There a few interesting and somewhat surprising effects that result from Propofol. My experience with Propofol was a clinical one; it was the drug used to induce a general anesthesia. Essentially, it was used to take me under, and then a different substance was used to keep me there for the duration of the anesthesia.
Propofol
Encyclopedic
Encyclopedic
Typical encyclopedia coverage. Cross-reference for important decisions.
- 2 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- PubChem toxicity data
Encyclopedic
Typical encyclopedia coverage. Cross-reference for important decisions.
- 2 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- PubChem toxicity data
Aliases: Diprivan, Milk-of-amnesia
Summary
A very short acting sedative that is usually given at the start of general anesthesia, and for maintenance of the prior. It should never be used outside of a medical setting. With that in mind, if you do plan to use this drug recreational, please have a very experienced friend with you that has the skills to insert a cannula, and monitor you very closely.
Dose Information
| ROA | Light | Common | Strong | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intravenous | 10-30mg | 30-60mg | 60-100mg | 100mg+ |
Onset, Duration & After-effects
| ROA | Onset | Peak |
|---|---|---|
| Intravenous | 0-2 min | 10-20 min |
Tolerance
Build-up
develops over 1–4 weeks of regular use
Reset
Falls after you stop, at a rate that varies from person to person. If you've been using regularly, cut down gradually with medical help rather than stopping suddenly.
No tolerance chart. Our decay curves for these drugs were estimates, and a curve can make tolerance look longer-lasting than it is, which is the dangerous direction.
How fast tolerance to these drugs fades after a break has not been measured well enough to draw, so don't count on a dose you used to take still being safe: after time off, start with a much smaller amount and don't use alone. Mixing sedatives with each other, with alcohol or with opioids sharply raises the risk of a fatal overdose. If you've been using regularly, don't stop suddenly: withdrawal from benzodiazepines, alcohol or GHB/GBL can cause seizures or delirium, so get medical help to cut down gradually.
Sources: FRANK: benzodiazepines · Alcohol and Drug Foundation: GHB · FDA 2020: benzodiazepine boxed warning · FDA 2019: gabapentinoids and breathing · NHS: alcohol use disorder
Effects
Aggregated from 11 single-substance Erowid experience reports; 5 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out
Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.
Too few reports for bars: these effects come from 11 single-substance Erowid reports, and a bar is drawn only from 20 reports or more. With fewer, a percentage cannot tell a common effect from a rare one. Counts are shown instead. Why 20?
Effect glossary — · full glossary
Positive Effects 2
5 of 11
–
4 of 11
–
Adverse Effects 1
3 of 11
–
Also reported in combinations. In the 5 Propofol reports where another drug was taken too, 3 mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 0 a seizure and 0 psychosis (too few reports for percentages). In the 11 single-substance reports: 2, 0 and 0. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Propofol alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.
Community Trip Reports
Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.
Erowid 8 reports 2 positive 4 neutral 2 cautionary visit
Never really been too shy about trying new drugs--just for the sake of the experience. I do tend to research a chemical pretty well before messing-around with it, this includes Propofol.
My experience with Propofol isnt a very long one, mostly because I cant really remember any of it at all. I will, however, tell what I do remember from the experience. I was over at my friends house, lets call him B.
So ive had the sad experience of this only when going under.. However, its largely circulated. This gets passed thoroughly in the Med. Office among co workers and peers in the field.. its said to be highly abusive for professionals,.. In either case, mostly attainable if one know someone who knows someone blah blah.
Propofol I had an endoscopy first thing in the morning the day Barac Obama was elected. I have had nausea and vomiting for like 3 years now. And the doctor wanted to check out the inside of my stomach for himself. The proporfol was given through a drip.
I went to the Endoscopy center to get a flex and a EGD done, I was very nervous as I have a fear of needles and getting an IV didn't help that any, nor did the fear of the rectal scope. But they brought me into the room and talked to me for a while explaining the procedure and the diprivan (propofol IV).
I was to have an operation using Propofol but curious about it so I googled for info. I was in the local hospital for gallbladder removal. The surgeon had explained the procedure well to me and talked about the anaesthesia agent.
I was administered IV Propofol for a colonoscopy this A.M. I can only recall waking up, with immediate realization of effects. I immediately asked the nurse, 'what is the drug that they administered'? She said 'it is the drug that Michael Jackson overdosed on'; which I thought was humorous, as if I'd run out, and buy i...
Bluelight 1 thread 1 positive visit
EDIT: Dosage was 200mg according to the letter I received. I think it might be the standard dose on there, they turned up the infusion when I started to resist their pushing the endoscope into my throat. That's when I passed out for a bit according to what I was told.
Propofol's nerd page
Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more
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Helpful Links
Add to PsychonautWiki Journal
The PsychonautWiki Journal logging app doesn't include every substance. To track Propofol there, start adding an ingestion, search for the name, and choose to add it as a custom substance. Paste these values:
⬇ Download import file
Import this file as custom substances
and you get "Propofol (Substance Search)" with every
route's full dose ladder and timeline, no typing. Works on iOS and
Android (v15+); the format is confirmed by the app's
developer. The manual values below work for older
versions.
Name
Propofol
Unit
mg
Description
Propofol Source: SubstanceSearch (substancesearch.com) Intravenous dose (mg): light 10-30 · common 30-60 · strong 60-100 · heavy 100+ Intravenous duration: onset 0-2m · peak 10-20m · after-effects 1-3h Note: ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription. Start low, go slow, and test your substances.
Tip: for quicker logging you can also add a Custom Unit in the app, e.g. common dose ~ 45 mg (Intravenous).
The app keeps custom substances simple, so the full dose ranges live in the description text above. Ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription.
Report an issue or suggest an edit
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