Could Psilocybin cure mental health issues?

[Lockedoorsopen]

NC

I watched a couple of really interning films this weekend. One was 'Fantastic Fungi" and another was 'Magic medicine'. Both were talking about the effects that Psilocybin can have on curing mental health.

(For anyone that does'nt know what Psilocybin is - its the active ingredient in magic mushrooms)

There was an interesting study in the U.K with macrodosing ( large quantities) and I think one is Canada has just started.

I have seen quite a few sites on macro dosing - very small doses ( not enough to get high) and people have been saying that its massively improved their lives.

Psilocybin is actually illegal in this country and thats why its been so hard to even get permission to have these trials/studies.

I am just wondering if people have heard of this or what their views on it were

Thank you

@SobranieCocktail

Cool! So do you wait until it's all white and fuzzy, then transfer it into another container with space for it to fruit?

Yes, you wait until it's solid white. They you soak it in water for 24 hours and then roll it in vermiculite. The verm sticks to it. You put out on a clear tub with a few holes drilled into it and spray it twice a day. You get knots that appear, then tiny pins and then pins turn into mushrooms. You twist them off and wait for more. When they are done you soak it again and repeat the process. You can do this 2-4 times.

With the popcorn you put coir in the tub, mix the popcorn with it and then put a thin layer of coir over the top. Spray it and wait a few weeks. Sale process but you get a flat bed of mushrooms instead of a cake.

You harvest them just before the veil breaks and if you cut a cap off and basically remove the Stem, you sit it on sterilised tiny foil. Add a few drops of water onto the cap and cover it with a glass for 48 hours. Then the veil breaks and the mushroom releases it's spores. You are left with the most beautiful purple black print. You can use this to make a spore syringe or culture it to agar plates and then cut these into wedges and add them to corn jars. Then you have the process repeated again

I can totally understand how you find it an enjoyable hobby! I've actually ordered an easy "sprinkle bag" and a syringe of spores.

@SobranieCocktail

I can totally understand how you find it an enjoyable hobby! I've actually ordered an easy "sprinkle bag" and a syringe of spores.

Good luck! I am excited to hear about how you get on.

Sounds exciting!

I am in awe of your cultivation skills McScreamy's....sounds brilliant! Speaking as someone who has just made their first foray into mycological cultivation with an edible oyster mushroom kit, which worked....semi OK (got some lovely mushrooms, but after a week they stopped fruiting and died).

Advice from a friend here:

Not the right time of year, but probably the easiest way to get psilocybin in the UK is pick your own. In the autumn after rain, on unfertilised moorland or upland pastures. Google Psilocybe Semilanceata for images and description.

My problem with microdosing is that it makes me feel intensely relaxed and chilled and makes me want to lie down, so for me only good if I was planning a very lazy day anyway. I ate as I picked on Dartmoor this autumn- only 5 or 6 over the course of the day- and it was nice- I could definitely feel the effects- but I felt I really couldn't take any more as I had to stay fairly compos mentis so as not to get lost!

I would say 30 or 40 is about right if you want a decent trip. 100 is rather a lot!!

....says my friend

Yes, it seems quite technical. I looked into lions mane cultivation. You can get kits online but haven’t tried it yet. Love the username crackofdoom That’s exactly how I feel waking up in the pitch black in winter.

I saw a documentary on this too. They were making really good headway on research and then Reagan started 'the war on drugs' and for political reasons the research was unfunded. It's had a stigma ever since making it hard (and illegal) to do research.

In the doc, they showed a study where people were dosed under very controlled circumstances, and basically they used the drug to 'rewire' their brains. Amazing.

It makes sense to research a potent substance that in early trials has Shown such promise.

@McScreamysGhostPants

Ive name changed for this.

I watched the same programmes a while back. Started doing research etc. I'm bipolar, 42 yo and suffer with PTSD from sexual abuse. I have had LOTS of therapy and can cope without constant prescribed drugs but ended up self medicating with booze and cigarettes.

