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Unpredictability of my mushrooms

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Rising Star
Hello all,

I'll get straight in here; OK, well, my first trip was quite difficult, my second trip was very soft, slow, and good for meditation, healing and well-being, however my trip last night was kinda hellish.

So I'm now wondering what is influencing this..? My thoughts go untouched, I don't lose myself, however the experience like last-night was just very uncomfortable, it felt like I was trapped in this state by which I just had to sit through and just observe. It was kinda erratic, and really non-stable. Geometry fluctuated quite a bit which reflects my general state at that time, and the geometry went quite dark and alien, which felt invasive. There wasn't any euphoria, just a feeling of pressure. When I got up to do something I could focus well which closed it down, but as soon as I lay down it opened again, naturally.

Anyhow, now I'm thinking how to take them at a 'better' time. I know these sort of hallucinogens are just opening us up to a reflection of an aspect of ourselves, and so how you are at that moment when consuming can influence it greatly, however with Ayahuasca for example, I've only ever had one 'bad' trip. Mushrooms seem to really amplify one's state in that moment. The first time I took them a few weeks back I was very tired, and the third-time -last-night, I was really tired. Mentally I was just empty. I've been studying long hard hours of Engineering which can really brain-kill. So, I know it wasn't the best time, but I'm suspecting with mushrooms, I should never take when tired. I thinking this is maybe the main reason. It may be obvious to some, but for Ayahuasca, it's completely different and doesn't matter how tired I am so much.

I was wondering if there is any scientific research which shows that when the brain is depleted of some 'thing' like from studying too much, that when having mushrooms, they will function very differently?


However, back to study I go!
 
I find mushrooms to be somewhat unpredictable.
I've noticed that sometimes even though it feels right its actually the wrong time to do them. sometimes its a leap of faith. I'm careful of set and setting and try to make sure everything is as good as I can make it before using them. In my own body i've noticed an interesting phenomenon that sometimes I'm an unaware that my body is actually fighting something like a low grade cold or infection of some type. I find mushrooms to be really counter indicated to any kind of physical infection. They can make you feel very tired and just crappy overall. That's simply the physical side of things not even taking in to consideration ones latent mental state. Sometimes we are unaware that we are actually in a bad mindset and the mushrooms bring to the forefront something we didn't know was there in the first place. Never the less I remain strong in my belief that these plant teachers are good and that we can learn regardless of the type of trip we have.
I find the best approach is to set things up so you can give the mushroom your undivided uninterrupted attention rather than needing to repress the trip to try to function in any kind of normal life situation.
 
I agree with what you are saying. Where you mention that it's as if the body is trying to fight it, like an infection, -this strikes me somewhat. I'm going to give this some more thought. I know that if you don't allow the space to flow through you then you create a resistance which in turns creates friction, and this is what we recognize as 'fear', however when on Ayahuasca (for comparison) the 'fear' reaction plays out in a different way for me. I'm suspecting that on mushrooms it can possibly (at least for me) play out in a physical way, like a sickness? Thinking about it, it really seems like that sort of reaction for me.. and I'm suspecting this reaction comes about because my body physically is just depleted and refuses/rejects anything that keeps it open(/awake). So there's a clash happening here? ..This actually feels like the problem? I mean I am completely depleted, mentally and physically ( I work my sack off).. and I find mushrooms very difficult to close down on (sleep).

I'm going to try again this weekend if I have enough time. I'll make sure that I have plenty of energy, and have really recovered, then I'll post results.

(btw, I can't weigh the mushrooms, so I just take my own heuristic approach).


If people could mention any physical 'negative' effects to mushrooms they have had, including details, like how how tired they was etc, it would be greatly appreciated. If I could sort this for myself it could possible help many others who have similar issues.
 
Mushrooms are only as unpredictable and various as life itself :)

Sometimes we experience pleasure, sometimes we experience pain. Sometimes we have beatific visions and sometimes we feel downright poisoned. Add powerful psychedelic drugs into the mix and this oscillation of experience is only going to be amplified a billion-fold.

IMO, I think your own words are the key: "Just sit through and observe." But personally I think this should be the approach in any situation-- whether the trip is going well or horribly.

But then, I'm not much of a recreational user these days. It's my opinion that there's a great deal of value in the very uncertainty of the mushroom experience.

Nonetheless, I hope your next experience is better for you than the last!
 
And yes, I have occasionally experienced horrible symptoms from mushrooms. The most common, for me, is just a slight nausea that permeates the trip and gives me a feeling of "I've ingested something that's made me sick. WHY did I do this?"

But I have also-- rarely-- had more intense symptoms. Really bad nausea the one time I ate fresh mushrooms in London and walked around an art museum. And once, after eating an 8th of dried mushrooms, I experienced one of the worst headaches I've ever had, but only after I was coming down. In retrospect this was probably a dehydration headache. But it was so bad that I puked.

