Intro to Microdosing

 What is microdosing?

Microdosing is the process of ingesting sub-perceptual doses of a psychedelic compound. It is more common to microdose psilocybin mushrooms or LSD, however there are communities that microdose a variety of other psychedelic medicines (i.e., DMT, ketamine, ayahuasca).

For the purpose of this introduction, we will focus on dried psilocybin-containing mushrooms.

What does sub-perceptual mean?

The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘perceptual’ as “relating to the ability to interpret or become aware of something through the senses.” Roughly, that translates to ‘being consciously aware of a sensation'.

With this prefix ‘sub-’ added, we can translate sub-perceptual to ‘being sub-consciously aware of a sensation’.

Why do people choose to microdose?

According to one publication, people microdose to experience improved mood and focus. Another article explains that microdosing supports creativity by promoting cognitive flexibility. This same article expresses that convergent and divergent thinking performance was improved after microdosing.

Below are a list of potential benefits related to microdosing. Realize that this is all anecdotal and that there is limited scientific evidence to fully support these claims. This list and more information can be found at the Microdosing Institute.

• More energy

• Clearer thinking

• Increased problem solving ability

• More creativity

• Improved focus

• Positive mood

• Emotional connection with people around you

• Being more conscious of yourself

• Being more present

How much mushrooms is a microdose?

Generally, a microdose is somewhere between 1/10th to 1/20th of a threshold breaking experience or psychedelic journey provoking dose. If we take the general anecdotes of 2 to 3 grams of dried mushrooms to frame our standard ‘trip’ dose, then a microdose would be somewhere between 0.1 to 0.3 grams of dried ground psilocybin mushrooms.

Do people microdose everyday?

There are most likely many people who microdose daily, however it is not recommended. Microdosing everyday can be problematic for a variety of reasons.

Problem 1. Serotonin-2A receptor desensitization (tolerance)

If microdosing works, then it works by stimulating one’s 5-HT2A receptors. If these receptors are stimulated daily, then consecutively larger doses would be required to meet a desired effect. This leads to tolerance and potential inconsistent, unpredictable, and undesirable dosing outcomes.

Problem 2. Valvular Heart Disease (VHD)

Psilocybin works by activating 5-HT2A receptors to induce a therapeutic effect. Psilocybin also has affinity to different receptors, including the 5-HT2B receptor. It is speculated that chronic activity at this unique receptor subtype can lead to valvular heart disease, mitral regurgitation, and pulmonary hypertension. This problem is highly speculative, however still important to understand. This claim is based on medication Fenfluramine. This medication was pulled from the market because it caused VHD in its patients due to the drug’s activity on the 5-HT2B receptor.