it was radiating evenly throughout the visual field with a hint of yellow or gold. Once again, an urge, no longer subtle, began to dictate the same movements and muscular contractions. These resumed without any sense of fatigue. Rather, there was distinct physical pleasure as an invitation to work even harder and to cooperate with the urges with renewed vigor. While the rest periods lasted about 7 minutes, the time for these four contortions varied from a one to three quarters of an hour. On some occasions more than half dozen of these intense experiences took place during the seven to nine hour session. These vigorous movements always took up the entire session and faded only when the Inebriation began to end on its own. This transition period finished with calm relaxation interspersed by occasional and diminished urges to contract shoulder and back muscles.
2.3.3 THIRD PHASE: AFTER EFFECTS.
The fading of the Inebriation could be sensed on some vague levels other than the decreasing muscular urges. As the muscularity gradually disappeared, it was replaced by a profound sense of well being, relaxation and complete lack of fatigue from the enormous effort. M felt completely rested. An hour or two later, M would have some confidence that his personal behavior would not appear strange to others. Then, he could leave his comfortable den downstairs and ascend to rejoin his unsuspecting family.
The after effects of these sessions for the following two or three days clearly depended upon the willingness to follow this "work". If M acquiesced each tidal cycle to the early subtle suggestion and worked fully with the ensuing crescendo of muscular Intensity to the point of exhaustion and until the Inebriation came to an end, the next three days’ mental and physical states were unlike those he had ever experienced. He felt centered, confident, happy, fully relaxed, and contemplative with the full range of creative thinking and physical coordination. Conversely, in two of the LSD sessions M attempted to ignore the call to movement by focusing on some separate Issue. In these cases the next few days were notable for annoying Irritability with some residue of the urge for exertion. Running or climbing stairs was tried, but without the ordinary stamina. It was obvious that the muscles used in these activities were inappropriate. Whether the “work” was done or not, after effects disappeared after two or three days and M returned to his old neurotic self.
The “work” rewarded M with a sense of profound relaxation, awareness, well- being, calm Insight and a kind of volatility In being moved with uncharacteristic appreciation for the “newness” in the colors of his surroundings. Music heard or played evoked fresh emotional pleasure, perhaps providing a look Into the psyche of the composer, especially Ravel or Debussy. His playing of music invaded more deeply, as If M was experiencing the same emotional state as the composer felt when writing the music with the chosen harmonics. His hands at the piano obeyed the emotional Interpretations he placed on the music and It seemed as if M’s entire body was Involved. The satisfaction of having performed well was noticeable during a performance.
The following days after doing the “work” revealed an equally striking change In M’s athletic ability. Since his golf handicap at the time was In the mid 20s, somewhat above that of a duffer, he decided to see If this “after period” had any effect on his game. Daring to take out a 2-Iron and try for the green 200 yards away, M dropped the ball onto the green six feet from the pin. M noticed that waist and back muscles no longer interfered with the backswing. Other players asked M’s companions If he was a golf professional! His score reflected a drop In handicap to less than 5. Of course, this was not mentioned to other golfing cronies Interested In taking his money. M had asked other (psychedelic) friends about this after-effect and a few of them agreed. They became "Joe DiMaggio" a day or so after their psychedelic trip. One hockey buff, after sampling a psilocybin mushroom, recalled that no players could touch him the day following, as he made almost all of the goals for his winning team. Positive after effects such as these have been described by many others, but not in the context of somatic domination of the inebriation phase (cf Hofmann 2005). The greater frequency of this phase in others might imply that this level of after-experience is not really connected to the character of the previous phases. That it might be will be considered below.
One more after effect emerged, which was unknown to M until a change occurred in the behavior of other people in his presence. After one session, M was called upstairs to dinner during the last stages of a session and he emerged from his “den” after checking himself to ensure that he had a low profile. As M sat quietly at the dinner table, his two teenage daughters became animated in their attempts to interact with him. This behavior was entirely different from their usual habit of silence and ignoring him entirely. Having no inkling of what M was doing downstairs in his “den” while they were in school, somehow they sensed that he wasn’t the same dour, lifeless, stooped entity they saw each day. Now, they began to compete for his attention. M couldn’t know whether it was from unconscious body language, inadvertent signaling of relaxation, facial color or a charismatic aura that invited his daughters’ unusual reaction to his presence at dinner. Their exuberance escalated to a point that they had to be restrained a bit. His dog's behavior was unchanged. For a few days, M was a different person: calm, centered, effortlessly aware, confidently effective, receptive, intrinsically self-accepting, emotionally appropriate, de-habituated to color and the senses, relaxed and completely relieved of neurotic muscular tensions that persist to interfere with his athletic coordination, his posture and his energy.
