You’ve heard about the benefits of microdosing. You’ve weighed the upsides and downsides, and you’re ready to go. But how do you get started and make sure you have the best shot possible at maximizing your results?
This guide strips the practice down to the basics to get you on the right path for you as quickly as possible. We have combed the literature and a range of individual reports to simplify the process and help you make informed decisions.
Microdosing is usually not an instant fix. It normally takes attention, intention and time. This guide will take out some of the confusion that trips a lot of people up unnecessarily along the way.
Key Takeaways
- Microdosing involves consuming sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelics with the goal of either enhancing normal performance or treating psychological or physical problems.
- Microdosing is a highly personal practice, so the exact formula for success is often slightly different from person to person.
- The practice of microdosing works best with careful attention to sourcing, dosage accuracy, individual response and complementary activities to ensure safety and effectiveness.
The Basics of Microdosing
Microdosing has attracted the interest of both the public and the research community in recent years. The practice involves the consumption of small, sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelic substances, such as LSD or psilocybin from “magic” mushrooms.
However, because the legal status of the substances commonly used for microdosing psychedelics varies–commonly toward illegality in a lot of places, the practice is not as clearly defined as you might expect. There are some consistent methods, but until very recently much of the discourse has been driven by anecdotes, rumors and hearsay.
This can make getting started with microdosing more confusing than it needs to be.
What is Microdosing?
Microdosing involves consuming sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelics, such as LSD or psilocybin, on a schedule. These doses are usually about 1/10 of a normal recreational dose. The intention behind this practice is not to induce a full-blown psychedelic experience, but rather to enhance normal functioning or alleviate an issue the user is struggling with.
Beyond specific treatment goals, some of the more generally reported benefits, include:
- enhanced focus
- improved mood
- creativity
- boosted energy and productivity
- lowered anxiety
- reduced cravings
All of these benefits can be achieved without the intense experiences associated with higher doses of psychedelics.
Because microdosing most commonly relies on substances that are just beginning to emerge from decades of prohibition and remain illegal in most places, scientific research is still in its infancy as far as understanding its impact on mental health and cognitive functions. As such, it’s essential to bear in mind that experiences can vary widely among individuals, and what works for one person may not necessarily work for another.
The Spectrum of Microdosing Substances: LSD, Psilocybin and Beyond
The practice of microdosing is as diverse as the individuals who pursue it. The substances used for microdosing are varied, ranging from the more commonly used lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin from psilocybe mushrooms, to less common substances such as mescaline, DMT and others.
It’s important to acknowledge that the legal status of these substances varies, with most, including LSD and psilocybin, classified federally as “Schedule I” in the United States and subject to strong enforcement across most states.
This section will focus on the most common substances that a beginner will encounter: LSD and psilocybin mushrooms.
Understanding the subtleties of the active substances used for microdosing, their effects, and their legal status is essential for anyone considering or practicing microdosing.
LSD and Psilocybin Mushrooms
LSD and psilocybin mushrooms are the most common substances used in microdosing. They are both considered classical psychedelics, and both work on 5HT2-A receptors to alter the usual pathways of connections in the brain. The reported benefits of each are broadly similar and consistent with the commonly cited benefits of microdosing generally.
However, if you’re struggling to choose between the two, there are subtle and not-so-subtle differences in action, handling and source that lead some people to prefer one over the other.
Here are the Pros and Cons of Psilocybin and LSD in comparison to each other in the context of microdosing:
Psilocybin Mushroom Pros:
- They’re natural, which makes them more approachable to a lot of people.
- Often credited with mood enhancing effects and compassion.
- Great for grounding, introspection and working on yourself.
- Reasonably easy to grow for people that want to control their own supply. Depending on time of year and where you live, they can even sometimes be foraged in the wild if you know what you’re doing.
Psilocybin Mushroom Cons:
- Can be difficult to dose due to natural variability in strength from one to the next (and often even between the different parts of the same mushroom).
- Psilocybin mushrooms degrade in potency if stored improperly.
- Potential stomach upset (although there are ways to help this).
- Reports of a de-energized, even dreamy response in some people.
