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Benefits of Psilocybin Mushrooms?

snafupants

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What have been your experiences? We can interlard the thread later with neuroscience and psychopharmacological research, but for now I'd just like to hear your subjective appraisals and impressions. These can take any form you'd like.
 

kantor1003

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Yes, I'd also be interested in hearing some input about psychedelics and whether it has produced something you might call tangible benefits and what those benefits more specifically are, or were for you.
 

snafupants

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Yes, I'd also be interested in hearing some input about psychedelics and whether it has produced something you might call tangible benefits and what those benefits more specifically are.

Yeah, I'd also want to know whether those benefits were sustained.
 

Jah

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Moocow

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The psilocybin experience for me has been that of prolonged, uncontrollable existential crisis, self-induced because of misconception and wishful thinking.
"Maybe this time I'll just enjoy it."
For the most part it has been terrifying and painful to such a degree that it can cause me to temporarily accept ridiculous delusions with the hopes of overcoming the tedium and hopelessness. The fear is so intense, so overwhelming that rationality becomes impossible and speculation supplants reality.
The only means of making it through the experience is to grow more patient and skeptical of myself than I ever was beforehand.
Only thereafter, I discover the benefits. Yes, they are sustained.
 

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My brain is too important to me. I don't drink, and only suffered a little caffeine in the form of tea, which I don't even drink anymore. Zero interest in drugs.

As if you asked :)
 

snafupants

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That's curious that the scans were done immediately after intravenous administration. Another odd feature was that all thirty participants were inveterate users. The findings are intriguing though. Why do you feel the results precisely contradicted the observed psychopharmacological action in other studies? The dumbest thing the study did, in my opinion, was gauge brain activity immediately after administration versus an hour later, closer to the peak of the trip, which other studies apparently did. I wouldn't characterize the nausea before the onset as theoretically important.
 

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Snafu, IV will cause a peak almost immediately. The only reason a peak takes an hour to reach when eaten is because of digestion.

I mean, I didn't read it. I assume they injected enough at once to reach a peak.
 

snafupants

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Snafu, IV will cause a peak almost immediately. The only reason a peak takes an hour to reach when eaten is because of digestion.

Valid point. The incompatibility with most users everyday experience still troubles me though.

Perhaps DMT and psilocybin are different drugs when administered orally versus intravenously.

Although I respect your point, does that really get at the crux of the issue? In other words, do you feel that fully explains the pronounced difference between studies.

Edit: More than digestion takes place when you orally consume psilocybin. There's a slight change in molecular structure. There's a metabolic change to psilocin.
 

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While I'm not too familiar with the studies I can tell you that trips vary immensely for sometimes obvious and other times completely mysterious reasons. I'd imagine it hard to pin down consistent results in a lab setting as well.

I suppose I'll read them too now...
 

snafupants

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While I'm not too familiar with the studies I can tell you that trips vary immensely for sometimes obvious and other times completely mysterious reasons. I'd imagine it hard to pin down consistent results in a lab setting as well.

I suppose I'll read them too now...

Well, you probably only need to read the first part for the context of this discussion.

Yeah, I agree. Observed and collective chemical action in the brain shouldn't directly oppose another study though.

There has to be some methodological error/comparison oversight for that to happen, right?

I mean, when we both drink coffee I would imagine something similar is occurring in each of our brains to provide predictable and analogous reactions.
 

snafupants

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While I'm not too familiar with the studies I can tell you that trips vary immensely for sometimes obvious and other times completely mysterious reasons. I'd imagine it hard to pin down consistent results in a lab setting as well.

I suppose I'll read them too now...

One would hope large numbers would cancel out any anomalies.

We're also essentially talking about reactions from everyone and not one subject.

One last thing: I wouldn't necessarily conclude complete analysis based on empirical/phenomenological details gleaned from medical scans.

There are many substance which science does not understand based on metabolic action.
 

