Wheelchair bound student dies after eating mushrooms

[Chiral]

LINK

An Irish student, who was in a wheelchair after an earlier accident, died after eating 30 magic mushrooms, an inquest heard.

Brian Collins (24) was rushed to hospital in the early hours of October 13, 2007, Dublin City Coroner's Court was told.

Mr Collins was a quadriplegic who had been confined to a wheelchair following an accident two years earlier, after he fell from a balcony and broke his neck in three places.

He had returned to university and lived with two carers and a home help.

On October 13, Mr Collins of Hopkins Road, Castlebar, Co Mayo, complained of feeling unwell and began to drift in and out of consciousness.

His care assistant called emergency services.

On his arrival at Mayo Hospital, he was unconscious with a rapid heart rate.

Doctors thought Mr Collins was suffering from acute poisoning, following the ingestion of 30 mushrooms two to three hours earlier and he was transferred to intensive care unit.

He had problems with blood clotting and renal failure, and by the following day, his liver condition had worsened. He was transferred to St Vincent's Hospital, where he died of complications of liver failure on October 18.

A number of mushrooms found with Mr Collins, were sent for analysis and were found to be liberty cap, or psilocybin -- mushrooms which are known for their psychedelic and hallucinogenic properties. The toxins in the mushrooms can destroy the liver

A post-mortem examination found the student at Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology died of liver failure due to an acute reaction to a toxin called amatoxin, found in another type of mushroom.

"It's acute amatoxin toxicity and the mushroom identified was liberty cap, so I suspect it's a mixture and he sustained an acute reaction and that caused the liver failure," said coroner Dr Brian Farrell.

He recorded a cause of death of liver failure due to acute amatoxin toxicity and a verdict of death by misadventure.

Mr Collins's mother Bernadette expressed concern that the amount of medication her son was on could have been a factor. He was taking up to 22 tablets each day and was unwell in the days before his death.

H.

[Shroomeup]

Damn that sucks. Poor bugger. Just shows how careful youve gotta be.

This sort of thing never comes across well in the media.

[ThunderIdeal]

as well as medication, possibly his damaged nervous system contributed? stands to reason that a quadriplegics CNS may not have the best communication with the internal organs.

[Chiral]

It's the amatoxin that killed him...not found in the liberty caps he was found to have ...looks like he ingested some other mushroom with his collection of shrooms...this is why you have to be absolutely sure...and someone in a wheelchair isn't likely to be picking so someone either sold or gave him those shrooms...fuck they must be feeling rather guilty about it...stupid fuckers.

H.

[mauve]

probably a galerina specie...this article is totally stupid..."mushrooms which are known for their psychedelic and hallucinogenic properties. The toxins in the mushrooms can destroy the liver" pfff this kind of misinformation is criminal !

[Uncle. S]

I have no idea what is in a liberty cap but this article leads me to believe that amatoxin is present. Very misguiding..

Poor fella though..

I hope this isnt offensive to anyone but do you think it could have been intentional? Like maybe he was depressed after becoming disabled and wanted to euthenase himself with a hallucinogenic and poisonous mushroom combo and didn't realise it would take so long to cause death?

[kenny]

I wouldn't rule it out staunch. Mixing psilocybin with poison though? sounds like an odd way to do it.

He had problems with blood clotting and renal failure, and by the following day, his liver condition had worsened. He was transferred to St Vincent's Hospital, where he died of complications of liver failure on October 18.

Maybe I misunderstand but are they saying he had these problems to begin with and they worsened? or the blood clotting and renal failure was a result of the mushroom? I only ask because to my knowledge, it's not uncommon for people with serious spinal injuries to have both of these problems anyway.

[Chiral]

More than likely he has ingested a type of poisonous amanita...death cap perhaps along side the liberty caps as they would have been the only other type of mushroom fruiting at the same time the liberty caps where picked...I know this cause when we hunted caps in Wales the only other type of shroom noticed where "death caps" and "fly agarics"...it sounds just like how a mushroom poisoning would go ...amatoxin corrupts the liver and it starts to fail within 48 hrs and then death imminent shortly thereafter.

