DOSE:			LSD	(daily)
			Coffee	(daily)
			4-Fluoromethylphenidate	(daily)
			Kratom	(daily)
			2-Fluoromethamphetamine	(daily)
			Amphetamines	(daily)

Eight Months of Regimented Substance Use

This is a summary of seven separate experience reports that describe an experiment I conducted over the past twelve months. The exercise was simple in design and my basic goal was enhancing my daily performance and experience at work.

Each experience could be read on its own, but I believe that tying them together as a collection is more useful as it allows one to read about multiple substances, used with the same intentions, from a singular perspective.

In the more detailed substance-specific reports, I describe how I spent a month dedicated to each drug:

Month One: LSD – Not My Silver Bullet
Month Two: Coffee – Jittery Pooping
Month Three: 4F-MPH – Clear but Boring
Month Four: Kratom – Putting More Hours in the Workday
Month Five: 2-FMA – Best of The Bunch
Month Six: Amphetamines (Adderall) – Sweaty, Jittery, Fun & Productive
Month Seven: Dealer’s Choice, and I’m the Dealer

Each substance was taken on a semi-regimented dosing schedule for at least thirty days. These schedules began with what I considered to be effective dosages for my body and setting on each given day. I allowed myself freedom to take days off when I felt it necessary, and also to alter dosages for tolerance or just because I wanted to.

personal background:
I consider myself to be well versed in the realm of substance use. Previous experiences include opiates, stimulants, benzodiazepines, and psychedelics spanning more than a decade. A fair amount of my substance usage history includes novel research chemicals often in less than common combinations. The purpose of my usage has ranged from hedonistic to therapeutic.

I have extensive experience with all of the substances involved in this saga of self tinkering. Each material was sourced through reliable and vetted vendors. Testing was done on any substances I felt it necessary or reasonable.

In the past, I have used a variety of substances with the intent of performance enhancement. I suppose, almost every time I ingest a chemical it could be argued that is the goal; enhanced performance laughing, studying, writing, dancing, thinking, or living. I chose the substances in this set of experience reports because I felt they covered a broad spectrum of the many pills, teas, powders, and liquids that a person might leverage to boost their enhancement on a daily basis.

Going into each month, I ensured that I had no tolerance to the main substance.

Each substance’s report includes sections that discuss the best and worst of the month. I attempt to summarize the experiences while highlighting standout events and effects. All the reports have a full dosage chart/timeline for the month, brief introduction to my history with the substance, and the following segments:

• Study Dosage Timeline
• Timeline | Duration Details
• Expectations | Hopes | Concerns Going In
• Favorite Aspects
• Least Favorite Aspects
• Neutral Aspects | Additional Commentary
• Appetite
• Biometrics
• Mental Effects
• Mood Effects
• Combinations
• Outcome | Summary | Takeaways

The challenge of capturing a high level of detail during an experience, especially a long one, was exponentially increased by the sheer mass of daily documenting for months on end. To track trends, be efficient with my time, and attempt to capture useful information, I employed a note-taking template that encouraged and reminded me to document standardized categories of what I was feeling throughout each day. I also allowed for normal note taking and voice recordings on an ad hoc basis. Another source of information was my partner Kai. We spend nearly every day together and she was useful in her ability to comment on trends she detected in my moods and actions.

Brief Summary of Each Substance’s Month

2-FMA
Best in class performer, and best in show performer. From prior experiences, I knew this material possessed a wonderful, controllable, stimulation. It provided extra energy that allowed increased mental processing speed and allowed me to stay focused on the task at hand; not easily distracted by random thoughts or conversations. I am typically able to eat on the substance and don’t find any nausea or digestive irregularities accompanying ingestion. Despite the light euphoria, I haven’t, in the past, found the substance to be particularly fiendy. Taking the drug regularly for multiple weeks in a row however, had me curious about whether or not the effects profile would change, and how tolerance and dependency might develop. Pleasantly, I found almost no need to adjust my dosage and didn’t really see any diminishing returns on the positive effects.

- Dosage Data: 13-33 milligrams taken both orally and via insufflation. I found that anything below 15 milligrams struggled to break a ± level and that if I pushed past 28 milligrams, I’d begin to venture into more recreational territory.