LSD Pros:
- Relatively consistent and easy to dose when you know how.
- Often attributed a more energetic, focused effect, making them good for productivity.
- Preference among some professionals to encourage creative thinking and flow state.
LSD Cons:
- It’s a synthetic substance, which some people view as a negative.
- Can lead to a “jittery” response in some users, especially over time.
- Some people report a more “blunt” demeanor with others while microdosing LSD.
In sum, some people report more benefits from psilocybin vs LSD. Others say the opposite. Many don’t notice much of a difference at all, especially at the low amounts used in microdosing. It’s also not unheard of to switch back and forth depending on your needs.
Ultimately, as with all aspects of microdosing, it’s important to remember that experiences and goals vary widely among individuals, and what works for one person may not necessarily work for another.
Other Psychedelic Substances
LSD and psilocybin mushrooms are the dominant modes of microdosing. However, they are far from the only substances used. Other psychedelic substances are used for microdosing, though they are less common and not a specific focus of this guide.
Some of these alternative substances include:
- DMT
- ayahuasca
- mescaline
- salvinorin A
- 1P-LSD, 2-CB and other research chemicals
Do thorough research on your own, and even then, it’s probably a good idea to consult with a healthcare provider before beginning any regimen.
Purity and Precision: Ensuring Safe and Effective Microdose Preparation
Safety and efficacy should be paramount in the considerations of someone pursuing a microdosing regimen. Purity of the substances used and precision in their application are central to those goals. To avoid adverse reactions and achieve better outcomes when microdosing, it’s essential to:
- Use substances that are pure and dosed accurately
- Start with a minimal dose and adjust incrementally to reach the desired effect
- Ensure a balance between efficacy and safety in the microdosing protocol
By following these guidelines, you can ensure a safe and effective microdosing experience.
Sourcing and Safety
When it comes to sourcing substances for microdosing, safety should be your top priority. By their very nature as controlled substances, most microdosing actives are sourced in the underground. As such, they are normally not tested or traceable.
Legal or semi-legal microdose supplements available at some shops may provide a source for safe microdosing substances, however even the gray market product found in specialty shops can vary widely in quality and content. The buyer should absolutely beware in these cases and only buy from trusted brands with transparent sourcing.
Ensuring the substances used are sourced responsibly and safely is a pivotal step in setting yourself up for a positive microdosing experience.
Growing (or Foraging) Your Own
The ultimate way to control the quality of your supply is to make it yourself (assuming you do it well). Unless you’re a chemist, you’re not likely to synthesize your own LSD. However, with mushrooms it’s completely possible.
For those interested in doing so, there are multiple methods of growing your own supply of psilocybin mushrooms of varying levels of difficulty. I won’t go into the specifics here, but there are multiple sources online in places like Reddit for step-by-step cultivation methods.
In addition, in many parts of the world it is very possible to forage your own psilocybin mushrooms. If you’re going to try this method, it’s important that you do so carefully–look-alikes, including potentially dangerous ones, do exist out there. As with growing your own, the best place to start when looking at sourcing your own mushrooms in the wild is to research online. Reddit is a great place to start, and even Facebook can be a good place to connect with local foraging groups and psychedelic societies.
One thing that growing and foraging won’t necessarily address is legality. It takes away the risk associated with the purchase of the mushrooms, but it is usually still not a risk-free enterprise. Laws may or may not draw a distinction between sale and possession, but in most places just having psilocybin mushrooms is enough to draw legal consequences.
Measuring Your Dose
In microdosing, precision is critical. You’re working with such small amounts of these substances that a comparatively small swing in dose size or the underlying strength of the batch you’re working with can materially impact your experience.
Unless you’ve found a standardized, pre-measured source that you trust, you will need to put some effort into accurately measuring doses for yourself. This can sound difficult, but with a methodical approach, it can actually be relatively easy.
Dosing for Psilocybin Mushroom Microdosing
Powder is often best
When working with psilocybin mushrooms, the best approach for most people is to use ground powder.
The strength of psilocybin mushrooms can vary from one species to the next or even among specimens of the same type depending on genetics and the conditions in which they were grown. The same individual mushroom will often even have different concentrations of psilocybin in different parts.
