Microdosing for ADHD
As a microdosing coach, I expect a lot of questions on microdosing but in the past few months, I’ve been getting more questions about microdosing and ADHD than usual. I’m going to share two perspectives: What I intellectually know/have studied. And what I’ve seen with clients/feel & intuit with the mushrooms. To be clear, I’m only referring to microdosing psilocybin mushrooms.
A few general relevant points about ADHD:
ADHD is a result of a genetic dysfunction of the brain’s reward system, typically in the dopamine system.
Our reward system isn’t just a ‘happy/pleasure’ center, its evolutionary role is to reward us when we do survival-based activities like eating and drinking. Our brains are hard-wired to seek out behaviors that kick in our reward system as we will then do more of it to survive.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a vital role in our reward center, as well as influencing many body functions like memory, mood, movement, attention, behavior, sleep, learning and others.
People with ADHD have a deficiency in dopamine production and/or absorption thereby throwing their reward system out of balance, amongst dopamine’s other roles.
The classic psychedelics (like mushrooms) impact serotonin, another mood-affecting neurotransmitter like dopamine. To be clear, we still don’t know exactly how serotonin and dopamine interact, but generally if one is low, the other is high. Hence, they balance each other out.
Most ADHD medications work by influencing dopamine availability and/or absorption.
So if your microdose increases serotonin and your ADHD meds increase dopamine, and both of those hormones have to balance each other out then… see where this is headed? You may not gain the benefit of either, or you may have too much of a good thing.
That’s the studied/intellectual take.
What I’ve seen with clients:
In practice, this hasn’t held true for the vast majority of my clients. Most fall into 2 experiences:
The microdose enhances the effectiveness of the ADHD med in a positive way, and both can be taken together.
The microdose works just as effectively as the ADHD med sans side effects, and the client opts to microdose instead of taking their ADHD med.
The first is actually what works for me. Microdosing works really well with my ADHD meds and I see no need or reason to remove one or the other.
The second has been the case for many people, and I encourage clients who opt for this route to please inform and work with their prescribing psychiatrist or therapist on this if they’re comfortable doing so to have another person monitoring their progress.
The clients who work with me on microdosing for ADHD see their best and most life-changing results through my microdosing and growth coaching packages.
If 12 sessions of personally supported and guided microdosing in a safe, secure 1-1 container sounds like a fit for your goals then we should chat, There’s nothing out there like it.
How would forming a healthy relationship with your ADHD change your life? If you’d like to discuss how microdosing can help you with your ADHD, I’d love to help. Reach out for a free consultation.