- Duration Data: This substance was so smooth on the come-down that I often struggled to pin down when I arrived at true baseline. For a mid-range oral dosage, I’d throw out a range of five to nine hours from ingestion to sober. Insufflation of course shortened this significantly, perhaps nearly 50% to three to six hours in total.

Amphetamines (Adderall)
This one played out almost exactly as I predicted. With a Goldilocks dosage, a good mood, and an interesting to-do list at work; Adderall fucking rocked. Out of all the substances, over all of the months, there were some contenders from this amphetamine month for ‘best singular day’ of work enhancement. Holistically, it wasn’t the best. Not even close. I found dosing to be finicky. Too little; I’d miss the boat on stimulation and energy, but find plenty discomfort such as cold feet and stomach discomfort. Too much; I don’t eat for a day, have cold sweats, feel tweaked out, and risk spending my whole day overcomplicating a small task or focusing on something that had nothing to do with work at all.

I found that this substance played the role of the heavy-hitter well. If a day was stacked with uninterrupted, heads down, financial problem solving, Adderall was a great option to immerse myself in head-to-toe stimulation, cracking through one task, then another, amidst varying degrees of euphoria. If I didn’t have that much to do, I would potentially get paralyzed in paranoia and second-guessing. On a few instances I was able to re-aim the Adderall’s effects onto passion projects on these less busy days, but it wasn’t a guarantee.

- Dosage Data: (The Adderall was meticulously dosed using pill cutters and to accurately measure dosages where fractions of the pill were required.) Selecting a fitting dosage for Adderall was surprisingly difficult. I was easily left underwhelmed, dealing with very little benefit but a fair amount of the less desirable effects. On the flip side, too high a dose, and I’d be tweaked out, overly talkative and apt to lose myself in random strings of thoughts or other distractions. Typically I could find the sweet spot between 8-15 milligrams [orally]. I seem, compared to others, especially as I age, to become more sensitive to the amount of this drug I ingest. In earlier years, venturing into tripping digits of milligrams for a study binge didn’t seem too outrageous. Now however, fifty milligrams, taken orally, would most likely leave me uncomfortable and focused more one surviving through the work day than thriving through it.

- Duration Data: With a medium oral dosage, I found that sober ingestion --> back to baseline took five to eight hours. The difference depended on diet, exercise, weather, and other factors. Changing the ROA to insufflation would reduce the duration to something closer to 3-6 hours.

LSD
Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable month. Once I established a general dosage range, this substance was pretty low risk, with medium to high rewards. Creativity and mood boosts were common effects, and pleasant ones at that. I reached potential solutions to technical problems at work that I don’t believe I would have arrived at quickly or at all without the LSD. It was like I could see roadblocks in my problem solving path long before I encountered them, thus allowing a smoother path to success, skipping many dead-ends. Sometimes obscure memories of something I’d read ages ago online would solve my issue – these were things that I don’t believe I would have remembered, let alone been able to apply, without the LSD. This all happened internally as well, which as a pen and paper type person, was extra remarkable. This stands out because it is not only a strong example of a substance enhancing my performance at work, but it’s maybe one of the only examples in this entire multi-substance exercise in which the substance provided me with enhancement beyond enhancement; not an increase in ability, but an entirely new ability.

Another benefit that occurred often during the LSD month was that I found myself making a habit of going for walks, sprinkling a few short breaks of time away from the screen throughout the workday. These are always beneficial to my mental health, but I often neglect them. The drug was a motivator and reminder that I needed these.

On the less enjoyable side, LSD could make my body slightly uncomfortable with annoying, uneasy, stretching, and swirling sensations in my brain. It also performed worst in terms in helping me retain focus for extended periods of time compared to the other substances. I liked the substance as a work-enhancing product, but it wasn’t a home-run and was effective, for me, in niche situations – it didn’t help every time I took it.

