Heavy Trip: How to Deal With Body Load on Psychedelics 🌪️

Body load refers to a series of negative physical sensations that can arise after taking psychedelics. These sensations vary widely and are often difficult to describe.

Several years ago, while on a camping trip, I took 3 grams of magic mushrooms with some friends. It started out without any issues; we went on a short walk to a nearby river to wait for the effects to kick in. 

However, about an hour or so later, I became overwhelmed by a wave of severe body discomfort that seemed to come out of nowhere.

I went back to my tent alone to lie down, but no matter how I adjusted, I couldn't find a comfortable position.

I didn't experience any pain, but I felt a deep tension going right down to my bones. It felt like an internal pressure was building and intensifying, but it had nowhere to go. 

As I lay there trying to deal with my unease and questioning my decision to take mushrooms at all, my world started to spiral inwards.

This was one of the most unsettling experiences I've ever had with magic mushrooms. I started to feel a sense of doom and sadness. All I wanted was to get off the ride and feel myself again.

This persisted for about an hour (as my friends told me later) — however, at the time, it felt much longer than that.

After the physical sensations finally subsided, I got up, rejoined my friends, and ended up having a great time.

I put the experience behind me, writing it off as "bad vibes." 

It wasn’t until several years later, after reading the Shulgins' book PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story, that I discovered this phenomenon not only had a name but was also surprisingly common. 

I began talking about it with more people, and it seemed as though everybody I spoke with had their own story to tell about a time with debilitating body load after taking psychedelics. What fascinated me the most was that each person I spoke with described the symptoms differently.

Join me as we explore the phenomenon of body load. I'll explore what it is, how people describe the effects, examine its potential causes, and share 7 things you can do to minimize the fallout when it appears.

First Of All, What Is Body Load?

Body load is a term that covers a wide range of physical sensations a person may feel after taking a psychedelic substance. These sensations can vary a lot from person to person or drug to drug but are always perceived to be a negative experience.

One of the defining features of body load is that it's difficult to describe objectively. 

People often use words like nausea or muscle tension — and while these words are close, they don't quite do it justice. Body load often has these qualities, but is more elusive and harder to pinpoint than that. 

Some descriptions I've heard people use are "a heavy weight pressing on me from the inside out" or "it's like my skin is two sizes too small for my body."

Body load can be mild, or it can be intense. It can last 5 minutes or 5 hours. It really depends on the person, the substance they're using, the dose, and the mental state they're in. Factors like hydration, whether you've eaten or not, and trip anxiety all factor in.

Most of the time, body load is a brief experience — causing feelings of discomfort that force participants to find a quiet place to lie down until it subsides. However, in other cases, body load can become enough of a force to derail the entire trip — resulting in feelings of fear, anxiety, paranoia, and overwhelming dread.

Some common symptoms associated with body load:

• Tension in muscles or joints

• Nausea or gastrointestinal discomfort

• Heavy or lethargic feelings

• Chills or sensations of heat

• Headaches or pressure in the head

• Fatigue or restlessness

All of these symptoms are common features of body load — but none of them do a good job of truly describing how the experience actually feels. 

Here are some more subjective descriptions of body load that I think do a better job of illustrating what this effect really feels like (and how much it can vary from one person to the next): 

• It feels like "tickle-torture" but without the laughter response

• It feels like restless leg syndrome but for my whole body

• It feels like the gravity inside my body is too heavy, causing my organs to squish together

• It feels like a sensory overload for every cell in my body

• It feels like my internal organs are all glued together

• It feels like a jet engine is blasting directly into my chest, pushing me backward onto the couch

• It’s like an electrical current running through my body

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More Descriptions of Body Load

1.

"It's kind of like having the need to stretch constantly, but no matter what you do, you just can't quite get rid of that feeling. It can be quite terrible at times."

— Reddit User.

2.

"With a lot of RCs, I get the feeling of static electricity in my spine. It's not that it's ever painful per se, but it can drive me mad."

— Reddit User.

3.

