Mushrooms Precaution: MICRODOSING?

[messesb52]

Hey guys,
I am working on getting my first ever mushroom trip to happen. Without getting into details (read my past post if you're curious for more info), i'm in the process of discontinuing a small dose of an ssri (which was prescribed to me for no reason at all in the first place) and am confident that I am ready to take shrooms (i've been totally off the ssri for over a week and don't plan on taking the shrooms for another 2 weeks) but what are your thoughts on, just to be safe, microdosing shrooms and assessing the effect they have on me before jumping into a "real" dose? More specifically, I am just being extra cautious because I know that ssris and shrooms act in very similar ways (by blocking the re-absorption of seratonin), and am just being extra cautious in case my neurochemistry isn't 100% balanced yet after stopping the ssri (even though i feel fine emotionally). So, do you find anything wrong with taking a small dose (.5 grams or less) and assessing the effect, then taking the full dose a couple days later if the microdose seemed tolerable?

 

[Tranced]

I'm unsure of the potency of the mushroom species you're using, but just to say that with some then 500mg would actually have a noticeable effect, and maybe be just enough to cause you to be in that potentially anxiety inducing in-between stage.

 

[spacejunk]

Yeah, under-dosing can feel unpleasant. And it will mess with your (short term) tolerance if you plan to trip a couple of days later.
I would just take a whole dose, personally.
I find being in a half-messed-up-but-not-quite-tripping state can be uncomfortable, and won't actually give you any accurate information about how a proper dose will affect you, or interact with your medication (or the cessation of) - especially given that you've never done shrooms before.

Being half-tripping is usually not a nice feeling, in my experience.
The whole "microdosing" thing is a bit overhyped i think, and as Tranced says - .5g would probably be considerably active, as it's way more than a true "microdose", which by definition should be sub-threshold (at least as i understand it).

Really; i think the best way to approach mushrooms is to take what you consider to be "the full dose", rather than doing test runs in half measures a couple of days before you plan to trip.
Just wait until you feel ready - in terms of preparedness and time since discontinuing the ssri - and enjoy the trip. I find mushrooms a lot more pleasurable, with seemingly less 'bodyload' when i dose high enough to have a more submersive trip.
Nothing excessive, of course - keep the dose sensible (depends what type of mushrooms you have as to what dose you should take, so i won't speculate on amounts) but you'll be more likely to have a good time this way, at least as far as my experiences go.

 

[aspiringchemist]

as Terrence McKenna once said "take a committed dose!"

 

[Xorkoth]

I'm going to concur... take a full dose, don't get crazy, but like, 2-2.5 grams. That way you'll get to really experience it. As others have said, low doses often feel more uncomfortable than normal full doses because you basically only get the weird bodyload type of effects without an actual trip. I like low doses now, but it's because I've tripped who knows how many times over the last 16 years, and I really don't get bodyload or difficult come-ups at all from any dose of just about anything anymore. Back before I had tripped much, low doses were pointless and unpleasant.

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

I don't think sub tripping doses are uncomfortable, I've taken ~1g a couple times and although it wasn't a very notable experience it didn't cause any negative feelings or anxiety.

I will agree however that a low dose is not going to give you any idea of how a larger dose will effect you. Psychedelics get drastically different at different doses. I would say go for a dose of 2g's, at that dose the trip is very controllable yet can still lead to some very profound and trippy experiences. This is all assuming your shrooms are of good quality.

Good luck and don't underestimate the power of set and setting