Dextromethorphan is a salt of the methyl ether dextrorotatory isomer of levorphanol, a narcotic (opioid) analgesic (and DXM itself is an isomer, i.e., a mirror image in the 3D space, of levomethorphan, a substance considered an opioid1). It is chemically named as 3-methoxy-17-methyl-9(alpha), 13(alpha), 14(alpha)-morphinan hydrobromide monohydrate. DXM occurs as white crystals, is sparingly soluble in water, and freely soluble in alcohol. The drug is dextrorotatory in water (at 20 degrees Celsius, Sodium D-line) with a specific rotation of +27.6 degrees.
Dextromethorphan is a codine replacement.
Dextromethorphan can be both the most badass, and most scary drug one could use...NEVER underestimate it!
Dextromethorphan can be both the most badass, and most scary drug one could use...NEVER underestimate it!
by A_Crowley June 15, 2006
Active ingredient in cough syrups. When taken in large amounts it has the ability to really make you trip balls.
by iwannabeanalcoholic March 5, 2005
Disassociative anesthetic used as cough supressant in cough syrup. Frequently abused for the god-damn cool trip it gives you.
Dude, I can't feel my legs. I think im floating. Look at that green submarine floating through the window. God I love dextromethorphan.
by FinGerLiverFliPpeRNippLeFunGus February 7, 2003
by dex January 31, 2003
Dexromethorphan Hydrobromide (DM) is the the cough suppressant ingredient in most over the counter ( OTC ) cough medicines. It was introduced back in the late '60s as a substitute for codiene, which was the the usual, frequently abused cough suppressant ingredient at the time (such as in Robitussin AC, which was a combination of alcohol and codiene). DM is actually an analog of an opiate ( Meaning that it was engineered from opiates), but does not register as an opiate, nor does it have any of the usual opiate characterictics, such as anesthesia, sedation or physical withdrawl. So, if you're looking for an opiate high, you are looking in the wrong place. Technically, it's molecular structure has been changed so much that its closest chemical cousin is actually Phenylcyclidine (PCP), but is little closer to Ketamine in it's effects. In the recreational sense, its an extremely powerful disassociative hallucinogen of such potency that I would easily put it in the same catagory of strength with LSD and mushrooms ( In fact , in some cases, and doses, I would consider it to be more powerful, but thats just me. Also, I had the privilege of getting most of the LSD in my life shipped from Haite Street in San Francisco, so I know good LSD...), but with noticably different effects. I really could go on for pages and pages with what I have researched, experienced and tested with this drug, but for lack of space and the fact that I don't want to have to write for ten pages or more, the rest will be the important bullet points. Also, if you want the whole kit and kaboodle on DM, look up William H. White's FAQ on DM ( Or DXM as they might call it, I forgot. For the Editors, this is a reference to document at a research site. If you have to, just delete the name and keep the rest, but it will make it hard for them to find it. Also, please delete this part of this piece...) at Lycaeum ( Or Lyceaum ) .org. He did research that makes what I say look like it was written by a kindergartener. I think its somewhere around 125 pages at this point, if I'm not mistaken.
1) Contrary to popular belief, it is not the viscous syrup or the smell and taste that makes you want to throw up. If you drink the cough syrup ( which is what I would recommend ), it is one of the other common ingredients, Guaifenesin, that is present in Robitussin DM. It has the medicinal purpose of, basically hydrating your phlegm so its easier to cough up. It's side effect is to make you physically ill if you take too much ( I have no idea if that was the maker's secondary intent, but...). Personally, I think that it has a nice synergistic effect with the DM hallucinogenically ( I think I used to say that it made the high more " Chunky"...) and, personally, I wouldn't drink any thing else. BUT, if you think that you might end up tossing your cookies, you can also try Robitussin Maximum Strength which has a slightly higher DM content per volume and has no Guaifenesin in it. I just think that it has a different feel to it and that Robitussin DM has more of a "dreamy" effect than the others, especially the generics. I still say, if you think you can get past the mild nausea, take the regular Robitussin DM.
2) DON'T take any of the other types of cough medicine with other ingredients in them, because they usually have a negative effect in such high doses. This includes Coriciden-D pills. A person I once knew took so many that when he woke up in the hospital, they said he was this close to liver failure. If the syrup or pills you are taking have any other ingredients other than DM or Guaifenesin, just don't take the chance. You might not end up in the hospital, but you'll more than likely have a bad time. The few times I strayed, I know I have. Plus, most experienced people think this way.