Grinding and blending the mushrooms to allow for precise measurement rather than just breaking off a piece of approximately the weight you think you want gives a standardized, even effect across the batch.
How to make your own mushroom powder
After a gentle cleaning, the raw mushrooms should be thoroughly dried to remove all moisture and reduce the risk of them spoiling or becoming contaminated with bacteria or other fungi. “Cracker dry” mushrooms will also grind better to an easily handled powder.
If you’re working with fresh mushrooms, dry them with a food dehydrator at 120-150F (50-75C) for 8-12 hours for best results. If you don’t have access to a food dehydrator, it is possible to dry them by laying them out on a piece of paper or aluminum foil on a window sill or table top, especially if you’re in a dry environment with good ventilation. Some people suggest drying in a convection oven, but you need to be careful not to use too high a temperature as this may degrade the psilocybin.
Once you have thoroughly dried mushroom material you can grind it into a powder using a standard coffee grinder. This powder can then be sprinkled into drinks, taken with food or even placed in capsules.
Measuring your dose
Typical microdoses of psilocybin mushrooms vary, but the most common range is from 50mg to 200mg of dried material. An accurate scale is crucial for microdosing to ensure precise dosing. To really optimize your microdosing regimen, keep track of your doses, noting the amount, time, effects, and other consumed substances.
Methods like edibles, metered dose inhalers, and tinctures can be useful under the right conditions, but even if you’re paying close attention to your results, it can be difficult to be sure of the content and dosage if you aren’t confident you have a consistent, credible source.
Dosing for LSD Microdosing
Similar to mushrooms, microdosing with LSD normally means taking around 10% of a standard recreational dose. This most often equates to 5 - 20µg (for reference, µg is the abbreviation for micrograms, or millionths of a gram). This sounds very precise–and it is, but it can be managed relatively easily when you know what you’re doing.
How not to do it:
Some people simply subdivide individual paper tabs of LSD to get rough microdoses. This is an imperfect method because:
- Even if you know the overall strength of the sheet the tabs came from, distribution across the sheet is often uneven. This leads to some tabs being stronger or weaker than others–even from the same source.
- Additionally, unless you are very precise with your cutting, you will likely have issues cutting an LSD tab which is already pretty small into even tinier, consistent increments.
Do this instead:
The best way to ensure consistent dosing when starting with LSD in paper (also known as blotter) or gel tabs is a method called volumetric dosing. Volumetric dosing involves dissolving the LSD in distilled water or alcohol.
In this method, you sterilize a bottle to store your finished microdosing material, fill it with a carefully measured amount of distilled water or a clean, potable alcohol like vodka and soak your tabs in it overnight. If you know how strong your starting substance was and how much you put in, you can easily do the math to know how many ml’s will contain the number of micrograms you’re after.
For example: if you start with 20ml of vodka, and drop in a 100µg tab of LSD, each ml will contain 5µg. If you’re taking 10µg microdoses, you need to consume 2ml of your mixture.
Accurately measuring your dose is a critical aspect of microdosing. By carefully tracking your doses and their effects, you can fine-tune your microdosing regimen to best meet your individual needs and goals. It’s also important to remember that the ideal dose can vary from person to person, and what works for one individual may not necessarily work for another.
The Roadmap for Getting Started Step-by-Step
Embarking on your microdosing journey can be an exciting and transformative experience. Some people just jump right in and it works fine for them…good for them. However, for most there is a lot to be gained by approaching it with a clear plan and thoughtful preparation.
This section is a step by step roadmap for getting started with microdosing. These steps include the following:
- Check for contraindications
- Set yourself up for success on day one
- Find your “sweet spot”
- Follow a set protocol
- Track your results
- Make necessary adjustments
By following this roadmap, you can ensure a smooth and successful start to your microdosing journey.
Step 1: Check for contraindications
Before you begin microdosing, it’s crucial to check for any contraindications. Substance interactions can have serious health consequences, so it’s important to consider any medications or supplements you’re currently taking, as well as any underlying health conditions that might make microdosing inappropriate for you.
