Psilocybin dose-dependently causes delayed, transient headaches in healthy volunteers

[stuartroelke]

Having now read the paper, it appears tha headache occurred at least sometimes even at the lowest dose in the study (5mg, standardised for bodyweight), and there appeared to be a correlation between dose size and both frequency and duration of headaches.

How does this measure up in comparison to your microdose?

Unfortunate, but also perhaps understandable, that there was no mention of controlling for coffee/caffeine intake in the study, although I've only skimmed the article so far and certainly haven't read the fine print!

That's exactly why I'm fascinated. I started inconsistently with 100mg of dry material, eventually moving toward a consistent schedule as the cognitive benefits became apparent. This is where the random headaches started. Then they gradually diminished over the course of a month and stopped completely before titrating to 200mg.

I haven't noticed any side effects since. Just some minor oddness when I first began integrating Hericium erinaceus extract into my daily routine.

 

[Transform]

That's exactly why I'm fascinated. I started inconsistently with 100mg of dry material, eventually moving toward a consistent schedule as the cognitive benefits became apparent. This is where the random headaches started. Then they gradually diminished over the course of a month and stopped completely before titrating to 200mg.

I haven't noticed any side effects since. Just some minor oddness when I first began integrating Hericium erinaceus extract into my daily routine.

Well, I'm both glad and equally as intrigued as you to hear that the headaches have cleared up on having increased the dose!

 

[doubledog]

I also was having headaches after the end of each mushroom experience. It was not very strong, but quite annoying. Then I started to use extracted caapi alkaloids before ingesting mushroom tea (of course my intention was to enjoy a synergy between these compounds) and headaches dissapeared completely.

 

[murklan]

I also was having headaches after the end of each mushroom experience. It was not very strong, but quite annoying. Then I started to use extracted caapi alkaloids before ingesting mushroom tea (of course my intention was to enjoy a synergy between these compounds) and headaches dissapeared completely.

I'm curious, what other effects did the caapi alkaloids have? And how much did you take, and if you might compare that to a amount of Syrian Rue, what might it equal to? I've had Syrian Rue with mushroom tea several times. I felt that the experience was more turned/tuned inwards then with mushroom alone.

 

[ommani]

I’ve had some wicked headaches from psilocybin, mescaline, and LSD, but not every time. In my experience, these headaches are unpredictable and can come with the territory.

Conversely, I’ve found psilocybin to be extremely helpful for alleviating headaches, particularly since I don’t like to use otc pain medications, and don’t have any at home.

Since before the start of Covid, I’ve been working in various human services settings with vulnerable populations and have been more or less required to stay up to date with the Covid vaccines, which I’ve done.

Getting those vaccinations caused extreme/debilitating headaches for me, which were entirely/almost entirely alleviated by low doses of cubensis mushrooms in the 2-400mg range.

About a year ago, I got a serious headache from mescaline/SP cactus. Taking a low dose of psilocybin alleviated the headache and substantially intensified the trip.

 

[doubledog]

I'm curious, what other effects did the caapi alkaloids have? And how much did you take, and if you might compare that to a amount of Syrian Rue, what might it equal to? I've had Syrian Rue with mushroom tea several times. I felt that the experience was more turned/tuned inwards then with mushroom alone.

It greatly improved the experience overall - first unpleasant phase of tension, fear and all that stuff at the beginning is shortened for me, visions are more colourful and complex, insights are more clear and prominent, body high substantially increased, effects on mood and ability to go deep into your mind/spirit is also enhanced. It also adds some positive mood baseline, everything is more joyfull, and at the same time more serious. It also adds some funny crazyness.

When I took just shrooms, I felt somehow drained after the experience (headaches are part of that feeling), when combined with caapi alks, it is never the case - I feel much better when it ends. Afterglow is also significantly better.

Overall it changes mushroom experience so much that I came to the conclusion that psilocin does not work properly without it. DMT does not work orally at all without harmaloids, and psilocin works only partially without them.
Ime psilohuasca is quite similar to ayahuasca, by comparing them it is quite clear what is the effect of caapi itself in the combination.

I take 20-25 mg of alkaloids sublingually (it is much more bioactive that way, has almost no taste and works very quickly) 10 minutes before ingesting mushroom lemon tea. I also adjust dose of shrooms to 2/3 of my normal dose.

I can not comment on syrian rue, never used it in combination with shrooms. I would also not use caapi or rue brew itself due to risk of nausea. I got more than enough nausea and puking from ayahuasca.