Thanks for your concern (really) and I hope this doesn't come off snotty, but I'm going to keep doing it! At least for a little while. I will note some differences...
I first learned about DXM abuse when I was 15 or so, after seeing a bunch of cough bottles on the floor in the bathroom at school (3 bottles actually, you know that guy had a good/awful time). Everyone made fun of the idea of some poverty wacko chugging cough syrup because they're "so hurtin;". Instead I got curious. Found Erowid in 2005/2006 and read the shit out of it. But I didn't do it. Not for 8 years. I'm 23, and I do believe that is a key detail. Abusing drugs during the important growth stage of teenagehood is something I'm glad I never got into, and honestly feel is liable to cause different problems than for an adult abuser. That said, I absolutely appreciate your concern! I want you to know I practically worship Erowid, it has been indispensable in helping me not hurt myself (and if I had listened, this specific incident wouldn't have occurred)
Honestly, as far as "feeling" the damage caused, I absolutely think alcohol is worse. I have grown "bored" with weed. And I am just earth-shatteringly poor. I've considered abusing things far worse than cough syrup. The high reminds me of when I smoked a bowl of laced weed (sprinkled with yummy PCP! What a fun school day /s) which I'm a lot more "capable" of appreciating and maintaining now.
It's an occasional thing, wouldn't be able to test that "50 trip limit" or what not, not within a single summer at least. I don't have that kind of money, which is why I'm not smoking weed and eating shrooms, or eating other more established social intoxicants. I can't afford acid, but I'd love to. Pretty annoying to find. You know what's hard to trust? Shady strangers who call it "LSD" instead of what it actually is ("LSA" for example). You know what's really easy to trust? Federal regulations demanding disclosed medical ingredients....
I'm not of the highest spirits these days, which isn't really a proper excuse, but should help underscore why I'm fairly willing to destroy myself, so-to-speak. I've considered worse things. I've been curious to drink hairspray ever since I learned that you filter out the gunk with two pieces of bread. I've wanted to drink gasoline ever since I watched some documentary in Grade 9 about a broken inuit community, which had a clip of some kids screaming "I WANT TO DRINK GASOLINE". It made me so curious. Some days, if I had access and money, I'd be doing things a lot worse than cough syrup. I'm at that dangerous point in life where I want to be damaged, I'm done thinking I can be brilliant, I'm done wanting to be. I've been looking for a drug that shatters my ability to carry a coherent political discussion because that "skill" is painfully useless and socially ostracizing.
Again though, I'm deeply thankful for your concern! I've read through pretty much every awful experieince on Erowid already, and that FAQ has been indespensible. Since I weigh little, I haven't taken anything more than a third tier dose before, and normally just go to the second tier (since that's what one bottle will get my weight). $10 for a 7-8 hours of "feeling alive" is honestly more worth it than marijuana, which just doesn't even feel like it does anything to me anymore. This stuff has no coughing to deal with and makes my music great. It makes being in public with others absolutely hilarious!
The gateway drug is showing people high to teenagers and telling them not to have that kind of demented fun. Now I'm an adult, and I want that DARE suitcase.