How To Get The Microdose Right, And What Happens If You Get It Wrong

(This post is part 2 of a guide to microdosing. For part 1 click here)

On “Dose Day” getting the dose right is the single most important factor involved in a successful and safe microdosing cycle. Getting it right is the foundation that can lead to beautifully fulfilling thoughts, interactions and experiences. Getting it wrong, however, can derail your little microdose experiment quicker than you can say “I'm too high to be at work right now”.

WHY IS THE DOSE AMOUNT SO IMPORTANT?

We need to be clear here that the dose amount isn't the only factor at play. Psychedelic drugs are a bit different to other drugs like heroin or cocaine or methamphetamine. Or even more everyday drugs like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol (yes, they are drugs). These other drugs all have a physiological effect on your body that, for the most part, is what their drug experience is all about. You get more energy from things like cocaine or coffee, whilst you could feel warm and carefree from heroin or alcohol. Increase the amount of the drug - and you increase the drug's effect, and vice versa.

Psychedelics are a little different. Yes, increasing or decreasing the drug amount relates directly to how strong the effects will be. But psychedelics are like an amplifier of what is happening in your own head and around you, which is why dosage is only one part in the holy trinity of DOSE, SET and SETTING. Set and Setting are referring to the mindset (Set) that the user has in going into the experience, as well as the Setting in which it is taking place, ie weather, location, with friends, etc. 

Set and Setting are very important when MACROdosing, where equal consideration should be given to all three elements. Any one of these that is off balance can have VERY negative consequences. Set and Setting ARE still important when microdosing (which we will get into later), but due to the “sub-perceptible” nature of microdosing - the DOSE is the more fundamental factor here as too much will leave you too high and not enough will leave you  clutching at placebo effects.

HOW MUCH IS A MICRODOSE?

A typical microdose amount is around 10 micrograms (mcg). This can vary anywhere from 5mcg up to 15mcg depending on who you are and what you are trying to do in your day. For the sake of averages however, and to keep it simple, we will stick with 10mcg for this post. 

As stressed in a previous post, we are aiming for a dose amount that is “sub-perceptible”. The amount you are taking should be enough to trigger the subtle effects in your mind, but not enough that you physically feel any effects. This includes any sort of visuals or traditional “trippy” psychedelic effects. In other words, you should look and feel normal.

The tricky thing is how you measure this. Typically a “tab” of LSD is around 100mcg, so it is generally fairly safe to assume that 10% of one of these tabs is around 10mcg. There are a lot of assumptions in there I know - and that is one of the pitfalls of the illegal and unregulated nature of this practice. Because you are likely getting your LSD from a shady back alley somewhere, you are generally not going to know exactly how much LSD is on the tab.This is why it is always wise to start LOW and go SLOW.

To put 10mcg in perspective, the below list looks at some typical dosages and expected effects. Keep in mind these amounts are heavily dependent on drug tolerance and experience, but they give a rough indication of where our humble microdose lives on the full spectrum.

10mcg - “classic microdose”

On this amount any overt feelings of being high should be non-existent.

20mcg - “strong microdose”

You may be just starting to leave the realm of “sub-perceptible” here and while you won't have any spiritual visions of folding realities, you may begin to see slight changes to your visuals. Slight movement around the edges of objects when you look at them, and more vivid colours and sounds. A great dosage to experience an art gallery or enjoy a walk in nature.

50mcg - “half a tab”

For an experienced LSD taker this is an amount that can be fun in a public (uncontrolled) setting. For a newcomer, however, this may be enough for a profound journey that is best done in a controlled environment like home. Here there is movement in your visuals with textures starting to “breathe” slightly.

100mcg - “full tab”

LSD is typically sold as a “tab” which is a 5mm square of blotter paper soaked in the LSD compound. These are generally 100mcg, but can be anywhere from 80-120mcg so caution is still required here. This is a high enough dose to have a full traditional psychedelic trip which will last around 8-10 hrs. A lot of visual movement can be expected here and it is a dose that you definitely want to have the SET and SETTING aligned as these become much more important at these doses. 

