Microdose Month: 28-Day Fadiman Protocol Log
A 28-day honest log of the Fadiman microdosing protocol — what worked, what surprised, what the dose actually felt like, and what the writing output looked like over four weeks.
Protocol: 0.1g on day 1, off days 2 and 3, repeat. 10 dose days over 28 days.
What I was hoping for: Better creative output for writing. I had been stuck on a project for several months — not crisis-level, I wanted an edge, not a rescue.
Week 1: First dose day was subtle enough that I wondered if I had taken anything. Slight increase in sensory brightness — colors cleaner, music more engaging. Word count that day was my highest in three weeks. Possibly placebo. Probably not entirely placebo. Off days felt normal. No accumulation effect either way.
Week 2: Pattern became clearer. Dose days: more fluid thinking, lower resistance to starting work, more associative leaps in writing that felt generative rather than random. Off days: unremarkable.
Week 3: One dose day that felt slightly too much — mild perceptual softening, couldn't focus on line-level editing though I did fine at structural thinking. I reduced to 0.08g for the final days. Lesson: 0.1g is not a universal number. Titrate to your physiology.
Week 4: Most consistent week. Landed on a dose that was genuinely sub-perceptual for me. Output remained elevated. No emotional volatility. Sleep good throughout.
The project: Finished the draft I had been stuck on. I can't attribute that entirely to microdosing — I also changed my writing schedule and removed a source of ambient stress in my personal life during the same period. But the correlation is real and the experience was positive.
What I'd tell myself at the start:
- Start lower than you think you need to.
- Keep a daily log — even just three lines: dose, notable experiences, output.
- The goal is sub-perceptual. If you feel it, the dose is too high.
- Off days are not wasted days — they're where tolerance resets.
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