Synthetix

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At 2.5 grams- P. Cubensis, there was an hour long onset, after which a strange stony feeling arose.. I was taken to laughter at almost anything... Let me put it simply, being on shrooms is like being a child again. For the benefit, imagine a child, curiously inspecting new things in his world because he doesn't quite understand them.. As we grow older, we see the same things and think mundanely about them. However, Psilocybin can make you realize that there is much more to everyday life than you even know, and thus brings back that child like wonder. You see a flower, think nothing of it, it's a flower, you've probably seen many. However you now see the flowers true beauty, it's story... It's a life form, and there is a meaning to it's existence, you could expand upon what you already know about it and come up with your own intricate philosophies about it. This is one major benefit of the almighty psilocybin mushroom. I personally love the HD vision and the warping visual effects... I feel like there were no boundaries to me, physically or mentally. All the things that made my ego were stripped away, and what was left was a bare human, nothing more. I felt like an ancestor of mine from thousands of years ago, and climbed my brothers roof to gaze st the stars, after which was the most peaceful and possibly most spiritually profound moment of my life. I can'r describe that moment on the roof, looking at the stars, pure serenity, nothing could be more perfect. It blew away all my other drug experienced, even MDMA. I came to accept that no matter how much we modify, or howe much we get into specifics, one thing remains, our soul, our human self. And I can reflect on that even after not having used them in months. Another dose with 3.5 grams was just as heartfelt.. The sky was the universe, an ultimate creator and bearer of knowledge, although not one entity, but a collaboration of all, which was feeding me enlightenment.. There was a negative experience for me with about 2.8 grams.. Lets just say it also involved alcohol and ill mannered belligerents.

There weren't many negatives.. They aren't harsh on the body, hence no comedown, yet a feeling of refreshment the next day. I did however have weird lucid dreams in the following weeks.
 

Affinity

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I have once quit smoking for 20 days after a trip. Cold turkey and zero cravings. My will power just felt so strong. Granted, I have foolishly decided to pick it up again after those 20 days.

On a separate occasion not too long ago, I was in a long bout of depression and just felt really lost in life. I quit the best job I've had so far, wasn't going to school, and just felt very down. On this trip, I figured out a lot of things about myself. Not only that, but I also figured out what it is I actually wanted to go to school for. Up until this point, I've been going to college for the past 6 years with no real focus. I was changing my major so often that I just said fuck it and took whatever the hell I wanted. Though that did broaden my scope, not being able to see an end or any sort of future benefit was really disheartening. So after spending several hours in my head with an alternate perspective, I figured out what it was I wanted to do. I signed up for school this past semester immediately and am currently pursuing a computer science degree. I have been really happy with the decision thus far and believe this will be the correct path for me.

Those are just a couple that come to mind. There's sooooo much more depth that goes on within these journeys that words would never be adequate enough to describe. I won't say that all the benefits I have reaped have been sustained for long periods but the fungi has always offered me a different and much simpler perspective which have helped me to some extent or another.

Some short term benefits (kind of tying into what Synthetix mentioned) for me, it fulfills my occasional craving and urges for spirituality. I feel unity, with my fellow man, Earth, and the universe. I feel contentment as well as enlightenment. Instead of trying to find where I fit in to the big picture, I feel as if I am part of the big picture so to speak.
 

Cosmic

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i'm on the same page as synthetix. i've tripped mushrooms twice, each of which was awe-inspiring, erratic, and so humanly raw. mind you, i am usually a reserved, insensitive, chem-majoring-wikipedia-whoring analyzer, but what may come off my keyboard as hippie-inspired-bullshittery very much encompasses the nature of what i experienced.

the last trip i had started with nihilistic and suicidal confusion as i was lost and trying to find my way to my crew's campsite for what seemed like forever at a folk festival. it ended with a beautiful, starry sky and northern.fucking.lights after bumping into an old, close friend who i had grown far from after some painful shit got in the way of our friendship. i hadn't seen him in almost a year, and we just kind of laid down and talked for a really long time holding hands and admiring the same sky we all know and share. and then father sun came up and relinquished the minor inconvenience that was the cold.

first time was at an intimate "mushroom party" at my friend's trippy house. we started out as a group of eight people, but it turned into a madhouse of five little kids after two of our friends braced the cold, snowy weather because they "wanted to watch a movie". the rest of us stayed inside and ran around like such as: :storks: with my friend's dog. a friend of mine gave into oral fixations with beads (no joke o.O), while somebody else shoved her hand into friend A's mouth to pull it out so that she wouldn't choke, all while friend A had to resist the urge to bite down lol. and then there was the dungeon master INFP who humbly took a moderate dose and had his video camera to record the whole thing (we haven't watched it to this day three years later, but i look forward to that nostalgia). some few hours later we realized friend number six (INTP, btw) seemed to have disappeared. upon looking for him and finding him in the attic in a pitch black room with finger lights, he told us to "go away because this is extremely important" to him. he was trying to induce a transcending trance to experience spirituality or something.

