There Are No Old, Bold Mushroom Hunters
Friday, September 29, 2006
Paul Auerbach, M.D.
There has been recent interest in psychedelic mushrooms because of experiments performed at Johns Hopkins University in which volunteers ate psilocybin from the mushroom Psilocybe cubensis (a Psilocybe mushroom is pictured here). It can't be overemphasized that while some persons report experiencing a pleasant escape from reality after eating hallucinogenic mushrooms, many others become fearful, frightened, paranoid, or terrorized. Other mushrooms, such as Amanita muscaria, have similar dual effects. In some persons, they can evoke what is perceived as spiritual awakening, while in many others, they invoke nightmares, impaired judgment, and unpleasant hallucinations. Because we don't know exactly how they affect the brain - one theory links certain mushrooms to serotonin receptors - we cannot predict with any degree of certainty who will react positively and who will react negatively.
There are many toxic mushrooms that are mistaken for harmless edible species. Some of these cause extreme gastrointestinal distress (abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), while others may also induce catastrophic liver failure. Unless you are very experienced and well prepared to pick wild mushrooms, you are best advised to leave them alone.
Tags: poisonous mushrooms, mushrooms, outdoor medicine, wilderness medicine, healthline
photo from the textbook Wilderness Medicine
4 Comments:
At Sat Sep 30, 11:41:00 AM 2006,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD said…
Viking fighters called Berserkers ate mushrooms containing muscarine to prepare for battle. They went so wild that we get the word "berzerk" from them.
At Sat Jun 21, 09:18:00 PM 2008,
Anonymous said…
It appears the photo chosen for Dr. Auerbach's article is a cluster of Psilocybe Baeocystis mushrooms, which are common to the U.S. Northwest. Fruit of the earth, but, as advised, educate yourself and proceed with caution.
At Wed Feb 04, 05:55:00 PM 2009,
J said…
Very irresponsible to have the incorrect tag on your image.
that mushroom is NOT a Cubensis
At Fri Feb 06, 03:41:00 PM 2009,
Paul Auerbach, M.D. said…
Not irresponsible, but perhaps confusing. The image shown is of Psilocybe caerulipes, as labeled by the author of the chapter entitled Toxic Mushroom Ingestions in the fifth edition of the Wilderness Medicine textbook. It is not a cubensis, but it is of the Psilocybe genus.
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