Drying and the real content of "snacks"
Above I have written that the fly agaric contains "this and that". But a reasonable question arises: in what quantities is all this presented there? The only reasonable answer is: I don't know.
The fact is that the amount and ratio of "active" substances varies depending on many factors, among which there are parameters that are not always available for assessment, such as the place of growth, the age of fruit bodies, storage and processing conditions.
By the way, the content of active substances is different not only among different specimens of the same species of fungus, but also in the mushroom itself - there are more psychoactive substances in the caps than in the legs. And one more point on the topic: the widespread opinion about a much larger amount of muscimol and ibotenic acid in the "skin" has not been confirmed in studies.
All the substances listed at the beginning of the text (and a bunch of unlisted ones, of course) are contained in fresh fly agarics. However, I have them dried, and this also affects the result. For example, it has been shown that upon drying, ibotenic acid is transformed into muscimol (sic!).
Let's try, using open data, to estimate the approximate amount of each of the substances in the products consumed by the unlucky psychonaut (remembering that the estimates will turn out to be very approximate, since it is not possible to take into account all the parameters, and the variability is high).
So, we have data that one fruiting body of the fly agaric contains 6 mg. muscimol and 60 mg. ibotenic acid. The average fruiting body (what we are accustomed to call "mushroom") of the fly agaric, freshly picked, weighs 60-70 g, i.e. it turns out that fresh fly agarics contain about 1000 ppm (parts per million) of muscimol and 10,000 ppm of ibotenic acid.
But it should be remembered that drying itself can change the ratio of psychoactive (and not only) substances, so we will not proportionally recalculate the concentration for weight loss when excess moisture evaporates, but use the data of direct analysis of dry samples, which tell us that the concentration range Ibotenic acid in dry fly agaric is 10–2845 ppm, and muscimol in them is 46–1052 ppm.
Not the most convenient ranges, I must say. There were some mushrooms (five were analyzed), which contained much less / more active substances than all the others in the sample, but it is not clear from the research materials how correct it is to calculate the arithmetic mean (in fact, precisely because it is not known whether such a calculation will be methodologically correct, the researchers published such blurred ranges rather than providing a usable average estimate).
Other studies give an estimate for muscimol in dry red fly agarics in the region of 13–58 ppm, and ibotenic acid at 0.17–0.18% (ie 1700–1800 ppm) or 192–1260 ppm. Let's remember these numbers for now, they will be useful to us.
Alternative medicine use
Microdoses of fly agarics are used in alternative medicine as a medicine against nervous disorders. But it should be said right away that raw or not specially processed fly agarics are never used for medicinal purposes. Fresh mushrooms contain a dangerous poison that has a detrimental effect on the liver.
Some consider these mushrooms to be beneficial for the treatment of chronic dizziness, Parkinson's disease, and dementia. In addition, in alternative medicine, these red mushrooms are used as a medicine against nervous tics, depression, for the treatment of cerebral disorders.
Amanita has anti-inflammatory, bactericidal and antiseptic properties. Therefore, the mushroom extract is added to wound healing creams, which are useful for burns, frostbite, ulcers and some other skin diseases.
General information
Amanita muscaria is a special psychoactive mushroom.It is usually associated with a variety of coniferous and deciduous trees. In appearance, it is a grebe, covered with white, well-defined spots. Amanita muscaria is difficult to confuse with other individuals, so eating it by mistake is definitely not in danger.
Many sources mistakenly state that the use of this plant is fatal. However, based on statistical data, it is worth concluding that such an outcome is recorded quite rarely. Some peoples do not even think about what will happen if you eat the red fly agaric and calmly consume them after thorough heat treatment.
Amanita muscaria is usually known for its hallucinogenic properties. The reason for this effect is the compound muscimol. The mushroom is often used as an intoxicant in many regions of the world.
During its existence, treatment with red fly agaric has also been popular. Especially among traditional healers. The plant was actively studied, attributing a wide variety of properties to it.
Today, experts identify several varieties of amanita. Each of them has its own external features.
