Nutmeg -- A Personal FAQ

Nutmeg

Citation: Powaqqatsi. "Nutmeg -- A Personal FAQ: An Experience with Nutmeg (exp1301)". Erowid.org . Oct 16, 2000. erowid.org/exp/1301

DOSE:

oral Nutmeg (ground / crushed)

(I recently did a search on Deja-news for an old nutmeg FAQ I had posted years ago. It was gone from Deja, but I searched my own archives and found it again. I was disheartened by the bad trips that the present FAQ on Deja-news is now reporting. I thought for sure someone from the original Hyperreal site would have grabbed this FAQ off of usenet years ago [when they hosted these drug info archives], but it never showed up there and I don't see it in Erowid's vaults. So here it is. I really hate the bad rap nutmeg gets by those who overdose or don't use it properly. Maybe this will enlighten a few that are ruining a good thing for everyone, or more accurately, ruining it for the select few for which Nutmeg was meant. p.s. Thanks so much for providing TRUTH on this planet. It's hard to come by these days.)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 of you on nutmeg. Some of the effects (the stranger ones like shared auditory and out-of-body hallucinations/experiences) might be dependent on having someone who you are close to 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 '70s) 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 seem 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.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 .75 grams to 1.25 grams per 10 pounds of body mass for each person taking it. Do not try to measure nutmeg by spoonful or other 'volume' measures --this can lead to disaster. One teaspoon of a compact, solid whole-nutmeg will NOT weigh the same as 1 teaspoon of powdered nutmeg. Nor will a spoon of fresh grated weigh the same as that sprinkled from an old can. ALWAYS WEIGH dosages of dry substances. Try not to do more than the amounts stated, 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 is exactly. It has an extreme central-nervous-system (CNS) depressant effect at times. If you are 150 lbs. try 10 to 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 1.25 grams per 10 lbs. of body-mass. Recently someone just reported overdosing on his first nutmeg trip when he took 23 grams and weighed 200 pounds. This is high but within the recommended dose, so be warned. His attempt at nutmeg turned into a nightmare by doing what was suggested (he also didn't weigh the dosage, just divided up a full, 56 gram spice-container in half by sight. Don't rely on store labels for accurate weight). One time I did 25 grams and weighed 180 at the time, with no bad side-effects, there seems to be no cut-and-dried rules to nutmeg dosages. So BE CAREFUL! If you are not sure about your sensitivity or the effects nutmeg will have on you, you should probably start with as little as half the recommended dosage (or even less than that). You will have to find what works right for you. There are no guarantees. Don't put yourself into a hospital over something that could have been a wonderful experience by foolishly jumping into a maximum dosage of something you've never done before. Nutmeg CAN BE and *IS* a powerful drug!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 quantities. 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. One person wrote to me recently and said he found some wonderful success by mixing nutmeg with ripe lemons, making a sort of a 'nutmeg-lemon slushy' as he put it. I don't know, I've not tried it, but he claimed the sour lemon cut the disgusting nutmeg flavor considerably. Maybe it was working along the same lines as the way lemon juice cuts the smell of fish (fishermen know to wash their hands in lemon juice after cleaning the day's catch). Try a nutmeg-lemon slushy, see if it works, if it does -- GREAT! And if so, our collective thanks go to the guy that found the nutmeg-flavor antidote. :)Measure out the right dosage for each person (only each person will know what the 'right' dose is for hir), 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 [or lemonade? :)]. The trick is getting it past your tongue before you can taste it.There are some warnings against nutmeg, such as that it can cause 'nutmeg liver,' in which deposits of fatty tissue form on your liver. There have also been reports of dangerously high heart rates, anxiety attacks, general distress, dehydration, and constipation There are other contraindications to nutmeg (maybe others can add what they are). 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. As with all things in this world, different people react differently to all things. 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 you try, 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 alcohol 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. She told me to close my eyes and envision soaring through the canyons and pinnacles like an eagle or a hawk while thinking/hearing the song (the name of the song was The Eagle and the Hawk). When in this downer/dream state, my daydreams take on VERY REAL qualities, like I am there. I opened my eyes and could only say 'WOW!' Then as she smiled at me, I heard a loud eagle scream, 'EEEEEeeee, EEEEEeeeeee...' 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 minutes) 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 others' concentration and 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-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. Just as the dream/OOBE ended, I opened my eyes and quickly said, 'What are you thinking?!' and she woke up in a start. What freaked her out so bad is that, as she stated, while half laughing, 'Don't EVER do that to me! Fuck! You scared me, just as I saw you step back into your body in the recliner you asked me what was I thinking! Jeeze did that scare me! Like someone yelling BOO!' And we laughed and compared notes--and then became REALLY amazed over our 'shared dream.'See if you can sustain this nodding dream-state as long as possible, having the dreams and then comparing them with friends, which can lead to things like the shared spontaneous auditory hallucinations (which seem dependent on going into and out of these states of mind). Nutmeg seems to initiate an other-worldly 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-fledgedsnore-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 you'll feel generally tired and you'll want to do nothing but lay around, maybe share body-rubs with your nut-meg friends, take hot-showers, drink herb tea, watch the fireplace, listen to favorite tunes -- in short, a MAJOR kick-back kind of day.Granted, these were the experiences that we 'generally' had on nutmeg, but others have experienced nothing but nausea or just a light buzz (or the serious side-effects). No two people seem to fully react the same way on nutmeg, hence 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, they just started getting off on it and nodded off right into sleep-land instead of exploring its effects. Most might be slipping right past the fun part with no memory of it the next morning.Even if the other people or person does not want to take nutmeg with you, try not to do nutmeg alone. Due to its hypnotic/sedative qualities, it would be very easy to wander off and wake up finding yourself in a strange place, which could be dangerous, or driving which could be disastrous, not to mention the serious side-effects if you are unlucky enough to experience any of them. At one camp-out (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 and about 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 laid down in the dry swamp-bed to watch them. He could easily have gotten completely lost or if it had been cold, gotten hypothermia. 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 badly, if the weather had changed, if he couldn't have found 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.Have fun at play, but play safe! Just like the 'New Games Foundation' motto from back in the '70s--'Play Hard, Play Fair, Nobody Hurt!'- Powaqqatsi -