A Florida woman warned about the dangers of psychedelics after falling down a staircase during a drug-induced frenzy and becoming paralyzed from the armpits down.
Sheryn Jamelle Brown, now 38, of Orlando, had taken three doses of the drug LSD when she fell from the top of a flight of stairs, breaking two vertebrae in her spine.
The devastating act was fueled by a feeling of disorientation and insecurity in their surroundings.
“I felt a jolt of fear run through my body like lightning,” he said.
Today, Sheryn lives in a nursing home and requires full-time care with daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, and preparing meals.
Sheryn Jamelle Brown, now 38, said she considered medically assisted suicide while enduring months of physical therapy after the injury that left her paralyzed.
She sees herself as a “warning” to others, not only of the dangers of drugs, but also of the risks of being too eager to please others.
“My desire to be liked, my ego and peer pressure all influenced me to become a quadriplegic,” he said.
“I want to be that warning for everyone else to respect themselves at all times.”
On Valentine’s Day 2016, Sheryn, then 30, was traveling with friends and her ex-girlfriend in India when she took three doses of the hallucinogen LSD.
I had taken the medication twice before, but was hesitant to do it again.
Sheryn said her partner pressured her to receive the blows an hour apart. While she felt a “deep” sense of openness and love, she became disoriented and afraid of her surroundings.
She said: ‘I told my ex-girlfriend and the other girls that I feared for my own safety. But my ex-girlfriend insisted that we continue to a night market.
Sheryn, pictured here in the hospital shortly after her fall, is one of the 18,000 Americans who suffer a spinal cord injury each year.
“While I want to be that warning for everyone else to respect themselves at all times, my journey is more than just highlighting the dangers of drugs,” Sheryn said.
But, in a state of disorientation, he threw himself over the railing of the stairs leading to the loft bed in his hotel room, fracturing the C6 and C7 vertebrae in his neck.
“I woke up, still stumbling, completely naked and covered in bruises and scrapes, with two black eyes and unable to move except to slap my right hand,” Sheryn said.
She became one of 18,000 Americans who suffer spinal cord injuries each year, or about 54 per million people. According to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, about two percent of the population suffers from some form of paralysis.
Spinal cord injury is the second most common cause of paralysis in the US, after stroke.
Sheryn said she had tried LSD twice before in her life and was hesitant to do it again, but succumbed to the peer pressure she felt from her ex-partner.
Before the fall, Sheryn was an avid runner. She now lives in a residence and has 24-hour assistance for all of her daily tasks.
Sheryl says her partner refused to take her to the hospital and when she finally got there, a surgeon had to fly from five hours away to offer her specialized treatment.
“Doctors and other people were upset with me for doing drugs,” he said. “My guilt and shame deepened quickly.”
Despite battling deep depression and suicidal feelings in the months following her accident, Sheryn said the support of her family and friends gave her a “new direction.”
“Everyone pushed me to choose life, no matter what,” he said.
She is also learning to accept how she became paralyzed and is in rehabilitation therapy.
Rehabilitation after paralysis is often aimed at improving mobility and helping people learn to adapt to life without full movement of their body.
LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, has psychedelic effects because it interferes with the release of the hormone serotonin in the brain, which is responsible for regulating mood and perceptions.
It is thought that the change in serotonin may lead to benefits, such as improving mood and relieving anxiety.
The way the drug binds to brain cells can also modify communication between neurons, producing visual and auditory hallucinations.
LSD is currently illegal; however, it has been the subject of clinical trials investigating its potential use in relieving anxiety.
In March, the FDA granted a form of “breakthrough therapy” status to psychedelics, speeding up the review and approval process for promising new drugs.
This followed results from a trial of 194 volunteers which found that 100 micrograms of LSD (the same average recreational dose) significantly reduced anxiety in half of patients taking the drug.
However, there has been strong criticism about the possible use of LSD for medical purposes due to its serious risks.
A disturbing condition called persistent hallucinogen perception disorder, which involves chronic and sporadic hallucinations, can arise after a single dose of LSD.
Use of the drug is also known to increase the risk of developing serious psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.