300mcg - “orange sunshine”

The infamous Orange Sunshine LSD of the 60s and 70s was renowned as being very strong and anywhere up to around the 300mcg range - PER TAB! This is the same LSD that was being circulated in places like Woodstock - large, uncontrolled environments with many strangers. What a strange place that would have been.

500mcg+ - “into the beyond”

Doses this high are NOT recommended to anyone other than the most experienced of LSD takers in the most controlled of environments. This is heavy territory - things get weird - and it may be difficult telling what is real anymore.

55,000mcg - “No..just no”

This report of a woman mistakenly snorting 55,000mcg of LSD is just ridiculous. :0

I can't even.. I just don't know what to say. 

HOW TO MEASURE A DOSE CORRECTLY

Ok, so now we know how much we are aiming at (10mcg), the next trick is getting that amount reliably and safely into your body. I say safely because there are real risks here. First of which is making sure that what you have in your hot little hand is actually LSD! First you must ALWAYS test the drugs. You can get test kits online easy enough and a new batch of LSD should always be tested.

“Testing the drug is the critical first step in the process. If you don't know what it is, you definitely should not be ingesting it, simple as that”.

Once you know what you have is LSD, then the next step is diluting it down to a more manageable dose. Cutting the tab into 10 pieces sounds like the easiest solution, but don't do this. You will regret it instantly. 

Cutting the tab up leaves zero tolerance for how strong the tab actually is. Also as it is so small, the slightest crooked cut with the scissors can leave you with unequal pieces that will leave you on a roller-coaster from one dose day to the next.

No. In my experience, the safest and best way to portion it out is by doing it volumetrically. To do that we need these three things:

1. 30ml eyedropper bottle. Make sure to get the amber colour as it helps protect the contents from damaging light;

2. Glass pipette with increment measurements up to 1ml;

3. Distilled water (vodka or gin can also work in a pinch). This is critical as normal tap water will destroy the LSD.

Now it’s as simple as putting the tab in the eyedropper bottle and then adding enough of the distilled water (or vodka/gin) in order to dilute it down so that you can draw out a small amount of the LSD infused liquid with the pipette. Easy.

Ok now for the quantities a bit of maths is involved, but keeping it to round numbers makes it easier. Mixing in 10ml of the distilled water will mean you now have 100mcg of LSD in 10ml of liquid. This means that every 1ml of liquid you draw out with the pipette is equal to 10mcg of LSD. Again, easy.

This method worked for me fine. Or at least, I thought it did until I came across a fresh batch of tabs that were a bit stronger than usual. Because the LSD was stronger - maybe 120mcg per tab - when I measured out the 1ml of liquid I was actually pulling out 12mcg of LSD. This is already a bit higher than where I want to be, and keep in mind the increments of measure on the pipettes are not very fine so it's easy to overshoot.

“I overshot, and ended up with something likely around the 15-18mcg mark. I had an interesting day” (see later in this post).

To get around this problem and make it a safer, more reliable measuring process, I now mix in 20ml of the liquid. This means that you draw out 2ml of the liquid each dose (20ml x 10% = 2ml). This means that if you get a bit heavy handed with the amounts in the pipette you don't pay the price, and also leaves room for fine adjustments to really dial in the dose amount.

So with all this in mind the step by step process is:

1. Test the LSD and make sure it is legit and safe;

2. Combine a single 100mcg tab with 20ml of distilled water into the eyedropper bottle;

3. Let it sit for at least half an hour, and then keep it in the fridge up high and out of the way of kids;

4. On dose day, use the pipette to draw out 20ml of the liquid and squirt it under your tongue;

5. Don't get any saliva or pollutants on the pipette as this may damage the LSD in the bottle;

6. When measuring the dose start low with a fresh mix and work up to 20ml to find the sweet spot. 

7. The correct dose is something you fine tune to yourself, but remember - sub-perceptible is the name of the game;

8. A note: don’t do anything stupid if the drug is impairing your ability to operate safely. Don't drive, don't play with knives or anything else silly. Go home - sleep it off.