- Dosage Data: I volumetrically prepared my doses by dissolving a blotter with a trusted amount of micrograms on it in a measured amount of alcohol that allowed for precise measurements. I found that “mini-doses” were more useful than true, imperceptible, “micro-doses”. I kept a pretty tight range between seven to thirteen micrograms taken orally and followed a schedule of taking two days off, without any LSD consumption, between my mini-dose days.

- Duration Data: It took twenty to thirty minutes for the first alerts to arrive on most days. From the moment of ingestion to when I was back below a ± intensity level took five to seven hours depending on my dosage. I found that the intensity of effects, even at these lower dosages, followed the pyramid shaped intensity curve I’ve experience many times with this substance before. The intensity would increase in waves until the peak about halfway through the duration, after this point, the waves would correspondingly recede.

Coffee
Despite being the most commonplace substance in my experiment, I was very excited going into the month of java consumption. Ironically it was one of the drugs I’d used the least and I was curious if I could grow to love and appreciate the drink as so many of my fellow coworkers and friends do. The risk reward ratio was pretty favorable. I didn’t have, as one might expect, any massively negative experiences from drinking coffee. It did as advertised; provided short term energy boosts during which I could concentrate a bit better and shake off early morning or mid afternoon sleepiness. My biggest complaint was the effect the drink had on my digestion. I do suffer from a lifelong stomach condition, which may very well have exaggerated the unpleasant effects. To be simple and direct about it; I spent more time in the bathroom than I normally would and struggled with general stomach discomfort almost every day of the month. For this reason, more than anything else, I haven’t continued coffee consumption outside of this substance experiment.

- Dosage Data: The coffee beans were ground fresh every day before preparation using a glass pour-over style coffeemaker. I wasn’t specific in measuring the exact temperature of the water used each day. I did however weigh my beans each day and kept the following measurements consistent throughout the month:

- 10.5 grams of coffee per mug of 300 milliliters of liquid
- .5 – 2.0 tablespoons of sugar per mug
- 25 – 75 milliliters of whole milk per mug

Most times I started with one mug and then often continued refilling throughout the day until I wanted the effects to come to an end. This was easy to re-dose because of the mellow and short-term effects.

- Duration Data:
The effects of the coffee was pretty fast, within ten minutes I could feel it begin working. Once things started I got several hours before things returned to baseline, depending on how much I drank.

4F-MPH
This was the only substance that I kept hoping would impress me and was continually disappointed by. With its mild tease of stimulation and energy I constantly wanted the 4F-MPH to finally kick off and reach the imaginary potential I had created for it in my mind. On more than one occasion this unrealistic expectation led me down the path of replacing 4F-MPH with other substances that I knew would provide me with reliable recreational experiences. Being let down all day made it easy to convince myself to break out the collection and drink, roll, trip, or alter my mental and physical states. I generally found this chemical bland and empty, but gentle and without any exceptionally aggravating characteristics. Very mild stimulation that could keep me awake but not much else; no motivation, focus, or creativity came from bland old 4F-MPH.

- Dosage Data: The range of dosages consumed for this substance was very wide (5-100+). The reason for this was that I started slightly cautiously but I rapidly adjusted due to lackadaisical experiences. The lowest initial dosage I took was five milligrams and the highest was twenty-five milligrams. These were a mix of oral and insufflated. The most I ingested, all via insufflation, was 148 milligrams.

- Duration Data: Despite being very background, not having a very prominent set of ‘in you face’ effects, it was clear when the substance was active and when it wasn’t. If I took a middle of the road oral dose, I could expect to feel the material for six to ten hours. Insufflated, this same generic dose would be reduced to perhaps four to seven hours. This long duration does make the compound useful in some situations, but its generally disappointing effects limit its usefulness.

Kratom
Kratom was successful as a performance-enhancing tool as well as fun. Besides alcohol, kratom was the substance I had used the most to achieve a feeling of intoxication at work. While amphetamines offer a euphoria that I don’t normally get at the office, this is different. This is a unique blend of thinking “woah I’m sorta fucked up”, but seconds later realizing that I’m extremely motivated and capable of normal concentration and mental performance. The motivation from this material was unique. I’d get sucked in and often work a few extra hours beyond the end of the normal workday just because I wanted to finish solving a particular puzzle or project. The overall sensation of functional intoxication, increased functionality even, was the prime take-away of this substance.

