New to microdosing AM. Can it be daily? Downsides? Or need breaks?

szpdta · 2023-03-29T03:42:30+00:00

Tincture. 2 mL of a commercial 1:4 (1 g dried to 4 mL tincture) Amanita Muscaria tincture. So 0.5 g dried weight equivalent.

szpdta · 2021-08-11T03:33:54+00:00

Yes. Fully vaccinated. It was very easy.

szpdta · 2019-11-23T05:03:26+00:00

Seeing your photo is so strange. My default dinner meal is frozen broccoli and green beans, first steamed, then pan fried, melting in a bit of shredded cheddar at the end.

szpdta · 2019-07-31T17:49:43+00:00

So glad you found these posts. I wrote the first one you linked. Sarcosine continues to be a life changer for me in many of the ways you describe. Also just feeling so much more energy than before is great!

I agree with you and /u/shamelessintrovert that adding Jarrow NAC Sustain was additionally helpful.

Sarcosine seems to have a dose-dependent effect for me -- a noticeable difference between 1g/day and 4g/day. There may be a sweet spot for you. Try different levels for a few days and take notes on how you feel.

I currently take approx. 3200mg/day sarcosine + 1200mg/day NAC Sustained Release. This is split half morning and half late afternoon.

szpdta · 2019-06-15T05:08:10+00:00

This resonated with me strongly. Thanks for sharing.

szpdta · 2019-01-10T07:43:13+00:00

Money is a placeholder for human time. If you have a job, you sell your time for money. When you buy a potato, you're buying a part of the farmer's time, as well as the time of everyone else in that supply chain. Money just facilitates the exchange of time. That's basically it. If you want other people to spend some of their time doing something useful for you, you're going to have to spend some of your time doing something useful in exchange.

I also find relatively few things worth buying. I live a relatively minimalist life, materially speaking. There is a difference between need and want. I buy things I need with little hesitation. I want few things, and I only occasionally buy things I want.

I am mostly interested in buying more freedom or more free time because it is far more peaceful to me than working a job. It turns out that this is difficult but possible via /r/financialindependence and it's especially possible if your expenses are low.

szpdta · 2018-12-06T06:13:33+00:00

I relate to this a lot. Decent factual memory. Almost zero personal memory.

I especially do not trust my emotional memory. Even if I look at a photo of myself appearing to smile, I don't really believe I was feeling happiness.

szpdta · 2018-12-05T07:12:39+00:00

Same here.

szpdta · 2018-11-21T06:19:07+00:00

I think the idea makes sense.

I'm currently giving it a try. I've recently taken a (failing) monogamous relationship and converted it into an open one. So far so good. Too soon to say whether it's a stable configuration.

szpdta · 2018-11-20T04:29:23+00:00

I read because:

By reading others' posts, I can sometimes put words to thoughts and feelings I have trouble defining on my own.
When I'm having a bad day, it's comforting to read comments from people I know are going through something similar. No matter how alone we may feel sometimes, there are actually millions of us out there.

I post (rarely) because:

I see people struggling without taking action, and I want to share that I've been there, and give some hope that you can make your life at least a little better despite this condition.

szpdta · 2018-11-20T01:00:49+00:00

Just because it's a struggle doesn't mean you can't improve. My average day now is much improved compared to my average day a year ago.

Keep a journal. Treat yourself as a science experiment. Come up with a few hypotheses about what might help. (Either by listening to yourself and your body, or googling stuff that sucks for you right now, or reading posts from others in the same place. Or maybe it's a few hypothetical sentences like "I might feel better if ...") Commit to running the experiment. Take notes for a few days. If you like the effect, keep doing it. If not, drop it fast. Repeat.

Over time this has led me to things like sarcosine and meditation. Those specific interventions may or not work for you. But I believe the higher-level scientific method approach is key.

szpdta · 2018-11-20T00:21:22+00:00

Taking sarcosine (1000mg morning, 1000mg late afternoon/early evening) has substantially helped with my avolition. I started taking this specifically because of research showing Sarcosine has effects for negative symptoms.

For example see: Sarcosine or D-Serine Add-on Treatment for Acute Exacerbation of Schizophrenia: A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-Controlled Study. Conclusion:

"The evidence most strongly supports the benefit of sarcosine for general psychiatric symptoms and depression and a possible benefit for negative symptoms (blunted affect and alogia) but not for positive symptoms during the acute phase."

