magic mushroom induced inflammation

[Francois le Danque]

okay so my friend (it really actually wasn't me), ate some subs the other day and reported undesireable physiological side effects. he said his face swelled up and he was unable to smile or effectively eat food. these effects were also supposedly apparent, to a lesser degree, in his tripping partner, and corroborated by a sobre witness.

i was alarmed that he had consumed non-psychoactively poisonous mushrooms (as well as subs, since he obviously still tripped, badly too understandably), so i did some fast research, as well as insisting he go to a doctor to get a liver function test. the test was clear and my research told me that no deadly mushroom produces symptoms of swelling, and most induce vomiting and diarrhoea, which were absent in both subjects. i also discovered numerous posts on the shroomery and elsewhere indicating that people shroomers had experienced such effects before, though usually in the hands.

AND SO i have devised a survey about this issue. please fill it out if you have experience with psilocybin containing mushrooms. hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. and no i haven't really looked into it that heavily, it may be no mystery, but it seems mysterious to me, and most shroomery members (judging by the plethora of "you imagined it you dumbass" type responses). so yeah.

finally if you have any postulations about the mechanism of action of such an effect i am very interested to hear them. i think it might involve psilocybin's vasoconstrictive effect, but i'm not sure how. also this might belong in Pharmacology. cheers!

Edited July 14, 2012 by frank

[Amazonian]

Would paralysis describe it better? I have heard of shrooms doing that.

[Francois le Danque]

good point amazonian, but i think that the facial paralysis they experienced was due to the swelling.

[waterboy 2.0]

Legend and lore of the very large, old true bush tassie subs have a few stories like this.

[tipz]

Due to subs being of such a high percentage of water and the fact they will often grow in valleys and troughs where water run off occurs.

I wonder if the subs picked somewhere where pesticides or fertilizers or any kind of contamination, is washed down concentrating these substances where the subs then grow. Soaking up all the toxins from the pooled up water ?

Just a theory, but if i was to ever pick subs, I would do so at a conservation park, or somewhere i know these toxins are unlikely to be present.

Could this ever perhaps be a factor in sub-poisoning cases ?

[Francois le Danque]

i thought of this also tipz, the mushrooms in question were picked near a freeway and storm water drain but i have heard of it happening with mushrooms grown in sterile conditions.

i also wonder if it is indeed the mushroom, is it the psilocybin itself, or another part of the mushroom? since it has been reported with cubes as well, i am assuming it's psilocybin or a derivative. maybe baecystin?

dammit i keep thinking of more questions for the poll...

[CβL]

I have noticed it, and am reasonably certain it's some kind of "irritation" of the entire immune system. The second piece of anecdotal evidence to support this is that I notice that bacteria go to town during a shroom experience; you might find that you get pimples/cuts growing rapidly after consuming them (which I have found).

I suspect it's just from raw fungi and/or spores. I can't remember exactly, but I think symptoms were greatly lessened when a lemon tea was made instead.

Would be nice to have some group testing done. :]

Edited July 13, 2012 by βluntmuffin

[Francois le Danque]

indeed, my friend (i filled the survey in his place), only consumed by munching them down. i have often heard tea is the way to go in terms of reducing side effects. plus it goes really inky blue, like the mana potion it is!

[waterboy 2.0]

Re the old , large bush ones I will also add OLD ones..so maybe baecystin related (?)

[shruman]

I have experienced the 'paralysis' it seems to be related to low blood sugar, lollies are the cure.

[ayjay101]

Surely if psilocybin/psilocin were to blame this would be far more common and well documented.

I have heard of this occurring, but only in a cpl of online experience reports, not in any printed literature.

Fortunately I haven't personally experienced anything like this... that I've noticed anyway :-)

Hope you're ok now, must have been very disconcerting at the time!

[Distracted]

Never heard of swelling at all sorry

[Francois le Danque]

my friend is okay now, but another thing i forgot to mention was that he experienced muscle weakness the next day. possible blood sugar related, good point. personally whenever i do this sort of thing i am careful to stay well hydrated and fed.