If I was half a detective over there, I would be wanting to know where he got the mushrooms from, have all the mushrooms he had on him analysed...then find out how he came to have them...someone else is responsible for this lads death you can bet my balls.

H.

[kindness]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amatoxin

I guess it is possible that if he had eaten a very small amount of a mushroom containing an amatoxin that he would have survived... with a damaged liver. The statement that "the amount of medication her son was on could have been a factor. He was taking up to 22 tablets each day and was unwell in the days before his death." is fair enough as the med's would be giving his liver a work out.

What a fucked up way to die. Hope the mushroom gods took care of him on the way out!

Anyone remember that doco about the mushrooms of Ballingup? I'm sure there was stuff in that about deaths caused by amatoxins in galerinas?

mz

[Neoshaman]

More than likely he has ingested a type of poisonous amanita...death cap perhaps along side the liberty caps as they would have been the only other type of mushroom fruiting at the same time the liberty caps where picked

They're pretty different lookin mushrooms me thinks anyone that made that misrtake should not be picking shrooms in the first place.

would it be possible if the mycelium were growing in contact with each other that the amatoxin transferred through the mycelium???? I've always wondered if that was an issue in general with deadlys and magics growing close by each other

[t st tantra]

i wondered about uptake from substrate containing rotting amanita too.......

but with high dose,30shrooms,you might get other compounds not active at 'usual' doses becoming active?

someone knew how many shrooms he had consumed!and gave the info.

t s t .

[ThunderIdeal]

fungal interactions include:

direct hyphal parasitism

antagonistic interactions (inhibiting/killing the other mycelium)

competition for resources

let's say a death cap clump is dead and the semilanceata clump feeds on the dead mycelium. is the amotoxin broken down or taken directly in?

[Teotzlcoatl]

A post-mortem examination found the student at Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology died of liver failure due to an acute reaction to a toxin called amatoxin, found in another type of mushroom.

Dumb fuckers! Magic Mushrooms didn't kill him! I BET He ate some freaking Amanitas! It's not uncommon for people to die of Amanitas, why is this a big deal?

Edited June 9, 2009 by Teotz'

[FancyPants]

Poor bastard. He was only 24 and probably just wanted to have some fun like everyone else. Luckily enough for me I can use my arms normally to research via internet or books. It depends how bad his quadriplegia was if he could move his arms enough to do that or if he had the equipment to access internet - though it's probably expensive.

At least if there were liberty caps in the mix I hope they gave him enough entertainment until he started getting sick

I do worry a bit if I'm by myself if I can't get help if something bad happens. But if there's substances involved, I always try and let someone know what I'm doing and I'll usually write down what I've had and what time, date, quantity, food or drink eaten, sometimes method of preparation. But I don't tend to overdo new or potentially harmful things when by myself anyway.

[Alchemica]

This simple test might be of interest to some (for the purpose of IDing amatoxins in mushrooms):

Presence of amatoxins in mushroom samples may be detected by the Meixner Test

MEIXNER TEST

1.Squeeze a drop of juice from the mushroom onto absorbent, high lignin content paper (newspaper). Stool or gastric sample should be diluted with methanol, spun and filtered.

2.Mark the perimeter of the spot with a pencil

3.Dry the spot

4. Add 2 drops of concentrated hydrochloric acid to the area.

If the paper goes blue it indicates the presence of amatoxins. A control drop of acid can be added to another area of the paper.

The reaction may take up to 20 minutes for trace amounts of toxins.

http://curriculum.toxicology.wikispaces.net/Meixner+Test

The mushroom body can also be extracted with 70% ethanol (see below)

A Positive Test:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornellfungi/2828851149/

Positive Meixner test for amatoxins in a Galerina sp. Apparently the cause of death of Shiloh, a 90 lb Great Pyrenees dog.

