this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2024
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163
Microdosing and tripping on mushrooms is on the rise in U.S. (www.npr.org)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Honestly I would like to try microdosing LSD, not mushrooms. Something that can be measured, and my youthful experience with these, the tripping is more comfortable/happy/open.

Also it's the only drug I'd ever try again as far as recreational drugs go. Well, I tried cannabis but hated the high, so I guess not the only one but the only remaining one that I would like to try again. In particular the very, very minimal microdosing but might be willing to also trip. Since I am hella respectable now, too many degrees away from being able to get the drug, especially in a format I could divide up to microdose, not sure it will ever be possible. But other than the legal considerations leading to lack of access nothing else makes me not want to - other drugs I think physically unhealthy or bad for your cognition as you age, or too addictive. I don't have those concerns about LSD. I think, like coffee it's more likely to protect your thinking in the long run, and certainly almost nobody wants to trip often.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Most people microdose way to high. What we know from animal studies on microdosing is the the dose for humans should be like 0.5 mg every other day.

That's equivalent to like 0.1 g of weak cubensies. And a quarter of that for penis envy or other strong cubansies, and then you can half that amount again for stronger species such as pan cyans.

It really doesn't take much to promote neurogenesis, and dosing everyday will have negative effects on the heart .

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I would like to take an alternate view of others, but let me start by saying I've done shrooms and I enjoy them and I think they should be legal.

However, the ads selling things like mushroom gummies I have seen on social media are both deceptive about what they can do and are not in any way clear what they mean by 'microdosing.' And that's why my brother went from microdosing to taking massive amounts in the course of a month, claiming it was good for his psychology, and writing that he told his wife to watch him the first time, but she fell asleep and he was fine and now he doesn't need anyone.

My brother is in his 50s and has no experience with such things. He doesn't even like weed.

So I do not think this is necessarily a good thing. It could be a good thing if this sort of thing was done under the supervision of a medical professional, but they are selling them via Facebook ads.

Worse, they are also selling ketamine via Facebook ads and also touting its psychological benefits. Again, getting mentally ill people ketamine could be a good thing if done under medical supervision. That's not happening either.

If you want to do shrooms or even ketamine recreationally, I think that should be your right. But this is like selling people random amounts of lithium and telling them about all the great stuff lithium can do for you.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I made a post up thread about microdosing, and how what we know from animal studies is that it's a really small amount.

Additionally mushroom gummies being sold online are likely not psilocybin. There's several other species of mushroom that are psychoactive and have other pharmaceuticals in them. Amanita is one, chaga is another. Both of these are common in mushroom gummies and chocolates that I've seen being sold in head shops.

They're not psilocybin mushrooms. Shipping psilocybin across state lines is absolutely illegal.

If you want to pick my brain about any of this squid feel free to shoot me a direct message. I'm a mushroom nerd and drug nerd. And have some college credits in pharmacology.

I'm also a frog. The frog that enjoys reading your posts.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I appreciate the offer, but not only am I his little brother, I'm his little brother by 11 years (I was planned, really). He doesn't listen to any advice I give him on anything because as far as he's concerned, I'm still the 5-year-old he left when he went to college. He has a lot of... shall we say interesting ideas about how the universe works lately. It's not just the gummies, but they haven't helped.

And I'm not exactly shocked that they aren't psilocybin. I knew there was some sort of catch here or they wouldn't be allowed to sell them, but I thought it was one of those legal delta 8 THC vs. illegal natural cannabis things like they have here in Indiana. Some sort of "we made it in a lab, therefore it isn't the illegal thing" loophole. This makes more sense though.

However, if you can explain to me why everyone I know goes out in the woods and finds baskets full of morels in the spring and not only have I never had the chance to eat one, I've never even seen one growing, feel free. They can't.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Morels have a symbiotic relationship with the plant that they grow with. Most often elm trees.