3) As for dosage, There is an actual DM calculator in William H. White's DM FAQ, but if you don't want to take the time to research this ( Which I would also recommend. If you are going to do ANY drug recreationally, you should know as much as humanly possible about it first. ) It goes like this: If you are a normal, healthy teenager or older, start out with 4-5 ounces/110-139 pounds, 5-6 oz./140-169 pounds, 6-8 oz./170-209 pounds and so on. If it is your first second or third time, DO NOT much more than that at a time and I mean more than an ounce. It is not like codiene or alcohol where another pill or drink will get you that much more high. Its more like one or two hits of LSD for the inexperienced is good, but any more than that and you'll be out of control in a bad way. I had friends that tried it for the first time, loved it and couldn't wait to try it again. So the next weekend, even though I told them not to do more than normal, they took twice what they were supposed to and spent the next six hours wandering around my house almost crying that they wanted it to stop and saying that they thought they were actually in Hell. Trust me on this, until you get a handle on the experience, don't experiment.
4) Have a little bit of something harder to digest like a little meat or some peanuts in your stomach to get a lot of stomach acid flowing to break down the syrup. A lot of what aids in your throwing up that your stomach can't break down all that syrup fast enough. Plus, don't drink it on a full stomach. Always have a few gulps of a chaser like chocolate milk ( It helps cover up the taste...) BEFORE and AFTER ( It also helps make your stomach more comfortable. Also, to dispell any stupidity, people have often said, "But the milk will curdle in my stomach". Dumbass, milk curdles in your stomach no matter what you do. And, no matter what idiot tells you otherwise, no one in the history of man has ever gotten sick from spoiled milk. They get sick from the SMELL of spoiled milk. What do you think SOUR cream and yogurt is...? ) Once you drink it, try to follow it with a handful of peanuts to scrape the medicine feeling off your esophagus (sometimes that menthol-y feeling can make you nauseaous ). Also, don't have any alcohol for a couple of hours or you WILL throw up. Don't be a macho asshole, heed my warnings or reap the consequences. Sorry if I got a little pissed in this section. Many people did it their way, threw up and then blamed me, ya %$#&*#@*&^%@#$...!
5) This is most important when taking Robitussin: Try to stay active. Not too much, just walking or standing up, after you drink it. I can't tell you how many times people didn't listen to me and just sat in a chair afterwards and ended up not feeling it because it never got a chance to digest, or, more often than not, fell asleep. In the worst cases, it didn't digest properly and the minute they stood up, they raced to the bathroom to hurl. Just try to stay relatively active after you drink it and after about 45 minutes or so, you MUST take a walk. This is probably one of the most important rules. Everyone that took a walk with me the first time ( the activity kicked in the effects...) ended up having a great time. And don't worry, as soon as you catch the "thread" of the trip, it will hit you like a brick and you won't be wondering anymore.
6) Listen to what I just said above. Almost every person that did it "their way" either had a bad time, they didn't feel it or they threw up. Almost everyone that did it my way had a wonderful time until they realized that they couldn't stand drinking that horrid stuff anymore, usually around the third or fourth time. And thats everybody, even the ones who said that they loved the taste of cough medicine. I consider it to be one of the most vile, repugnant tastes and stenches in the world and anyone who's drank it recreationally more than once, agrees wholeheartedly. Please trust me on this, I know of what I speak.
7) Unless you are more experienced at it, it is a BAD idea to mix other drugs with it. It has a very synergistic effect with most drugs, causing them to amplify each other, especially Pot. But like I said above with taking too much, smoking Pot with it before you know what to expect with DM is almost always an " OMG, please make it stop" kind of baked. Once you get a handle on doing DM, though, it can almost be a religious experience. Other good combinations to experiment with LATER are alcohol ( very nice ), LSD, mushrooms, small amounts of Ecstacy ( be careful, too much is bad for your heart rate and blood pressure), ETC. Once you get past the novice stage, you can (carefully) experiment with all sorts of things. I would stay away from cocaine and meth, though. Hallucinogens and speed do NOT go well together, trust me. Plus, I read a long time ago that the antidote for DM is cocaine, but that is now a thirty year old book.
8) Music sounds fantastic and magical. If you haven't yet experienced this with LSD or mushrooms, sit in a dark room, put on the trippiest music you can find and close you eyes. The effect is probably one of the most incredible things the human mind can experience.
9) Once the DM is digested after a couple of hours, don't worry about eating or drinking anything. The chances of you throwing up are very small.