2.4 2.4 GENERAL DISCUSSION
In the first LSD experience of sensory recall in specific areas of the skull (Part 1), there was no question that it was a memory that corresponded to the insults the fetus would experience at the time of birth. As trauma, these feelings were alarmingly intense at first, but relatively mild as they were accompanied by feelings of anesthesia and catalepsy. Further confirmation of this as traumatic memory was learning of the obstetric procedure used in M’s birth, in which the scopolamine’s expected potentiation of morphine catalepsy and anticholinergic action accounted for the nature of the adult LSD experience. Because of the memory’s purely physical character and the similarity of DMT and LSD as indole structures binding to the raphe 5-HT1a receptor, its storage location was deemed to be subcortical, most likely in the complex interpostis nucleus of the cerebellum. The daily flashbacks, which were exact repetitions of the memory as first experienced, became less frequent and disappeared entirely after some weeks. There was a strong impression that this memory was slowly, but entirely erased, after its first activation by LSD. These factors are consistent with the suspicion that the spontaneous appearance of flashbacks in general requires inhibition of raphe nuclei in response to the secretion of the endogenous hallucinogen (EH).
The LSD effects of this second series of trials were completely different. Autonomic activation, muscular contractions continued in the same way, over and over without a hint of resolution anticipated from the first experience. These moderate doses of LSD produced symptoms remarkably similar to those of “serotonin toxicity” or “serotonin syndrome” that appear at high blood levels of 5-HT. Notably, the main symptoms are: large temperature increases (to 104 F), hypertension and muscle contraction, which diagnosticians label as “clonus” (Boyer & Shannon, 2005). However, many other symptoms of 5-HT toxicity are seen: mental agitation, hallucinations, muscular rigidity, shivering, twitching, diarrhea and midriasis. Apparently, the reliable repetitions and clarity in the timed sequence of the three distinct phases described in this second set of LSD experiments represent a natural pharmacological target that is activated rarely or not at all under normal conditions, but is awakened by 5- HT levels in the "toxic" range along with a mix of other functions naturally mediated by serotonergic receptors. As discussed in Part 1, cont'd (1.9 What is the endogenous hallucinogen), the fact that the effects seen for M with LSD are seen also, with excess 5-HT toxicity might argue against serotonin as the pharmacological agent as the alternative to the endogenous hallucinogen. It is possible, but uncertain, that, as the sessions progressed, the onset of the muscular effects appeared to occur more “easily”. Also, M’s muscular movements were triggered by other non-drug factors, e.g., hyperventilation at rest with Grof’s Holotropic Breathing. The conclusion is that M’s three phases induced by LSD are not faxcimilies of some aberrant injury by 5-HT poisoning, but a real-time pharmacological effect of LSD having crucial value in parturitionf (see below).
According to practicing neurologists, hyperventilation (at rest) produces global attenuation in brain activity to counter-act the excess of oxygen. Also, the blood pH would rise because of the depletion of blood carbon dioxide from the faster respiration, since there is no compensating production of CO2 as in exercise. Notably, the increase in blood pH (alkalinity) of 0.3 units would double the amount of free base of an indole amine like serotonin, LSD or DMT. To determine if the free base of 5-HT might be the hallucinogenic agent and unaware of a previous publication, the author performed binding studies on 5-HT competition with 3H-ketanserin (rat frontal cortex) for a wide range of pH values. As expected, 5-HT displacement of ketanserin increased markedly as the pH rose to higher values. However, a statistical analysis provided a good data fit only for an assumed pKa = 7 and pKa= 9 for 5-HT and similar psychotropic amines. These results were in agreement previous published data and might suggest involvement of histidine (pKa=7).
