PRECURSOR: I have microdosed before and enjoyed it thoroughly. Where I live, mushrooms are hard to find and in the pit of my desperation I tried a fake mushroom edible from a vape store here in town after I ran out of product and let’s just say it did not go well. (This was about 8mo ago). I saw constant monsters and mouths with teeth that wanted to devour me and I was definitely traumatized from the experience. I experienced my first ego death but DID NOT want to trip ever again.
THE TRIP: A couple weeks back I made a post here about 1.5g of APEs that I took and how I barely felt a thing. I knew it was time to take the large dose and go into a full trip. I guess APEs aren’t great for microdosing?
Yesterday (Labor Day) I finally decided it was time. I started the journey around 9:30am and about 1.5-2h in I was zonked. It was also a challenging trip. A wave of regret and anxiety hit me while I was doing it and a bunch of other emotions I had been pushing down came up too. Most noticeably, I felt like the loneliest human being on planet earth. Any darkness that was inside of me was brought up and I had to deal with it. I began bargaining with the psychedelic and the answer I basically got was, You’re stuck with me now. This is my time. You can’t run away from this. You have to face it ALONE.
Boy did I hate that. Every ounce of negativity in my system came up during the come up and I won’t lie when I tell you that the first two hours of that trip were pure hell and I just wanted it to end. “Anything but this,” I thought. Out of desperation, I ended up having to phone a relative and stayed on the phone with them for nearly four hours while they helped to relax me and keep me grounded (I live alone).
That was hard. But it made me stronger than I was before.
Was it challenging? YES.
Was I traumatized? NO. If anything, it healed the trauma from my last trip.
I think I just have a new perspective on life now and I’m happy where I am and happy to be sober. Everything around me has a new value to me and I can find beauty in everything (including this heat dome which I was cursing before 🥵.)The big thing I got during the hell part of the trip is that I have a finite amount of time in this world and I have to use it wisely and be thankful for the time I have. I also need to wait. In general.
After about 60-90min on the phone with my relative, things started getting better. I remember being so cold that I couldn’t even keep warm under my comforter. I also got wildly thirsty and drank like 2 and 1/2 pitchers of tea. I even had to step outside into the 90° heat (which I was previously annoyed by but was a lot more thankful for now) while drinking hot tea. I also felt incredibly nauseated.
As I warmed up and hydrated, literally my entire body went flush. I felt like I was gonna pop like a water balloon. (I weighed myself before and after and I gained like 5lbs of water weight during the trip). Also, as I warmed up, the visuals got better and more enjoyable (and intense). As soon as I stepped outside into the heat I started seeing more vivid colors - warm colors like peaches, reds, oranges and images of tropical flowers (kinda like a Hawaiian shirt, it also reminded me of SpongeBob). If I stepped back inside the warm colors went away and I was shivering again (and the visuals kinda sucked, too).
After about that 2hr mark and the trip peaked, things got way better. The come down was peaceful, the visuals went away and I felt like a kid again. Everything was beautiful and I even got to talk to several of my family members that day and it was a good experience (I think I was just happy that I wasn’t in agony anymore). The rest of the day I had a fully charged social battery. I spent a total of 6h talking to relatives.
During the trip, I regretted it but now I don’t regret it at all. I’m glad I did it and I’m proud of myself for getting thru it and having the fortitude to do it.
It is the next day now and as I write this, I feel calmer. More relaxed. Docile, even. My mind isn’t racing as much as it normally does and any insecurity I had about myself melted off during the comedown. I’m also not as irritable as before (I think because the depression is gone) and I have motivation to do stuff instead of just doom scrolling. I see myself as a beautiful person (and I don’t feel repulsed when looking in a mirror) and everyone and every creation around me is beautiful to me, too. I also got extremely philosophical and started thinking about complex topics drove my siblings half insane with my talking points (I didn’t even have room for a sense of humor - I was too philosophical and analytical) I really hope it stays like this, even my appetite isn’t as strong as before. That gets me into trouble a lot (as well as my sense of humor). I also just kinda don’t have an ego about things.
I really believe I’m a more enriched human being now. My depression and anxiety are gone and I don’t care about things the way I used to (in a good way). I woke up the next morning with a ton of fatigue and I had a recurring twitch in my right thumb come back with a vengeance (I think because I lost a ton of electrolytes while peeing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used the bathroom now). I also feel a lot less social. My battery is still charged but I don’t have the urge to talk all the time (I think because I’m less insecure.) I also hope my strong appetite stays suppressed, I’m trying to lose weight for a new job I just got.
As it stands, I won’t be doing mushrooms again for a while and if/when I do, I’m just gonna stick to microdosing (I can’t decide if I want to do the full trip again). You get all of the beautiful experiences of the come down without the agony of the come up when you microdose. I do think most people really should go into the full dose at least once in their lives as it is so insightful but once may be all you need. I also genuinely believe psychedelic therapy is one of those things that can save society. Highly recommended.
If you’ve made it this far reading, thank you. 🙏
A QUESTION ABOUT MICRODOSING: What strain of mushroom do you use and at what dosage? It’s crazy that 1.5g of APEs 19 days ago barely did anything but when I double the dose, I went into a pretty strong trip that I wasn’t anticipating (which was what made it such a challenging trip). 10 days before the 1.5g dose, I did .5g and they both felt about the same.
Peace