Muscimol, the main active ingredient in Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric) mushroom is a GABA receptor agonist with various medicinal properties, especially in the nervous system. A review of neuropathic pain treatment cited studies where muscimol was injected into the spine, brain, abdomen, under the skin and into the foot of rats. Onset of pain relief was 15 minutes and lasted 3 hours. Spinal injections for pain arising from spinal cord injury seems especially promising.
The active ingredient of this magic mushroom also has free radical scavenging antioxidant activity and neuroprotective effects. Studies show it has suppressive effects on essential tremor without impairing speech or coordination, making it a candidate for treatment of Parkinson's disease. Very low doses of muscimol in tandem with baclofen improve cognitive deficits and regulate protein expression in rats with Alzheimer's disease.
Muscimol has anticonvulsant activity against some types of drug-induced seizures in rats. However, higher doses can cause slowed movement, catatonia, and nervous system depression (coma). It's anti-seizure properties are being implemented for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. A phase-1 human trial injected muscimol directly into the brains of patients. Although this is an extreme example, it's anti-seizure properties make it a good treatment for epilepsy and related disorders.
People brought up some good points in the comments. I talked a bit about preparation and toxicity. Dosing is more difficult to figure out. It's hard to find good information on the topic surprisingly, so I experimented on myself with incrementally increasing micro doses. It's important to do your own research, as there are lots of nuances. For example, mushrooms contain vitamins, but they can also accumulate heavy metals in areas if it is present in the soil. They are also susceptible to worm infestation or other pathogens. Most research studies mentioned used pure extracted muscimol.
I'm trying to figure out how to extract muscamol. That would be reeeeeally nice.
Attention because the fly agaric is also a poisonous mushroom. In Italy it causes a few deaths a year.
Yes, much research and caution is needed when preparing and eating mushrooms. We had our mushrooms identified by an expert. If the correct mushrooms are prepared right and taken in appropriate doses, it's relatively safe. The golden rule of edibles is start low and go slow. I also like the general rule: Don't stick it in your mouth! And there's probably a lot of good sayings about drinking that could be applied to mushrooms too.
Well, it's only poisonous if you don't dry or cook it properly... and by "poisonous" I mean that you might throw up, or get indigestion the next day, or get sedated. It's not dangerous unless you really screw up, on a regular basis, or for small people to take a massive dose. With a $60 dehydrator and about 12 hours these mushrooms are ready to go! But yes, if you're not sure what you're doing, don't do it.
I can't tell if the gagging is because of toxicity or because of learned aversion after puking after a big dose. Every single bit is gagalicious now. I should try mushroom tea one of these days.
The most important thing is to prepare it properly before use. Amanita must be properly dried and aged for at least 2 months, which means that most of the dangerous substances are removed. used this way, it is more likely to cause the user to see dwarves in the event of an overdose (or to deliberately take more) than to poison him.
I don't think you need to age it if it's properly dehydrated, but you could just to make sure. It's recommended to keep them out of sunlight to make them last longer. If you try to get rid of too much of the "poison"(Ibotenic acid), you can also degrade away the muscimol and muscazone. High doses of pure muscimol can put someone in a coma, though, so there are different types of "poison". Some people eat the mushrooms raw on purpose to get the ibotenic acid. Apparently it's a strong neurotoxin that puts holes in the brain, but so does alcohol.
A lot of fly agaric "poisonings" are when pets or kids eat the mushrooms raw because they're so little and the mushrooms they find are often fresh, potent little caps that can be eaten in one bite. It can be quite an issue during prolific mushroom seasons.
So the issue of proper protection against conditions is also important. sun and oxidation are also problems.
Well, children are always a problem, but there's nothing you can do about it. Parents must supervise their small children and make older children aware that these mushrooms are not safe to eat.
btw. Merry Christmas ! :)
I don't have any information about the benefits of mushrooms. Frankly, it hasn't caught my attention yet. Traditionally, I find mushrooms that grow in season in the forest and consume them. These are what I collected yesterday.
What kind of mushrooms are those? When you say you pick ones you find in the forest, do you eat them indiscriminately, or do you find out if they're edible first? We have some deadly ones around here in B.C., Canada. I think I also found some psylocibins one day, but didn't pick them...but someone else did before I went back for them. It's hard to find out how poisonous certain varieties are because a lot of websites label "psychedellic" or "psyhoactive" as poisonous.
To add to the confusion, some are both psychoactive and poisonous, some are so poisonous they're deadly, and some are only poisonous if uncooked. Fly agarics can be dried so that they're psychoactive but not poisonous, but they can also be cooked so that they're neither poisonous nor psychoactive, or what a lot of people call "edible"...I'd call them culinary mushrooms.
The local name for it is chintar. Here (Turkey - Aegean Region) it grows under coniferous pine trees when there is sufficient rainfall between October and February. They are found in the moisture under dry leaves. It is the species we have been eating for years. We haven't had any problems, but 5-6 people a year can lose their lives due to unconscious collecting. This is the information I got from local sources. It is not a problem for us, it is a species we have known for a long time.
Me too. I didnt know much about mushroom. I only knew that some variety can be eaten and others are not edible.
Mushroom poisoning is quite an interesting topic. After eating shaggy mains this year I read afterwards that if you ingest alcohol within 72 hours it can be very actually poisonous. Luckily I don't drink alcohol very often. That would be bad to give to someone and assure them that they're edible, but then they have a glass of wine with dinner, oops!
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