Ethnobotanicals Amanita gummies as a sedative/hypnotic & for benzo taper (underrated!?)

[Jabberwocky]

I've been munching on some standardized amanita muscaria gummies and have been loving them. They contain 2mg muscimol each (0 ibotenic acid). I am also in the middle of a rapid benzo taper, and found them remarkably valuable as an aid during this taper/withdrawal.

These products are everywhere in the US now, you can find them in almost every headshop. The gummies I bought are on the lower end of potency, they sell gummies that are much stronger, but my intent was not to trip, mainly just for relaxation and sleep help.

2mg (1 gummy) is enough for a very pleasant calm euphoria and sedation, which that lasts 8+ hours. I dosed twice per day but started noticing tolerance on day 3.

I decided to go all-in and on the 4th day ate 10 gummies (20mg muscimol) over the course of about 6 hours. This was a "psychedelic" dose. I noticed changes in taste, sound, and intense colors. Tracers were also noticeable when looking at my computer, almost looked as if my mouse was moving in slow motion. There is a dream like quality to it. I did wake up with a mild "hangover", mostly just a mild headache and grogginess, probably from dehydration.

2-4mg provides strong and long lasting relaxation and mild euphoria. 6mg is a little stronger, but starts to make you a little less "sharp" and less functional. 8mg+ is when the psychedelic effects start to become noticeable.

Anyways, I find this stuff the be remarkable as a sedative/hypnotic/anxiolytic at lower doses considering it's legal. It definitely tickles/releases dopamine as well. There is a very distinct, but subtle, euphoria it provides.

Overall, muscimol feels almost identical to z-drugs in it's effect, but feels more "natural", and lasts much longer.

I'm really surprised people haven't talked about these gummies more. They're legit, and you don't have to guess how much you're dosing like you do with preparing the shrooms yourself.

 

[burn out]

How do the effects compare to amanita mushrooms and how are these things made?

 

[Jabberwocky]

How do the effects compare to amanita mushrooms

I don't know. I've never taken the mushrooms themselves. I've taken other "extracts" before like 15+ years ago but didn't have any effects.

how are these things made?

No idea, from what I can tell they are made on a large scale commercially. COA was provided and no ibotenic acid was detected, so they are at least decarboxylated.

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

Sounds interesting

I've had the mushroom aages ago, didn't trip but it was nice and chilled infact the nearest comparison for me would be a mild opium dose

 

[Frog Dreams]

Breakthrough trips from high Amanita Muscaria doses (you have to eat more than a large meal, like 6+ massive caps) are the only drug experiences I've had that compare to the intensity and profundity of breakthrough 5-meo-DMT doses. It is a VERY strong drug. You experience death. Beyond ego death. Actual death. You go to heaven and hell. You encounter God.

I haven't done a breakthrough for many years, but I'm planning on revisiting that territory next season.

Interesting to hear about the effects of micro doses. I never really dabbled with small doses. I will give it a crack next year when I do my breakthrough.

I put a breakthrough dose into caps once. There were 72 caps for one dose.

I also used to ritualistically drink my urine after consuming them, because the body expels up to 85% of the active ingredient via the bladder.

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

Breakthrough trips from high Amanita Muscaria doses (you have to eat more than a large meal, like 6+ massive caps) are the only drug experiences I've had that compare to the intensity and profundity of breakthrough 5-meo-DMT doses. It is a VERY strong drug. You experience death. Beyond ego death. Actual death. You go to heaven and hell. You encounter God.

I haven't done a breakthrough for many years, but I'm planning on revisiting that territory next season.

Interesting to hear about the effects of micro doses. I never really dabbled with small doses. I will give it a crack next year when I do my breakthrough.

yeah I have a friend who described a strong dose much like you have - I seem to remember him saying that it lasted a loooong time too

I'll be passing on that one, mainly because I'm not eating that many mushrooms ugh

 

[Frog Dreams]

@ageingpartyfiend

It feels like an infinite amount of time.

People say that about ayahuasca and 5-meo-DMT, etc... but Amanita Muscaria is another ballpark.

When I came back from the strongest breakthrough I've ever had, I had been gone for so long I didn't know what a human was. I was in my lounge room. I said very slowly, "I am a human being." Hard to describe, without it sounding like something less than it was. Was the most surreal thing I've ever experienced.

Until I had 5-meo-DMT, I was absolutely convinced that nothing would ever come close to Muscaria.

It is so overwhelming, it can be utterly terrifying.

The hell state is infinite fear. The heaven state is infinite joy. But, really, they are the same thing.