"On psychedelics, it's like a general 'restlessness' for me. You get this feeling that there is energy flowing all through your body, and you have to direct it somewhere, only you can't. It's a very 'intense' feeling, but very odd and not necessarily all good. Definitely not a body 'high'. You'll notice any tenseness throughout your body as well."

— Reddit User.

4.

“The body load was quite noticeable for everyone. But the general state of mind was excellent; everyone was extremely relaxed and funny…. Excellent material, but body price a bit too much for the mental effects.”

— PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story entry for β-Methoxy-2C-D.

5.

“Throughout the experiment it was my impression that whatever effects were being felt, they were more in body than mind. The body load never mellowed out, as it would have with mescaline, after the first hour or two. Mental effects didn’t develop in any interesting way. I was aware of brief heart arrhythmia. Tummy was uncomfortable, off and on, and there was light diarrhea. Even as late as the fifth hour, my feet were cold, and the whole thing left me with a slightly uncomfortable, ‘Why did I bother?’ feeling.”

— PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story entry for Buscaline.

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Body Load vs. Body Rush

Sometimes, the physical sensations brought on by psychedelics are enjoyable — such as tingling or increased sensitivity to touch. These sensations may sound like body load on paper, but are entirely different. 

These pleasurable sensations are referred to as a "body rush" rather than "body load."

Body rush often feels like waves of energy or tingling coursing through the body, enhancing physical sensations. It's that warm and tingly feeling you might feel after taking something like MDMA or 2C-B.

Unlike body load, which is typically uncomfortable, a body rush is viewed positively and adds to the enjoyable aspects of the trip.

What Causes Body Load?

The true cause of body load remains elusive, but there are a few good theories. It's likely body load is caused by a combination of several of these factors — depending on both the drug and the individual.

1. Pre-Shock & Perceived Stress

Body load may not be a purely physical reaction but rather a mental perception that manifests physically. It can be likened to a state of pre-shock, where the body senses that it's about to undergo significant stress and attempts to prepare itself for it.

This may activate the fight-or-flight response that, when combined with the serotonergic properties of the psychedelic, triggers strong and indescribable tactile sensations as well as nausea and stomach discomfort.

2. Serotonergic Activity

Most psychedelics work by activating serotonin receptors (particularly the 5-HT2A receptors). 

These receptors regulate both mood and physical sensations. Overstimulation may lead to muscle tension, nausea, or other sensations associated with body load.

The complex nature of serotonin and its indirect role in both the central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract may explain the variability of symptoms and difficulty describing the sensation it produces.

Similar effects can be observed when taking high doses of SSRI medications (fluoxetine, sertraline, and paroxetine). 

3. Vasoconstriction

Some psychedelics, particularly phenethylamines like 2CX and the DOX drugs, can cause vasoconstriction, which narrows blood vessels. This can create feelings of tightness, coldness, or heaviness in the limbs and abdomen — contributing to the overall physical tension and discomfort associated with body load.

Other vasoconstrictive drugs, such as amphetamines or certain migraine medications like triptans, have been known to produce similar side effects.

4. Psychosomatic Factors

Psychedelics are amplifiers of emotion — whatever mental state you have going into the experience tends to intensify throughout the experience. If you go into the trip with fear, anxiety, or uneasiness — these emotions can expand and spill over into physical manifestations.

This is similar to somatization, a psychological process where emotional or mental distress is unconsciously converted into physical symptoms.

This theory is reinforced by the fact that cultivating a calm and positive mindset is one of the best ways to avoid or escape the physical impact of body load. 

5. Increased Sensitivity to Physical Sensations

Psychedelics amplify body awareness, making even minor sensations more noticeable. This heightened sensitivity can make otherwise insignificant discomforts that may have already been present feel much more intense. 

Which Substances Cause The Most Body Load?

While there are certainly psychedelics that are much more likely to cause problems with body load than others, any psychoactive substance can cause this effect.

Classical psychedelic tryptamines like psilocybin mushrooms, DMT (dimethyltryptamine), and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) have surprisingly mild direct effects on the body.

Any increase in heart rate or blood pressure is typically a reaction to the emotional experience — like anxiety or euphoria — rather than a physical response to the drug itself.