Toxicity of the red cap mushroom
At the beginning of its formation, the fly agaric resembles a rain mushroom, so people often confuse it, which provokes poisoning. Most often, small children suffer from the plant. As well as faces. Using it as a hallucinogenic drug.
Amanita as a drug is also widely used among addicts. The reason for this is the content of special biological substances in it, one of which is muscimol, a psychoactive component. To achieve a dangerous dosage, it is enough to use the cap of one plant, because it is in it that this component is contained. The highest concentration of muscimol was recorded with the onset of the summer period.
To get fatal, it is enough to use 15 hats. However, real deaths are rare. As verified data assure, tragic consequences are rare and in the 20th century this has not been recorded.
Traditional medicine recipes
Traditional healers have been using the healing properties of the "magic mushroom" for many centuries. Many of the ancient recipes have survived to this day. We have selected the most popular ones. But don't forget any fly agaric medicine has toxic properties. After preparing or using tinctures, be sure to wash your hands well. And finished preparations should be kept away from children.
With dermatitis
For the treatment of various kinds of skin diseases, folk healers resorted to the help of fly agarics. For the preparation of the medicinal tincture, no more than 5 mushrooms were used. They were finely chopped and put on the bottom of a liter jar. The vessel was closed and sent to a warm but dark place for 3 days. During this time, the mushrooms should start up the juice. On the fourth day, vodka was added to the vessel (about 1 cm higher than the mushrooms) and insisted for another 3 weeks. The finished product was used to wipe the affected skin. Do not apply the product directly to large areas. Treatment should be started with small areas so that the fly agaric extract does not cause allergies.
With varicose veins
As in the previous recipe, 5 fly agarics should be chopped and left in a glass vessel until the mushroom juice is formed. Drain the resulting juice, and squeeze the pulp into a separate vessel. Dilute the juice squeezed from the mushrooms with warm water (in a 1: 1 ratio). With the resulting product, wipe the sore spots twice a day, and then wrap it with an elastic bandage. Juice squeezed from mushrooms can be stored in the refrigerator for no longer than 4 days. The medicine should be diluted with water just before application to the skin.
How can fly agaric be useful?
Despite all its poisonous properties, fly agaric is useful and is often used in medicine. Some drugs contain substances contained in the fly agaric, and with their help, one or another disease is eliminated.So, for example, the action of a mushroom can be useful for:
- Sclerosis;
- Epileptic seizures;
- Malfunctions in the nervous system. Usually this is excessive excitability.
Additionally, with the help of special drugs, sleep disorders and inflammatory processes of working organs are treated. The fact is that many of the mushroom ingredients have antibiotic properties. Thus, with their help, there is a fight against bacteria and the elimination of blood clots.
Mushroom extract is able to save sick people from diseases of the central nervous system, cure neuralgia and alleviate suffering from osteochondrosis. With the help of tinctures, the respiratory organs are treated. Thus, patients are cured of tuberculosis, bronchitis and sputum get rid of.
To the content
Amanita as a drug
There are numerous cases when they were used to obtain a narcotic effect. Moreover, it is difficult to speak unequivocally about the reaction caused. At times, it can be unpredictable, provoking serious disturbances in well-being.
The United Kingdom even banned psilocybin mushrooms. However, despite this, in other countries, it continues to be actively used for a wide variety of purposes. For example, in Western Siberia, the plant is widely used by shamans to carry out mysterious rituals. With the help of them, people are introduced into a state of trance.
It is believed that the tincture of red mushroom was used by the Vikings. With her help, they gained the necessary rage and anger that they needed to carry out their forays. And a little later, tincture of red fly agaric was used by some peoples for ritual ceremonies. Today in many countries there is a ban on the cultivation, storage and use of a dangerous plant.
Why would you want to try?
