UNDER THE INFLUENCE • 145 and reached their peak at 5 minutes. DMT also stimulated sharp spikes in the release of vasopressin, prolactin, growth hormone, and corticotropin. The last is a hormone responsible for stimulating the adrenal glands, which then release cortisol, a powerful, all-purpose stress steroid similar to cortisone. The elevations of these hormones may have exerted some psychological effects—Ill discuss this in chapter 21. Pupil diameter doubled, from 4 millimeters to nearly 8, with a high dose of DMT, with biggest responses at 2 minutes. Body temperature took longer to rise, beginning at 15 minutes and continuing to climb by the time we removed the rectal temperature monitor at 60 minutes. Of all the biological factors we measured, the only one that did not increase was the pineal gland hormone melatonin. This was startling, and again brought home to me the incredibly mysterious nature of this potential spirit gland. It may be that outside-administered DMT was not a powerful-enough stimulus to overcome the pineal defense mechanism weve discussed previously. While its clear that stress hormones rose in response to the spirit molecule, they may not have gotten high enough to stimulate daytime melatonin production. Another possibility is that exogenous DMT actually did stimulate the pineal to make more of its own endogenous DMT. However, our method of measuring DMT in the blood would not have been able to distinguish between the two sources of the spirit molecule. Volunteers, of course, did not feel the rise in prolactin or experience in their consciousness their elevated blood pressure. Rather, it was in their minds that the images, feelings, and thoughts defined the essence of the spirit molecules effects. The initial moments of the first non-blind high dose of DMT overwhelmed almost everyone. There was an intense, rapidly developing, and at least temporarily anxiety-provoking rush throughout the body and mind. This rush began even before I had finished the saline flush. It is difficult to do justice in describing the rush. My dictionary uses such terms as a sudden turbulent movement, drive, or onset; a feeling of
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 21:52:09 +0000
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