Antidepressants and Microdosing | 2026 Ep10

Hey there, welcome to MicroDose UIM, Dr. Dave, and today we are talking about SSRIs,

better known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These are the antidepressants that you've

heard of such as lexapro, prozac, zolol, paxil, they're many, they're many, there's some of the

more popular ones. And the question is how do these act, or should say how do they interact

with psilocybin and LSD? One of the most commonly asked questions I get, and I've been doing this

for quite some time now, is Dr. Dave, what about my SSRIs that I'm doing? Do I need to quit them

before I start microdosing, or do I start microdosing while on them? And my answer is, whoa, cowboy,

whoa, slow down, slow down. First, let's think, why are you on the SSRI to begin with?

Maybe it stabilized you. Maybe it got you through a dark season in your life.

Maybe it's maybe it's been keeping you safe. Now here's the truth, many people microdose while on

SSRIs. Yes, they can, they can definitely somewhat blunt the effects of the psychedelics because

they interact with the serotonin receptors. So yes, sometimes the microdose does feel less,

it feels, could feel a little softer or more subtle, but that doesn't mean it's not working.

It means that your nervous system is already being modulated.

Some people find they actually need a slightly higher microdose to notice a change. Some

feel subtle benefits at even regular doses, or I should say regular microdoses. When I began

microdosing, I was on lexapro. I was on 20 milligrams of lexapro and currently if I'm wrong here,

that's on the higher dose level of lexapro. As a matter of fact, I think they don't recommend

unless your doctor really overrides it. They don't recommend doing any more than 20,

than 20 milligrams of lexapro. So that was definitely a high dose. And I'm going to talk to you

very shortly about exactly what I recommend doing the whole protocol and what I did. But I will

tell you, when I started microdosing, I did not, and I repeat, I did not quit my lexapro. And this

is very important. Stay tuned. I'm going to explain the whole thing. But yes, this is individualized,

for sure. Everyone is different. But let's get into the main question here. Because again,

it's probably one of the top five questions I ever get asked, should you quit your SSRI

before microdosing, before beginning your microdosing journey. And the answer is a huge capital letter

no. Because coming off of an SSRI too quickly can definitely do some things. It can destabilize your

mood. It can increase, definitely increase your anxiety. It can create like withdrawal type

symptoms that feel worse than when you started on your SSRI. So no, it's not, it's not a good idea.

Microdosing, microdosing is not a magic switch that replaces your medication overnight.

For some people over time, with stability and support, it does become part of a transition,

though. And again, I'm going to explain exactly what I did and what I recommended a couple

seconds. But for others, some people actually stay on both. They said they do the microdosing and

they stay on their SSRI and there's nothing wrong with that. You've never heard me say there's

really anything wrong with that. I'm not against pharmaceuticals. I am all for anything that works.

That's not going to harm you. So let me share the exact protocol that I did. Because I think this

is what I teach. And I think this is going to help you. Anybody that's confused about how to

handle SSRI with the microdosing. So as I said, I was on 20 milligrams of lexapro when I first started

my microdosing journey. And the reason I started microdosing even though I was on lexapro is because

I felt lexapro was helping me. It certainly was helping me. I'm not going to lie and say it's of

no value. It was helping me. But I'd say it was probably helping me at the 60 to 70% level.

And I'm not one who would accept a 60, 65, 70% life. I want a 100% life. I mean, is that too much

to ask? It's not. We only go around one time, at least in this lifetime. We only go around one time.

I want 100%. I want to feel good every day. I want to be living my life somewhere between a

nine to the 10 and closer to the 10, of course. But I'll take a nine. A nine is pretty darn good as

well. So I was doing both. And the microdosing was definitely working, absolutely working. I

started to feel better and better every single day. And I didn't touch my lexapro. I kept

I kept using that as well. But I would say somewhere around the eighth month or the ninth month,

I decided I wanted to go ahead. And this is plenty of time. Don't do this too quickly, guys.