“What is the sweet spot? If you get to the end of the day and you have not enjoyed it.. Try a lower dose”.

PITFALLS…. AND OPPORTUNITIES

Following this method getting the dose right is easy and reliable. Also, having the ability to fine tune the dose amount is handy because not all situations call for a 10mcg dose. This is where SET and SETTING come back into it as different activities or mindsets can (and do) have an impact on how enjoyable microdosing can be.

Microdosing can sometimes be kind of like amplifying what is already there. If you are feeling anxious or in an environment that can generate anxiety, then that can be something you pick up on and it can resonate and amplify. This door swings both ways though, as it can also amplify positive things like an appreciation for self, loved ones, beauty and art.

For instance, I know from experience that if I have a day full of meetings ahead of me and lots of human interaction, I know I want to keep it to 10mcg. Or even slightly lower, down to 8mcg, as sometimes I can start over analysing in my head if I am being weird or not, which can easily perpetuate itself left unchecked. This sounds small - but not being comfortable in your own skin can be a difficult time.  A lower dose is the answer here. 

The flipside of this however is that I know that on a lower dose, I am much more open and really enjoy the human interaction and meetings can be really enjoyable. I also know if I have a day of drawing or creative works (I’m an architect, I draw a lot) or if I am going to be outdoors in nature for the day, I might want to dial it up a little bit (12-15mcg) as your appreciation for the outdoors along with enjoying creative tasks is definitely an enjoyable aspect of microdosing.

A quick story of a day I got the dose wrong:

I was out on a site inspection where we were doing a final tour of a school that had been finished. I was there to identify any defects in the work so the builder could fix them. I had mixed up a fresh batch that morning, and I didn’t have the wisdom at the time to know to test it low. I just went straight in at 10mcg. 

It turned out to be a bit stronger than usual (around 18mcg) and at around 10am, as the dose was creeping into full swing, I felt the psychedelic breeze pick up from the west and I realised I had made a mistake.

I found myself leading the tour of the school with 10-12 other people (builders, project managers, engineers). Professional people, like me (apparently). Eyes were on me and I felt the prickles of panic as I realised I was too high to be doing this. I was meant to be leading the meeting as we identified defects in the work, but my focus was elsewhere. What I couldn't help myself from doing was commenting on how great the trees looked. More than one odd look came my way as the odd observations kept coming;  “wow, the colours of the leaves look so amazing against the blue sky”. “The light from the sun is mixing with the paint colours.. What is light really?”

I ended up enjoying myself thoroughly, although I didn't find many defects that day :)

Take from that story what you will. Was the dose too high? Was it just right? It felt a bit hairy at the time, but “rolling with it” is a skill that you need to learn in the microdosing world. Rolling with the vibe and not fighting it can help avoid agitation and negative emotional states. 

There is a sense of detachment that comes with microdosing that I can only describe as a zoomed out look at your life. The minutiae that doesn't matter falls away, and the real stuff comes to the surface. Long term goals come into focus, love, life, personal aspirations. You will feel your life course subtly begin to shift and re-align, shining a light on what truly matters to your soul. In my experience this is the true essence of microdosing and the results can be wonderful, but also unexpected.

“The minutiae that doesn't matter falls away, and the real stuff comes to the surface”.

WHAT NEXT?

This post has focused on what happens on “dose day” primarily as this is fundamental to getting microdosing right. However, it is not the whole story as you don't just microdose everyday of the week. There is a cycle, or a schedule that you can put in place to give a framework to when you microdose. 

There are many different types and they are all a little bit different but they all revolve around the idea of NOT TAKING DRUGS EVERY DAY. Because this would not be a good idea, clearly.

The idea is to take them often enough for the effects to bleed across days, but also allow your body to flush out the drugs periodically.

The method I have adopted is the “Fadiman Protocol” and revolves around taking the dose once every 3 days. This cycle is simple on the surface but over the years I have learned to really appreciate its subtle nuances. This cycle is the topic of the next post which will look at why this simple system works and how it can be used to your advantage.

~

Stay safe :)