In my most recent trips (which have been spaced out by years), I have found a reliable way to reduce nausea, which may or may not work for other people. Here is my method:

1. Grind dried cubensis. Make sure they don't look nasty. If it doesn't look like something I would eat as food, then I don't ingest it. I have eaten gnarly looking cubes in the past and they make you feel just about like what eating gnarly looking crimini would.

2. Steep shrooms in lemon juice for 20 minutes.

3. Bring a couple cups of water to boil. Add some chamomile tea, or whatever tea you prefer. Also add plenty of fresh diced ginger and maybe a teaspoon or tablespoon of honey.

4. Add lemon-steeped shrooms. Boil 10 minutes.

5. Take the tea off heat and let steep for another 10-20 minutes.

6. Filter tea through coffee filter into a cup.

7. Enjoy! I like to drink my tea with some 80-90% dark chocolate, or 100% baker's cocoa.


Again, this works reliably FOR ME to reduce troublesome physical symptoms. Maybe it will work for you too :)
 
I've never tried using lemon or boiling, and I don't have any problems with nausea or stomach discomfort, but maybe it can still be a plus for me.

I normally eat dry or put it in some herbal tea.

The mushrooms I have were homegrown B+'s, but I'm curious to see how different mushrooms affect the experience. My first mushroom experience 7 years ago or so was so so different, and absolutely mind blowing with the visuals and body-load.

Does anyone have much experience with vit c and mushrooms, or can provide me with interesting links? Whilst I'm having these 'negative' experiences I feel like I need vit c or something sweet.. Body telling me something maybe?
 
What I like about boiling / tea is that you don't have to eat the mushroom flesh itself, which for me (and it may just be psychological or whatever) seems to cause unpleasant bodyload etc.

Your symptoms almost sound more like "bad trip" symptoms though. Just not enjoying the state of intoxication you're in. Feeling "trapped" in a state which isn't pleasant etc. Sounds like maybe you have expectations of what a trip "should" be, and when it turns out otherwise you don't like it. Or maybe I'm getting it completely wrong. I've had expectation related negativity before and I can understand how unpleasant it is. But again, mushrooms are inherently unpredictable, and I've learned after dozens of dozens of experiences that it's most interesting when I just sit back and observe whatever is happening in my body and mind, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Just let go.

But to be honest, it sounds like you just aren't in the right place for a psychedelic experience right now. Reading the internet can make the psychedelic experience seem like such a casual thing, something that people can or should just "do" whenever they feel like. I think that for certain individuals, extensive and prolonged use of psychs can be fine and sometimes even beneficial. But I also think a lot of people abuse psychedelics, even though the common rhetoric is that psychs are "non addictive" and "self regulating."

Is it possible you just need to wait a few months, a year, two years, before voyaging into mushroom space again?
 
And to answer your question re: vitamin c. It is my understanding that it's the acidity of vitamin c that has an effect on the trip, and this is somewhat contested. Personally I find using lemon juice seems to make the trip come on faster and stronger. There is less of a come up and the come down is more abrupt as well. Others say they don't notice any difference. But the theory behind lemon tek / vitamin c is that the psilocybin is broken down into psilocin, if I understand correctly. This is what would happen in your stomach anyway; the lemon juice performs the work so that your stomach doesn't have as much work to do. That's a pretty layman understanding and I could have it wrong. All I know is that I enjoy it combined with a tea tek moreso than eating dry cubes.

There are hundreds of threads on lemon tek on the shroomery, nexus, and elsewhere. Is this what you mean about info re: vitamin c? I think if you use straight-up vitamin c it will be pretty much the same as a lemon tek. Just do 5 minutes of googling :)
 
Thanks for the responses there. I'm sure there must be more to the vitamin c on the body, but what you mention sounds like a good thing to try out.

The bad trip is primarily down to the physical discomfort. It's hard to put my finger on though. It's like I feel a strain, pressure of some sort, and that gives me some feelings of wanting to purge slightly. Like I say, hard to explain. Setting is probably the best I've had so far, renting a house in Sweden out in nature, forests and lakes all over, beautiful. Mental setting is pretty clear, I've certainly no 'major' issues or anything. I've also been doing hallucinogens for about 10 years now, but it has mainly been Ayahuasca.

I take this stuff very seriously and I'm very clear on my constructive intent before use. So in the mental aspect of hallucinogens, I'm pretty comfortable, and know the key principles to apply, such as not fearing, letting go, not expecting, and pretty much not doing anything. The title of my post wasn't quite right, so apologies there. Unpredictability is always a factor with hallucinogens, however with these mushrooms, the 'flow' of the experience fluctuates quite widely, whereas with Ayahuasca, it can be a very diverse experience but there's a 'familiarity' I'm used, also like the other substances I've tried.