10) Contrary to another person's entry in this web site, DM has no effect on your pupils. The dialation effect associated with LSD is not from the acid ( this is an urban myth. Also, contrary to popular belief, after studies were done on several different kinds of LSD from diferent places in the U.S., none of it contained any strychnine. People used to put a little in with weak LSD because it had a hallucinogenic effect. It is NOT a by-product of making LSD... ), it is from the by-products and impurities. I had the fortune of getting a hold of some extraordinarily clean LSD years and years back and there was no dialation whatsoever to the point that when I told my even more experienced friend about the acid, he took off my sunglasses and studied my eyes for a few minutes. When he saw that there was no dialation ( due to any non-present by-products in the LSD ), his reply was an incredulous, " Unheard of...". He promptly took two hits that night for the first time in three years and was mystified. And sorry for the tangent.
11) As stated before, DM has no opiate-like effects, is not physically addictive, a far as I know does not show up in drug tests ( But don't quote me on this ) and is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the safest drugs on the planet. For one thing, you can count on always getting pure product, since it comes from a pharmacy, so you don't have to worry about by-products, impurities or it being poisoned or spiked. Also, as far as I have tested, its not dangerous to take for long periods of time. As an experiment, I took it all day, every day for months and months ( I'm not exactly proud of this, but I learned a lot about myself and " The universe, man...") and when I stopped, the worst withdrawl I got was being a little cranky and a small amount of diarrhea. Not that bad. On a personal note, even though I have slowed down over the years and rarely imbibe, If I was stranded on a desert island and could only bring one drug with me, I would pick Robitussin DM. And to give you an idea of my background, along with formerly being an extremely ethusiastic student of every chemical I could get my hands on, I was, unfortunately, more than once, a heavy "Opiate" user, if you get my drift. Even if that drug was on the list of the ones I could pick from, I would always pick DM.
8) If you are going to use drugs, use THEM, don't let them use you. With education, being careful and responsible ( for yourself and others...) and learning from your mistakes, doing this drug could actually teach certain things to you and make you a better person. I can't believe I said that about ANY drug, but in my case its true.
12) DON'T blab about this or your experiences to just anyone. If we're not careful, use of this drug will get out of control and they'll eventually ban it. You don't want that, do you? And I don't want to have to find you and pinch you really hard, so be careful with doing it, where you do it, when you do it (NOT at SCHOOL, you idiot...) and who you do it with or in front of. When I was a teenager, I stupidly let my next door neighbor do it and ten minutes after drinking it, she said, " I have to go to dinner with my folks now...". Lets just say that when I heard the phone ring an hour later, I was already hiding in the basement...
13) And for GOD's SAKE, heed the warnings and teachings of myself and others. We've been through it on every level and we ( well, I'd like to think, at least, I ) know what we're talking about. BUT, if it sounds like we don't, research it yourself. If something ever sounds fishy or far fetched to you in life, never feel foolish to ask questions or find out the truth for yourself. Anyone that makes you feel stupid for wanting to know the absolute truth about things is an asshole and scared that you're smarter than he is. The only way you learn, and you never stop learning, is to ask questions. And don't worry, the mere fact of wanting to know information makes you smarter to begin with...
I could keep going but, if I do, I'll never stop writing. Please listen to what I said, follow my instructions, whenever possible, BE CAREFUL, for the love of GOD and have a good time. Y'know, I debated writing this at all, but I looked at it from the "teaching of abstainance" point of view. You are going to do what you want no matter what I or anyone else says and for me to withhold possibly life saving information is negligent, selfish and just plain wrong ( just like teaching abstainance...). I will take my leave of you now since my female cat is "mounting" my other female cat and from the screeches, I can't tell whether the latter is enjoying it or not. Also remember, look up William H. White's FAQ at Lycaeum ( or Lyceaum ) .org under "DXM" or one of the other synonyms, I can't remember which, if you need to know more. The guys a genius. Have Fun And BE CAREFUL, ya POOPHEADS...
1) Contrary to popular belief, it is not the viscous syrup or the smell and taste that makes you want to throw up. If you drink the cough syrup ( which is what I would recommend ), it is one of the other common ingredients, Guaifenesin, that is present in Robitussin DM. It has the medicinal purpose of, basically hydrating your phlegm so its easier to cough up. It's side effect is to make you physically ill if you take too much ( I have no idea if that was the maker's secondary intent, but...). Personally, I think that it has a nice synergistic effect with the DM hallucinogenically ( I think I used to say that it made the high more " Chunky"...) and, personally, I wouldn't drink any thing else. BUT, if you think that you might end up tossing your cookies, you can also try Robitussin Maximum Strength which has a slightly higher DM content per volume and has no Guaifenesin in it. I just think that it has a different feel to it and that Robitussin DM has more of a "dreamy" effect than the others, especially the generics. I still say, if you think you can get past the mild nausea, take the regular Robitussin DM.
