Microdosing – What to Know
Microdosing psychedelics is the practice of consuming low and non-perceptual doses of a psychedelic substance. The most common microdosed psychedelics are psilocybin and LSD, although it’s possible to microdose most psychedelics. It’s thought to have been done for thousands of years in some form and has been gaining popularity in recent years. In modern history, Albert Hoffman and James Fadiman have been proponents of microdosing and pushing this practice to the public. Current research is ongoing to learn more about the physical and mental effects.
Effects of Microdosing
Users report experiencing improved mood, more creativity, social benefits, general cognitive benefits, improved energy, improved focus, reduced anxiety, increased self-efficacy, and physiological enhancement.
Microdosed Medicines and Dosing Guidelines
Most microdosing is around 10% of a normal dose, with some variability a little higher or lower. For example, with psilocybin this would be 0.2g – 0.5g . Usually, the effects are subtle and sub-perceptual. A good comparison of intensity is to taking an anti-depressant, drinking a cup of coffee, or the feeling after a workout. Most medicines can be microdosed including LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, DMT, ayahuasca, LSA, 2-CB, cannabis, ibogaine, and ketamine. With this, each of these can have different effects on mind, body, and spirit so it’s important to have deep knowledge of the medicine you’re thinking about using.
Macrodosing vs. Microdosing
Microdosing is taking 5-10% (usually) of a macrodose. A macrodose, or what’s usually just called a dose, of psilocybin for example is usually 1.5-5g. Both microdosing and microdosing have been shown to have a lot of benefits, although serving different purposes. Microdosing is less intense, subtle, and are thought to build up over time. It’s easier to fit microdosing in to your weekly schedule as it can often be done at any time of the week and it’s difficult to have a challenging time on them compared to microdosing. Microdosing has also been used to develop a relationship with a medicine and titrate up dosing towards a macrodose. That said, microdosing has been shown to have more profound and weighty experiences that can lead to impactful deeper-level changes.
Safely Microdosing
The first point in harm reduction is acknowledging the legal status of these substances. In Tennessee, and much of the United States, the only legal substances are ketamine and cannabis (*delta 8/9/10 from hemp). Ketamine is a controlled substance so it is not easy to obtain or microdose, although there are some doctors prescribing it.
Some microdosing challenges that people report are concerns with illegality, physiological discomfort, increased anxiety, impaired mood, and impaired focus. A lot of these are tied to dosing issues so it’s important to be aware and cautious with dosing. Part of the usual recommendation is starting small and working your way up, especially given a lot of medicines it’s hard to know the exact starting dosage of the substance you’re using. For example, it’s impossible to know exactly how strong the mushrooms are you’re using, although there’s usually a good estimated range.
We also recommend that if you’re going to embark on this path to have a therapist that can help you along the way and process any things that are coming up. Having that support can help avoid or navigate obstacles, discuss harm reduction and safety, and process anything that comes up during microdosing use.
If you’re interested in learning more about microdosing or discussing having support during this process, feel free to reach out. Contact The Nashville Psychedelic Center
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