“This was the most profound experience of my life. I am stunned beyond comprehension. This molecule is without peer.“
If it proves to be effective, the compound, which stands out for its quick and potent effects, could be a cheaper alternative to psilocybin and LSD, which are longer acting and, so, more expensive to administer.
Bryan Johnson
Bryan Johnson (born August 22, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, writer, and author. He is the founder and former CEO of Kernel, a company creating devices that monitor and record brain activity, and OS Fund, a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage science and technology companies.
Johnson was also the founder, chairman and CEO of Braintree, a company specializing in mobile and web payment systems for e-commerce companies. Braintree acquired Venmo in 2012 for $26.2 million; the combined entity was acquired by PayPal for $800 million in 2013. Read more.
Before Trying it, and After Trying it.
BEFORE
“I’m experimenting with 5-MeO-DMT because it may be the most underrated longevity molecule no one is talking about.”
- Accelerated neurogenesis: a single dose more than doubled brain cell proliferation and neuronal regeneration in the hippocampus within 12 hours, alongside measurable increases in synaptic density and firing frequency in rodent models.
- Proteomic reorganization: in human cerebral organoids, 5-MeO-DMT triggers rapid proteomic shifts favoring cellular reorganization and synapse formation. Early evidence of structural brain renewal at the molecular level.
- Default Mode Network reset: The DMN calcifies with age locking us into rigid, repetitive patterns of thought. 5-MeO-DMT disrupts these patterns, restoring bottom up connectivity between sensory and creative brain regions. A forced return to neurological flexibility and youthfulness.
- Systemic anti-inflammation: suppresses pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-alpha) while upregulating IL-10, the anti-inflammatory signal. Mediated through the Sigma-1 receptor, suggesting a mechanism distinct from other psychedelics.
AFTER
“This was the most profound experience of my life. I am stunned beyond comprehension. This molecule is without peer.“
The 27mg dose opened up what felt like pure consciousness and intelligence. A majestic reveal of existence itself. In all its incomprehensible glory and majesty. It is impossible to explain with words. Whatever you imagine, multiply it by 1,000 and then add infinite width and depth and dimensions.
But entrance was not granted without prerequisite. Existence demanded that I submit. That I say yes; without attachment and without condition. Yes to existence; yes to the dissolution of self; yes to release control; yes, to all.
My ego registered the ask and panicked. It wanted control. It was desperate for control. It pleaded to escape from the torrent of light and essence that threatened to rip my sanity into chards. The urge to eject was overwhelming. Terror thundered throughout my mind and body.
It took everything within me to release. I overcame and was treated with bliss that defies imagination. A euphoria colored with perfect harmony of all things. An orchestra of essence washed over me and swept me up in dance. It was home. The highest aspiration of intelligent life. For some reason, stored and tucked away as the ultimate prize.
A single concept emerged in omnipresence: we cannot grok the preciousness of our existence. Yet it is everything we’ve ever wanted and more. The state we long for without knowing it exists. This caused me great pain and heartache.
A swell of loyalty and devotion emerged inside me, pledging allegiance to existence. To become a warrior and caretaker of life on earth. To protect at any cost the candle of consciousness that has miraculously emerged in this part of the galaxy.
What awaits will wipe all your tears, soothe all your sorrows, and infinitely exceed your wants.
From Toad Toxin to Medicine: The Promise of 5-MeO-DMT
Paul Austin Rebuttal
Bryan Johnson livestreamed a 27mg dose of 5-MeO-DMT yesterday to millions of people and called it the most profound experience of his life.
What almost no one in the conversation is pointing out is that 27mg is a MASSIVE dose, well beyond what the clinical research supports, and it reflects a bigger problem in how this molecule is being facilitated right now.
For context, the only Phase 1 clinical trial on vaporized 5-MeO-DMT tested doses up to 18mg. Shulgin listed the upper range at 20mg. Most experienced practitioners I know consider anything above 15mg to be high.
And this isn’t unique to Bryan.
Across the 5-MeO facilitator landscape right now, there’s a widespread assumption that bigger dose equals deeper experience, that the whole point is to get someone to the white light, the full ego dissolution, the cosmic reveal.
That assumption is wrong, and it’s the core reason this space has a safety problem.
I’ve worked with this molecule myself, and nothing in 12+ years of psychedelic experience prepared me for what it does to the body (not necessarily the mind…)
My first time with 5, I shook so hard I lost track of where I was in the room. I was making sounds I’d never heard come out of my own mouth, heat flooding my chest, tension I didn’t even know I’d been holding suddenly leaving in these full-body waves that had nothing to do with my conscious mind.
That’s the medicine doing its job. Not the cosmic vision nor the white light. It was all about the nervous system releasing stored-up tension from the past years, if not decades, of life.
The real value of 5-MeO-DMT — the thing that actually changes people’s lives — is what happens in the physiology. Full release. The nervous system clearing out years of stored trauma, holding patterns, and tension that live below conscious awareness.
You can get there without heroic doses. You get there with precision, with a facilitator who understands what’s happening physiologically and who can tell the difference between a healing release and a genuine crisis, because from the outside they look almost identical.
Bryan had Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris on call and a medical team on site. Most people sitting with 5-MeO-DMT facilitators have none of that. They have someone who attended a few ceremonies and decided they were ready to hold space.
If this molecule is entering the mainstream, and thanks to Bryan, it just did in a massive way, the conversation needs to move past “how far can we push it” and toward “how do we keep people safe while the real clearing happens.”
5-MeO-DMT.
5-MeO-DMT, also known as 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, as well as O-methylbufotenin or mebufotenin, is an atypical psychedelic drug, entheogen, and alkaloid of the tryptamine and 5-methoxytryptamine families.[8][1][5][2] It is found naturally in a wide variety of plant species, and is also secreted by the glands of at least one toad species, the Colorado River toad (Incilius alvarius, formerly Bufo alvarius).[8] It may occur naturally in humans as well.[8] Like its close relatives dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and bufotenin (5-HO-DMT), it has been used as an entheogen in South America.[8][11] Slang terms include five-methoxy, the power, bufo, and toad venom.[12] The drug has been described as the most powerful psychedelic[13][14] and, by journalist Michael Pollan, as the “Mount Everest of psychedelics”. Read more