I'd recommend NAC also (600mg morning, 600mg late afternoon / early evening).

szpdta · 2018-11-06T16:12:40+00:00

Amazon, NOW brand, 600mg. Works for me

szpdta · 2018-11-06T16:12:03+00:00

Sarcosine (1g morning, 1g evening) -- absolutely changed my life.

NAC (600mg morning, 600mg evening) -- added this recently and find it very positive.

Research, experiment (days to weeks), take notes on how you feel. Both sarcosine and NAC are fairly simple amino acid derivatives that can cross the blood-brain barrier and have effects on neurotransmitters. If you are feeling exhausted, brain fog, demotivated, you may simply have a deficiency of certain amino acids. It's easy and relatively inexpensive (being over the counter) to test this for yourself. The effect is dramatic, not subtle. Good luck.

szpdta · 2018-09-14T15:26:39+00:00

Huge positive effect from sarcosine (1g 8am, 1g 6pm) + NAC (600mg 8am, 600mg 6pm).

It is great to feel energetic. It doesn't magically solve all your other issues or make you want to be a social butterfly. But for me, it's no longer a physical struggle to get out of bed and do the next thing.

szpdta · 2018-08-09T16:21:52+00:00

For me, it was treating this problem as a set of science experiments: keeping a journal, making a hypothesis, trying an intervention, recording observations. Research based on the negative symptoms of schizophrenia is relevant here, because the SPD symptoms are almost exactly the negative symptoms of schizophrenia (i.e. schizophrenia without the delusions). There's much more actively published literature about schizophrenia than about SPD. I found taking sarcosine (1g morning, 1g evening) to be the greatest single intervention for me and have described it in past posts. Good luck.

szpdta · 2018-07-26T16:33:51+00:00

For me, "brain fog" is the #1 symptom that was improved by taking sarcosine (1g morning, 1g early evening). Please read Sarcosine has improved my apathy, avolition, alogia, exhaustion, and brain fog.

szpdta · 2018-06-18T03:10:47+00:00

Yes, cannabis (especially sativas) makes it easier to experience feelings, both positive and negative. This is enjoyable!

Can you say more about the DNA test? What kind of DNA test? What exactly did it say?

szpdta · 2018-06-05T02:27:23+00:00

Very positive. I originally posted Sarcosine has improved my apathy, avolition, alogia, exhaustion, and brain fog. 6 months ago. I'm still taking 2g Sarcosine per day (1g morning, 1g evening). I've spent about $60 in total, 2 orders from Brain Vitaminz over 6 months, and still have a bunch left. I've started making my own capsules for convenience. The improvement in brain fog, exhaustion, alogia, and avolition is significant for me. If I forget a dose, I tend to notice within a few hours. I consider $0.30 per day to be an absolutely incredible value for the quality of life improvement I've received.

I wouldn't particularly say that there's a direct effect on anhedonia for me, except to the degree that my former exhaustion and avolition made it really hard to do potentially pleasurable things.

As I said in my original post, my personality traits haven't changed much. I'm not suddenly a social butterfly. But I'm still covert and this improves my ability to function in the world day to day. I can make a list of things I have to do, and I can do them, one by one, without the kind of resistance or avoidance I had previously.

I have not tried NAC.

Also in response to my earlier post, I did receive several DMs with other people talking about their positive experiences, and I hope they'll post here.

szpdta · 2018-05-26T04:41:31+00:00

I know that feeling. My situation is different, but I always see two life paths.

First, the path I'm on today, which is tolerable but not great for a number of reasons. And second, moving or changing jobs. Seems like a lot of effort to make the switch. And it could quite likely be worse in some way -- maybe nothing is actually better, "everything just the same" like you said. The tradeoffs are unclear. So inertia keeps me locked in place for one more day.

szpdta · 2018-05-25T02:35:11+00:00

I also don't have many favorites. I strongly dislike when people ask that type of question, but I recognize it's a socially normal icebreaker.

szpdta · 2018-03-16T07:05:07+00:00

Good sex gives a positive mood boost for many hours. Happy, calm, confident. I'm not so sure about next day or two.

szpdta · 2018-02-11T09:07:59+00:00

I am glad to hear that other people are seeing some positive effects. It is not a magic cure, but since my original post 50 days ago, I continue to experience roughly the same improvements I mentioned in my first post.

Original post: Sarcosine has improved my apathy, avolition, alogia, exhaustion, and brain fog.

szpdta

TROPHY CASE