at one point, i decided i needed to be alone so i hogged the bathroom. i closed my eyes, and all the pretty psychedelic colors turned to black clouds as i thought about my middle school experience, which involved lots of bullying and all-around being the black sheep. so i cried until forgiveness and peace set in with a rainbow of pretty colors. then i came down to my friend's inviting room to find everybody throwing cards at each other and laughing in a euphoric fit. this went on for a good while until the movie go-ers came back crying after getting lost in the cold trying to walk to a suburban movie theatre. they called up a friend for a ride who had trouble finding them because the directions were based upon obscure landmarks. they took warm showers and then all was good as we tried to make coffee. it took us forever to figure out how many mugs we needed (seven). after the successful team effort of distributing coffee was accomplished, silence was had as we all enjoyed the warmth of the communal happy vibe. then somebody pointed out that "everything just. . . is," to which somebody else responded "no quantifying." then we giggled thinking about how silly it felt counting and distributing coffee mugs.

yeah, mushrooms. =x i myself am huge fiend for ecstasy, like the objective ego-death and the deep, concise insight that LSD offers. but, man oh man, those mushrooms are something else. did i get anything out of it besides solidifying already-valued friendships and painting beautiful memories? idk, hard to say. i've become more grounded and live-and-let-live at the expense of losing passion for certain ideals and issues, but it's very hard to tell if mushrooms played a role in this, though i suspect they did.

pot (and to a much lesser extent alcohol) takes a huge toll on my psyche though, i find. but yeah, everybody's brain chemistry is different, and there's no way to know that psychedelics WON'T harm you. =/ hell, one of the friends i just mentioned had a panic attack induced by ecstasy of all things.
 

Synthetix

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I'm ordering some 4-aco-dmt soon... The reports suggest it is very much like shrooms.. On 5-MeO-MiPT I noticed enhanced glow like vision similar to shrooms, however it isn't as much of a profound psychedelic.
 

Cosmic

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I have once quit smoking for 20 days after a trip. Cold turkey and zero cravings. My will power just felt so strong. Granted, I have foolishly decided to pick it up again after those 20 days.

On a separate occasion not too long ago, I was in a long bout of depression and just felt really lost in life. I quit the best job I've had so far, wasn't going to school, and just felt very down. On this trip, I figured out a lot of things about myself. Not only that, but I also figured out what it is I actually wanted to go to school for. Up until this point, I've been going to college for the past 6 years with no real focus. I was changing my major so often that I just said fuck it and took whatever the hell I wanted. Though that did broaden my scope, not being able to see an end or any sort of future benefit was really disheartening. So after spending several hours in my head with an alternate perspective, I figured out what it was I wanted to do. I signed up for school this past semester immediately and am currently pursuing a computer science degree. I have been really happy with the decision thus far and believe this will be the correct path for me.

Those are just a couple that come to mind. There's sooooo much more depth that goes on within these journeys that words would never be adequate enough to describe. I won't say that all the benefits I have reaped have been sustained for long periods but the fungi has always offered me a different and much simpler perspective which have helped me to some extent or another.

Some short term benefits (kind of tying into what Synthetix mentioned) for me, it fulfills my occasional craving and urges for spirituality. I feel unity, with my fellow man, Earth, and the universe. I feel contentment as well as enlightenment. Instead of trying to find where I fit in to the big picture, I feel as if I am part of the big picture so to speak.

good luck to you! i had a similar dilemma regarding school. i was wasting so much money and time taking classes. my financial aid got dropped after withdrawing from too many classes. all out of fear of disappointing my family and fear of financial insecurity (i graduated from HS the the year the bubble popped). selfish as it is, it wasn't until i allowed myself the risk of considering questionable majors that i truly started WANTING to do well in school. saying "fuck the fear" was so liberating and gave way to finding a passion. doing chem and trying to get as much as i can out of my other classes. compsci sounds fascinating btw
 

snafupants

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Tummy feel bad. Sleep not happen.