The question looms: Were these LSD effects of this second set of trials even components of memory? During birth, the fetus was able to sense and store impulses that originated from the skull distortions described in Part 1. As memory, the LSD effects of this second set do conform to some characteristics documented in clinical trauma and PTSD research. For example, there is little or no resolution to PTSD recurrences for trauma victims (Van der Kolk, 2006 and references therein). Furthermore, observations of a decreasing threshold for onset of PTSD has been related to the development of more easily accessed “states” postulated by workers in the area of synaptic plasticity (Perry, 1991). It has been shown that the balance between synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) within a well-defined learning model can be altered to modulate both the consolidation and release of memory (Doyere et al, 2007; Sigurdsson et al, 2007). At the cellular level it would appear that the un-resolved effects of M’s trials might qualify as PTSD (memory) touched of by LSD.
But, there is a problem with these effects as memory. For one thing, the LSD effect in this second series of sessions was not a passive experience, but the activation of the autonomous system followed by a call to action that had to be obeyed in several repetitions. There were no spontaneous flashbacks; additional drug intake was needed to initiate the process. While it is true that these effects were the kind the fetus might sense in a conventional birth and be stored as memory, this particular fetus was stoned, cataleptic and over-anesthetized, too seriously hampered to respond to or even sense the call for muscular activity. The muscular movements could not have occurred. The distortions of the skull with movement of bone against bone felt in M’s first LSD session testify to an inert fetal state, as it had to be dragged with considerable force from the birth canal by the roof of its mouth. The brief spike in heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature preceding the second muscular phase, may have happened to be stored as memory, owing to scopolamine’s potentiation of hallucinogenic effects, but this is questionable. The difference between the effects of the first and second sessions is completely qualitative. Here, it was not a release of a sensory event as in the first. Rather, it was a call to vigorous activity following autonomic activation as preparation for the birth struggle. Consequently, continued discussion of these effects will derive from their properties, not as traumatic memory, but as evidence of a pharmacological entity awaiting activation by LSD or EH.
This LSD effect, taken as a group of all three phases, may not be unique to one born by the TS method and may occur more generally in the proper set and setting. However, is seen in M’s case that the LSD effect is evidence of a pharmacological entity that was not exercised in this TS fetus and still awaits pharmacological activation. Thus, it remains as a developmental deficit. In either case, the conclusion is made that this is the first clue to the action of LSD and EH in real time as conventional pharmaceuticals.
2.4.2 PHASE I, THE AUTONOMIC SPIKE: COMPARATIVE STUDIES
This rapid rise and fall in heart rate, blood pressure and oral temperature was measured before and soon after the ingestion of LSD. These were not accompanied by any overt symptoms and seemed to be the mobilization of the body in anticipation of a titanic struggle. With one exception, this spiking is not seen in other clinical settings with hallucinogens. In a recent Johns Hopkins study a much more modest elevation in these parameters accompanies the inebriation throughout the four hours of psilocybin influence (Johnson, 2007). However, this early spike, especially in heart rate, has been reported in the careful DMT studies in a hospital setting (Strassman and Qualis 1994). In this study heart rate rises immediately after injection, in contrast to ~10 minutes after M’s oral ingestion of LSD. Mean arterial blood pressure follows the same pattern. However, in their report, the rectal temperature rise is delayed and slowly climbs 0.14 degrees C (or 0.25 F), where it remains during the hour-long session, well after the DMT inebriation has ended. By contrast, the larger (3.5 degree F) rise in M’s oral temperature, spiking just as HR and BP did, returned to normal in about ten minutes. This temperature unusally high temperature is seen in cases of "serotonin toxicity" and is not suspect. Also, the spiking of HR and BP seen with Strassman/Quail’s study occurred simultaneously with the onset of inebriation, owing to the very fast and short-lived effect of injected DMT. In M’s case with the much slower onset of LSD inebriation, the somatic phase didn’t begin until the autonomic spike was clearly over. The different effects of DMT and LSD on the early rise of body temperature may reflect the means of administration and the fact that body temperature in M’s case was not measured in Phase 2.
