|
|
|
the dosage of Lobelia
Wednesday, May 8 2013
In my continuing effort to find replacement stimulants so that I won't be as neurochemically-dependent on caffeine, today I took delivery of eight ounces of ground Lobelia inflata leaves. I first learned of the pharmacological effects of Lobelia back in college, when Harkness (my co-op dorm and dining hall) ordered "smoker's tea," which contained Lobelia. I remember it having a pleasant stimulative effect and a slightly-tangy mouth feel. But in the years since, I've been unable to find a smoker's tea containg Lobelia. But the other day I did manage to find Lobelia itself. Eight ounces cost about $13 and should, as I'll next explain, last me a very long time.
Unfortunately by the time the Lobelia arrived, I'd already taken a 20 milligram table of Celexa (my second day on it), and begun drinking that cocktail of green and white tea that contains a low dosage of caffeine. Not knowing anything about proper Lobelia dosage, I put about a teaspoon of it into a cup of chamomile tea and proceeded to drink it. I'd only had a few sips before I could feel a weird rush passing through my body. This peaked at times just below the level of feeling nauseating, sending me to Google to find out more. It turns out that in "high doses" Lobelia can induce vomiting, and was used for this purpose in earlier decades. Indeed, one of the common names of Lobelia is "puke weed." I realized that the dose I had fixed for myself was way too high. In the end, I only ended up drinking about a tenth of that cup of tea. I threw the rest of it into the garden, where hopefully the insecticidal properties of the lobeline will kill off whatever has been eating tiny holes in the nascent Brassicas.
By this evening, the cocktail of stimulants I'd taken made it seem unlikely that I'd ever be able to go to sleep, so I drank about three ounces of hard liquor. That may or may not seem like a lot, but in the recent past I would routinely drink that amount in one setting. As I drank it, though, its flavor seemed almost poisonous. This was probably because of the Celexa I'd taken; its effects on me include:
- increased craving of food, particularly sweet food
- marked decrease in interest in alcohol
- marked decrease in interest in sex
For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?130508 feedback
previous | next |
