Psychedelics weak/ineffective. Why?

[winterlight]

For 5 times, psychedelics have been weak for me. Any idea why?

I weight 120kg (260lb)
I use a low dose of SSRI (50mg Fluvoxamine daily), and always don't take it on the day of the trip and sometimes one day before as well.

- Mushrooms: 2.3g (1g then 0.8g then 0.5g), psilocybe cubensis, very dry, lemon-tek
Intense colors, 'all is as new', altered sense of touch, peace on comedown (Level 1)
- Mushrooms: 3g, psilocybe cubensis, not very dry
Intense colors, deep thoughts (Level 1)
- DMT: 15mg, pure
quiet atmosphere, time is slightly slower
- DMT: 25mg, pure, 30 min. after last dose
Strong comeup, fear/awe, feelings of anticipating a meeting with god, closed-eyes visuals, time is slower, movement in slow motion
- LSD: 110μg (supposedly), sublingual
Only comeup effects, some tension, reality very slightly atered, music slightly wider/different (Level 0)

 

[GreenMachine]

1) the drugs may not be as potent as you think they are
2) you are on an SSRI

both of these things would make me consider taking a higher dose.

 

[burn out]

its cuz youre on an SSRI. I would recommend getting off it ASAP, them things are poison if you ask me.

 

[Xorkoth]

Yeah even though you didn't take your SSRI the same day or a day before, it's still in your system, they take quite some time to clear out.

 

[freaktech]

Yeah, I think is SSRI too, the same occurs to me when I'm on paroxetine, even with 10 mg

 

[shoo-bop]

SSRIs like fluvoxamine don't necessarily directly block the specific receptor most responsible for psychedelics' effects (the 5HT-2a receptor), but by chronically increasing synaptic serotonin levels, they reduce the sensitivity and/or availability of these receptors. (Some antidepressants actually do directly block this receptor, but I'm pretty sure fluvoxamine doesn't do that to any significant extent.) Just as it takes several weeks for the brain to "adjust" to the presence of SSRIs, I suspect that it probably takes several weeks for it to "reset" after withdrawal from SSRIs. So, in other words, it's not that fluvoxamine has to be in your body to block the effects of psychedelics, it's more that it causes longer-lasting changes that reduce the opportunity for psychedelics to affect your neurons even for a while after it's out of your body.

By the way, please don't take this as advice to (or not to) discontinue your medication. I (and others on here, ahem ...) don't know enough about you, or why you're on fluvoxamine, or the effects it's having on you, or the effects that stopping it might have on you, to give you medical advice. I'm just trying to point out the reason why stopping it for a day or two probably wouldn't return your sensitivity to psychedelics to 100%.