First I mashed a piece of the dried mushroom with 70% EtOH. Then I centrifuged the juice briefly to sediment the dark spores. Then I dropped some liquid onto a piece of newspaper and let it dry. I applied one drop of conc. hydrochloric acid and watched for a blue reaction (positive). See also the negative control. The strongest blue reaction was after about 1 hr. After about 2 hours it began to fade and was almost gone 8 hours later.

A Negative Test:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornellfungi/2829688198/

NOTE: Specimens of A. virosa containing smaller quantities of a-amanitin were not always detected (test sensitivity 67%) [1]. This test should NOT be used as the sole method to determine if the mushroom is devoid of amatoxins.

The test is suggestive for amatoxins, but not definitive.

[1] http://www.informapharmascience.com/doi/pd...1/CLT-120016866

Edited June 9, 2009 by Alchemica

[kindness]

Further information on identifying galerinas here:

http://www.sydneyfungalstudies.org.au/galerinakey.htm

[Chiral]

Hey great site meanies...the galeries index is amazing..thanks for sharing that.

H

[Ace]

Dumb fuckers! Magic Mushrooms didn't kill him! He ate some freaking Amanitas! It's not uncommon for people to die of Amanitas, why is this a big deal?

Sorry Teotz, but WTF are you talking about? Where is your source for this claim, and if it is speculation, could you please STATE that it is?? This is misinformation, and something that you have been warned about time and time again. It's getting frustrating mate.

I would be suprised if this is the result of psiloX related compounds - it sounds more likely to be the result of a misidentification (certainly probable if it is amanotoxin that was the culprit) or perhaps a genuine case of active mushrooms reacting very negatively with other medication (and giving a false positive for amanotoxin). I would be very interested to see if it were a case of them being legitimate P. semilanceata and causing death. Either way, it is a very unfortunate case and I feel for this person's family and friends. It was probably a horrible last few hours too.

Edit: Teotz, the reason why this is a big deal is that a media report is stating that Psilocybe semilanceata killed a person who indicated positive for amanotoxin. Considering P. semilanceata does not contain amanotoxin (from my limited knowledge of lib caps), this is a pretty odd claim. The fact that they are claiming Psilocybes killed a person is also a pretty odd claim.

Edited June 9, 2009 by Ace

[mutant]

Some people tell me in other forums I shouldn't 'troll' Teotz all the time. But fuck, he is being idiot in the same degree all the time, everywhere !!!!!!

Lots of comments, lots of poor-educated comments...

The article is written very badly, but so is every article about edible mushrooms in my country. Who the fuck is expecting to be educated on mushroom hunting, or mushroom poisonings by the papers? I don't think they did this deliberately... But it doesn't matter...

Of course he didn't die by the psilos. The fact amatoxins where found is direct evidence that some other mushroom was in the batch he was [propably] sold...

Still anyone who knows a bit about mushrooms and especially amatoxin poisoning understands [even from this shitty article] that the guy propably ate some galerinas along with the psilies. A toxic amanita would take an extremly uninformed [iDIOT????] individual to mistake for psilocybin shrooms...

PS: Hey Teotz, do you remember that thread in e-dot where you listed 'Galerina sp.' among other ethnobotanicals?? That's what killed the guy, doofus, not amanitas. You still didn't reply to the question why where galerina sp. in that list!

PS2:

The fact that they are claiming Psilocybes killed a person is also a pretty odd claim.

Ace, they are not 'claiming' anything. the article is obviously poorly written and it contradicts itself. Don't get freaked out. It's just another article written without any real research beforehand...

PS3: It's really something, almost frustrating. you got all so sensitive about this. Like "will they blame our precious for this death?" - "well, could some psilies actually contain amatoxins or some other liver-toxic substance" and so... lol...

relax, psilies are not toxic in the common sense. Only psychotoxic with the wrong use/dose/frequency.... Screw newspapers , psychdelics are demonised anyway, adn psiloshrooms are illegal almost everywhere, so why bother?