2) DON'T take any of the other types of cough medicine with other ingredients in them, because they usually have a negative effect in such high doses. This includes Coriciden-D pills. A person I once knew took so many that when he woke up in the hospital, they said he was this close to liver failure. If the syrup or pills you are taking have any other ingredients other than DM or Guaifenesin, just don't take the chance. You might not end up in the hospital, but you'll more than likely have a bad time. The few times I strayed, I know I have. Plus, most experienced people think this way.
3) As for dosage, There is an actual DM calculator in William H. White's DM FAQ, but if you don't want to take the time to research this ( Which I would also recommend. If you are going to do ANY drug recreationally, you should know as much as humanly possible about it first. ) It goes like this: If you are a normal, healthy teenager or older, start out with 4-5 ounces/110-139 pounds, 5-6 oz./140-169 pounds, 6-8 oz./170-209 pounds and so on. If it is your first second or third time, DO NOT much more than that at a time and I mean more than an ounce. It is not like codiene or alcohol where another pill or drink will get you that much more high. Its more like one or two hits of LSD for the inexperienced is good, but any more than that and you'll be out of control in a bad way. I had friends that tried it for the first time, loved it and couldn't wait to try it again. So the next weekend, even though I told them not to do more than normal, they took twice what they were supposed to and spent the next six hours wandering around my house almost crying that they wanted it to stop and saying that they thought they were actually in Hell. Trust me on this, until you get a handle on the experience, don't experiment.
4) Have a little bit of something harder to digest like a little meat or some peanuts in your stomach to get a lot of stomach acid flowing to break down the syrup. A lot of what aids in your throwing up that your stomach can't break down all that syrup fast enough. Plus, don't drink it on a full stomach. Always have a few gulps of a chaser like chocolate milk ( It helps cover up the taste...) BEFORE and AFTER ( It also helps make your stomach more comfortable. Also, to dispell any stupidity, people have often said, "But the milk will curdle in my stomach". Dumbass, milk curdles in your stomach no matter what you do. And, no matter what idiot tells you otherwise, no one in the history of man has ever gotten sick from spoiled milk. They get sick from the SMELL of spoiled milk. What do you think SOUR cream and yogurt is...? ) Once you drink it, try to follow it with a handful of peanuts to scrape the medicine feeling off your esophagus (sometimes that menthol-y feeling can make you nauseaous ). Also, don't have any alcohol for a couple of hours or you WILL throw up. Don't be a macho asshole, heed my warnings or reap the consequences. Sorry if I got a little pissed in this section. Many people did it their way, threw up and then blamed me, ya %$#&*#@*&^%@#$...!
5) This is most important when taking Robitussin: Try to stay active. Not too much, just walking or standing up, after you drink it. I can't tell you how many times people didn't listen to me and just sat in a chair afterwards and ended up not feeling it because it never got a chance to digest, or, more often than not, fell asleep. In the worst cases, it didn't digest properly and the minute they stood up, they raced to the bathroom to hurl. Just try to stay relatively active after you drink it and after about 45 minutes or so, you MUST take a walk. This is probably one of the most important rules. Everyone that took a walk with me the first time ( the activity kicked in the effects...) ended up having a great time. And don't worry, as soon as you catch the "thread" of the trip, it will hit you like a brick and you won't be wondering anymore.
6) Listen to what I just said above. Almost every person that did it "their way" either had a bad time, they didn't feel it or they threw up. Almost everyone that did it my way had a wonderful time until they realized that they couldn't stand drinking that horrid stuff anymore, usually around the third or fourth time. And thats everybody, even the ones who said that they loved the taste of cough medicine. I consider it to be one of the most vile, repugnant tastes and stenches in the world and anyone who's drank it recreationally more than once, agrees wholeheartedly. Please trust me on this, I know of what I speak.
7) Unless you are more experienced at it, it is a BAD idea to mix other drugs with it. It has a very synergistic effect with most drugs, causing them to amplify each other, especially Pot. But like I said above with taking too much, smoking Pot with it before you know what to expect with DM is almost always an " OMG, please make it stop" kind of baked. Once you get a handle on doing DM, though, it can almost be a religious experience. Other good combinations to experiment with LATER are alcohol ( very nice ), LSD, mushrooms, small amounts of Ecstacy ( be careful, too much is bad for your heart rate and blood pressure), ETC. Once you get past the novice stage, you can (carefully) experiment with all sorts of things. I would stay away from cocaine and meth, though. Hallucinogens and speed do NOT go well together, trust me. Plus, I read a long time ago that the antidote for DM is cocaine, but that is now a thirty year old book.