If the spiking data of Strassman and Qualis can be compared to these results, then we may see another similarity between DMT and LSD on their non-psychological effects, which would implicate their interaction with the same receptor. It has been reported previously that a specific agonist, (DOI, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodo-methylamphetamine) to the 5HT1a receptor does not elicit HR increases in the rat and actually decreases BP for mediation by the 5HT1a (Dabire et al., 1989, Rittenhouse et al, 1991: Dreteler et al, 1989). However, phenylalkylamines like DOI have been shown to interact with fewer select serotonergic neurons within the raphe than do indole-based hallucinogens like LSD and DMT (Nichols, 2004). The highly potent 5HT1a agonist, flesinoxan, decreases blood pressure and heart rate in (adult) humans (Seletti et al, 1995). According to these findings the action of DMT and LSD at the 5HT1a receptor is doubtful in producing the autonomic effects seen with M and the clinical DMT studies.
Autonomic activation of this kind indicates that the hypothalamus/pituitary axis is activated to produce adrenaline from the adrenal medulla (for example, Himsworth RL, 1970). It is known that the dorsal raphe nucleus enervates the magnocellular area of the hypothalamus and is involved in activation of this area in rat parturition (Lin et al, 1995). Once again, the issue of species variability impacts arguments on the general conclusions about receptor function. in rat studies the phenalkylamines DOI and DOM produce hyperthermia together with secretion of prolactin, ACTH, and cortisol through the mediation of the 5HT2a receptor (Aulakh et al, 1944; Nichols, 2004), awakening the temptation to invoke an hypothalamic role for EH in rat parturition. As previously mentioned in Part 1 some 5-HT2a behaviors of the rat is attributed to 5-HT1a in the monkey. A consequence of this temptation is the extrapolation of he role of EH to activation of the magnocellular hypothalamus to produce the supportive hormones in human parturition, at least as an open question. Taking the human and animal studies together, it would appear that the autonomic spiking response to DMT and LSD could involve the 5HT2a or 5HT2c if it occurs in the rat. The question is whether or not this hypothalamic function can be extrapolated to the same function of 5-HT1a in the human. Both the rat 5HT2a and human 5HT1a may have similar sub-cortical roles in parturition: 5HT2a for the rat hypothalamus and 5HT1a for the human. Regardless, the 2a and 2c can’t be discounted as players in human parturition at the sub-cortical level.
2.4.3 AUTONOMIC SPIKES ARE SEEN IN FETAL HEART MONITORING during Labor
Modern obstetric practice at three out of four US hospitals pays close attention to three kinds of measurements of fetal heart rate (FHR) during the first (contraction) stage of labor: accelerations, decelerations and variability (Cunningham et al., in Williams Obstetrics 2001). Decelerations are reassuring only when they coincide with the mother’s contractions; otherwise they are ominous and generally indicate a parasympathetic (vagus nerve) response to high uterine pressure, umbilical chord choking, etc. Variability (changes in FHR over a minute or so) is reassuring as an indication that the fetus is responsive to intrapartum conditions, e.g., changes in uterine pressure and maternal blood acidity. It is the accelerations or “accels”, which are the most important indicators of fetal readiness.
As seen in routine obstetric practice (Figure 11), the accelerations or “accels” are five to ten minute rises and falls in FHR and occur early with the onset of labor.
These early “accels” are generally sporadic, rather than universally synchronous with the contraction. One study group found sporadic “accels” in 99 % of 2000 births (Krebs et al., 1982). Occasionally, “accels” also occur in association wit uterine contractions resulting in a pattern (Sadovsky et al, 1984). Obstetric personnel look for these as reassuring signs of a functioning sympathetic nervous system and intact neurohormonal cardiovascular control linked to fetal behavior. Accels are so important that, if they are not seen, the fetus is submitted to irritants to stimulate them (Percastaing 2008). If this is unsuccessful, intervention is imminent and labor can be halted. Accels are the key sign that the fetus is ready (Hutson et al, 1982).The similarities between “accels” and the spike of Phase 1 are compelling: Their early appearance in labor, their early anonymity (sporadic) with contraction cycles and their spontaneous appearance. Like the Phase 1 spike that introduces the muscular movements of Phase 2, “accels” appear to be associated with fetal movement, which leads obstetric workers to assume that the movements are the cause. However, it may be that the “accels” precede fetal movements in ordinary birthing. Their early spontaneous appearances are not associated with any known stimulus (Cunningham et al, in Williams Obstetrics 2001 Page 34). Fetal movements are cyclic in nature and appear within 40 to 90 minute cycles. Because of these facts, the timing and sequence of Phases 1 and 2 in M’s experience are taken here to be the enactment of fetal physiology and movement during normal or natural birth.