That's actually a brilliantly stripped down description of the onset and aftermath, respectively.

Let me read through all of today's comments and then we'll see what's up.
 
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I'm ordering some 4-aco-dmt soon... The reports suggest it is very much like shrooms.. On 5-MeO-MiPT I noticed enhanced glow like vision similar to shrooms, however it isn't as much of a profound psychedelic.

I have taken 4-aco-dmt just like mushrooms and fantastic. Mushrooms were my first ever psychedelic experience. My close friend and i split 3.5g of some fire p. cubensis. These things were bruised purple to a point of nearly dripping purple. It was hands down the most spiritual experience of my life. My visuals were fantastic and I was a full blown +++ on the Shulgin scale for around 12 hours.

@Cosmic- The bathroom is the tripping place in a house from my experiences. You have the mirror, bright lights, and a fan groaning away lol. I also go to the bathroom so gauge how much balls I'm tripping.
 

snafupants

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I have once quit smoking for 20 days after a trip. Cold turkey and zero cravings. My will power just felt so strong. Granted, I have foolishly decided to pick it up again after those 20 days.

On a separate occasion not too long ago, I was in a long bout of depression and just felt really lost in life. I quit the best job I've had so far, wasn't going to school, and just felt very down. On this trip, I figured out a lot of things about myself. Not only that, but I also figured out what it is I actually wanted to go to school for. Up until this point, I've been going to college for the past 6 years with no real focus. I was changing my major so often that I just said fuck it and took whatever the hell I wanted. Though that did broaden my scope, not being able to see an end or any sort of future benefit was really disheartening. So after spending several hours in my head with an alternate perspective, I figured out what it was I wanted to do. I signed up for school this past semester immediately and am currently pursuing a computer science degree. I have been really happy with the decision thus far and believe this will be the correct path for me.

Those are just a couple that come to mind. There's sooooo much more depth that goes on within these journeys that words would never be adequate enough to describe. I won't say that all the benefits I have reaped have been sustained for long periods but the fungi has always offered me a different and much simpler perspective which have helped me to some extent or another.

Some short term benefits (kind of tying into what Synthetix mentioned) for me, it fulfills my occasional craving and urges for spirituality. I feel unity, with my fellow man, Earth, and the universe. I feel contentment as well as enlightenment. Instead of trying to find where I fit in to the big picture, I feel as if I am part of the big picture so to speak.

Personally I just become extraordinarily witty afterwards. I was actually hoping for more of the psychoanalytical experience which you described; maybe I'll try LSD next.

The hallucinations precipitated by meditation were more interesting to me but those had the same drawback: they failed to teach me anything. Nonetheless both were fun.

My mushroom trips have probably been more akin to the emotional/existential uplifting that Synthetix described save any intellectual insights.

I agree, though, about psilocybin mushrooms being fairly gentle somatically compared to other recreational drugs. That said, I would refrain from habitually consuming them.
 

Affinity

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Personally I just become extraordinarily witty afterwards. I was actually hoping for more of the psychoanalytical experience which you described; maybe I'll try LSD next.

The hallucinations precipitated by meditation were more interesting to me but those had the same drawback: they failed to teach me anything. Nonetheless both were fun.

My mushroom trips have probably been more akin to the emotional/existential uplifting that Synthetix described save any intellectual insights.

I agree, though, about psilocybin mushrooms being fairly gentle somatically compared to other recreational drugs. That said, I would refrain from habitually consuming them.

It's kind of funny because what I experience with mushrooms seems to happen in stages. It goes kind of from initial body high to oh shit the curtains are moving/trees are breathing to fuck my life (ego-death I believe it is being called) to self-therapy/self-realization to emotional/existential tranquility. Sometimes the ego-death gets a bit hard to direct that I can't quite make it into the self-therapy/self-realization or emotional/existential contentment stage and at that point, sleep couldn't come quick enough :storks:

I'd say give it another shot if you are truly interested in the self-therapy/self-realization aspect. It doesn't always come to me but when it does, it's a truly remarkable experience.
 

Synthetix

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As for psychedelics, 25I-nBOMe is a new player and has quite a number of good reviews.
 

Synthetix

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Don't tell me I'm not the only one from Bluelight on this site.
 

Meer

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That's actually a brilliantly stripped down description of the onset and aftermath, respectively.


