When To Microdose, And Why A Schedule Is Your Friend

(This post is part 3 of a guide to microdosing. For part 1 click here)

Taking acid everyday and going to work is not sustainable - it's also crazy, and wouldn't work. What you need is a system; a framework for when and why you are microdosing. A framework, or “cycle” is the glue that holds everything together and lets you get the most out of the microdose whilst keeping you anchored to the ground and not blown away in the psychedelic breeze.

WHEN TO MICRODOSE

So far in this little guide on ‘how to microdosing acid’ we have looked at WHAT microdosing is, we have looked at HOW you microdose correctly and now we turn our attention to WHEN you microdose. 

WHEN to microdose is the key to integrating this strange new ‘supplement’ into your life. But unlike a traditional supplement or vitamin, microdosing psychedelics requires more from the user than simply ingesting the substance. Microdosing acid, as with microdosing mushrooms, is actually more similar to something like an exercise routine, or a meditation practice than it is to a traditional supplement. 

Generally a supplement or vitamin is ingested and the effects take hold giving the user the desired benefit over time. This is true for microdosing psychedelics as well to an extent, however, I have found the real key to reaping the full benefits of the microdose is structuring your dose days around a dosing cycle. I will get into the nitty gritty of the cycles later in this post, but for now know that a typical cycle for me means dose day comes around once every 3 days. So you are microdosing one day, and then having a few days off before dosing again. The main reason dosing is structured around a cycle is to do with tolerance and thresholds. 

CAN YOU GET ADDICTED TO ACID?

Well, the short answer is no, and studies have shown that psychedelic drugs on the whole are generally non-addictive, which is great. But taking powerful psychedelic drugs every day of the week is still probably not a good idea. What acid does to your brain is complicated to say the least, and researchers are only now scratching the surface of the neurological systems that it influences when we ingest it. 

Having days off in a cycle is important as it gives your body a chance to ‘clear out’ the drug, whilst also allowing your body's tolerance to drop allowing the effect of the drug to do its work in a sustainable way. It turns out our bodies build up a tolerance to LSD as quickly as within a 24hr period (this is also true for mushrooms and mescaline). Meaning that you would need to take more and more of the drug in the following days to feel the same effects of acid. Studies have shown that the sweet spot is around the four day mark for a MACROdose to bring the user back to baseline threshold, hence the Fadiman three day protocol for the lesser microdose.

This is true for MACROdosing too. If you want to have a good trip, give yourself some time between trips. The effects will be more pronounced the longer you leave between them.

THE FADIMAN PROTOCOL

The two main cycles that are out there and recommended to people microdosing are the Fadiman Protocol, and the Stamets Protocol. The Stamets Protocol was coined by Mr Mushroom himself; Paul Stamets. This guy is an utter genius and has a lot of very interesting things to say about mushrooms. The Stamets Protocol involves having a dose FIVE days in a row and then taking two days off. It sounds like a lot, and in my opinion it is. But it is also more directed at microdosing mushrooms, and is recommended in combination with a host of other non psychedelic mushrooms for a combined benefit, so it is not really a direct comparison here to the Fadiman Protocol. 

The Fadiman Protocol, on the other hand, is a cycle recommended not only for LSD but for most psychedelics, so it is a good starting point for newcomers. Initially, I started on this cycle because James Fadiman is the O.G. when it comes to psychedelic usage guides, and this is the cycle he literally put his name on. On the Fadiman Protocol you dose once every three days, so a cycle would look like this: (Dose Day / day off / day off / Dose Day / … and so forth).

A TYPICAL CYCLE

Day One - Dose Day:

Dose Day. Where dreams are made. If Dose Day lands on a Friday you will look forward to it the entire week. If you are anything like me, you will also try and amplify it even more by stacking as many good things on top as possible; swim in the ocean, exercise, beer with mates. You know, the good stuff. I also know that I sometimes push more difficult work tasks towards Dose Day knowing that when it rolls around I will have the motivation, confidence and focus to be able to handle it. When Dose Day goes right it is amazing.

“When you can ride the psychedelic breeze through your day, with the wind in your hair and the sun on your face - it doesn't get much better.”

