Psilocybin vs. LSD for Microdosing: What’s the Difference?

0:00Hi, this is Microdose U and I'm Dr. Denise. I'm a doctor of psychology and that actually leads me right into the question that I got for today that I want to answer for you. The question is two parts. The first part of the question is, Dr. Denise, what exactly is your background and expertise? You say you're a doctor of psychology, we know what that means. Could you explain a little bit more? And then can you answer the question, why would I add microdosing psilocybin as well as LSD? Why would I use one versus the other or both of them? So I'm going to address that and answer that right now. So the first question, first part of that question, I am a doctor of psychology. What that means is that I went to school and got my doctorate in psychology now that that doesn't even really narrow it down. Actually, there's so many different types of training and pathways and types of programs and clinical trainings and in hospitals out of hospitals, etc. So just because someone says, oh, I'm a doctor of psychology, which I say all the time, that tells you something

1:01but it doesn't tell you everything. So that was a great question. So my particular training was very complimentary. I was very interested in physiology, brain, behavior, connections. And what could help someone prevent a particular illness or condition as well as if they found themselves in a particular, having a particular condition, how they could best. Not just treat it and deal with the symptoms, but actually deeply heal so that they cured whatever was going on. And I was very interested in the blending of physical illness with emotional effects and vice versa, which led me to studying physiology, nutrition, complementary medicine and the impact on emotional states, as well as vice versa, emotional states and the impact on our physiology and what medicines and supplements we could take to really have in our package of healing. And this is how I was led to the research on

2:08psychedelic assisted therapies. So that goes back like almost four decades ago. Now we have the current time and we know for the last 10, 15 years, this is psychedelic assisted therapies and specifically microdosing are very much part of healing, healing all kinds of physiological, physical, psychological issues and the combination of the two of them. So here I'm one of the faculty at microdose you and been here for a number of years and we are all about microdosing. Yes, sometimes it comes up about microdosing, but we're primarily looking at taking these medicines in a sub intoxicating way. Maybe you feel them, but not that it would only help you through your day. It's not going to be like a big enough dose that you would have that real, it's more in the background, let's say, and it helps you focus or it helps you make it through your day or heal, as well as the bigger picture, which is rewire. How are your brain physiology

3:10and your psychological function is basically going in that healing path to rewire that, in other words, upgrade, rewire, heal and shift the very causes of whatever physical and psychological issues and the combination of those have. So the second part of the question, why would someone who's perhaps interested in these medicines, why would they choose one versus the other and what about this idea of doing them together? So I want to talk a little bit about that. So a lot of people here at microdose you that we've worked with that are part of our Patreon that come to the lives. I would say the vast majority have some experience or are coming for the information support and access to psilocybin. So we absolutely do that and that's wonderful. A few years back we started adding the microdosing of LSD and part of the reason for that was that the research and the real world

4:12data shows that LSD is just such an amazing psychedelic microdosing LSD and Kira at Microdose U and that it really expanded so much of what's possible. And so we started to really work with that and now we do all kinds of trainings and consultations and programs that are about that as well. Certainly go to microdose U and check those out. So why if somebody say is microdosing psilocybin, why would they even bother to add microdosing of LSD? So let's talk about that. LSD is unknown to a lot of people. It's actually extracted from the fungus and when people go LSD and I used to think that too back a long time ago it sounded like you know more of a chemical in a drug. It's not. It's extracted. Yes it's processed and that converts it into the LSD so that it becomes usable for the healing. And I will tell you a huge caution. These are very safe medicines. LSD is

5:19extremely safe. You've heard me say before psilocybin extremely safe. I mean sugar and coffee, nicotine far more dangerous than these substances. However the cautionary note with LSD is not about the medicine. It's about experimenting. Experimenting with the medicine. A lot of people will and this makes sense. They'll read. They'll come to microdose U. They'll come to our lives. They'll join patreon. They'll go on the WhatsApp talk with us. They'll download the beginners guides. They'll really follow those introductions and then get their medicine whether it's one of our bedded sources or on their own or grow their own and really be able to kind of through trial and error figure things out. I always say the highest way to really dial in healing plan is to work with someone. We certainly are available to do that to really know exactly. So there's less of that sort of trial and error. With the psilocybin particularly safe you'll just get there quicker

6:23and know your path and you'll get that real intensive feedback. So that's the advantage in that. With LSD same advantage in making sure you work with someone that you trust. However you cannot just obviously you can't just grow your own LSD. You can't go just get it. So even if someone says oh I have the sky or you could get it here or there I would caution you 100% not to do that. There are it just has to be a really vetted lab a vetted person that week that you know has the highest level practice when it comes to their cleanliness, their processing and removing out the chemical process that converts the fungus, the extracted fungus into the LSD. So you really want to make sure that that is the highest level. So while it's safe I would absolutely not just get it anywhere. The other reason we say not to just fool around is with LSD it's a tiny tiny spec. Now you know