That's all there really was. Girlfriend of the time forgot to account for differences in body mass and just split what she had in two. I may have seen a letter on a poster quiver a bit. I think I'll try my hand at growing them some day.
 

snafupants

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It's kind of funny because what I experience with mushrooms seems to happen in stages. It goes kind of from initial body high to oh shit the curtains are moving/trees are breathing to fuck my life (ego-death I believe it is being called) to self-therapy/self-realization to emotional/existential tranquility. Sometimes the ego-death gets a bit hard to direct that I can't quite make it into the self-therapy/self-realization or emotional/existential contentment stage and at that point, sleep couldn't come quick enough :storks:

I'd say give it another shot if you are truly interested in the self-therapy/self-realization aspect. It doesn't always come to me but when it does, it's a truly remarkable experience.

My cherry popping first dose was perhaps too high. I enjoyed the onset and afterglow of the experience more than the peak per se. I must have had some psychological block because when things started to become compelling I unconsciously retreated into these weird though-loops.

The sequences playing in my mind were neither visually compelling nor terribly insightful; I would liken them to silly dreams; I had little ken into the fact that what I was experiencing was a hallucination; I was somewhat frightened. The whole experience was quite odd.
 

Synthetix

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A young, very young Dr. Shulgin?
 

snafupants

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That's all there really was. Girlfriend of the time forgot to account for differences in body mass and just split what she had in two. I may have seen a letter on a poster quiver a bit. I think I'll try my hand at growing them some day.

Perhaps the potency/ilk of the mushroom was pathetic too.

Did she trip at all? That might tell you something.
 

Caduceus Mercurius

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What have been your experiences? We can interlard the thread later with neuroscience and psychopharmacological research, but for now I'd just like to hear your subjective appraisals and impressions. These can take any form you'd like.
I had my first mushroom experience in 1999, after a bunch of LSD experiences since 1992. I thought mushrooms would be more gentle, but I found them just as impressive, and the visions much more colorful.

It was not until 2005 that I discovered the writings and lectures of the late Terence McKenna, who recommended taking mushrooms in silent darkness. I had not tried that before, and yes, it's much better!! I also decided to carefully weigh and up the dose. Five grams of dried homegrown mushrooms generated an intensely mystical experience. With my girlfriend I usually took only 2.5 grams. One time we both took 5 grams, and it was a bit unsettling, as her trip lasted much longer than mine, and she became a bit unresponsive at the end. But all in all a wonderful experience.

For LSD it doesn't really matter whether you take it in bright daylight or in a dark room, but with mushrooms, it really makes a difference. Absolute darkness is best. It's the best backdrop for the extremely colorful visions. Silence is nice if you live in a silent area. Otherwise, instrumental background music is recommended (no vocals, because lyrics can be distracting).
 

LTVX

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I've tried several psychedelic drugs (shrooms, psilocybin truffles, lsd, lsa) and I'm growing Peyote atm. Psychedelic experiences are different and unique every time you are engaged in one. I would say I have cultivated a lot of valuable self-insight like many others have mentioned here. But they are definitely no magic substances.

The first time I took psychedelic drugs was at the age of 12. I took a large dose of shrooms and to be honest had no clue what the effects were supposed to be. To make a long story short I had the best day of my life and was determined to take some again (four years passed since I did) After a disappointing truffle trip due to low dosage I got my hands on some very pure LSD blotters. Now at this point in life I was in a very dark place and liked acid trips so much I ended up taking them 3 times a week. Which resulted in HPPD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen_persisting_perception_disorder)

it’s been almost a year now since I have taken any psychedelics and two years since I've taken any acid. Reflecting with a sober mind I would class psychedelic drugs as "telescopes" which zoom in on your brain and amplify whatever mind set you are currently holding in life. I could draw this conclusion very nicely by the contrast between the experiences I had when I was 12 and 16/18. My first trip had no philosophical content or deep thinking due to my age everything just seemed to come alive. The tripping I did in the ages 16-18 involved Nietzsche and Pink Floyd which can influence your mind set strongly.
 

LTVX

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Well it didn't affect me or my day to day life the symptoms have been present for 2.5 years now. At night I see rainbow like halo's surrounding sources of light, increased number of floaters sometimes some random distortions nothing more.
 
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