The colony can live a long time. Depending on the species of morels 100 years, you know like as long as a tree will live. During this time they store nutrients in what is commonly called a truffle, mycologists call that a sclerotia. It's essentially a knot of mycelium packed full of nutrients, that they will fruit out of once they are separated from their food source, i.e. the tree.

Areas that have been hit by Dutch elm disease end up seeing a lot of morels fruiting, because a lot of trees are dying. Additionally morels like to fruit when the ground temperature is around 50 to 60°. Usually this will be on a south facing hill early in the spring if you are in the northern equator. As well as areas not getting so much direct sunlight later on in the spring.

Aside from that, like all mushrooms they enjoy fruiting after a rainfall. So the best time to look for them is when the ground temperature is 50 to 60°, it's just rained, and the best place to look for them is in areas with lots of elm trees. Especially elms that are dying from Dutch elm.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

That is really interesting! Thank you for all the information! This is a lot more advice than they've ever given. I wonder if it's sort of instinctive on their part since they've been doing it since they were kids?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I was thinking about this more just now. I know you use weed for medical reasons. Do you ever get hypnagogic images off it when you close your eyes?

I believe this is the cerebral cortex teaching itself how to see things. I get it a lot when I fall into a porn hole or spend a lot of time staring at mushrooms. I think it's dopamine reinforcement and neuroplasticity, essentially.

Anyway, you can teach yourself to spot them, is what I'm saying. Smoke a bowl, watch some videos online of people hunting them. Preferably a lot of in nature shots so your brain is learning to see them in the right context. When you start to lose interest, pause a good shot and allow yourself to relax and fall into your breathing. If you do this enough, I bet you'll start to see morels when you close your eyes before bed.

And when you get out to look for them, they'll be much easier to spot if you allow yourself to again relax and fall into your breathing and sort of trust your muscle memory.

The weed is optional for anyone else reading. But it does have action on dopamine and can give some people mild closed eye visuals, which helps to verify the experiment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That does make sense, although I use cannabis medicinally and at this point, it mostly just works as a pain modifier. I basically don't feel high anymore unless I use a ton of the stuff.

What I really need to do is convince someone to take me with them next year.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

You can skip the cannabis.

But yeah, having someone take you is the best way.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Likely.

We have 'muscle memory' in our visual cortex as well. So, we can train ourselves to spot stuff that is normally pretty difficult to spot with practice.

The morels being brown, and fruiting in leaves from last fall, it makes them pretty difficult to see.

Aside from that, they probably have a good idea of what spots to hit because they've been hitting those spots for years. As well as a understanding of good conditions to look for them, without having the knowledge of those conditions that I just gave.

And... Mushroom foragers are usually pretty sketchy about giving up their good spots.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I would be one of them if I could find a trusted source for mushrooms.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

You can buy a pre-sanitized jar and a syringe of spores. The you basically just squirt the spores into the sterile jar and let them grow

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Grow your own. A monotub is a pretty easy build.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Which is why a lot of people start growing them themselves.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Do it.

They are awesome, non-addictive and physiologically safe.

Make sure you're in a safe, comfortable place, and if you're doing them with other people, make sure you trust those people, but otherwise have a blast.

Magic mushrooms are the "drug" I really do think everybody should try.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I have easy access to them but even so the first time I had mushrooms when I was 12 wasn't cool and I may have some unexpected trauma from that experience.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Unwritten rule that I guess we should write: no drugs for children.

They don't need their minds expanded, their tiny minds are still sealing themselves together.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Also, people should start with small doses and work their way up.

In fact, there's a lot of research and care people should do beforehand. Mushrooms can be a wonderful experience, but can also be a traumatic one. Learning about them ahead of time goes a long way.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Sure, learn to chew your food or it'll go down the wrong pipe.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah. Tell that to Australian tourists.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Is that a reference?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It's not safe for people in maoi inhibitors and a few other drugs. This includes certain antidepressants which are quite common.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yup… absolutely do not take them if you have had SSRIs in your system within the past 60 days.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I took mushrooms, high dose and micro, while on SSRI's. There's the smallest, most miniscule chance of seretonin syndrome. But 9999 times out of 10000 you'll be fine.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago

Psilocybin is physiologically safe for people.