James Fadiman, PhD (of Fadiman protocol fame) and Sophia Korb, PhD, two of the leading authorities in microdosing, compiled a list of supplements and medications documented to NOT have adverse effects when combined with psilocybin or LSD. If the medication or supplement you’re considering is not on the list, that just means that they didn’t have enough information to provide positive confirmation. Continue to research on your own and with your health care professional if you don’t see it mentioned there.
https://microdosingpsychedelics.com/microdosing-and-medication/
In addition to checking for contraindications, it’s also generally advisable to discuss your plans with a healthcare provider, especially if you have existing mental health issues. This can help ensure that you’re taking the right steps to protect your health and safety as you begin.
Step 2: Set Yourself Up for Success on Day 1
Your first day microdosing can be exciting or nerve-wracking depending on your point of view.
To set yourself up for success, try to start on a low pressure day. Choosing a day when you’re feeling positive and won’t have a lot of responsibilities will help you avoid anxiety. It will also make it easier to focus on observing how you feel and minimize the impact of a negative or stronger than anticipated reaction.
It’s also beneficial to create a comfortable environment for your first microdosing experience. Make sure you’re in a place where you feel safe and relaxed. Maybe even tidy up your space a little if you think that would help create a more calming environment.
Also consider incorporating activities that will relax you. A walk in nature or listening to music are common accompaniments to a day of microdose aided introspection and self-observation.
Step 3: Find your “Sweet Spot” by starting low and going slow
If you’re not prepared for an accidental trip, a full psychedelic experience can be disruptive at the very least. Even landing in a space between a microdose and a full trip can leave you in an awkward space, often leading to physical discomfort, anxiety or irritability.
That’s why when starting out with microdosing, experts recommend beginning with the smallest dose that could potentially be effective. You can take stock and adjust up incrementally if needed to get to the best balance of benefits and side effects based on your own response.
By following this method, you avoid the risk of accidentally taking too much and the only potential downside is that if you take too little you stay where you are and dial it up on your next “on” day.
Step 4: Follow a Set Protocol (At Least to Start)
Once you’ve checked for contraindications and figured out how you want to kick your practice off, you’ll need to figure out how you proceed from there. That’s where a protocol comes in.
A protocol is a structure of “on” and “off” days on a set schedule that gives you structure and focus as well as ensuring you have time built in for tolerance breaks and integration. It’s also a great shorthand to explain your approach if you’re comparing notes with others.
By removing timing of microdoses from your variables, you’ll be able to focus on dialing in other aspects like dose size, setting or other aspects of your own best routine.
There are several different protocols you can choose from. Some of the most popular include:
- The Fadiman Protocol - 1 day on, 2 days off (popular among beginners)
- The Stamets Protocol - 4 days on, 3 days off (more aggressive, cycle fits neatly in a 7 day week)
- Every Other Day - Exactly what it sounds like…1 day on, 1 day off
There are other variations, but ultimately, these are all just meant to be starting points. As you become more experienced and your needs evolve, you’re very likely to adapt your approach.
Step 5: Track Your Results
Let’s be clear: I hate admin as much as the next person. With that said, even a little bit of effort put into tracking how you’re microdosing and the results you’re getting from it will pay off in multiples when you’re trying to dial in or reset your microdosing regimen.
How you track your results is a matter of preference. It’s not uncommon for people like to build some introspection and journaling into a morning ritual of intention setting when they take their microdse. It could purely be a journal for the more prose-oriented practitioner. Others might use an app or even a spreadsheet.
Factors you might track include:
- amount and type of substance used
- time of administration
- any food or drink consumed with your microdose
- other supplements included in your stack that day
- underlying mood and mindset
- activities for the day
- any daily intentions you set
- physical or emotional effects you notice
Over time, you will develop a cross-section view that can help you identify patterns and understand how different variables impact your experience.
Step 6: Adjust as Needed and Give Yourself the Time to Get it Right
The final step in getting started with microdosing is to tweak your formula to fit your needs. Part of starting conservatively is that you’re almost guaranteed to need to adjust your approach–whether that be dosage, schedule or any other variable.