There is only one aftemath with this story and it has to do with mushrooms ID:

1. DO NOT CONSUME MUSHROOMS YOU ARE NOT 100% POSITIVE - THIS INCLUDES EATING MUSHROOMS PICKED BY ANOTHER PERSON [sO YOU GOT TO TRUST THE PERSON]

2. PSILOCYBIN ID ISN'T ALWAYS EASY AND THERE ARE A COUPLE LOOKALIKES. IF SOMEONE KNOWS ONLY SOME STUFF ABOUT PSILO-ID, I WOULDN'T TRUST HIM TOO MUCH AS A PICKER. SOMETIMES I AM AMAZED BY THE EASINESS SOME FOLKS SAY 'YEAH THEY'RE SUBS ETC". I HAVE EATEN OVER 80 SPECIES FOR TABLE, BUT THESE SPECIES I DON'T KNOW SO WELL.

Edited June 9, 2009 by mutant

[ThunderIdeal]

i didn't get sensitive, i tried to be constructive and speculate how semilanceata might lead to death (supposing the article was right). isn't it a bit short sighted to think "psilo's under no circumstance, ever, could possibly ever lead to toxic death no matter what".

[Teotzlcoatl]

Sorry Teotz, but WTF are you talking about? Where is your source for this claim, and if it is speculation, could you please STATE that it is??

Ok maybe he didn't eat Amanitas but that toxin sure as hell didn't come from "Magic Mushrooms" as the article hinted at.

Yes its speculation.

You still didn't reply to the question why where galerina sp. in that list!

I'm not sure if that was me, link me.

I may have listed Galerina under uncommon psilocybin containing mushrooms because there was a "recently" discovered species of Galerina that contained psilocybin, but it was made very clear that nobody should eat them and I talked about ID etc.

G. steglichii is the only known species of bluing Galerina. It is a psilocybin containing mushroom originally described from Germany in 1993. Since then the species has been documented once more in Germany in 2005.

Germany is a pretty far way away, so perhaps it is a different bluing species of Galerina, or G. steglichii is a lot more wide spread then realized, but rare.

http://mushroomobserver.org/16147?_js=on&a...ue&id=16147

Edited June 9, 2009 by Teotz'

[mutant]

You still didn't reply to the question why where galerina sp. in that list!

I'm not sure if that was me, link me.

I may have listed Galerina under uncommon psilocybin containing mushrooms because there was a "recently" discovered species of Galerina that contained psilocybin, but it was made very clear that nobody should eat them and I talked about ID etc.

sure you remember what I am refering to, e-dot is down. Evil genius must remember this too. Liar!

EDIT: the link

http://www.entheogen.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23717

it seems your list was deleted by some mod... you still don't remember...?

PS: ThunderIdeal, there's no toxicity in sensible amounts of panaeollus and psilocybe species, but how do we know stupid people can tell the difference from Conocybes , Inocybes, Galerinas etc?

Edited June 10, 2009 by mutant

[Teotzlcoatl]

Hmmm... no I don't remember that, but it looks like you might be right. I must have been stoned or something.

[mauve]

on recent fields bordering forest (presence of decayed wood in the soil) it is possible to find galerina specimens among Psilocybe semilanceata. That is why it is extremely important to identify all your mushrooms one by one. This galerina problem is more commonly encountered when hunting for woodlovers (same habitat and some similar features like cap color etc)...

Edited June 10, 2009 by mauve

[Chiral]

on recent fields bordering forest (presence of decayed wood in the soil) it is possible to find galerina specimens among Psilocybe semilanceata. That is why it is extremely important to identify all your mushrooms one by one. This galerina problem is more commonly encountered when hunting for woodlovers (same habitat and some similar features like cap color etc)...

agree that's why I find it hard to believe that it was galerina that poisioned the lad....Liberty caps are hunted in grass meadows and fence lines in tufts of grass in Autumn....I don't think galerina's are even fruiting at the same time of year as liberties....but you know there could be hundreds of other toxic mushrooms that look like caps and grow in same conditions as them we are talking the Northern Hemisphere so it's difficult to ascertain what other fungus are up and around where his fruits came from. One thing though that lad had a very difficult time whilst alive with his accident and then the way he died....geeeze poor fella hope he reincarnates into something nicer next time.

H.