Thread: Menthol as a Dream Enhancer

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Still been meaning to do the SJW/menthol combo since DutchRaptor had the sexiest dream in history using them.

Yeah SJW is much cheaper than 5-htp. I seem to remember Aly saying a lot of its effects come from it being a glutamate as seratonergic, it looks like complex herb. definitely don't want to mix with 5-htp.

So I meant to the last night, but completely failed to WBTB...

Lol I recommend it

Btw, if you live near the country side you should be able to just pick it up outside, it grows literally everywhere. I have like three plants growing natively in my garden and I do all kind of stuff with it.

Originally Posted by dutchraptor

Lol I recommend it

Btw, if you live near the country side you should be able to just pick it up outside, it grows literally everywhere. I have like three plants growing natively in my garden and I do all kind of stuff with it.

I'll have to root around.

Has anyone had any experience with using passion flower as a supplement?

Dose: Pre-bed: 5g fish oil; WBTB: 4 bags peppermint tea, 1000mg L-tyrosine
Side Effects: Mild nausea late morning, ~7 hours after ingestion. Most likely unrelated. I have some kind of raging stomach bug that caused these symptoms. Which got much worse.
Sleep Duration: 7 hours
Cognitive: Recalled a lot of dreams but several of the dreams were short and choppy. Missed two obvious dreamsigns (deja vu due to repeated dream and changing text.)
Sexual: Only mildly. A couple of crude references.
Atmosphere: Large number of dreams with a good mix between action, exploration, weirdness, and semi-magical devices/items. Dreams had many missing pieces.
Lucid: No

I'll have to give this one another try some time, perhaps with a slight bump in L-tyrosine. A couple of close calls on lucidity that were disappointing to miss in retrospect. The worst one was when I was reading text on an airplane and noticed that it kept changing (and also contained rather dumb, somewhat sexy content.) I blamed the whole thing on "turbulence"!

^ If I was going to get started with aminos would you recommend l-tyrosine, is it safer than l-dopa (in the form of mucuna) as it's a precursor further away from dopamine?

Yeah, dream logic can be stronger than supps. I was looking at some weird veggies tonight, and I told myself this is normal because they were from China.

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

^ If I was going to get started with aminos would you recommend l-tyrosine, is it safer than l-dopa (in the form of mucuna) as it's a precursor further away from dopamine?

L-tyrosine could be a good place for the cautious to begin, since the rate at which L-tyrosine is converted into L-DOPA will be governed by the tyrosine hydoxylase enzyme that's present in your body. I can't yet make a sound recommendation as to which is the more effective dream supplement, though. In the few experiments I've done, mucuna pruriens has on the whole been quite a bit more impressive, but there's still lots of testing to do. (I space these out a lot, so it takes a while!)

Also, a little update -- the "mild nausea" I mentioned turned into lots of this: Some kind of stomach bug. Still working my way through that. Not too fun, but definitely unrelated to L-tyrosine.

Well, I hope you get to feel better soon, CL!

Date: Tue May 28th 2013
Dose: (Bed) Oil of Peppermint capsule (x1) = 200 mg. Cough syrup (Mentholated) = 5 ml. Menthodex cough drops (x3) = 0.36% w/w (each.) (WBTB) Oil of Peppermint capsule (x1) = 200 mg. Cough syrup (Mentholated) = 10 ml. Menthodex cough drops (x3) = 0.36 w/w (each.) Total = *See note. (All taken with water.)
Side Effects: Gripey stomach
Sleep Duration: (5)-5.5 hrs before (WBTB 40 min) 3 hrs approx after. Total = (8)-8.5 hrs
Cognitive: Average to good recall. 2 DILD’s recorded, one of which was a very long 1st REM period dream. HI/Hypnagogia above normal levels. Higher awareness. High stability.
Sexual: See notes.
Atmosphere: Exhibited ‘superpowers.’ Generally I didn’t seem to worry or fear any consequences regarding the outcome(s)
Other Comments: Malleable hypnagogic patterns/colours. Easily slipped in and out of ‘dreams’ whilst half-asleep whilst resting, post-WBTB.
Note: I don’t consider the naked part of my dream as a sexual event, however the erection in the dream that followed probably most definitely is!
(N.B: I held the Quartz crystal in my left hand, post-WBTB as a form of Totem.)
*Final total unknown due to confusing labelling/amount shown on cough syrup bottle. (Shown as 1 ml of Menthol, with Peppermint Oil shown as a SEPARATE ingredient, inc. Sugars and even ALCOHOL!)