7:27psilocybin it's a bigger dose even though it's a micro dose it's milligram. So you can kind of say oh I'll do 100. I'll do 150. We'll see where that's at in kind of safe in that sense in terms of experimenting with finding the right dose. With LSD that is absolutely different. It is it's micrograms and one tiny spec is going to be very different than two or three tiny specs. It's exponentially bigger out of tiny tiny dose. So we really like you to know what you're doing. So my caution is safety in terms of accessing the medicine and also so you know what you're doing and you don't find yourself. I mean even if you did 304 specs of LSD it's not that you're going to be off on some psychedelic trip. However it makes a difference. So we really want to really look at a thorough assessment of everything. See what's going on and and kind of help you along that way. So that's

8:28my caution about LSD. So why would you add that? Particularly if you're already like many people here at microdose you that work with us. Why would you add the LSD? Great question. So the LSD as I already said it it is extracted from a fungus. So you know we know mushroom is fully grown and it's ground dried and ground up. So that's that. With the LSD it's not usable in the extract. It has to be chemically processed and then those chemicals have to be removed in order for it to be left with just the medicine and a clean medicine. So here's the difference and here's about them together. So LSD first of all it has the overall healing just like the psilocybin. However in the day the effects which again are kind of in the background but you will feel them longer. So psilocybin is kind of like four to six hours of kind of you maybe noticing it. LSD almost double that. It's more like eight 12 hours. Again we're talking about microdosing. It's not like

9:33you know you're going to be on some trip. However it will last longer and so some people find that that can be a benefit in the day that they want to have that longer effect. Some people want it shorter so they'll say well I'm going to just stick with the psilocybin for today. I'll take a microdose of LSD on a day that I have more time. We always say it's nice to have the not be busy when you're doing these medicines if you can help it so that you can notice particularly when you're starting out. So LSD has a longer effect which can be beneficial. The other benefit of LSD is it's unlikely to it doesn't go through your stomach processing. Let's remember with psilocybin that the body has to break that down which happens in the digestive system. The LSD basically gets absorbed. It's not going through your stomach the same way so you're not going to have that kind of heavy maybe a little queesiness feeling that some people can report with psilocybin. It's very rare and we have lots of ways to to work around that by like putting it in a citric juice

10:38like a lemon or something like that for the psilocybin. The LSD it's going to be a spray goes right into your system. It's not having to be broken down so you don't have that. So that's an advantage also. Here's the other part in terms of desired effect in what you're healing. LSD works similarly as psilocybin does on serotonin which is mood and healing grief and depression etc. LSD does that and yet there's a whole other part of the structure of the LSD that addresses dopamine. Opamine pathways are very different. They work well with serotonin but they're very different. So dopamine is going to affect and this is the benefit of LSD. Dopamine is going to affect anxiety, attention, focus, motivation, inspiration. So people will enjoy that healing of that clearing up particularly if you have attention issues. If you've heard me say in the past

11:39if somebody's dealing with say attention deficit problems or like that hyperactivity they find LSD to be extremely helpful a lot more helpful than the psilocybin because it really does help focus helps the energy helps the clarity of thought and it really does help with a decrease in anxiety as a result of that dopamine and it does also help with mood and depression and grief etc. So the psilocybin again as I've already said it works on serotonin so it's excellent with mood depression, trauma, grief both of these medicines are anti-inflammatory so physiologically they decrease inflammation. Now here's the other thing one of the reasons that we end up talking about potentially using both of them and and I'm not saying both on the same day at the same time. That's kind of another topic for another time that's really advanced and don't ever try that on your own. So the use of both of them together meaning taking LSD one day and then using psilocybin these

12:46are microdoses on another day and the benefit of that is that they are overlapping each other as far as the helpful kind of combination if you're opening up brain pathways and focus with LSD that helps you work on the deeper emotional healing that you are looking for in your healing pathway and here's the other physiological overlapping they actually physiologically I'll say prime one another taking LSD physiologically opens up brain pathways body and then makes you more receptive and primed for psilocybin and the reverse is true if you're taking psilocybin that opens up and primes the body for the LSD so psychologically and physically they really do complement each other quite well and really are a perfect combination. Here's the other thing LSD as I've already said you don't take it

13:48every day there's a kind of temporary tolerance build up it's best to dose once or twice a week with the LSD so the benefit of using both these medicines is you can you can take your LSD microdose and then on the other days maybe several days a week you can take the psilocybin lots of people report that perfect combination of the two that taking the LSD one day using the psilocybin because you can use that multiple days in a week and get that lift and it's they're constantly working so we know when you take LSD even though it sort of metabolized in out of the body by the end of that day into the next day it's still always working we know these medicines are rewiring and constantly upgrading physiologically and psychologically so if you said you know you took your your LSD today and then tomorrow you took psilocybin that LSD is already working and continues to work and rewire and then

14:49you add the psilocybin microdose and now you've got that combination upgrading and working all the time together and even if you have a week and you take nothing those are still in there they're still working and upgrading and healing even when you're not taking them and yes you do need to consistently dose these medicines however if you were to stop dosing anything that you have to rewire stays that way it's not like an anti-depressant medication you're going to go right back to where you were before no because you've upgraded and you've healed and rewired and and that is now permanent that's like you change the foundation and you're being so I hope that that's helpful and answer some of the questions and let us know if you have any more comments what and questions I always say comment right here at the show notes and in the comments section certainly join our patreon and we'll help you with getting set with some of these questions and the medicines and really dialing in the exact healing path for you see you soon