Last august I bit the bullet and started cultivating some b+magic mushrooms. Ended up with a decent yield and started microdosing late November. My sister also started at the same time as she suffers anxiety and depression due to our childhood and again drinks too much.

If I have fresh mushrooms then I take 4g finely chopped every 3-5 days. Dried I take 0.4g. I have taken less some days, and a little more others. I have had zero side effects other than mild nausea ( they don't taste particularly nice). I have had no other come down. But I am happier than I have been in decades. I feel like I felt before I was raped and abused. I feel lighter, like a weight has been lifted from my mind and my body. My marriage has been totally rejuvenated and I am absolutely head over heels in love with my husband where 4 months ago I did love him but it's like I was going through the motions and he was "alright". I'm more productive. And I'm at peace. I'm not over thinking things. And best of all for me I've quit smoking and barely even had 15 units of alcohol this month.

It's transformed my life.

This is amazing, so happy for you.

@crackofdoom

I would love to go foraging but I'm quite badly disabled. So for me it's home grown.

I love the oyster mushrooms, we have a mushroom farm by us and for £18 you get a HUGE variety of mushrooms weighing 1.5kg delivered to your door. I treat myself every few months and what I can't eat in a week I dry and put in a kilner jar for chilli and soup.

@LittleSnakes

You have got on a really good point. Mushrooms tend to be in 4 groups. Gourmet ( button, chestnut, oyster, shiitake etc) , medicinal ( lions mane, chicken of the woods. Turnkey tail), psychoactive ( cubes etc) or DO NOT TOUCH.

Lions mane has been scientifically proven to increase neural connections in the brain. It can help with memory loss and make brand new pathways. It's also delicious and kind of sea foody. By combining psilocybin and lions mane you can literally improve your brain and over come long standing mental health issues. Turkey tail is another miracle mushroom. When paired with paclitaxel and Trastuzumab it can really help to trigger an immune response to fight certain breast cancers.

There is so much knowledge that our ancestors had and then men discovered science and their arrogance undid a millennia of knowledge. Thank good we are rediscovering it now.

It’s just fascinating what mushrooms can do. And also how widespread they are but how they’ve been largely ignored as well. Just because a lot of it is under the ground. What does Lions Mane taste like?

Ah, I bought some lions mane capsules, having seen one of Stamet's lectures about fungi. Started taking them yesterday. I'll report back if I notice anything!

@LittleSnakes

It’s just fascinating what mushrooms can do. And also how widespread they are but how they’ve been largely ignored as well. Just because a lot of it is under the ground. What does Lions Mane taste like?

When it's fresh it's actually quite delicious. I would say it's like no other mushroom and kind of reminds me of scampi or lobster. It's beautiful too, grows down like a hanging plant or an icicle. You can buy fresh grow kits from Isle of wight mushrooms. The fresh cultivators have been out of stuff for ages, something to do with not getting the right substrate to grow them. You can but capsules of dried lions mane and tincture. IOW does both I think but Amazon should have them too

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge @McScreamysGhostPants

I've been wanting to try microdosing for a couple of years and got as far as importing some ready grown mycelium from the Netherlands. It yielded a couple of mushrooms - definitely not worth the expense! Nor would that method be sustainable.

So you have inspired me to give it another go and this time grow my own. Vermiculite and spores etc are ordered! Thank you again for all the tips and the photos.

@bluelemming

Please don't get disheartened off your first attempt doesn't work. You only need 1-2 ml of spore solution per tub/bag if you start small and the syringe will keep well in the fridge.

The best tips for success are definitely sterility/hygiene. The risk of contamination is always present and even now I lose around a 1/5 off my inoculated tubs due to contam. I tend to really do clean my shower room. Hoover the ceiling, scrub the tiles, I even have a round scrubber to attach to my drill for the floor. Then I wipe everything down with bleach. Then I set out my 70% alcohol, sterile jars, syringes, etc and leave for half an hour. You want the air as still and as clean as possible. Some people use a big plastic clear box with hand holes cut in (a still air box) but that's just too fiddly for me.