8) Music sounds fantastic and magical. If you haven't yet experienced this with LSD or mushrooms, sit in a dark room, put on the trippiest music you can find and close you eyes. The effect is probably one of the most incredible things the human mind can experience.
9) Once the DM is digested after a couple of hours, don't worry about eating or drinking anything. The chances of you throwing up are very small.
10) Contrary to another person's entry in this web site, DM has no effect on your pupils. The dialation effect associated with LSD is not from the acid ( this is an urban myth. Also, contrary to popular belief, after studies were done on several different kinds of LSD from diferent places in the U.S., none of it contained any strychnine. People used to put a little in with weak LSD because it had a hallucinogenic effect. It is NOT a by-product of making LSD... ), it is from the by-products and impurities. I had the fortune of getting a hold of some extraordinarily clean LSD years and years back and there was no dialation whatsoever to the point that when I told my even more experienced friend about the acid, he took off my sunglasses and studied my eyes for a few minutes. When he saw that there was no dialation ( due to any non-present by-products in the LSD ), his reply was an incredulous, " Unheard of...". He promptly took two hits that night for the first time in three years and was mystified. And sorry for the tangent.
11) As stated before, DM has no opiate-like effects, is not physically addictive, a far as I know does not show up in drug tests ( But don't quote me on this ) and is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the safest drugs on the planet. For one thing, you can count on always getting pure product, since it comes from a pharmacy, so you don't have to worry about by-products, impurities or it being poisoned or spiked. Also, as far as I have tested, its not dangerous to take for long periods of time. As an experiment, I took it all day, every day for months and months ( I'm not exactly proud of this, but I learned a lot about myself and " The universe, man...") and when I stopped, the worst withdrawl I got was being a little cranky and a small amount of diarrhea. Not that bad. On a personal note, even though I have slowed down over the years and rarely imbibe, If I was stranded on a desert island and could only bring one drug with me, I would pick Robitussin DM. And to give you an idea of my background, along with formerly being an extremely ethusiastic student of every chemical I could get my hands on, I was, unfortunately, more than once, a heavy "Opiate" user, if you get my drift. Even if that drug was on the list of the ones I could pick from, I would always pick DM.
8) If you are going to use drugs, use THEM, don't let them use you. With education, being careful and responsible ( for yourself and others...) and learning from your mistakes, doing this drug could actually teach certain things to you and make you a better person. I can't believe I said that about ANY drug, but in my case its true.
12) DON'T blab about this or your experiences to just anyone. If we're not careful, use of this drug will get out of control and they'll eventually ban it. You don't want that, do you? And I don't want to have to find you and pinch you really hard, so be careful with doing it, where you do it, when you do it (NOT at SCHOOL, you idiot...) and who you do it with or in front of. When I was a teenager, I stupidly let my next door neighbor do it and ten minutes after drinking it, she said, " I have to go to dinner with my folks now...". Lets just say that when I heard the phone ring an hour later, I was already hiding in the basement...
13) And for GOD's SAKE, heed the warnings and teachings of myself and others. We've been through it on every level and we ( well, I'd like to think, at least, I ) know what we're talking about. BUT, if it sounds like we don't, research it yourself. If something ever sounds fishy or far fetched to you in life, never feel foolish to ask questions or find out the truth for yourself. Anyone that makes you feel stupid for wanting to know the absolute truth about things is an asshole and scared that you're smarter than he is. The only way you learn, and you never stop learning, is to ask questions. And don't worry, the mere fact of wanting to know information makes you smarter to begin with...
I could keep going but, if I do, I'll never stop writing. Please listen to what I said, follow my instructions, whenever possible, BE CAREFUL, for the love of GOD and have a good time. Y'know, I debated writing this at all, but I looked at it from the "teaching of abstainance" point of view. You are going to do what you want no matter what I or anyone else says and for me to withhold possibly life saving information is negligent, selfish and just plain wrong ( just like teaching abstainance...). I will take my leave of you now since my female cat is "mounting" my other female cat and from the screeches, I can't tell whether the latter is enjoying it or not. Also remember, look up William H. White's FAQ at Lycaeum ( or Lyceaum ) .org under "DXM" or one of the other synonyms, I can't remember which, if you need to know more. The guys a genius. Have Fun And BE CAREFUL, ya POOPHEADS...
"Gosh, I sure hope the amount of Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide in this cough medicine doesn't make me see the ghost of Sigmund Freud again. He sure asked a lot of questions about my penis the last time...!"
by Mike C. H. April 6, 2008