From: [c--m--l] at [winternet.com] (caMel)
Newsgroups: rec.drugs.psychedelic
Subject: Nutmeg - a personal FAQ (of sorts)
Date: Sat, 28 Oct 1995 18:47:04 GMT

I've been getting a lot of mail, whenever I try to discount the poor
results others have had with nutmeg, and just recently answered a
piece of mail, and I thought it turned out pretty good. So, with that,
I'm going to post my reply to him, here, as a sort of FAQ on using
nutmeg. I keep reading of how people are trying to do extracts,
milk-infusions, etc, and usually with disappointing results. Maybe
this will help...

>I was reading USENET and ran across your message endorsing the use of 
>nutmeg for certain people.  I am curious as to how you take nutmeg, and 
>how much.  I am always curious about new drugs, and while I have seen 
>friends have bad experiences on nutmeg, I don't want to rule it out.
>
>I have read the available information on hyperreal about nutmeg, but the 
>reports are often contradictory.  I'd like to get your opinion and ideas 
>on the subject.
>
>So, if you feel inclined to respond, I'd love to hear your 
>recommendations on how I can have the best possible first time doing nutmeg.
>
>Thanks for time.
>
>
>
>


Uh, sure.  I only hesitate 'cause I've typed this so many times, and
I'd hate to send you an impersonal form-letter of the bits and pieces
I've typed. But for starters...

You MUST plan ahead for nutmeg.  The effects last well over 24 hours.
The hallucinogenic portion only lasts the first day, but the
body-effects go well into the next day, usually 36 hours later.  One
guy I knew who did it his first time was "mellow" for that whole week.
He was a type "A" personality and everyone kept telling him how calm
he was that whole week.

It would also be good to do this with a close friend -- both on
nutmeg.  Some of the effects (the stranger ones like shared auditory
and out of the body hallucinations/experiences) might be dependent on
having someone who is close to you with you (like a best-ever friend).
Otherwise you may never even notice some of the more elaborate things
nutmeg can do.  I also wouldn't suggest you use nutmeg for a
rock-concert or rave kind of thing.  To us (back in the 70's) nutmeg
was more on the order of a spiritual kind of event if you can call it
that.  The campfire outing, or the overnight gab-fest seems to be the
best kind of environments for nutmeg.  Going out to a small bar while
on nutmeg was fun, but it got boring due to the topics and sights
(distractions) there.

If you've read my posts, you should know that the best way is to just
use freshly grated or fresh-powdered nutmeg.  Try to obtain it from a
co-op as their supplies are usually fresher than in any grocery store.
Then carefully WEIGH OUT 1 gram to 1.25 grams per pound of body mass
for each person taking it.  Try not to do more, and especially not for
a first time use.  There IS an overdose level to nutmeg, but to date
we've not really ever heard what it was.  It has an extreme
central-nervous-system (CNS) depressant effect at times.  If you are
150 lbs. try 15 grams your first time.  Depending on your sensitivity
to it, you may not need or want more, if you can tolerate it, you
might want to up it to the 1.25 grams per 10 lbs. of body-mass.

We tried all sorts of ways of hiding its flavor, but there is none,
(short of putting it into capsules, but the amount you have to take
makes that a long-term project).  Above all, DON'T try to put it in
any liquid, cooked oatmeal, or whatever to help you eat it.  Putting
it in any foods or drinks only releases the flavor even more.  Nutmeg
is fine as a spice in small quanitities.  In hallucinogenic dosages --
it takes on a puking-flavor quality of its own.  We think it's similar
to a combination of turpentine and soap.  Be warned, that the nausea
most experience is from the flavor only it seems.  I've never become
nauseated by it, but I've got a strong stomach and will.  Others have
become nauseated though, so be prepared to ignore its flavor.

Measure out the right dosage for each person, and then simply spoon it
into your mouth, trying not to moosh it around in your mouth too much,
and then wash each mouthful down with a large glass of water. The
trick is getting it past your tongue before you can taste it.  There
are some warnings against nutmeg, in that it can cause "nutmeg liver"
in which deposits of fatty tissue form on your liver.  But due to its
noxious flavor, nutmeg is not something you will want to do on a
regular basis.  In some ways, this makes it nicely self-limiting for
any abuse. There are other contraindications to nutmeg (maybe others
can add what they are). As with all things in this world, different
people react differently to them. Nutmeg is no different. If you know
or suspect you are chemically-sensitive, do less than the recommended
dose your first time. No matter what new drug, I always approach with
caution.

For the first 1-2 hours, you will probably notice nothing, except for
the occasional nutmeg-burp (yuck).

About 3-4 hours later you will probably start experiencing a sort of
alchohol and pot-like buzz -- lasting up to about 8 hours after
ingestion.

After that is where the very strange effects of nutmeg start to kick
in.  It has a powerful "downer" effect, but more importantly, reality
starts to take on dream-like conditions. I'd say on average, the best
effects kick in about 9-12 hours after ingestion.