2.4.4 Phase 2. The Somatic Effects
It follows that the hallucinogen induces the same pleasurable energetic urge to contract muscles for both the fetus and the mother in labor. The somatic experiences of the mother during this time can be characterized in a very similar way. Indeed, was it not for the variety of body positions that M displayed, his experience might be interpreted as some of the mother’s own during labor, particularly with the contraction of M’s abdominal muscles. As the mother’s uterine contractions represent the activity of smooth muscle, her urge to push calls upon her abdominal (skeletal) muscles and is often anticipated with pleasurable sensations that encourage her to make a strong effort. This pleasurable urge is seen by midwives, provided the mother is not coerced into pushing when she’s not ready. When she is calm, into herself in a warm, safe place, “Then came the crowning. As quickly as this rush of contraction came it stopped. I felt hot and high. I was excited. –After climbing a very high mountain. I could now sit and enjoy the exhilarating view. I love this part of the labor—calm, high, ready feeling. I greeted the next contraction with satisfaction. Surprised by its intensity, I let my body do it” and “it feels marvelous to push when you want to” (Kitzinger, S 2001).
2.4.5 LSD as Surrogate to EH by Conventional Pharmacology
The high variability and unpredictability characterizing the effects of LSD on different individuals is well known (Grof, 2001). Introspective realizations, spiritual revelations, visions, synesthesia, dehabituation or time distortion, taken individually, can be the experiences of different individuals at any dosage. Others may not experience them at all. A fraction of this cohort will experience the twistings and turnings of the so-called somatic effects (M’s case). Currently, as pointed out by Nichols (2004), dose-response is only crude at best within a psychological context. However, It is difficult to avoid the idea that M’s repeating muscular (somatic) performances each session were a response to a pharmaceutical in the conventional sense. Aspirin, for example, is classed as a conventional pharmaceutical from its ability to produce analgesia in a predictable dose-response manner for virtually anyone who takes it. By contrast, the prevailing view of LSD’s effects and dosages as unpredictable universally has been derived from the symptoms seen most often as psychological, which may have obscured the onset symptoms originating sub-cortically, as mentioned previously in Part 1 (scopolamine). Accordingly, the LSD had been considered non-specific drug that merely amplifies any issue that might emerge during a session (Grof 1980, 2001). And yet, for M, the issue of straightforward pharmacology of this drug was compelling, because for him, the LSD effect was predictable, happening each session time after time in the same way and producing the same aftereffects. As to dose, it was known qualitatively as a moderately high dose, presumably sufficient to reach the threshold for the somatic effects.
One explanation to this pharmaceutical LSD conundrum could be that in M’s case the central nervous system was trained somehow in the first somatic session to elicit the same sequence of neural sequalae in the following sessions. A problem with this view is that these somatic effects were not always seen later under different conditions of hallucinogen inebriation. The somatic effects always occurred with moderately high doses when M was alone in a comfortable, secure room. Under this condition, LSD always produced the predictable effect of a pharmaceutical. M’s somatic effects were not experienced with lower doses, as mentioned previously.
It's safe to say that all molecular agents in the body such as neurotransmitters are conventional pharmaceuticals and this would include the endogenous hallucinogens. This is borne out by the dose-response studies of DMT (Strassman and Qualis 1994, Strassman et al., 1994). In M’s birth, the real pharmacological target of the hallucinogen was isolated functionally from other brain areas, probably through the anticholinergic action of scopolamine (Part 1). Thus, in accord with the original assumption of similarity between the brainstem conditions at birth and decades later with LSD, it follows that the somatic symptoms of Phase 2 were the effects of LSD as a surrogate to EH, evoking the same drive for muscular activity in both the fetus and the adult – and, this drive to fetal muscular movement by EH may be universal, at least for all mammals.