The hell state comes from rejecting God / death. The heaven state comes from accepting God / death.

You really think you're dying and you have to accept it. I'm pretty convinced that it simulates actual death.

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

@ageingpartyfiend

It feels like an infinite amount of time.

People say that about ayahuasca and 5-meo-DMT, etc... but Amanita Muscaria is another ballpark.

When I came back from the strongest breakthrough I've ever had, I had been gone for so long I didn't know what a human was. I was in my lounge room. I said very slowly, "I am a human being." Hard to describe, without it sounding like something less than it was. Was the most surreal thing I've ever experienced.

Until I had 5-meo-DMT, I was absolutely convinced that nothing would ever come close to Muscaria.

It is so overwhelming, it can be utterly terrifying.

The hell state is infinite fear. The heaven state is infinite joy. But, really, they are the same thing.

The hell state comes from rejecting God / death. The heaven state comes from accepting God / death.

You really think you're dying and you have to accept it. I'm pretty convinced that it simulates actual death.

I think I have have had similar feels from high dose psilocybin, am talking 20+ grams (also from 70mg well-vaped dmt)

I didn't really get the God stuff (but then again i likely wouldn't ..) but yeah, had to accept 'death' for sure (which I didn't find all that difficult to do tbh, but then again I may have a unnaturally low survival instinct, dunno, feels like it may be a possibility though)

 

[Opana313]

I love them I have been munching on them just about every Saturday night..definitely appreciate some kind of psychedelic since I can't seem to find connect/grow psilocybin.

 

[Jabberwocky]

The company selling the stuff claims all kinds of health benefits, but i didn't notice anything besides the aforementoned mood lift. I know they have psychedelic properties, but i guess you need to dose more than i did to get any effects.

Yeah I don't really subscribe to all that hippie health benefits / spiritual medicine stuff. Muscimol is strictly a GABA agonist and doesn't hit any other receptor. Ibotenic acid releases glutamate, hits NMDA, and is very stimulating, but is also very neurotoxic and it is the stuff you DON'T want when you take amanita. This is why you need a decarboxylated product.

The mood lift is due to secondary dopamine release from having higher GABA levels. Muscimol replaces GABA at the neuron, which leads to higher GABA levels in the brain floating around, which in turn leads to higher dopamine levels. Basically identical to the euphoria you get from zolpidem.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Interesting to hear about the effects of micro doses. I never really dabbled with small doses. I will give it a crack next year when I do my breakthrough.

I'm in the middle of a benzo taper, and I highly suspect the benzo are greatly potentiating the muscimol.

The benzo doses I'm taking are very small, I don't feel them at all, I'm basically on the borderline of withdrawal, just enough not to feel withdrawal but no effects.

I found them super useful for this purpose, as a way to rapidly taper benzos with zero pain at all.

 

[burn out]

Breakthrough trips from high Amanita Muscaria doses (you have to eat more than a large meal, like 6+ massive caps) are the only drug experiences I've had that compare to the intensity and profundity of breakthrough 5-meo-DMT doses. It is a VERY strong drug. You experience death. Beyond ego death. Actual death. You go to heaven and hell. You encounter God.

I haven't done a breakthrough for many years, but I'm planning on revisiting that territory next season.

Interesting to hear about the effects of micro doses. I never really dabbled with small doses. I will give it a crack next year when I do my breakthrough.

I put a breakthrough dose into caps once. There were 72 caps for one dose.

I also used to ritualistically drink my urine after consuming them, because the body expels up to 85% of the active ingredient via the bladder.

Do you have any trips reports of those experiences? I would like to read them. I know exactly what you're talking about. I believe this mushroom is very underrated compared to psilocybin, as it has the potential to produce far deeper and clearer experiences. I believe that as you say, in high doses it may induce true NDE phenomena. For example, on a moderately high dose one time I found myself leaving my body and being taken by spirit beings for a life review (which at the time I fought and resisted because I felt my life had been such a failure I couldn't bare to watch a replay of it).

One thing I would recommend to you though, is to dabble with small doses. It has many positive effects at sub break though doses, and I feel like taking at these levels helps accustom your body and mind to the effects so you're more prepared for higher doses. I also find it essential to consume it gradually vs all at once.

I believe there are several factors that lead many people to have poor experiences with it, one of which is taking too much at once. In my experiences when I did that, I would get nausea and sedation, sometimes falling into a deep sleep and then waking up in a semi delirious state. On the other hand, when I took it gradually I would often just keep getting higher and higher and with clarity and improved mental agility. Experiences of the former type are what I believe cause people to write it off or label it as a "deliriant" in the same category as diphenhydramine which is just ridiculous and in no way conveys the clarity and insight this mushroom can bring.