If you are attracted by idle interest, it is better not to simply tempt fate and abandon this venture. If there is a good reason, this is your right. Any food affects the consciousness, for what is absorbed always becomes part of the absorbed. The ancients know about this, which is why they say that the parts determine the whole. Each plant has its own purpose. As a person has a soul, so plants and animals have it, only they have Mannas (soul) common to each species. In nature, there is an interesting feature when an individual animal acquires a new skill, the next generations of this species will already be born with this skill. Their common soul in the aggregate is something personal. And when you touch it, you merge into one whole. A person who has consumed a red fly agaric is united by his soul. Such a transcendental experience can have a very dramatic effect on a person's further perception of himself and the world around him. If contact is made regularly, an internal struggle begins. Subsequently, the confrontation, the personality of the fly agaric supplants the personality of the person, and he himself becomes a "mushroom", although outwardly he looks like a person.
Microdosing
I think the reader has already guessed that my main idea is to try what in certain circles is called "fly agaric microdosing."
In general, in a decent society, "microdosing" is not about "taking small doses of drugs", but about the so-called. phase zero clinical trials, when people are given small, known subtherapeutic doses of the drug in order to conduct pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies.
However, the term “microdosing” often refers to the long-term use of subtherapeutic doses of classic psychedelics. Therefore, the phrase "fly agaric microdosing" in itself is not fully correct (fly agaric does not belong to classical serotonergic psychedelics), but it is used, and I have not come across a better term. Moreover, it (this term) is still used for the use of red fly agaric.
The main idea is that, supposedly (not proven!), The consumption of small dosages of amanita (or its extracts) can bring some profit. It should be emphasized that many of those who practice microdosing do it not to achieve an altered state of consciousness / intoxication, but to improve the parameters of daily functioning.
S.P. Krasheninnikov noted that those taking fly agarics in small doses "feel extraordinary ... courage and vigor".
The problem is that, despite a certain number of posts on Reddit, Erovid, Bluelight and other drug addicts (oh, sorry, psychonaut) communities, microdosing with a fly agaric is an extremely poorly described phenomenon. The only sane study of at least expectations (not real effects, this is generally a question practically unknown to the current literature) from microdosing - it is not even about fly agarics, but about completely different mushrooms, which are forbidden to talk about.
Therefore, the only thing I can do here is to state the absolute underdevelopment of this issue. Well, and the degree of my own despair - since I decide to consume some strange thing, in favor of which I have no sane data, then, apparently, everything is completely bad.
Thanks to the wise anti-drug policy of my home government for the fact that drugs with proven efficacy and safety, used worldwide for the treatment of mental illness, are not available to me. But I won't become a drug addict. Or ... (oh!).
How to use fly agaric? Methods of use
Dry and eat - in a nutshell. Both types of fly agaric, red fly agaric (amanita muscarina) and leopard mushroom (amanita pantherina), contain several active substances, which can be divided into two groups: prush (mainly muscimol) and poisoning (mainly ibotenic acid). Both act on both the central and the autonomic nervous system, so fly agarics are both sedatives (sedatives) and hallucinogens, and give both mental and physical effects. If you gobble up raw fly agaric
, then nothing good will come of it. Muscimol, of course, will work, but ibotenic acid, which causes poisoning, accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea, will also work. To die, of course, you will not die, but there will be little pleasant in such a fly agaric trip.
How to partially get rid of ibotenic acid in mushrooms?
What to do? It is necessary to partially get rid of the ibotenic acid contained in the fly agaric. As you know, it decomposes with light heat treatment. For this, the fly agaric must be dried. This can be done either in the sun or in the oven. If drying mushrooms produced in the oven, the temperature should not exceed 80 ... 90 degrees. The fact is that muscimol also decomposes, but at a higher temperature. Therefore, if the fly agaric is dried for a long time at a high temperature or, for example, fried, then it will lose its psychotropic properties.
After drying, it is most convenient to crush dried amanita and put the resulting mushroom powder in a box. In this state, mushrooms can be stored for some time. It is known from experience that fly agarics become weaker from long storage. Months in 8 ... 9 - one and a half to two times, so keep this in mind when calculating dosages. When there is a desire to cheer up, you should get fly agaric powder, measure the required dose of amanita
, pour boiling water over it in a cup. The whole thing should be infused for several minutes, the liquid will acquire a brown color. After that, the fly agaric liquid is drunk.