Is also important to learn the field capacity of your verm/rice flour mix so it's not too wet and not too dry. It's all a learning curve but I love it. Just got 24 little 350ml jars delivered today and spent the morning fitting them with syringe ports and filters so I can make smaller weekly flushes add I don't really like dried mushrooms. The fresh are much better for me.

@McScreamysGhostPants I was wondering if it kept well enough in the fridge so that's good to know.

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole online and seems like with my adhd, Uncle Ben's Tek(?) might be the best thing to try because it seems easier to get the contamination part right. Also low investment so I can try it out before investing in any actual kit (and I can buy it at the local supermarket lol!)

Do you find the house (with central heating or whatever) is adequate when it comes to warmth? I keep seeing heat pads and things, but again, seemed like a lot of outlay just to try it out.

[quote ThatsWhatHeSayid]@McScreamysGhostPants I was wondering if it kept well enough in the fridge so that's good to know.

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole online and seems like with my adhd, Uncle Ben's Tek(?) might be the best thing to try because it seems easier to get the contamination part right. Also low investment so I can try it out before investing in any actual kit (and I can buy it at the local supermarket lol!)

Do you find the house (with central heating or whatever) is adequate when it comes to warmth? I keep seeing heat pads and things, but again, seemed like a lot of outlay just to try it out. [/quote]

I ABSOLUTELY used domestic temps for my first few attempts. Nothing special at all but it does take longer the cooler it is. If you have an airing cupboard then put it on the floor in there?

And I've never done the rice packs myself but I agree that it would be the cheapest way to start. You could buy 10 packs of rice ( it doesn't HAVE to be uncle bens, any plain micro rice will normally do) mictopore and a spore syringe for cheap enough. Deffo worth an experiment!

Thank you @McScreamysGhostPants - very useful info re the importance of sterility. That's the bit I'm most apprehensive about really. Can I ask how you fit the filters and induction ports to the lids please?

@bluelemming

Thank you *@McScreamysGhostPants* - very useful info re the importance of sterility. That's the bit I'm most apprehensive about really. Can I ask how you fit the filters and induction ports to the lids please?

You drill holes in the lids, then the filters are just self adhesive patches. The filter ports are rubbery so pop into place. You put a little heart safe silicone on the but the touches the lid and wiggle it in.

@McScreamysGhostPants Thank you! I'm nearly ready to give it a go. I have everything apart from the 70% alcohol and a sterile bathroom, but I will hopefully have both those things by the weekend.

My DH thinks I'm completely mad

I've inoculated my sprinkle bag.

@SobranieCocktail

I've inoculated my sprinkle bag.

Exciting!!

I've found contamination in two of my cultures today 😭. Looks like lipstick mould so going to dump it. Mycelium souls always be white. If you disturb it it can bruise a blue shade but should recover to white nice and quick. Thankfully the test look like they should be ok.

I'm reading and amazed.

It sounds so technical. I'm not nearly enough of a detail person to make a cultivation work. Which is annoying.

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria
I'm amazed too but I think I would struggle with the detail. Just watched a video about the Uncle Bens method which looks a lot more up my street!

@McSreamyghostpants, thank you so much for all the info. I also went and picked a few dozen Liberty Caps in the autumn and have been micro dosing. I looked to see what others were measuring as a dose and the images were of a quarter inch piece. But that would be way less than 0.4 of a gram. So have ordered some jeweller's scales to see what that looks like. I have not noticed any lessening of low level depression and maybe that is because my dose is too micro.
Just one question as I am also keen to start growing them myself; what kind of tool are you using to make that hole in the jar lid? Is it a particularly large drill bit and how do you stop the lid from skidding about while you are drilling?
Many thanks for starting this thread, it's fab.

I use this drill bit, and just hold the lid in place. This drill bit is the exact size for the syringe ports and adhesive filters I've also attached. I used a heat safe silicone to firmly attach the Syringe port.