 

[Burnt Offerings]

I microdosed Amanita Muscaria for about a month once. They are a traditional psychedelic in Russia. Still quite popular and completely legal since they grow everywhere in nature anyway.

I had a Russian friend bring me some capsules with powdered Amanita when he visited me one time. Can't remember the amount per capsule. First one i ate gave me a bit of a body high and some changes in depth perception, but any intoxicating properties disappeared after that. I noticed an improvement in mood during the month i was on them, which led to me drinking a bit less. I took 10x the prescribed dose once to see if they would make me trip, but it just made me so drowsy i fell asleep shortly after.

The company selling the stuff claims all kinds of health benefits, but i didn't notice anything besides the aforementoned mood lift. I know they have psychedelic properties, but i guess you need to dose more than i did to get any effects.

They grow wild where I live too. I’ve saved a bunch of them over the years but dosing information & effects aren’t as clear cut (at least, not when I last investigated them, maybe there’s some clearer information nowadays) as psilocybin so I’ve never ingested them…there also seems to be a “stigma” around them here that they’re “poisonous” but that’s a myth, if they have the classic super Mario aesthetic with the scarlet red cap there’s pretty much no mistaking them

I do enjoy zolpidem tho so they may be worth checking out for me, if they have that effect

 

[burn out]

They are far more pleasurable than zolpidem. There's no comparison in my opinion. They can make your mind whirl. They can accelerate your consciousness to the point where it feels like you are moving at the speed of light. They can provide pain relief and a body high that is a bit similar to carisoprodol but better. As a side note, I find it very interesting that carisoprodol is sold under the brand name "Soma" and this mushroom is considered by many to be main ingredient in the legendary divine drink "soma" extolled in the Vedas and other ancient texts. Was whoever came up with this brand name a user of amanita muscaria and noticed the similarity (however slight it may be) or did he somehow intuit it from some sort of connection to the collective unconscious? It always puzzled me how this somewhat obscure and only slightly recreational pharmaceutical could be worthy of a divine name like soma. It wasn't until I tried amanita that I understood the connection. I should be clear though that other sharing some strange similarity in the body high, the pharmaceutical is nothing like the real thing. It lacks all the more spiritual effects as well as the energizing properties. I forgot to mention, in addition to its spiritual and recreational effects amanita can be used to enhance physical strength and endurance. I used to take it when I had a physical labor job and it would eliminate the soreness in my body and allow me to more easily work hard all day. This is one of its traditional uses in Siberia. I also had a Russian friend that used to take it all the time. He said it would make him feel like a saint. For some reason even though I believe it grows throughout Europe, it seems to be most popular in the Eastern European cultures.

 

[AngelsandFairiesarereal]

Muy interesante. I’ve seen it around too & wondered about it but have been hesitant because I quit psychedelics like 15 years ago. I didn’t know it hit GABA like that

 

[burn out]

It's not like a traditional psychedelic, although it can produce many similar effects and insights it does so through entirely different mechanisms and tends and it tends to be more relaxing, almost a bit like a benzo or alcohol in some ways rather than anxiety inducing. However, a bad amanita trip can wreck your mind even worse than LSD or psilocybin, so be cautious with it.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Muy interesante. I’ve seen it around too & wondered about it but have been hesitant because I quit psychedelics like 15 years ago. I didn’t know it hit GABA like that

At lower doses it's not psychedelic at all, that's why I like them so much. Very relaxing like ambien, just feel sleepy and chill. The last thing I'd want to do during benzo withdrawal is trip, and I am also retired from psychedelics.

 

[Frog Dreams]

If you are going to consume high doses of Amanita Muscaria, you need a trip sitter.

...

I think I have have had similar feels from high dose psilocybin, am talking 20+ grams (also from 70mg well-vaped dmt)

I don't think it's the same ballpark. I've eaten over an ounce of dried p subs and not been ANYWHERE NEAR what I'm talking about. Same thing with DMT, ayahuasca, etc.

There is the "death" that comes from normal psychedelics and there is the "actual death" that comes from Muscaria.

I didn't really get the God stuff (but then again i likely wouldn't ..) but yeah, had to accept 'death' for sure (which I didn't find all that difficult to do tbh, but then again I may have a unnaturally low survival instinct, dunno, feels like it may be a possibility though)

You would get the God stuff if you did a full breakthrough because it is literally God.

The death from shrooms is easy. The death experience with Muscaria is an endurance test for the soul.