As you learn your reactions and needs in different contexts, you may also discover that you prefer a slightly different approach in different settings. Maybe you go with a slightly lighter dose on an office day and a little bit more on a day when you’re on vacation. This is your show.
Patience is important when getting started. Give yourself time to get it right. This adjustment process will likely come and go as you learn the medicine and evolve in your goals. You may also find that you need to adjust when you take on a new batch of psychedelic–especially if you’re using mushrooms, which can bemore variable in potency.
In the end, the most important thing is to listen to your body and make adjustments based on your unique experiences.
How Do I Know I'm Doing It Right? What Should I feel?
As you get started, you might be wonder: How do I know I’m doing it right? What should I feel? Generally, if you’re microdosing correctly, you shouldn’t experience a full-blown psychedelic experience or any major shifts in consciousness.
Instead, you might feel:
- calm contentment
- improved mood
- social openness
- a general “brightness” in your perception
- creativity
- flow
- enhanced awareness of surroundings and
- improved recognition of your own feelings and empathy for others
Notwithstanding all of the above, a portion of people that microdose say they don’t feel any difference at all on a dose day and are perfectly happy with their long-term results. Again, it really comes down to what’s right for you.
Short of a full-blown trip, there are more subtle signs that you might be taking a little too much. If you consistently experience adverse reactions such as anxiety, irritability, paranoia, or difficulty in sleeping, reconsidering your dose size, the time you take it or other variables is probably advisable.
Mindful Microdosing: Breaks and Integration
Almost as important as the act of microdosing itself is the practice of taking regular breaks and integrating the experiences and insights gained into your everyday life.
In this section, we’ll examine the importance of breaks and integration in a microdosing regimen. We’ll also discuss how to incorporate your insights from microdosing into your everyday life for continued growth and development.
The Role of Breaks
Over time, regular users of psychedelics can lose sensitivity to these substances. Taking regular breaks from microdosing can help prevent the potential build-up of tolerance, ensuring the effectiveness of the practice when you come back to it.
Most people build short breaks of 1-3 days into their microdosing protocols. The “2 days off” part of the “1 day on, 2 days off” cycle of the Fadiman protocol is an example of this.
Additionally, it’s advisable to take longer breaks periodically to maintain the effectiveness of your microdosing practice. General wisdom says you’ll know when it’s time for a longer break, but most people tend to do 1 or 2 weeks off every 1 or 2 months.
Most people notice that they come back feeling more refreshed and ready to take full advantage of the medicine when they invest the time in taking these longer breaks.
Regular breaks from microdosing are crucial to prevent an increase in tolerance, ensuring the substance remains effective without the need for escalating doses.
Integration for Growth
In addition to taking regular breaks (and conveniently during them), it’s also crucial to integrate the insights gained from microdosing into your everyday life. Integrating insights gained from microdosing into everyday life supports personal development and the implementation of long-term positive changes.
Integration can mean a lot of things to different people and is a huge topic of its own. However, some common approaches include journaling, meditation, an intention setting.
By taking a thoughtful approach, you can more quickly apply lessons learned and organize your thoughts around future goals and paths for internal work and exploration.
Enhancing the Microdosing Experience: Stacking and Synergy
As you can tell from the above, microdosing is an investment. In order to maximize the return on that investment, many people supplement their practice with complementary non-psychedelic substances. This practice is known as stacking.
There are some more frequently used stacks, but the practice is highly personalized and can vary from a simple add-on to a finely balanced, bespoke lifestyle regimen.
In this section, we’ll explore some of the common forms of stacking and the potential benefits they can offer. We’ll also delve into the idea of personalizing your stack to meet your unique needs and goals.
Lion’s Mane, Niacin and the Stamets Stack
The classic microdose support stack was brought to broad awareness in the community by Paul Stamets, a mycologist and microdosing advocate. The stack itself involves adding lion’s mane mushrooms and niacin to your standard microdose–usually psilocybin in this case.