Menthol combo – 2 DILD’s, etc - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Broke my mini-dry spell, now it's time for a Detox!

Hey everyone! I'm not back from vacation yet but I have computer access at the moment and I've been checking the thread every now and then on my phone so I wanted to drop in and say something about this one thing really quick. I'll comment on more later, but for now congrats on the progress!

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Has anyone had any experience with using passion flower as a supplement?

If you try this, be very careful. I haven't personally used it, but I know it has been used for vivid dreams. But what you need to watch out for is the fact that passionflower contains multiple MAO inhibitors. That means that if you use a good amount of it it could make for some potentially very dangerous combinations. For one, NEVER use it with anything serotonergic - I see supplement combos sold that have both it and 5-HTP in it and it makes me cringe. Believe me, just don't do it. In fact, you probably should just not really combine it with anything if you try it. If you do, at least bring it like here or somewhere else where someone knowledgeable can tell you that you should be good to go with any given combo, and don't go ahead with it until you've been completely reassured. MAOIs can be dangerous if not given the proper care.

That being said... passionflower does have an interesting blend of chemicals in it. The two I think deserve the most mention are the harmala alkaloids and scopoletin. The harmala alkaloids are the MAOIs in Ayahuasca that orally activate DMT. Not everyone seems to realize it either, but they're actually psychedelic on their own too. They don't just make the DMT work orally, they actually provide a lot of the flavor of the trip. They're also known to create vivid dreams and have a wide range of pharmacological effects in addition to MAO inhibition, such as acetylcholinesterase inhibition, dopamine release, GABA(A) benzodiazepine site inverse agonism, NMDA antagonism, possible serotonin receptor agonism, and so on. But I do feel its worth noting that some of their dream-altering effects probably come from their hallucinogenic effects simply being stacked on top of the dreams, and it's possible that they actually make lucid dreams less likely in the process, I couldn't say for sure. However, scopoletin is much more interesting. It also has weak MAOI properties, but that's not the big part about it. It's an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist, or maybe a positive allosteric modulator, just like galantamine. There have even been scientific studies showing that the two are quite comparable. I'm guessing that if you do get some dream-enhancing effect from passionflower, that's more than likely where at least a lot of it will come from.

Just remember to stay safe though.

Dose: Pre-bed: 300mg SJW, 100MG B6; WBTB: 1/4 cup peppermint leaves, 800mg mucuna pruriens, 200MG DMAE
Side Effects: Moderate insomnia. Emotional nightmares.
Sleep Duration: 7.5 hours
Cognitive: Average recall. Vividness average. Physical sensations Vivid.
Sexual: passive yet vivid and disturbing.
Atmosphere: Normal
Lucid: No.

I only recall two dreams.

In the first one my teeth were falling out in great chunks of enamel while I was at work. Most of the dream was me messing with lose teeth in my mouth completely horrified and shocked at what was happening.

In the second one hardcore porn popped up on my laptop. The webpage title read "The Bible Says Sex Is Bad!" I was trying to make sense of it and I believe I was on the verge of getting lucid but I realized both my daughters were on either side of me. The begin to freak out but my dad gets in my face yelling and preaching to me like some crazy mad man. I tried to explain that none of this was my fault but he would not let me talk. I became angry and told him that if he doesn't shut up I was going to break his glasses. He wouldn't so I did. I noticed how odd it was that the glass bent like plastic but I felt so horrified at my rage that I didn't give it much thought. He was devastated that I reached violently towards him and started crying. I looked over at my mom who was staring at me with disdain.

The negative emotions in both dreams were intense and disturbing. I'm not sure I like this combo!