Having said that, I'm very curious to revisit Muscaria now. I'm in a very different place than I was 10 years ago, which is roughly when I last had a breakthrough.

Yeah I don't really subscribe to all that hippie health benefits / spiritual medicine stuff.

That's a shame.

Do you have any trips reports of those experiences? I would like to read them. I know exactly what you're talking about. I believe this mushroom is very underrated compared to psilocybin, as it has the potential to produce far deeper and clearer experiences. I believe that as you say, in high doses it may induce true NDE phenomena. For example, on a moderately high dose one time I found myself leaving my body and being taken by spirit beings for a life review (which at the time I fought and resisted because I felt my life had been such a failure I couldn't bare to watch a replay of it).

One thing I would recommend to you though, is to dabble with small doses. It has many positive effects at sub break though doses, and I feel like taking at these levels helps accustom your body and mind to the effects so you're more prepared for higher doses. I also find it essential to consume it gradually vs all at once.

I believe there are several factors that lead many people to have poor experiences with it, one of which is taking too much at once. In my experiences when I did that, I would get nausea and sedation, sometimes falling into a deep sleep and then waking up in a semi delirious state. On the other hand, when I took it gradually I would often just keep getting higher and higher and with clarity and improved mental agility. Experiences of the former type are what I believe cause people to write it off or label it as a "deliriant" in the same category as diphenhydramine which is just ridiculous and in no way conveys the clarity and insight this mushroom can bring.

I will do a trip report next year, but I find it so hard with Muscaria. It's so difficult to explain the experience.

Definitely induces true NDE experiences. When I breakthrough, it is always very similar. You see your life unfold. You see the creation of the universe (Genesis). You encounter God. You do the heaven / hell state.

I've seen people consume Muscaria and become delirious. My ex-wife said she saw Elvis, etc. That's projection of the psyche IMO.

You have to meditate into it. It isn't just the drugs. I tend to chant "so-ma" over and over again and do breathwork before having a breakthrough. It's easy to let your mind wander. Getting to the deepest point, where you are one with everything and you recombine yourself with God and you are just light in the ultimate joy state... that is more difficult than inducing any state with any drug I've ever had.

I find it very interesting that carisoprodol is sold under the brand name "Soma" and this mushroom is considered by many to be main ingredient in the legendary divine drink "soma" extolled in the Vedas and other ancient texts.

It is soma. I came to the same conclusion.

It sounds similar to other drug experiences, but it isn't.

The only thing in the same ballpark that I've experienced is high doses of vaporized 5-meo-DMT crystals.

Another very common thing with Muscaria is to be falling endlessly. It feels like a video game. Like you fall through the bottom of the screen, then appear at the top. You just keep falling forever.

I forgot to mention, in addition to its spiritual and recreational effects amanita can be used to enhance physical strength and endurance.

Yeah, apparently my ancestors (vikings) used to eat them to go into berserker mode. Not sure how true that is. I may have combined history with Erik the Viking.

@Burnt Offerings

The caps need to be prepared just right. There are some crazy hippies that eat them raw, but they should be gently heated over a long period of time. The juice comes out of them as you heat them. You need to make sure you mop that juice up with the flesh part of the caps.

Some people dry them in evaporators, but this isn't as effective as cooking them in the oven.

You need to check on them constantly, because you don't want to lose that juice.

a bad amanita trip

No such thing IMO... The hell state is the ultimate bad trip, I guess, but I don't believe in "bad trips" (on any substance).

...

If you are going to consume high doses of Amanita Muscaria, you need a trip sitter.

 

[Frog Dreams]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=eating+muscaria+raw

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

If you are going to consume high doses of Amanita Muscaria, you need a trip si

You would get the God stuff if you did a full breakthrough because it is literally God.

I'm not sure it's 'literally God', but as I haven't had it, who knows! I'm inclined to doubt it though.

The death from shrooms is easy. The death experience with Muscaria is an endurance test for the soul

I'm not sure many would call the 'death' from 800 and on one occasion 1000 freshly brewed Liberty Caps picked that day 'easy', heh. However, I'm open to Muscaria being more difficult potentially

I will do a trip report next year, but I find it so hard with Muscaria. It's so difficult to explain the experience.

Please tag me in if you remember

You see the creation of the universe (Genesis). You encounter God. You do the heaven / hell state.

Have witnessed creation of worlds out of voids on hogh dose lsd and mushrooms, oh yes indeed.

You have to meditate into it. It isn't just the drugs.

For sure. The 'God' thing is probably a similar experience for us both, we just frame it differently and in different launguage