My Midlife Microdose Journey is About to Begin
Micro-Psyched, Week 0: Balance Your Brain—Not Just Your Hormones
Midlife, Microdosing, and the Myth of Balance: Week 0
Welcome to the experiment.
Today, I completed the intake survey for Hystelica’s Microdosing for Menopause Study. The questions are intended to establish a baseline of my general health before I begin microdosing psilocybin on June 13th. Among other topics, inquiries covered sleep, mood, appetite, and my perceived quality of connection to others.
The truth is, I’m not suffering from overwhelming symptoms brought on by hormonal shifts. Every couple of months, I’ll have a shitty few nights of sleep, but if I prioritize working out, my sleep improves. At the end of last summer, my fix wasn’t working, though, so I completed a blood draw and, based on the results, began a cocktail of testosterone, progesterone, and thyroid desiccated (for hypothyroidism)—no estrogen needed. As I write, I’m reminded of how well this combination left me feeling within a couple of weeks. After three months, I couldn’t stomach the cost of another blood draw ($400) to get a read on my levels, nor did I care to pay $40 each month for shipping alone to continue testosterone troches. Here’s the skinny on testosterone: a man’s daily dose averages 150-450mg, whereas my daily dose was 2mg, and there is no pharmaceutical available—or covered!—for that low dose. Is it that difficult to sort this out for women, or are the decision-makers not concerned about the needs of half the population? Please keep reading for a Substack post that leaves me believing it’s, unfortunately, the latter.
All this to say, I’m white knuckling this, but because I’m feeling okay, I haven’t been concerned until I interviewed Dr. Grace Blest-Hopley of Hystelica last month. This Thursday, our episode drops, and I recommend listening because it makes clear that the loss of estrogen and progesterone impacts brain function even in the absence of hot flashes, weight gain, anxiety, etc.
Dr. Blest-Hopley also shared that at the time women’s hormones drop, in their late thirties, the rates of women diagnosed with psychosis increase, and men’s rates decline. She described a precipitating symptom of psychosis as persistent, ruminating thoughts, which I’ve managed since adolescence and attributed to my beautiful neurodivergent brain. After our recording, I revisited my journals, and it’s apparent that the pandemic brought an uptick in what I call my looped thinking. Hormones, stress, and copious amounts of cannabis had me looped in more ways than one, it possibly turns out.
People with a personal or familial history of psychosis are warned to stay away from cannabis and high doses of psychedelics, so what does that mean for women who historically don’t but may develop a cascading effect with the hormone horror that lies ahead? This gets deep, and I am so grateful that Dr. Blest-Hopley—who also researches women and cannabis—is getting to the bottom of this.
While we talk about balancing our hormones, what we’re after is balancing our brains. SetSet’s microdosing protocol “Micro-Psyched” is based on the neurobiology of change, as in how psychedelics—even at subperceptual doses—increase neuroplasticity and the ways we can leverage new neural pathways to support positive shifts. Concerning menopause, we’ll couple the foundational Micro-Psyched curriculum with the neurobiology of women’s changing brains at midlife.
Why Microdosing? Why Now?
I created SetSet for those of us who are working with this medicine outside of a clinical setting, or “in the wild,” and just this week, MAPS Bulletin noted that nearly 60% of psychedelic users today are self-medicating for serious conditions—without much professional support. Based on the symptoms previously discussed and those below, the perimenopause to menopause rollercoaster must qualify as serious:
Depression (even if you’ve never had it before)
Anxiety, mood swings, and crying spells that arrive uninvited
Old compulsions resurfacing: alcohol, food, drugs
Trauma echoes louder than before
The classics: hot flashes, brain fog, disrupted sleep, energy crashes
And sexual dysfunction (low libido, vaginal dryness, pain, orgasm issues)
Rates of female sexual dysfunction spike from 40% to 80–85% after menopause hits. This alone has serious consequences on women’s intimate relationships. Yet, options remain limited. SSRIs, SNRIs, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety meds—all valuable tools intended for short-term, situational conditions, not a decade marked by side effects disruptive to women’s quality of life.
The Brain on Estrogen (And Without It)
After age 35, women’s brains lose the neuroprotective effects of estrogen and progesterone. Suddenly, we’re more vulnerable not just to mood disorders, but to cognitive decline and, as mentioned, psychosis.
Symptoms of psychosis may include:
Intrusive, sometimes delusional thoughts
Auditory or perceptual disturbances (not always “hearing voices,” sometimes just strange perceptions or persistent beliefs)
Severe sleep disruption
These aren’t just psychological blips. They’re physiological shifts of seismic proportions. Estrogen’s exit disrupts neuroplasticity and the serotonin pathways that help regulate mood and cognition.
Which brings us to psilocybin, but first—consider reading the post below. It brings up compelling points as to why the healthcare industrial complex may push estrogen more frequently than women need, while neglecting to prescribe other vital hormones because the dosing and form factors aren’t as conveniently packaged.
What Psilocybin Might Offer
This is where things get both hopeful and frustrating, because rigorous studies are still catching up to what many women are already experiencing anecdotally. But early data and lived experience suggest:
Depression: Psilocybin may help us feel more okay with our highs and lows—without the emotional flatlining that can come with SSRIs.
Sexuality: Microdosing may improve libido, body image, and intimacy—protecting against sexual dysfunction that’s otherwise on the rise.
Addiction/Compulsion: Psilocybin shows promise for interrupting addiction cycles—alcohol, opioids, disordered eating—that may worsen as hormones shift.
Cognition: Some researchers are investigating whether microdosing can mitigate cognitive decline associated with estrogen loss.
And perhaps most importantly, women often report feeling reconnected to themselves. To their bodies. To their desires.
Last week, a report was published reviewing outcomes of psilocybin versus Lexapro in a recent double-blind randomized controlled trial. Check out more in the note below (and! subscribe to Andrew’s Substack—he’s a brilliant writer who has experience with a vast array of plant medicine, covering the B-sides of psychedelics).
What’s Next?
Stay tuned for this Thursday’s SetSet podcast episode drop featuring Hystelica’s Dr. Grace Blest Hopley.
If you’re considering joining me, sign up for Hystelica’s study here and purchase SetSet’s evergreen DIY microdosing program plus grab microdose chocolates here. I’ve also created a paid tier for my Substack. Paid subscribers can use the Substack chat to get support while microdosing or for any work with psychedelics. They also participate in a monthly integration call and gain access to Iris, a trusted psychedelic concierge.
Take care,
April
Are you looking to cut back on alcohol or cannabis? Maybe you’re stuck--in your job, relationship, on a loop in your mind? Me, too! This is why I sought out a clinician to create DIY mushroom and microdosing guides. And now these accessible downloads are bundled with my favorite mushroom chocolate.
Get started to get SetSet!