The taste of the liquid is not very nasty, just mushroom. After The fly agaric liquid has been drunk, it makes sense to pour the rest of the boiling water one more time: there are still some prush psychotropic substances in the second batch. It also makes sense to add a little citric acid to the water: the acidic environment promotes better dissolution of fly agaric substances in water.You can, of course, just eat fly agaric powder or dried mushrooms, but the liquid is easier to use.
Every mushroom picker should know about this.
To avoid fly agaric poisoning, mushroom lovers must observe the following rules:
- Monitor the behavior of children if they are involved in mushroom picking or processing. It is necessary to explain to them the safety rules and monitor their observance. Remember - fly agaric poisoning is much harder for children than for adults.
- Always wash hands with soap and water after handling wet specimens. This will not save you from the action of the poison, but it will protect you from pathogenic bacteria and other pathogenic microorganisms contained in the soil.
- During the preparation of mushroom dishes, it is customary to check them for toxicity by throwing a raw onion into the pan. It is believed that if there is poison, it will turn blue. In fact, this method does not justify itself: the change in shade is explained by a reaction to amino acids, which can be contained in both poisonous and completely edible mushrooms.
- Do not use traditional medicine recipes that include red fly agaric and other poisonous varieties. This can be done in exceptional cases after consultation with your doctor.
Mushrooms are often called "forest cleaners": together with moisture, they absorb all harmful substances from the soil. As a result, radionuclides and salts of heavy metals - cadmium, lead, mercury - may appear on your table. If poisonous specimens grow in the immediate vicinity of edible mushrooms, some of the toxins can penetrate into the common mycelium. Eating such samples is life-threatening.
How is the fly agaric rushing? Mushroom trip under fly agaric
At low and medium doses, the fly agaric rushes normally, as a stimulant. Basic effect of use fly agaric - a wave of joy and euphoria, a desire to act, a desire to create, a desire to communicate, clarity and clarity in the head. A small possible minus is mild nausea, which can occur after half an hour after eating fly agaric and last about twenty minutes.
Nausea is due to the fact that in the mushrooms, despite drying, part of the ibotenic acid still remains. If the fly agarics are dried thoroughly, then this unpleasant effect can be minimized or even zero. If the mushrooms are dried carelessly, then the nausea can be quite strong, up to the desire to vomit. After the nausea has passed, there is a pleasant surge of energy. It intensifies and reaches its peak 2 ... 3 hours after consumption. The general effect of fly agaric lasts 6 ... 8 hours.
Possibilities and consequences of application
The effect of the fly agaric strongly depends on the dose taken and the individual characteristics of the individual. The average dose is 15 grams or 5 small caps, which are best taken gradually. With a small dose, a person can experience an increase in strength, euphoria and clarity of mind. With an average, visual hallucinations appear, but nevertheless, a person can adequately respond and answer questions. With a large dose, a person becomes inadequate, for he himself is in another world. Moreover, the body can be active. After a difficult journey, the same heavy and long sleep often follows. To enhance the fly agaric trip, you can smoke hemp or sage (sage under the fly agaric lasts not 5 minutes, but 15-20 minutes, be careful, you cannot get out of such a dissociative state until the effect itself weakened).
The use of red fly agaric in order to gain a mystical experience is a rather dangerous business, too much dosage can be fatal. It is also not recommended to use raw fly agarics, as ibotenic acid can cause vomiting, gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea, increased saliva and sweat production and other very unpleasant things. Before consuming red fly agaric, be aware that you are solely responsible for any possible consequences.Below we give several ways to use fly agaric for psychotropic purposes:
- Amanita in dry water. Thoroughly dried mushroom caps are eaten with a little water.
- Amanita in a coffee grinder. Grind the dried hats in a coffee grinder, then add warm water and drink.