Day Two - The Afterglow:

As much as I love Dose Day, over the years I have really learned to love Day Two and now look forward to its familiar and loving embrace. On Day Two you can still feel many of the subtle feelings you get on dose day like elevated mood, increased focus, openness, gratitude. Your body and mind are still tuned into them from the previous day. The more intense, sometimes manic, ‘Dose Day’ feeling is gone though leaving a softer, smoother vibe.

“Day Two is the caffeine hit from a nice piece of dark chocolate, as opposed to the smack in the face from a double shot espresso.”

Day Three - Reset:

The key to the success of the cycle in my opinion is Day Three. This day is there to keep you honest. Sure, I've skipped Day Three more times than I can count over the years, but it is there for a reason and that deserves some respect. This day is there to reset the system. One completely clean day to get you back to baseline before you start the cycle again. Experienced microdosers will note that subtle effects can still be felt on day three, and that is great. That doesn't mean the drugs are still in your system, it just means your body is tuned in to the feeling, and your brain has begun to adapt to a slightly new way of interpreting the world. The fact is LSD is broken down by our bodies within hours and is completely gone from our body within a day.

Think of Day Three as touching down to refuel before taking flight again.

Now I know that my love for the cycle is not universal. There are many people out there that don't follow a structure and just microdose if and when they feel they need to. This may be to meet a deadline, to experience a nature walk - you name it. There is nothing wrong with this approach and in times where my supply is scarce I have done the same. 

The beauty of the cycle in my opinion is the cumulative effect you get from it. Just like a meditation practice or an exercise routine, it gets better over time and the effects of dose day bleed across the cycle. Like most things in life though it is not a one size fits all, and finding the right rhythm will be a personal thing. 

CAN YOU MICRODOSE TOO MUCH?

One of the best things about this cycle I have found is that ‘dose day’ doesn't land on the same day each week. This makes for some fun surprises where you end up microdosing on a day that you may not have thought to, or conversely, NOT microdosing on a day that you may have wanted to. I know this might seem a bit of a strange concept - because if you are trying to microdose - why not just microdose, right? Well that is true, but as with life, too much of a good thing can go the wrong way. This fact of life is just as true with microdosing as dosing every time you want to, or feel you need to, can lead to breaking the cycle and dosing more days than you should. Every now and then this is fine, but too much of this can lead to manic behaviour. 

A Cautionary Tale:

Just recently, a friend of mine who is also a seasoned microdoser, was working to a tight deadline and had placed himself under a lot of pressure to deliver on a project.
Dose Day came around and he was in the zone.

The following day he woke early and trying to keep the momentum going he jumped straight back in for another Dose. 

Caught up in the work he was now skipping a healthy morning routine of reading, meditation and exercise which he’d been skipping for a week at this point to get more working hours in the day.
The problem was, he just couldn’t find his mojo. The solution? Dose again the following day and increase the amount slightly to side step the tolerance build up. Wrong. The result? A negative spiral of thoughts, feelings and emotions for the days that followed. He had lost the balance, and was chasing it away trying to catch it.

He didn’t want to dose again while in that headspace so he hit pause on the microdosing to give himself some time to reset and get the healthy routines back in place. 

After a few cycles of not dosing he was still not feeling 100% but the deadline was over and work had slowed down so he decided to start dosing again to see what would happen. “I’m back! Clarity, focus, creative thinking and a positive feeling overall.” 

Was it breaking the healthy routine? Was it the pressure he was under? Was it abusing the dose cycle? My takeaway from this story is how important balance and integration is with microdosing. If it is used as a crutch or you become dependent on it too heavily you may end up with a broken crutch and flat on your back in a worse position than where you began. 

This post can really be boiled down to a single simple point: Microdosing psychedelics is fun and can be a great thing, but we are dabbling with psychedelic drugs here, and they should be respected. ALWAYS. Even though the dose amount is small in comparison to a MACROdose, the repeated and ongoing dosing brings its own unique baggage and should not be abused for a quick fix. 

Keep the microdosing as a single contributing part in a larger, integrated healthy lifestyle, and it can be a great friend to have indeed.

~
Stay Safe :)