Other elements of M's sessions could fall in place with this view. The superb aftereffects of Phase 3 can be seen as one expression within an over sequence of consecutive neural activations unleashed by LSD or by the endogenous agent in natural childbirth. This aftereffect might be the same as the experience of the newborn after its birth struggle and its emergence through the birth canal. Similarly with the mother, much of her recovery behavior involves the same kind of dehabituation that M experienced in the third phase. After each struggle, M may have been experiencing the satisfying effects of proper neural synchronization of a healthy newborn. The second occurrence fitting M's LSD sessions was the early autonomic effect of synchronous spiking of blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature before the somatic effects began. Again, the pharmacological effect of the drug must have included early secretion of hormones from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-gonadal axis (H-P-A-G axis) in preparation for a titanic struggle to follow. The implication is that three consecutive pharmaceutical events in the “normal” birth of a baby involves activation of the autonomic system, energetic and pleasurable contraction of skeletal muscle and the subjective experience of fulfillment in that order, which is consistent with the early, spontaneous onset of fetal heart accelerations.
2.5 DOES THE OBSTETRIC PROCEDURE IMPACT FETAL DEVELOPMENT?
The onset of these somatic effects with LSD occurs with a small percentage of subjects within a diverse mix of clinical evaluations (Grof, 2001). Our subject, M, witnessed this kind of reaction to LSD on two occasions with another individual in a form of psychotherapy based on provoking "abreactions". In this approach, the subject was encouraged to re-awaken some hidden neuroses through devices that lowered his or her mental defenses. Resolution of the neurosis would occur immediately after conscious re-living of its history, a claim made in Arthur Janov’s best selling book, “Primal Scream” in the 1970s. However, this man on LSD seemed to be “stuck” in the same somatic effects of Phase 2, repeated in the same way in two LSD sessions that M observed. These showed no hint of resolution and the second session was every bit as energetic and forceful as the first. It seemed apparent that the context of abreaction was inappropriate to this person’s somatic struggles with LSD. The question is, why do some small percentage of people on LSD go through the somatic kind experience, that is, how are they different from others who do not?
After experiencing similar movements years later with LSD, there remained little doubt to M that the recurring somatic sessions were birth activities of the fetus. Recalling the events of Part 1, M as a fetus was unable to respond totally or at all to the pharmacology of the endogenous hallucinogen. The memory recall revealed that M entered the world stoned on morphine/scopolamine and was probably rigid from catalepsy. As an adult on LSD, he may have experienced for the first time what the fetus would have felt, had the obstetric procedure been managed without scopolamine. The possibility arises that, being unable to respond as a fetus according to these three phases M experienced. M was left with something unfulfilled that was acted out again and again with the action of LSD as an adult. The question: Was the fetal M incapable of receiving sensory signals needed for continuation of his development at a critical time during labor? What were the stimuli?
An obvious answer to this hypothetical question is that the stimulus that M missed was the pleasurable sensual feedback of his own vigorous muscular contractions and, possibly, the pressure of his mother’s contractions. The cataleptic and over-anesthetized fetus would have been unable to move or sense its own movements, owing to scopolamine’s effect. This feedback may have been a necessary step in a window of developmental time necessary for full development in later life. This might explain why M, among others in a small percentage of “somatic” responders, experiences the autonomic and physical energy on LSD time after time. The question is whether this can be viewed as a window of developmental opportunity that closed before he could fulfill this part of his birth. If so, then M was left with a developmental deficit manifested as somatic symptoms when on LSD as an adult or in some other way associated with not having fought to be born. As Dr. Grof introduced the correlation between fetal experience during birth and adult neurotic behavior, this notion may have some merit (Grof, 1980).
The idea of a critical window of development began in 1900 with the observation that imposing various physical or chemical insults to the embryo produced effects on the adult that could be differentiated on the basis of the time of the insult (Anderson, 2006). Little or nothing is written on the subject of fetal development outside the purview of environmental toxins and the idea of critical windows is controversial. The notion of “critical periods of development” in studies of very young children has been called into question (Balley et al, (xxx); Robert and Finger, 1987). However, the development of the fetus or newborn is of a different class than that of a young child, because the latter exhibits higher, more complex cognitive functions on examination, e.g., they are highly suggestible.