- Fly agaric tea. Grind dry caps well and place in a kettle with water, then boil a little over low heat, then strain. Tea is ready!
general characteristics
Amanita is a poisonous hallucinogenic mushroom, which in micro doses has medicinal properties, and in large quantities is deadly. Amanita is common in the forests of Europe, Asia, North America. There are especially many "magic mushrooms" in Siberia and the British Isles. In ancient times, fly agarics soaked in honey or milk were left on the windows as protection from insects. Hence the name of this bright mushroom.
Amanita muscaria represents the Amanita family, to which the deadly pale toadstools and bisporigers belong. This bright mushroom tolerates cold well. It appears in forests in July and bears fruit until frost. Most often, fly agarics grow in symbiosis with birches, pines, spruces, and firs. Their bright cap with white speckled warts can grow up to 8-20 cm in diameter, and wide white plates are clearly visible under it. Amanita's leg is white and high (from 5 to 20 cm), almost always has a ring at its base. It should be noted that the red color is not always present on the caps of fly agarics: after rain or in old mushrooms, the bright pigment is partially or completely lost.
Amanita medicinal properties for the human body
Despite the fact that this mushroom is poisonous, medicines are made from it. The red mushroom is used for pain relievers, stimulants and anti-varicose drugs. Its use relieves pain from spasms, rheumatism, neuroses and tumors. Treatment is carried out with menopause, tuberculosis and intestinal spasms, as well as urinary tract. Its medicinal properties are capable of rejuvenating the body. It can be used to make tincture and cream. Probably not to find a person who was not interested in the question: a fly agaric if you eat what will happen? Red raw fly agaric cannot be used internally, it leads to poisoning.
Contraindications to the use of fly agaric
You can not prescribe mushroom-based treatment for pregnant and lactating mothers, people with individual intolerance. For children under 16, the red look is also contraindicated. The drug with the composition of the mushroom should be taken in the indicated dosages.
Beneficial features
In pharmacology, the extract of red fly agaric is used to create drugs against tonsillitis, epilepsy, arthritis, psoriasis, dermatitis and fungi. Means from fly agaric help with varicose veins, papillomas, they treat spinal cord pathologies, bedsores, vascular spasms, boils. Depending on the concentration, drugs with mushroom extract can be used externally and orally.
The benefits of red fly agaric can be felt by people with cardiovascular diseases. In particular, it is believed that the extract of these mushrooms has a beneficial effect on people with coronary heart disease, hypertension, atherosclerosis. This same mushroom is believed to be useful in diabetes mellitus, impotence. For the female body, the extract of "magic mushrooms" in some cases is also a good helper. For example, with painful periods or during menopause.
French researchers have confirmed that the correct dosage of red fly agaric affects the body as a sedative, reduces nervousness, anxiety and reduces the effects of stress. Therefore, mushroom extract is often added to drugs for insomnia. In addition to the French, the Dutch, Finns, Norwegians, British, Japanese, Italians are treated with fly agaric.Preparations containing mushroom extract are allowed in New Zealand, Denmark, Switzerland, the USA and Russia, but in Australia and Israel, the use of fly agarics in medicine is prohibited.
Some researchers consider red fly agaric as an anticancer agent. True, there are no irrefutable confirmations of this fact in official science yet. Creams with mushroom extract are useful for the treatment of varicose veins, arthritis, arthrosis, osteochondrosis, gout.
Thick (stocky) fly agaric
It belongs to edible mushrooms, however, the organoleptic properties of the mushroom are repulsive and remain after prolonged heat treatment. Outwardly, the mushroom looks like a poisonous panther fly agaric, the differences are insignificant only in the shape of mushroom caps and the presence of a "skirt" on the leg. It is very difficult for a layman to see the differences in the types of fly agaric, the mushrooms are too similar to each other, which is why it is easy to confuse them and get poisoned.
But, despite the remarkable appearance and notoriousness of the fungus, every year people with fly agaric poisoning are hospitalized.