As with water, psilocybin can be dangerous to mix with toxic chemicals.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Why did you put “drug” in quotes?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

What is a "drug" and what isn't is an arbitrary, made-up distinction. There are only molecules.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Drug is a word with a lot of double speak/propaganda around it. Like, the war on drugs. The meaning of the word drug in that sentence is to be drugged, as in like alcohol drugs you, heroin drugs you, and if we call mushrooms and LSD drugs we are saying that they do what alcohol and heroin do, which is take you away from yourself.

Drugs can also mean medicine. But that's not what the Nixon administration meant by the word drug when they passed the controlled substances act.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Because everything is a drug and magic mushrooms themselves aren't the drug in question, psilocybin is.

Also, calling caffeine, heroin and mushrooms a "drug" belies a problem with labeling.

Magic mushrooms, incidentally, being the least toxic of those substances.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Eh, there are much worse drugs around. If doing shrooms makes people drink less alcohol, it's a huge win both for them and for society in general.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

I wouldn't even consider most psychedelics bad and I even consider mushrooms instrumental to my alcoholism recovery over the last few years. (There are caveats, and I'll explain.)

The issue is some people simply cannot handle psychedelics and bad trips can do more harm than good. If someone is in a risky spot or around shitty people, that can amplify bad experiences 100x. I have had several bad trips, and it's easy to understand why full-blown psychosis is sometimes a thing.

Heavy dosages with inexperienced users that already have issues is a recipe for disaster. Period. Having seen reality completely dissolve a few times myself, it could be a seriously traumatic experience for some people.

However, when used and dosed properly in healthy environment around people who truly care about your well-being, the benefits outweigh the risks in many cases. A person can quite literally rewire their brain and start to heal from depression, anxiety, PTSD or other types of mental health issues. I ain't gonna lie: I thought this was absolute bullshit until I started to actively work to sort out my own issues.

The best part is that psychedelics are mostly self-regulating and a tolerance is formed lightning fast. If you are crazy enough to want to trip several days in a row, it can get super inefficient, super quick.

For the first few months of alcohol sobriety, I was going on some universe hopping adventures, having multiple breakthrough experiences and having a grand ol' time. Then, it just slowed down. I don't know how to say it accurately, but I found what I was looking for and was able to resolve some deep inner conflict.

I still trip on occasion, but at fractions of my previous dosages. I don't need those deep experiences any more and I can continue my recovery at the speed of reality.

Psychedelics aren't inherently dangerous, but they are extremely powerful and demands serious respect. Alcohol is just straight-up dangerous. There are people in my life still that are still killing themselves slowly with the stuff and it sucks to watch.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I guess I would be one of them. Back in high school, it was the only other drug I tried once outside of pot. Then, I proceeded to never have it again until my friends (also same friends from high school) started getting it more and more lately. I barely get to see them but I would say it's probably once every 4-6 months now that I dive in.

I do think the gateway to this was the readily available chocolate shroom bars that were popping up everywhere were I live and got us all to just say sure why not. Now it's a mix of that and also just its self plain or chop it up and steep it for a tea. We all love it and have some great times together doing it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

A vape shop I get my weed from (I'm in a legal state and it's locally sourced, so somewhat less sketchy than your average vape shop weed) got something similar to chocolate shroom bars and I've certainly considered it, but, again, vape shop. Don't buy weird shit from a vape shop.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 4 months ago

I think that’s probably for the best, because macrodosing on alcohol as a society isn’t fixing anything.

Ok, that was too deep maybe. No, I’m not on mushrooms. But I am a believer in psychedelics having positives.