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How My Ecstasy Trip Turned Into a Rare Anxiety Disorder

When I was at the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware, in the summer of 2014, I took a 200 mg pill of ecstasy—Red Riddler—something I had done before. After the sets were over, the colors of the overhead lamps seemed more saturated against the sky. Each bulb’s top-right quadrant had a massive, prismatic aura, like it came off a rainbow.

Dimas Ardian/Getty Images

A week after the concert, when my trip should’ve already been over, I was still seeing things. When I took my contacts out, the lights blurred into vast orbs, and hung in front of my eyes like Christmas lights. Researching, I came across some questionable Yahoo! Answers forums, and read for the first time about HPPD—Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, which isit—and come out the other side with no ill effects.

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