- Dosage Data: I’d like to experiment with stronger extracts in the future because the sheer mass of plant material I had to eat was rough on my stomach, especially on a daily basis. For this month however, I was consuming all “enhanced leaf’ products in 00 capsules. My dosages ranged from two to seven grams at a single time and my daily totals landed anywhere from two to twenty grams. Some key notes were that I didn’t generally feel much effects below three grams, and anything past five grams would almost always put me in the neighborhood of a ++ experience intensity. I almost always dosed multiple times per day but didn’t always follow any specific schedule for this. I’d naturally feel my energy dropping and throw back a few more capsules and play things by ear. If I wanted to really ramp up the intensity of the effects after the work day, for an enjoyable or productive evening, I typically had to at least double my initial dosage of the day.

- Duration Data: Given the almost constant re-dosing of kratom, duration is a difficult characteristic to nail down. An initial oral dosage of several grams would typically provide me with a sober-to-sober duration of around four to six hours.

Anything Goes
This was a month I allowed myself to take any drug or combination of drugs that I thought would best suit me and my to-do list for the day.

The most common complaint throughout all of the ‘single substance months’ was that there were often days or situations where the substance I was on and the situation I was in were not a good match. The solution to this was, of course, to take off the handcuffs, and pick and choose as I liked.

At the end of the month, it was clear that I generally preferred stimulants out of all my options for work enhancement. It was notable however, that by far, my most pleasant and productive days were a result of multiple carefully crafted combinations and re-doses. Learning to dose a multitude of stimulants by feel, rather than a pre-determined plan, was quite fun.

- Dosage Data: I pushed my dosages more in this month than most of the others. On more than one occasion I got a hankering for a truly euphoric experience and transitioned from a more ‘productive level dosage’ to something clearly geared towards a good time [Ex. T + 00:00 20 mg 2-FMA orally, T + 04:00 10 mg Adderall insufflated, T + 06:45 125 mg MDMA insufflated]. As mentioned above, I really enjoyed taking smaller amounts of multiple chemicals in cocktails designed to play off one another, allowing myself to maximize the benefits of each substance and minimize the less desirable traits.

Given the large variety of substances taken in this month, it is difficult to summarize dosages. Of course, complete detail is available in the full report.

- Duration Data: I had some long days this month. Tinkering with re-dosing of multiple substances, regardless of their genre, generally leads to more time spent under an influence. For a solid portion of this month I was leaving baseline by no later than 08:00 AM and often didn’t even reach baseline before sleep which was induced with a combination of alcohol, zolpidem, cannabis edibles, and/or benzos.

Again, given the wide assortment of this month’s chemical consumption, a quick briefing on duration is pretty difficult.

Additional Commentary:
I think pretty much everything that needs to be said has been said already. I spent seven months, taking various dosages of drugs, each for a month at a time, to study their unique abilities to enhance my performance at work. As a grand finale I used what I had learned, along with previous knowledge and experiences to try my hand at having the ultimate productive and enjoyable month.

The above descriptions of my time spent with each substance are concise by design, intended to inform a reader not interested in spending the time and effort involved in reading the far more detailed complete reports, which are linked above in the introduction.

In the end, I learned a lot, had some good days, great days, mediocre days, and unpleasant days. My biggest take-away was something that has been ingrained in me for a long time, but was good to reaffirm: set and setting are everything. It makes total sense that matching a drug’s effects to the scenario I'm in is important and crucial to a successful and fulfilling experience. This fact was made incredibly clear when the effects I experienced were ill-matched to the social scenario or work tasks that I found myself involved in. This happened far more frequently than I would have liked despite the great amount of effort put forth in the name of responsible and accurate dosing during my “mandated” substance consumption.

Exp Year: 2020-2021	ExpID: 115531
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 30
Published: Aug 5, 2021	Views: 8,923
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LSD (2), Coffee (173), 4-Fluoromethylphenidate (728), Kratom (203), 2-Fluoromethamphetamine (668), Amphetamines (6) : Not Applicable (38), Performance Enhancement (50), Retrospective / Summary (11)