Fetal development would belong to the more trustworthy considerations of the less complicated events more associated with vigorous research on imprinting of young geese and on the vision of young kittens. Once the gosling has imprinted the image of the first “parent” it sees, it can’t be changed, whether the imprint is a mother goose or a man flying a motorized kite. The adult cat can’t see vertical lines if it has been deprived of seeing these as a kitten. Beyond these critical times, there is no remedy. It is quite plausible to expect that there are critical periods of development as labor progresses through the contraction and expulsion phases in human parturition. Some insight might be gained by accepting M’s unfulfilled repetitions as evidence of a closed window, in view of the sequential neural processes that change rapidly in the progression from late pregnancy to final birth and lactation (Lin, et al, 1998). Like the cat blind to vertical lines, M remained in an incomplete state.
2.5.1 Is the progression of neural changes interrupted during TS birth?
-----as when a group of stars appear through a brief gap in black and driven cloud, --
(From the poem, Mayflies, by Richard Wilbur)
Obviously, the function of this pharmacological entity producing fetal activation and movement has a beginning and an end as the progress of birth continues to the expulsion phase. This principle applies to other neural ensembles temporarily carrying out their function, only to be replaced by the next ensemble for the oncoming stage of labor. New proteins are formed quite rapidly to mediate the next phase. As discussed in Part 1 on rat parturition, the events of DNA expression must change quickly and dramatically throughout parturition to produce new receptor proteins as one stage approaches the next. Of the fifteen or so mesencephalon elements involved in parturition, an ensemble of several must change their neural interactions to form a new ensemble appropriate to the stage of labor (Liu et al, 1995, 1998). For the mother, the opiate inhibition of oxytocin must give way to the activation of prostaglandins and oxytocin for uterine contraction. Similarly for the fetus, these "constellations" of neural functionality must exist only for a time and be rearranged into new forms as the stages continue. It is conceivable that proper fulfillment of fetal sensory feedback from muscular activity is a requirement for the organization of the next functional ensemble, say, for the expulsion. In this case, a more serious consequence of fetal brainstem development is possible. In addition to a psychological neurosis, an interruption in the proper sequence of hormonal secretions could occur, leading to a retardation of brainstem development. Of special interest is the demonstration that birth-related hormones are, indeed, secreted in a sequence that is appropriate to the phase of labor (Strassman and Qualis, 1994). Their emergence in the blood of their volunteers after DMT injection followed the order, corticotrophin = beta endorphin (5 minutes), prolactin (10 min.) and, lagging far behind, human growth hormone, reaching a plateau at 60 minutes. Thus, the unrequited constellation that functions to mediate these pharmacological responses of activation and muscular effort may have remained into adulthood, signaling a deficit in brainstem maturation. Perhaps this can be taken a step further.
The RaRN model alerts us to the idea that, during birth or during traumatic insult, activation of a blocking nucleus by raphe suppression opens a memory substrate awaiting sensory input. In M’s birth this input was not forthcoming; he could neither move nor feel, except for the dimly felt pressures imposed on his skull. The memory substrate awaiting the signals at this critical time did not receive the muscular stimuli, but rather than remaining empty it may have received the intense sensations forthcoming from another source, the doctor’s pressure on his palate, and crunching skull distortion. It is these insults , which may have nestled within the open substrate. Once the skull memory was destroyed with M’s first LSD adventure, an empty substrate remained with all the accoutrements needed for pharmacological stimulation of fetal movements. No matter how many times the surrogate, LSD, triggered these movements, there is no remedy, as in the gosling or the kitten.
This, of course, is highly speculative and weakened by the finding that the autonomic effects with the administration of DMT appeared in the majority of subjects tested (Strassman and Qualis 1994, Turner and Merlis, 1959). However, none of the DMT subjects experienced somatic symptoms or M’s temperature spike in these studies. Physical sensations were experienced at the lowest DMT dose, which could correspond to M’s LSD dose. It is unlikely that any of these subjects were born with Twilight sleep, considering their ages. Consequently, the notion of a developmental deficit arising from the absence of a stimulus during birth is maintained as a central hypothesis in the interpretations of M’s somatic experiences. The possibility that this critical period of development may operate for the fetus in labor calls into question any exceptional use of anesthetics in parturition as well as the option for scheduled cesarean section.