Sorry you had such a bad night. I sometimes get similar types of dreams just by taking B6, no idea why is that. I was planning on repeating the combo SJW-B6-menthol, but since I know how sensitive I am, and after reading your entry I got worried about getting nightmares. Now, I am thinking of switching B6 for multivitamins with lower B6 dosage?

I also wonder if the situation could have been turned around if you did manage to get lucid.

Another female DC comes in and starts behaving aggressively. She demands all the attention, looks me in the eye with hatred and begins complaining to one of the women in the room. I have the feeling that they will start a fight with each other, so get out of there fast...I find myself on the stairs of a building with lots of aggressive gangster type boys. One is particularly evil, feels dangerous. I become lucid on a distracted level, realizing this is a dream, but unable to do anything about the guy. I am trying to move away but it is really crowded on the stairs, I think somebody pushed me, and I end up in a niche on the wall. The wall is not really wall but something liquid that sucks me in. As I move forward in this thing, I achieve a better clarity of mind and am fully lucid and in control.There is a single task that I feel the urge to do now, go to Angel Falls...

Valerian and B6 entry The lotus pond

Originally Posted by NyxCC

Sorry you had such a bad night. I sometimes get similar types of dreams just by taking B6, no idea why is that. I was planning on repeating the combo SJW-B6-menthol, but since I know how sensitive I am, and after reading your entry I got worried about getting nightmares. Now, I am thinking of switching B6 for multivitamins with lower B6 dosage?

I also wonder if the situation could have been turned around if you did manage to get lucid.



Valerian and B6 entry The lotus pond

That's not typical for me with B6. Perhaps it's something with this particular combo or maybe it was just one of those nights? I totally would have turned this around if I had got lucid. I usually handle lucid nightmares pretty well and can almost always take charge of DC's and tame the situation. I did throw in some extras with L-Dopa and DMAE. I suspect higher dopamine levels could have played a role here as well. Maybe next time I will leave those two out.

@ Xanous. Hmmm, I guess I am just very sensitive to B6 (like you once said) and perhaps other supps?

Date: 31 May
Dose: pre bed 2 drops p.oil, strong multivits (included 60 mg gingko, and 50 mg ginseng), SJW, WBTB 1 p.oil capsule (200mg)
Side Effects: heavy insomnia, slightly faster heart rate (was also dehydrated unrelated to supps?)
Duration: about 9 hrs (2.5 hrs total insomnia, 6.5 sleep)
Cognitive: wakefulness, vivid dreams, good dream control
Sexual: no
Atmosphere: normal city during night, high awareness interaction with a bold energetic entity, enhanced spacial perception, mostly normal mood with slight touches of lucid satisfaction, but more action oriented
Lucid: WILD + 2 DILDs in the very early stages of sleep
Other: After our discussion yesterday, decided to use multivits instead of 100 mg B6, but I got too much energy before bed time, and my heart rate was faster, which made it hard to fall asleep. I guess I unconsciously used it as an anchor and ended up with a WILD, which was the longest lasting no prior sleep ld that I can remember. Then got two DILDs, followed by insomnia, then unmemorable sleep. While I find it cool to have 3 lds so early on, I wouldn't take these multivitamins with this combo again, because of the insomnia. Another thing I did differently this time was to take two drops of p.oil pre bed, so I guess this also played a role.

Midnight lucidity

Possible future combos: pre bed: SJW, menthol, WBTB: menthol or pre bed: SJW, WBTB: menthol, lecithin/ B complex (a smaller %), may substitute SJW for Gingko

Date: Tue June 4th 2013
Dose: (Bed) Oil of Peppermint capsule (x1) = 200 mg. Cough syrup (Mentholated) = 15 ml.
Side Effects: Ok
Sleep Duration: Total = 9.75 - 10.25 hrs
Cognitive: Average recall. Odd bit of HI/dreamlet. Interesting NLD with slight awareness at one point noted.
Atmosphere: A floating theme. It felt good, along with an ‘energy/feeling.’
Other Comments: No supplements taken post-toilet break due to missing the earlier WBTB time. Therefore no ‘proper’ WBTB was taken.
I don’t recall/remember really anything from the first half of the night (when the Menthol would have been at peak plasma, etc.) as I slept through.
(N.B: Crystal totem was in my pyjama pocket.)