The classic Stamets Stack is as follows:
- dried psilocybin mushrooms 50-100mg
- lion’s mane mushrooms (esp the mycelium) 400-500mg
- niacin 25-50mg
Lion’s mane is a non-psychedelic, functional mushroom commonly used for its brain boosting effect. It’s been shown in studies to offer a number of benefits including promoting neuroplasticity, and it is this property that the stack seeks to leverage.
Niacin, also known as Vitamin B3, is an important component of many processes in the body. It’s a critical precursor to NAD, which is used across the body to convert food into usable energy. It is also useful for cholesterol management, circulation, and the support of production of neurotransmitters and potentially even BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor).
In this context, it’s the circulatory benefit that makes this stack better than the sum of its parts. Niacin is a vasodilator, meaning it opens up blood vessels. Doing so grants the microdose and accompanying supplements greater access to the body and, more specifically, the nervous system.
The theory is that niacin opens the system up to receive the lion’s mane and psychoactive element of the microdose itself more readily. The lion’s mane compounds the neuroplastic properties of a lot of psychedelics to help the brain capture the benefits more readily and more persistently. In conjunction, the three elements reinforce each other and maximize the effects.
This is most studied in users of psilocybin, but the logic seems to extend to LSD and most other microdosing contexts.
Although many people maintain that this microdose support stack has been hugely beneficial to their microdosing results, there are also less pleasant side effects. For this reason, it is not uncommon to further customize this combination with additional ingredients to ease certain symptoms or potential side effects, for example: pectin to decrease niacin flush.
Ginger, Lemon, Tea and Digestion
Upset stomach is a side effect commonly associated with mushrooms. Similar to how plants have non-digestible cellulose in their cells, fungus contains a material called chitin. Chitin is tough (it’s what crab shells are made from), and many people have issues digesting it. This sometimes leads to nausea or an upset stomach.
Ginger is a remedy that has been used for hundreds, and likely if not thousands of years to help with nausea and digestion. It can be taken in powdered or pill form with your microdose, or consumed as a candy, pickled or even raw.
Another solution to nausea is lemon. Some people swear by just a few drops of lemon oil taken orally to calm nausea. Another common application is the Lemon Tek. This is simply soaking ground mushroom powder in lemon juice for 15-20 minutes to break it down before consumption. Be aware that this method may also change the duration and intensity of your dose, so if you try it, the Lemon Tek should be approached with the same experimental approach as when you’re initially dialing in your dosage.
A final approach that many find helpful is just to prepare their mushrooms as a tea. Steeping mushroom material in hot water acts as a low-tech form of extraction to break down the chitin and make the psilocybin more bioavailable. Just be careful not to use water fresh off the boil. Psilocybin can degrade at extreme temperatures.
Magnesium, Ashwagandha and GABA Cofactors for Relaxation
Some common side effects that can affect users of both psilocybin mushrooms and LSD are feelings of nervous energy or anxiety.
To help with this, many find that supplementing with Magnesium–a mineral we all need anyway can be helpful. This is especially good if taken before bed to get good, restful sleep.
Ashwagandha is another potential solution. Ashwagandha is traditionally used as an adaptogen, and it is believed to help with symptoms of stress. Reports suggest that it can help calm the brain and lower blood pressure.
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a calming neurotransmitter found in the brain. Its job is to calm overstimulated nerve cells and maintain a balanced environment in the brain. If you are feeling overstimulated, GABA may be the answer. The issue is GABA is usually not be able to cross the blood/brain barrier, meaning you can’t just take GABA supplements and expect it to go to your brain. Instead, try GABA cofactors to help the GABA you have work better. GABA cofactors to explore include: L-theanine, valerian, kava, and the aforementioned magnesium and ashwagandha.
5-HTP, SAM-e and other Serotonin Boosters
Serotonin is another common neurotransmitter that plays several roles in the body. Pertinent to this topic, serotonin is known for its support of mood, cognition, learning, memory, sleep and other processes.
Like GABA, you can’t just take serotonin, but you can take 5-HTP which can cross the blood/brain barrier in healthy subjects, and which is the main input a healthy person needs to create serotonin. Clinical studies have shown positive results in human subjects in treating depression, anxiety and panic disorders with 5-HTP.