As examples:  One time a friend told me to run an old "john denver"
song through my head.  I preferred NOT TO! but I thought what the
hell, and she told me to close my eyes and envision soaring through
the canyons and pinnacles like an eagle or a hawk while think/hearing
the song (the name of the song was The Eagle and the Hawk).  When in
this downer/dream state, your daydreams take on VERY REAL qualities,
like you are there. I opened my eyes and could only say "WOW!".  Then
as she smiled at me, I heard an eagle scream in her apartment behind
the chair I was sitting on.  We both looked startled and I said, "Uh,
did you hear something?" She said, "Uh no, I mean, you mean that
"mouse sound"?" And we both started to laugh, we were both trying to
deny what we had heard and then confirmed we heard an eagle/hawk and
heard it scream two times, in her locked, 3rd floor apartment, in the
middle of town at 3am. (to give you a time-line here, I think I
remember we took the nutmeg in the early afternoon the previous day,
making this experience about 13-15 hours after ingestion.)

These "dreams" seem to be very easily controlled and often are very
whimsical.  Another example is where I had "dozed off" into yet
another day-dream and found myself paddling down a beyoooteeful
tropical river somewhere.  It went on for what seemed to be hours (but
was only a few mintues) and when I finally looked down at the boat I
was paddling, it turned out I was paddling a giant peanut shell, I
started laughing which of course broke other's concentration or
topics..  Unlike other drugs, the hallucinations/dreams on nutmeg
never seemed to be threatening nor ego-damaging.  They were fun or
mysterious, or just darned fascinating. Yet another time, with the
"eagle-friend", we shared an out-of-the-body walk through some woods
somewhere, again verified by later carefully comparing notes of the
"dream", without trying to lead the other into answers we expected of
each other.

See if you can sustain this nodding-dream-state as long as possible,
i.e. the dreams and then comparing them with friends, which can lead
to things like the shared spontaneous auditory hallucinations, (which
seems dependent on going into and out of these states of mind).
Nutmeg seems to initiate an other-worldy synchronistic effect of
sorts. You can sometimes bring parts of your dreams into your reality
or ... something. Dreams and reality truly do overlap on nutmeg. But
you'll need another nutmegged friend to find that out. How can two
people hear the same "hallucinated(?)" noise? Or share the same dream?

These kinds of effects started to happen on maybe our 3rd try at
nutmeg (done months apart), but I've heard where others have had
similar things happen on even the very first nutmeg experience.

Eventually, the "downer" effect of nutmeg becomes overwhelming (not to
mention you've been awake for quite some time now) and one of your
little nods into nutmeg-dreamland turns into a full-fledged
snore-fest.

The next day, don't expect to do anything energetic.  In fact, we
almost enjoyed the next day more than we enjoyed the hallucinogenic
part of it.  Your muscles might be a little achy/stiff (like after a
long hike, hmmm I wonder now if maybe we hadn't REALLY gone somewhere
on nutmeg :) and feel generally tired and you'll want to do nothing
but lay around, maybe share body-rubs, take hot-showers, drink herb
tea, watch the fire-place, listen to favorite tunes, -- in short, a
MAJOR kick-back kind of day.

Granted, this was the experiences that we "generally" had on nutmeg,
but others have experienced nothing but nausea or just a light buzz is
all. No two people seem to fully react the same way on nutmeg -- the
reason for all the contradictory stories. I truly believe there are
certain "nutmeg people" for whom this drug was meant.  I hope you
might be one of those people, because nothing I've ever taken has
compared to a "nutmeg-trip" with a good friend. I wonder if, of the
many people that say it had no effect, just started getting off on it
and nodded into sleep-land instead of exploring it's effects. Most
might be slipping right past the fun part with no memory of it the
next morning. (I had a friend that used to do that on MY pot. used to
piss me off, what a waste.)

Since I don't know who you are or your age, I hope you don't mind I
add these words of caution.  Even if the other people or person does
not want to do nutmeg with you, try not to do nutmeg alone.  Due to
it's hypnotic/sedative qualities, it would be very easy to wander off
and you wake up finding yourself in a strange place (which could be
dangerous, or driving which could be disasterous). At one campout
(just a few years ago), a guy wandered off chasing the coolest
fire-fly he'd ever seen.  We thought he had gone to bed.  The next
morning we asked him why he was up so soon. He said he just got back
from being lost in the swamp.  He was fascinated by the hoards of
fire-flies that night and just layed down in the dry swamp-bed to
watch them. He could easily have gotten completely lost or if it had
been cold, gotten hypothermia that night.  Have someone watch over
you, even if they too are on nutmeg. His first nutmeg experience
turned into a fascinating trip with nature, he couldn't stop telling
us how fantastic his night was -- but it could have ended up bad, if
the weather had changed, if he couldn't find his way back..

I hope this has helped.  If you have a good experience, let others
know. There's been too few good stories compared to the nay-sayers.
But when they are good, they are really good. I think most are just
not doing it right is all.  Extracts, milk infusions... in my opinion
they're a waste of time and only lead to disappointment.

(I type fast, sorry to have said so much, but ya know? This one turned
out pretty good, I should save it for a personal FAQ. :)