But take your time. It took me about eight or nine months into my microdosing to decide. I'm going

to go ahead and try to taper off or wean off of my lexapro. And here's how I did it on day one.

And remember, this is not day one of microdosing. This is day one of me deciding. I want to taper off

nine months into my microdosing. I cut down from I went down from 20 milligrams of lexapro to I think

I cut it in half to about 10. And quite honestly, I gave it a few days. And after a few days, maybe even

longer, this stays in your system for a while. So it might have taken a little longer. I felt that I

needed the lexapro a little bit more. So I didn't go back up to 20, but I went up to 15, which is still

less than my original 20 milligrams. I stayed at 15 for, I don't know, again, this is a lot of

this from memory, but I stayed at 15 milligrams for for several weeks, for sure, a few weeks,

few weeks. Then I then ultimately went down to 10 milligrams. And I stayed there for a while,

and I noticed how do I feel? I tried to observe. Do I feel better? Do I feel worse once I taper

this down? And I couldn't say that I felt worse. I actually felt fine. So from there, I waited some

time, probably several more weeks. And that's when I tapered down or weaned down to five milligrams.

And I stayed at five milligrams for a while, because again, the next step was either going to be to cut

that in half to two and a half or to go off completely. So I stayed there for a little while and got

my body used to that. And then after a period of time, let's just say it was a month or two,

I went down to two and a half. That's mean just cutting the tablets in half, because they don't

even make it two and a half. I did that for a short time and then down to zero. And I was fully

ready to go back to two and a half or five milligrams if I had to if I started feeling bad.

But luckily, I didn't. I felt great. And it got to the point, like I said, I was totally off of

my lexapro. But it took me, it took me at least a few months. I did not go from 20 milligrams

to zero in a few days. I did it very, very methodically, very slowly, not rushing anything. And that

really did the trick and it worked. And since then, and that's been years now, I have not taken

another SSRI. I've not desired one, not needed one. I'm totally 100% off of SSRIs. And I feel great

every single day and the psilocybin. And then later on, the LSD, micro dosing, we're instrumental

in getting me off of my SSRIs, but not only that, but helping me to feel better every single day.

So remember, this is really important. This year, 2026 is about building our best year ever

intelligently, not emotionally. It's very easy just to say, well, I'm going to do this. No,

let's slow down, do it the right way. So it will work and it will stick. So if you're on an SSRI

right now, here's what I would suggest. First, stabilize your micro dose while staying on your

medication. Pick a consistent dose. And I've said this in the past few episodes, pick a consistent

dose, stay steady, observe the subtle shifts. Are you reacting differently to things? Are you

recovering faster if you have like a little bit of a tough time and anxious moment or whatever

might be? Are you sleeping better? Are you thinking more flexibly? And remember, give it months,

not days or weeks. Then if and only you feel stable and curious about tapering, have a real

conversation with your doctor, the doctor that prescribed this, because again, I am not here,

I don't want to make this clear. I am not here giving you medical advice and I am not here

telling you to get off of your SSRI. That would be very, very irresponsible. I'm sharing my story.

It worked for me. I'm sure it will work for you if you follow the same way. I don't see why it

wouldn't. But everybody is different. So you got to be very careful about that. But I would

absolutely share this with your doctor and remember something else. You're not tapering off of this

because you hate the medication. Chances are this medication has helped you in some way. And I'm

talking about the SSRI. Chances are it has helped you in some way. And you're not desperate,

but it's you're doing this because you're making a meaningful, thoughtful decision.

And if you decide to stay on your SSRI while you're micro-dosing or even like a lower dose,

a low dose SSRI, that doesn't mean you're failing. It means you're building very carefully.

The goal here is not to rip away every support you have. The goal is to

reduce suffering and feel better every single day. And if your anxiety is 20% less intense,

if your depressive dips are shorter, if you have more emotional flexibility,

that is tremendous progress in my mind. And remember, the progress compounds it builds on itself.