Pants - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

My dream recall is a bit pants - lol.

Date:
Dose:(Bedtime) 3g fish oil, (WBTB) 400mg peppermint oil
Side-effects: light sleep, anxiety, slightly delirious
Cognitive:Aforementioned delirium, anxiety dreams
Atmosphere: Uneasiness, colourful dream characters, tigers and panthers
Other comments:More or less complete failure, the menthol seemed to land me in a paralytic state of swinging between not-quite-complete wakefulness and troubled dreams, slept through two further WBTB alarms. To anyone using peppermint oil capsules, if you want to take a higher dose spread it out between bedtime and WBTB like Highlander does as that seems to alleviate side-effects.

Dose: Pre-bed: 100mg B6; WBTB: 4 bags peppermint tea, 800mg mucuna pruriens
Side Effects: Mild insomnia. Ultra-focused and productive this morning at work. Really in the zone!
Sleep Duration: 7 hours
Cognitive: Some dream choppiness. Missed some obvious dreamsigns (magical powers, weird stuff happening on DV, etc.)
Sexual: Not at all.
Atmosphere: Mostly happy and adventurous. Dreams had many missing pieces, though.
Lucid: No

Nice dreams this morning, although I was sad not to have become lucid. Menthol and mucuna seem to help create good dreams but as far as I can tell, they're not making my dreaming brain any smarter / clued in. That part's still completely up to me.

One dream was extremely positive. I found a dead frog, brought him back to life, and named him "Mr. Froggo" before releasing him back into the great outdoors. As silly as this dream plot is, I felt incredible joy by the end of it!

@ Ctharlhie - definitely not a failure, those are menthol dream signs. Not sure about the mood of the dream, but one could potentially learn to recognize those colorful entities/DCs, especially when dreams are vivid. I have been trying to get lucid when encountering animals, but I am usually so fascinated I always end up simply watching/interacting with them. Tigers and panthers

@ CL; good to hear that these supps have positive spillover effects in waking life too. It seems like a good combination of supps. And I totally adore the "Mr.Froggo dream".

Date: 7 May
Dose: pre bed SJW, 100mg B6 WBTB: 2x200 mg p.oil capsule
Side effects: none
Duration: 9 hours (5+1 wbtb on/off sleep +3)
Cognitive: dreams were vivid, paid attention to a fascinating piano performance
Sexual: yes
Atmosphere: normal with some sexy elements
Lucid: yes, short DILD
Other: If I am not mistaken this is the sixth time I use menthol, and the second this combo. For menthol - first time having sexy dreams, classmate kissing me, two dreams with hookers and sexy time with bf. Apart for the distractions, I started with a brief DILD post WBTB. I was interrupted after my WBTB practice so in the end I spent more time trying to fall asleep than thinking about lucidity. Today, I did not get the ultra positive mood I usually associate with menthol, mood was just normal. SJW plus menthol combo has coincided with a lucid 3/3 times so far, but today my awareness was not as high. I hope I am not becoming desensitized (only once a week?)

Too much indecisiveness

Date: 8th June
Dose: 3g fish oil, 200mg peppermint oil
Side effects: none
Sleep duration: 9hrs
Cognitive: illogical dreams
Sexual: Kinda, more romantic
Atmosphere: Anxiety, romance, threat, fantasy
Lucid: Brief semi-lucid on the cusp of lucid proper

Slept through my WBTB alarm, I was gonna take loads of valerian

Originally Posted by NyxCC

Date: 7 May
Dose: pre bed SJW, 100mg B6 WBTB: 2x200 mg p.oil capsule
Side effects: none
Duration: 9 hours (5+1 wbtb on/off sleep +3)
Cognitive: dreams were vivid, paid attention to a fascinating piano performance
Sexual: yes
Atmosphere: normal with some sexy elements
Lucid: yes, short DILD
Other: If I am not mistaken this is the sixth time I use menthol, and the second this combo. For menthol - first time having sexy dreams, classmate kissing me, two dreams with hookers and sexy time with bf. Apart for the distractions, I started with a brief DILD post WBTB. I was interrupted after my WBTB practice so in the end I spent more time trying to fall asleep than thinking about lucidity. Today, I did not get the ultra positive mood I usually associate with menthol, mood was just normal. SJW plus menthol combo has coincided with a lucid 3/3 times so far, but today my awareness was not as high. I hope I am not becoming desensitized (only once a week?)