Especially often with poisoning with a poisonous mushroom elderly people fall into the hands of doctors. This is due to traditional medicine and pseudoscientific articles in low-quality printed publications. Elderly people more often than others use folk remedies. Thanks to gossip, rumors about the miraculous properties of the mushroom never cease to subside. The useful properties of the fly agaric are not proven and doubtful, but poisoning is an integral part of the use of a harmful mushroom.
To the content
Chemical composition
The chemical composition of the red fly agaric has not yet been studied enough. Based on the information that scientists have today, we can say that the fungus contains chitin, essential oils, xanthine, betanin, choline, the pigment muscarufin, trimethylamine, puterescin, as well as poisonous alkaloids: ibotenic acid, muscarine, muscaridine, muscimol. Amanita contains several psychoactive substances at once and all of them are concentrated in the caps of the mushroom, or more precisely, in its red film.
For many years, muscarine was considered an active hallucinogenic agent. And only in the 1960s, two scientists from Japan and Switzerland independently, but almost simultaneously, determined that ibotenic acid and muscimol actually have a hallucinogenic effect. And muscarine, entering the human body in large quantities, can cause poisoning, accompanied by a sharp decrease in blood pressure, respiratory failure, constriction of the pupils and weakening of the pulse. A lethal dose of muscarine is contained in 3 kg of fly agaric.
The mushroom contains most of all muscimol. It is the main active ingredient of these mushrooms, which has pronounced sedative, hypnotic, dissociative and psychoactive properties. In order to minimize the toxic effect, the mushrooms should be dried. But you should know that in this form, the concentration of hallucinogenic substances increases in the product.
Amanita history
Researchers find traces of the red fly agaric in different parts of the world. For example, one of the African tribes specially grows amanita for food, and the mythical Indo-Aryan drink of the gods, Soma, was most likely made from amanita.
Rock drawing "Amanita man" found in Chukotka
Rock paintings of mushroom people were found in Pegtymel in Chukotka. Northern shamans used the red fly agaric in their ceremonies to enter a special state of consciousness to the trance rhythm of a tambourine. The ancients knew about the property of the fly agaric to restore and increase physical and spiritual strength. Their visions allowed looking into the depths of the world.
Siberian shamans used a unique method of purification and distillation, using their body as a filter. So the first to use the fly agaric took all the consequences of the side effects on himself, while others drank his urine, which already contained pure entheogens.It is difficult to imagine how long this chain could last.
Mushrooms that are more dangerous than fly agaric
The most dangerous mushroom, even its vapors can cause poisoning
In Russian forests, the greatest danger is the pale grebe. A lethal dose is 100 g for adults and 25 g for children. If some types of fly agaric can be boiled and fried, then toadstool venom persists even after heat treatment.
Doctors call this state "the period of latent well-being", it lasts 3-7 days. In fact, all the internal organs of the patient fail one by one, even the structure of the blood changes. There are no antidotes against such poisoning, so the most predictable outcome is fatal.
Another mushroom, the danger of which is proven by statistics
Another mushroom, more dangerous than the fly agaric, is the plush webcap. The area of its distribution in Russia is the Kama region. In terms of toxicity, it is close to the pale toadstool, and affects the body in about the same way, only the "period of well-being" is longer - 14 days. Several years ago, the media reported that in Poland, where this poisonous mushroom also grows, 180 people died from poisoning.
It is called so because of the fibrous stem.
You should also be wary of a fungus called "fiber". Its characteristic features are: a short, centimeter-long leg and a cap with ragged edges, covered with silky fibers. The toxicity of the mushroom is higher than that of the most poisonous, red fly agaric. Symptoms of poisoning appear 0.5 hours after the fungus has entered the body.
Amanita and berserkers
In the Middle Ages, the whole world feared the Vikings, because among them were fearless warriors - berserkers. In battle, they were full of rage and unusually strong, did not feel fear and did not feel pain. Berserkers could not stop until the last enemy fell dead, and after the battle they plunged into a long, heavy sleep. There is an unconfirmed opinion that before the battle they used a special potion, one of the ingredients of which was a red fly agaric. Currently, this statement has been refuted by scientists, who found out that the main active ingredient was the rabies plant (black henbane).
