Hacker News Reader

Comment by kieselguhr_kid | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand microdosing at all. The interesting and enjoyable effects of the drug are only pronounced at a macro level: significant disruption to normal thinking patterns, visual hallucinations, the suppression of the ego, etc. The mild psychological alteration at low doses does very little for me, and then I waste it by coding or solving business problems.

Either way, why are you wasting this on making more money for your boss? It's much better spent having a fun weekend on the beach with friends, going for a hike in the woods (if you're highly experienced and can safely manage a solo trip), or literally anything else.

View on HN

I'm sure there's people who do meth recreationally that say the same thing about my fairly small dosage but daily adderall usage.

There's something to be said for a little bit all the time being as valid as a lot every now and then. They're focused on different effects and facets of life.

In my mind it's 'doing large doses all the time' that's generally a problem (and even then only from a 'hey, you might need to work on yourself a bit and take a deep look at why you're doing that' perspective).

There’s really not.

I mean, I'm sure there are because I've met them and they've said that to me.

Same here...

But it's not like you can compulsively load up adderall pills into a pipe to turn into a puddle.

The huge issue I see with tweakers is that they smoke that shit like a joint and will tell you that they're doing it for medical reasons. Hilarious if it wasn't for what that does to you.

I think people crush up the pills, filter the fillers and snort adderall just like meth in a habitual way (for several days at a time.)

You don’t snort freebase, it is not water soluble.

> I'm sure there's people who do meth recreationally that say the same thing about my fairly small dosage but daily adderall usage.

Sola dosis facit venenum (The dose makes the poison)

Also, Adderall (Amphetamine) != Methamphetamine. That is like saying Ethylene Glycol (a common car anti-freeze) is the same as Ethanol (drinking alcohol) or that Peroxide is the same as distilled water. In fact, the substances I listed above are more molecularly similar than methamphetamine and amphetamine.

From my understanding, meth made in quality controlled, lab tested, legally controlled, and medically administered and monitored dosages has amazing results for the conditions it treats. Commonly, dosages are in the 2mg - 20mg range vs. the multiple GRAMS of meth + whatever leftover reaction byproducts in recreational usages.

Also, stimulant medications have a higher safety profile than many OTC medications, so take that for what it's worth.

> Also, Adderall (Amphetamine) != Methamphetamine. That is like saying Ethylene Glycol (a common car anti-freeze) is the same as Ethanol (drinking alcohol) or that Peroxide is the same as distilled water. In fact, the substances I listed above are more molecularly similar than methamphetamine and amphetamine.

The people I know who have made such a distinction haven't done both. The people I know who have done both tell me that they have essentially the same effects.

> Also, stimulant medications have a higher safety profile than many OTC medications, so take that for what it's worth.

Yeah, I think a lot of OTC medications are essentially grandfathered in to drug policies and would require a prescription if they came out new today.

There have been studies done with amphetamine and methamphetamine where participants have been unable to tell which they were given. No difference in effects.

> Adderall (Amphetamine) != Methamphetamine

Have you ever tried both, though? Once you factor out the faster uptake due to that methyl group, it's essentially impossible to tell which is which at equivalent, medicinal doses.

I've got a lot of experience with the former (medicinally).

Would one be able to tell a difference at a much higher dosage? What about when compared to an equivalent dosage of another CNS like methylphenidate or cocaine?

> Would one be able to tell a difference at a much higher dosage?

I never dared risk much higher dosages, so I wouldn't know.

> What about when compared to an equivalent dosage of another CNS like methylphenidate or cocaine?

In my experience, one can definitely tell the difference between (meth)amphetamine and methylphenidate / cocaine, at any dose. They are by no means that different, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if a person with no previous exposure to either would struggle to do so. Other CNS stimulants, like nicotine and caffeine, are more obviously different.

This is all purely anecdotal, though I have skimmed studies which also claimed as much, so those might be worth looking into.

I am not sure the two are comparable given that LSD does not function on dopaminergic circuits.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27544651/

so it's like comparing a downer to an upper, right? not the best comparison in my books.

LSD is not exactly a downer. The decreased activity is because serotonin circuits are antagonists to dopamine circuits.

I know. I'm just saying there is very little sense in comparing it to adderall.

I think you can compare it to amphetamines (adderall): Amphetamines narrow your focus of attention, while psychdelics widen it.

> Amphetamines narrow your focus of attention, while psychdelics widen it.

And that's exactly why this study is bogus. Here are the two tests which they used to "measure" cognitive ability. See anything wrong here?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digit_symbol_substitution_test

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-back

That's because serotonin circuits (where LSD and magic mushrooms act on) are antagonists to dopaminergic circuits [1].

[1] https://moleculeofmore.com/

What you've described is a mechanism for functioning on dopaminergic circuits.

Where do you get that from? In addition to its serotonergic effects, LSD is a D3, D4, D2 and D1 receptor agonist.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/LSDaffinities...

The idea of microdosing is to get some of the effect of rewiring the brain while also not being inebriated.

Recreational and unsupervised brain rewiring doesn’t seem like a great idea

I can only speak for myself. I tried a microdose of LSD during the work week and it was really great.

I didn't do it to increase productivity, I did it to experiment. I was the same me, minus negative thinking for 48 hours. I felt lighter and happier. It was like a medicine.

Wish I could try it again but it's so hard to find.

Microdosing can be nice when out in nature, enjoying good art, film, music or cooking, etc. But in cases where you don't want to be experiencing complete ego death. For example, seeing a concert in the city is not a great time IMO for taking an entire tab of LSD.

1-5 tabs gets me a warm fuzzy body high, increased sociability and energy, while still retaining my sense of self and able to function amongst the sober.

I do like having full blown ego death once in a while but just as much I like to just take the edge off at a music fest and not have a bad trip

Microdosing is more like 0.25 tabs (or less). What you're talking about is not microdosing.

Uh, 1 vs 5 tabs is a huge difference. Assuming 1 tab is say 75 micrograms, 1 tab is having “expanded consciousness” and 5 tabs is a 16 hour trip with full on ego death and 5 days afterglow. Maybe I misunderstand what you mean, but in my reckoning, there’s no such thing as 1-5 tabs. You take 1 tab for a lightweight Sunder afternoon. If you took 5 tabs, you’ll not be sleeping for a day and you’ll think you are floating in a sea of cheese the majority of it. 5 tabs means you’ll not be able to maintain coherent thought….

Even one tab at 100 micrograms is not a lightweight Sunday afternoon by any means.

“1-5 tabs gets me a warm fuzzy body high”

no one cares

You can function on 5 tabs? That sounds terrifying.

probably weak tabs, or strong tolerance. 5 tabs would get me destroyed. A friend of mine had seen some biblical shit and he only took 4.

You must either maintain a crazy high tolerance (by dosing every 2-3 days), have very weak tabs (like 10ug), or you mean something completely different by 'tabs'.

Is 10 not the standard? That’s the only tab dosage I’ve seen, granted I’m not super experienced. This has been true from dark web tabs and local plugs in USA and Mexico

I do not dose often. I’ve done lsd 5 times total

100ug is probably the most standard claimed dose, which often comes out to be around 75-85ug. 10ug is probably specifically tabs meant for microdosing.

If your tabs are 10µg but you've experienced ego death, does that mean you sometimes eat like 20 tabs in one sitting...?

10-15 (lost the rest of the sheet)

I definitely was outside my body but maybe what I call ego death isn’t as intense as a full blown trip?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com