Too much indecisiveness

That SJW is great stuff. I've gotten lucid from taking it prebed nothing else WBTB. I notice when I missed a WBTB and just did a quick induction during a brief awakening. If I don't get lucid I notice a huge boost in REM rebound. For me it seems waaaay more effective than 5-HTP!

Originally Posted by Xanous

That SJW is great stuff. I've gotten lucid from taking it prebed nothing else WBTB. I notice when I missed a WBTB and just did a quick induction during a brief awakening. If I don't get lucid I notice a huge boost in REM rebound. For me it seems waaaay more effective than 5-HTP!

I think Aly mentioned at one point that SJW is also a glutamate. May account for its increased effectiveness.

Date: Sat June 8th 2013
Dose: (Bed) Honey and Lemon Menthol cough drops (x5) = 48.5 mg (WBTB) A cereal breakfast with milk. A cup of tea (0.5 pt)
Side Effects: Generally ok.
Sleep Duration: 5.75 hrs approx before (WBTB 40 min) 3 hrs after. Total = 8.75 hrs
Cognitive: Excellent recall (post-WBTB.) A highly stable, quite vivid DILD which was quite long and exceptionally late in the morning (by my standards) was noted. Memorable.
Sexual: No.
Atmosphere: Set at night where it was a bit dark. Family themes. (See notes also.)
Other Comments: There may be other variables which could have influenced things, namely:
(i) L-Arginine (1 g) taken yesterday, quite early in the evening.
(ii) Consumption of (x3) Chocolate coated digestive biscuits about ¾ hr before bed.
(iii) Extra tiredness – I don’t need to mention why! (Ho hum…)
(iv) The breakfast – as in the vitamins, plus the Caffeine in the tea.

The dialogue content of the DILD has made me think somewhat, even to the point where I have felt like giving up?

Imposter (DILD) - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Date: Mon June 10th 2013
Dose: (Bed) Oil of Peppermint capsule (x1) = 200 mg, Teaspoon (x3) Mentholated cough syrup (15 ml), H and L Menthol cough drops (x2) = 19.4 mg (WBTB) L-Arginine (x1) = 500 mg, H and L Menthol cough drops (x3) = 29.1 mg
Side Effects: Insomnia (post-WBTB)
Sleep Duration: 5 hrs approx before (WBTB 40 min) 3.75 hrs approx after. Total = 8.75 hrs
Cognitive: Very good recall (post-WBTB.) High awareness coupled split-second lucidity in main dream noted.
Sexual: Yes – scenes of nudity
Atmosphere: Realistic and vivid. Danger situation.
Other Comments: Above normal HI/thoughts and general dreamlets late on in the morning. Ex work colleagues, etc. featured as a common theme. Dreamsign recorded. RC checks failed.
It was generally a warm night which may have exacerbated the post-WBTB insomnia. Totem (LH.)

Menthol and L-Arginine - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Dose: Pre-bed: 3mg melatonin; WBTB: 4 bags peppermint tea
Side Effects: None.
Sleep Duration: 7 hours
Cognitive: Slightly dumb and self-conscious in NLDs. Brain worked okay in lucid portions. Prospective memory only so-so. (Couldn't remember more than my primary goal.)
Sexual: For the most part, no. Did appear in just my boxers in one NLD.
Atmosphere: Confused and self-conscious in NLDs. Vaguely worried about trivial matters, but not excessively. Carefree in lucid portion.
Lucid: Yes!

Apart from showing up pantsless at the beginning of one dream, last night's dreams didn't seem exceedingly menthol-y. Reasonably imaginative, but not off the charts like some dreams have been in the past. Got lucid, didn't get insomnia, so all in all thumbs up!

The lucid dream:
Morgan Freeman - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I'm glad to see all of these recent successes you guys are posting! Great stuff.