SAM-e is another molecule known to support serotonin production. It has been used in clinical trials where it has shown encouraging results as a treatment for major depressive disorder.
…and Beyond
There are multiple other substances viewed as complementary aids to a microdosing regimen by their adherents. These range from complex prescription-only nootropics like modafinil to more familiar substances like caffeine and cacao. The formula that is right for you is limited only by your willingness to experiment.
Personalizing Your Stack
Having set goals for microdosing helps guide your practice. The same is true for stacking. Microdosers personalize their stacks using a variety of ingredients depending on their needs and desired outcomes.
Personalizing your stack can be a process of trial and error. Ultimately, as with any supplementation program, it’s advisable to talk through your plans with a healthcare professional. By considering contraindications and factors unique to you, such as mental health status, physical concerns, age and so on, you can tailor the practice to your own unique physiology and circumstances.
Recognizing Red Flags: When Microdosing Isn't Right for You
While microdosing can offer many potential benefits, it’s important to remember that it’s not suitable for everyone. Increased anxiety, paranoia, and difficulty sleeping can be signs that microdosing may not be working for you. If you experience adverse reactions, reconsidering dosage or protocol or even ceasing the practice might be necessary.
As always, it’s crucial to listen to your body and consult with a healthcare provider before starting or continuing a microdosing regimen.
Potential Negative Effects
Psychedelics broadly speaking are known to be very safe at a high level for most people. Microdosing has a lot of potential to help practitioners, but it’s important to be aware of potential negative effects that could result as well. Most of these are relatively minor (and there are options to try to work through them in a lot of cases), but they can also be more serious.
Studies indicate that approximately 20% of individuals who participate in microdosing report experiencing some degree of negative side effects, including:
- anxiety
- paranoia
- emotional instability
- fatigue
- nausea or indigestion
- accidental trips
The negative effects typically do not persist beyond the acute phase following the intake of the substance. However, if you experience intense or persistent symptoms, it might be time to reconsider your approach.
Making Informed Decisions
When it comes to microdosing, making informed decisions is crucial. Here are some important points to keep in mind:
- Consulting with a healthcare provider is advisable before starting any new supplements or substances, including microdosing.
- There are tons of resources online to learn more, including articles like this, scientific papers, and message boards. Educate yourself so you understand what to expect.
- Check your local laws to understand the legal ramifications of your intended program. Myndfull Health can not and does not endorse illegal activity.
Your health and well-being should always be your top priority. If you’re considering starting a microdosing regimen, be sure to do thorough research, consult with a healthcare provider, and make informed decisions that align with your unique needs and goals.
Summary
This guide has taken you through the basics of microdosing, explored the substances used, discussed the potential benefits and challenges, and provided a roadmap for getting started. A recurring theme throughout has been the complex and personal nature of the practice. For many, that suggests the important role of planning, precision, and ongoing learning.
Whether you’re a curious newcomer or a seasoned psychonaut, microdosing offers a relatively low risk and easily incorporated approach to exploring the potential functional benefits of psychedelics. Remember that the journey is just as important as the destination, and every step is an opportunity for growth and discovery.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is microdosing?
Microdosing is the consumption of small, sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelic substances to treat physical or psychological problems or enhance normal functioning without causing a traditional psychedelic trip.
What are the potential benefits of microdosing?
Microdosing may lead to improved mood, creativity, focus, and productivity.
What substances are commonly used for microdosing?
LSD and psilocybin from psilocybe mushrooms are the most commonly used substances for microdosing. However, there are other less commonly used alternative substances that are sometimes used as well.
How can I ensure that my microdose is safe and effective?
To ensure the safety and effectiveness of your microdose, use pure and accurately dosed substances, start with a conservative dose, and adjust incrementally as needed. Stacked mircrodose support supplements may help as well.
What should I do if I experience negative effects from microdosing?
If you experience negative effects from microdosing, such as anxiety or difficulty sleeping, there are steps you can take to address them, including adjusting dosage, changing your schedule, taking a break or adding complementary substances. If issues intensify or persist, you might need to consider stopping the practice and consulting with a healthcare provider.