2.6 What is a Birth Memory?
The connection between adult behavior and parturition was made several years ago Dr. Stanislav Grof, who had treated thousands of mental patients with LSD. In his early book, “Realms of the Human Unconscious”, Grof outlined specific phases of parturition that would provide insight into the adult behavior of the patient (Grof, 1980). For example, a fetus stuck in an unduly prolonged phase of uterus contraction would exhibit adult attitudes and behavior suggesting something like cosmic futility in life’s activities. In his comprehensive review, “LSD Psychotherapy”, the appearance of different responses to LSD was described in terms of the patient’s personality traits or pathology. Those exhibiting the somatic or muscular motif were classified as obsessive-compulsive (Grof 2001).
Grof’s “perinatal influences” seemed to have been concerned chiefly with negative influences imposed on the fetus during birth, as if they were memories similar to that of M’s skull sensations. This may be the case. The similarity is seen in Grof’s therapeutic success with LSD by the resolution of memory derived from at some phase of the mother’s labor. These perinatal memories, like M’s skull traumas, were resolved to the extent of some therapeutic success in relieving the patients of the neuroses. In other words, the consolidation of Grof’s perinatal influences as memory would have occurred according to the RaRN model, which would support Grof’s theory and explain the biological means to the healing process. The psychological nature of LSD responses to relieve neuroses in Grof’s study would mirror the effects of raphe inhibition by LSD. The attitudinal aspect of Grof’s patients would involve the dorsal and medial raphe nuclei that project to the amygdala and hippocampus. In RaRN terms, Grof’s perinatal influences are manifestations of birth trauma. Of course, this connection between Grof's perinatal influences and the RaRN mechanism would not be very useful, if it weren't for the hypothesis that a specific brainstem functional element and a specific receptor are involved to confirm Grof's hypothesis by biological experimentation.
2.6.1 A New Perinatal Influence: Tying Parts 1 and 2 together.
Here, with the results from the second set of trials, a new kind of “perinatal” influence emerges. This distinction is based on the repetitive nature of the somatic symptoms on moderately higher LSD doses in marked contrast to he experience in Part 1, which returned as diminishing flashbacks and disappeared, never to return. In normal births this somatic expression would reveal the momentary existence of a pharmacological ensemble, i.e., a grouping of neural forebrain elements arranged temporarily to manage autonomic activation and fetal movement. M’s ensemble persists as a pharmacological target that remains un-exercised and sits in wait to trigger this activation and neuromuscular activity. In this case, LSD is not a retriever of memory, but a surrogate to EH as a conventional pharmaceutical. The persistence of this LSD/EH target is plausible, because fetal movements did not occur to provide sensory feedback to be consolidated as wholesome memory. This perinatal influence (or developmental deficit) could be called a “non-memory”. What follows:
Perhaps the substrate awaiting this wholesome sensory feedback received the skull sensations instead. These insults, however, lacked the qualities of wholesome feedback that would initiate progress to the next stage of birth. In one scenario, normal consolidation of the memory could be the step needed to progress to the formation of the next functional birth ensemble. Again, the plausibility of this process can be argued from the documented facts showing the changes in protein synthesis as new genes are opened with the approach of new phases of labor (see “Biology of Parturition” in Part 1). In normal progress through the birth phases, each pharmacological ensemble would be expected to produce an inhibitor against its own destruction during its functional moments. Since stimulus feedback could not be consolidated, the inhibitor is not digested. In the same sense, the naturally programmed loss of this constellation as normal birth progresses would account for the majority of LSD subjects, who don’t respond to LSD this way.
Here, the concept of changing neural arrangements or constellations is imagined to account for the persistence of an unfulfilled developmental window. Many regularly spaced LSD sessions over a long period of time would be required to determine permanency of this deficit, if indeed, it is one. Although the answer would hardly be worth such a protracted effort, a person with this deficit might benefit from an occasional LSD vacation from his or her chronic mediocrity and, for a time, be born into what he or she might have been, starting with the few days after birth. A session the day before golf, Karate or tennis match might level the playing field for an unknown number of individuals.