So please, please don't rush this. Please don't panic. Don't make medication decisions based on

your excitement. Make them based on stability. And what I've done and what many, many people have

followed me for several years are also doing. It does work, but you have to do it right.

2026 is your best year, not because you threw everything out. It's your best year because you moved

deliberately. You're not weak for needing support. You're building, you're learning.

And remember, I've got a brand new episode that comes out every Wednesday. Please,

we're building this year, 2026 to be our best year ever. Listen to all the episodes because

they're all numbered. They're all sequential. I mean, you can jump in and out. Some people have asked me,

well, Dr. Dave, I missed a couple episodes. Does that mean I'm a failure? No, no, no, no.

I mean, it's better that you listen or watch all of them. But if you missed a couple,

it's totally fine. Jump in where you can. We're making this year our best year ever. And remember,

our Patreon group, it's a family like you would not believe. We talk about where to get the medicine,

our trusted sources. We have a great WhatsApp companion that there's always a conversation going on.

We've got some of the most caring people on the planet. Some are very experienced and willing to

help everybody. Some are very brand new and don't know, don't even know what a microdose is.

But it doesn't matter because everybody's there to help everyone else. We have live meetings

several times per month that are on Zoom that are just great. It's like, it's like a beautiful

family that gets together live and we all just talk about stuff, stuff that we want to talk about,

stuff that we really can't talk about anywhere else. And while I'm at it, while I'm remembering,

I want to go ahead and welcome some of our new brand new recent members, people that have just

joined our Patreon family. Jonathan, Matthew, Zeleige, Maggie, Ron, Chad, Jeremy. Wait, Chad and

Jeremy, Chad and Jeremy joined to get, wait a minute, that's, Simon and Garfocal, weren't they

originally, were they originally Chad and Jeremy maybe? Well, I'm honored. We have David,

another David, yes, not me, another David. I'm in there, but we have another David and another

Matthew. We've been getting, like for some reason, we're getting a bunch of Matthews lately. I

can't explain it, but that's the truth. We'd be getting a bunch of Matthews. So the link is in

the show notes and also just go to my website, it's microdoseu.com. Microdose with the letter

U on the end of it.com. You'll find everything there, but I would love to see you in the Patreon

family. Yes, it is $12.50 a month. What is that? Like three cups of coffee a month? Well,

you be the judge. If it speaks to you, if you feel the energy, if you feel the vibration,

please come and join us. I never, I never have to beg anybody because the right people find it.

That's pretty much the bottom line. I never beg. And something else I want to share with you,

people always ask me, Dr. Dave, what exactly what supplements do you take? What do you take

every day? I know you take a bunch, but I really want, I want the list. Well, recently I set up

a store on Amazon because I used to like try to fumble around and let me see, I take this,

no, I don't do that anymore. I set up a store on Amazon. It lists every single thing I use on a

daily basis. You can purchase them right there. You don't have to. You can get them anywhere you want.

If you want to walk into your local grocery store, it doesn't matter, but for your convenience,

I listed everything that I use. Not only that, a lot of other really cool things that I use around

my house, for health, for a healthy living, healthy lifestyle, things I use for my sleep. It's,

again, the link is in the show notes and also on my website. I would recommend checking it out

because it just makes it so easy to go see, what does Dr. Dave do? I want to buy the same thing.

Again, not that I am the know-it-all or not that I am perfect, but I have learned over many years

what some really good supplements for many of us are to take. Also, we offer coaching,

one-on-one coaching if you want, and we have a five-part free. It's a free five-part course on

the introduction, how to begin micro-dosing, psilocybin and LSD, free five-part course,

and again, all of these links are in the show notes and on my website. So please check them out,

and please remember this. You are valuable. You matter. You matter a lot, especially to me.

I am Dr. Dave, micro-dose you. Thank you so much for being here. I hope to see you next week.