If I can clear this up I can relax more, and learn from the experience. The second experience I had not so long ago was one of those, I meditated through the experience and it acted as a really good catalyst for it.

Oh, I do want to restate, I normally 'do' make the timing and setting -everything 'right' but lately with me being so busy I've been wanting to squeeze in a trip, and I guess from the results, it wasn't quite good timing! : )

I'm going to try the lemon juice, as well as getting some good rest!
 
Oh have to mention, I was having trouble sleeping, and so got up to go to my office, (can't remember the reason) however I was looking out of the window, the landscape here is covered in snow, so it's pretty much all white, but then all of a sudden I see this huge black thing appearing suddenly from the right, my jaw dropped, -it was a huge moose! I was brought up in a city and I'm not used to seeing something like that, so I was amazed! Walked right through the garden. It was sniffing at our apple trees. I then ran down stairs to find something I could feed it with (I know!) the best thing I had was lettuce! Anyhow, crazy idea but I thought I would give it a shot, so I went back upstairs went on to the balcony and threw the thing in the garden, but as soon as it saw me it just started running. I didn't think it would be that scared with it been so big and awesome looking : )
 
haha that's awesome. I live in a pretty wild area with a lot of eagles, bears, etc, but I still haven't seen a moose!

Sorry if I sounded condescending or whatever telling you how/when to trip. Sounds like you're more experienced than I realized.

I dunno, maybe just stick with ayahuasca if the shrooms aren't working out for ya! Personally I've found that I have a much better "relationship" with shrooms than LSD, so that's what I stick to these days. I've never done aya though, or mescaline... would love to try both someday! Might do a cactus trip for my birthday this year.
 
Personally, i would never take mushrooms without a scale. I find it very easy to take too much or too little by eye, which can be very overwhelming or underwelming respectively.

I have also had many of the negative sensations others described here, such as the nausea, energy depletion, and feverish feelings. I also get numbness in the lips, congestion, slowness in breathe, and weird sensations of circulation in my hands or feet that can be a little frightening at the time. They always pass though after i peak and i feel like i can better anticipate the experience now compared to when i was first compelled to take them.

I also find they amplify whatever emotions I am feeling around that time, from stress to happiness. I usually book off a day before and after my expeience to prepare mentally and integrate the experiene after. I avoid taking them while stressed, tired, or while my house is messy to avoid amplification of those negative feelings.

This is just anecdote, not research like you asked for.
 
Learning said:
haha that's awesome. I live in a pretty wild area with a lot of eagles, bears, etc, but I still haven't seen a moose!

Sorry if I sounded condescending or whatever telling you how/when to trip. Sounds like you're more experienced than I realized.

I dunno, maybe just stick with ayahuasca if the shrooms aren't working out for ya! Personally I've found that I have a much better "relationship" with shrooms than LSD, so that's what I stick to these days. I've never done aya though, or mescaline... would love to try both someday! Might do a cactus trip for my birthday this year.
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No worries, I'd probably say the same. It's a bit hard to judge anything exactly on here with it just being text.

I still have quite a lot of mushrooms left so I'm going to finish them. I know they have a huge potential for benefits, whether the experience is comfortable or not. I then at some point would like to try a different strain of mushroom to see how it varies, but in the end, Ayahuasca will always be close to me. I work so well with it.

By the way which country are you in? if you don't mind? I'm in Sweden. Temporarily though. I think I'll stay for a year more then I want to move to a more tropical country. Was thinking New Zealand at some point.
 
SkyKitty said:
Personally, i would never take mushrooms without a scale. I find it very easy to take too much or too little by eye, which can be very overwhelming or underwelming respectively.

I have also had many of the negative sensations others described here, such as the nausea, energy depletion, and feverish feelings. I also get numbness in the lips, congestion, slowness in breathe, and weird sensations of circulation in my hands or feet that can be a little frightening at the time. They always pass though after i peak and i feel like i can better anticipate the experience now compared to when i was first compelled to take them.

I also find they amplify whatever emotions I am feeling around that time, from stress to happiness. I usually book off a day before and after my expeience to prepare mentally and integrate the experiene after. I avoid taking them while stressed, tired, or while my house is messy to avoid amplification of those negative feelings.

This is just anecdote, not research like you asked for.
Click to expand...

Yeah I wish I had some accurate scales but I don't.

I'm going to see how this goes. I'll try using the lemon, and actually have less in my stomach as I've actually been kinda full when ingesting! also going to have a long sleep, a meditation, and then see how it goes.
 
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