Is Fly Agaric worth it?

[JadedTabs]

NOt asking SHould I take it, I am asking if it's worth it because these mushrooms are very cheap by the ounce so I want to make sure if they are worthy of trying to get or not and what is the trip like?

 

[sekio]

They're certainly nothing like psilocybin mushrooms. If you do decide to ingest them, go slowly, because individual mushrooms can contain wildly varying amounts of psychoactive muscimol.
I'd be very cautious ingesting these. They don't seem very euphoric, they are more... divinatory? Like a hallucinatory experinece from being blackout drunk, rather than a sense-enhancement typical of serotonergic psychedelics.

The usual story is that they are kind of disorienting and not the most recreational activity you could choose.

 

[InterestingFACT]

Please, if you undertake this project, isolate the psychoactive chemicals of interest in a relatively pure form, and ingest them as such.

Too much variation exists between samples of mushrooms, and other psychoactive plants, to make this forming of "eyeball" appropriate, when it comes to a drug that has a great many reported negative effects.

 

[Transform]

Buy a large amount and grind them into the powder to make a standardised product. Re-dry in a 80*C oven for 20 minutes, spread nice and thin.

Then I would say yes, if you are interested in the effects of amanita muscaria you'll find the experience interesting. I've never taken the dosage very high but have enjoyed a mild pleasant sedation.

 

[Kaleida]

I believe that Amanita mushrooms would be some of the most treasured hallucinogens in the world if there was no such thing as psychedelics. That being said, with psychedelics around I have almost no desire to use them more than maybe a couple times a year or so. Ultimately, I find them to produce effects on sensation and mood similar to alcohol, and hallucinogenic and ego loss effects that are only superficially different from classic psychedelics like psilocybin. However, the former is less recreational still than alcohol yet more likely to make me puke still on lower doses, whereas the latter despite being a full experience honestly manages to change basically the superficial parts of psychedelics that I enjoy the most. In the end, I would say that Amanitas are very unique in how they combine these two effects still and are definitely worth exploring for anyone who is particularly interested in different altered states and exploring the full potential of their mind, but they're not like the most amazing things ever. If you want to buy an ounce, do so and treat it right and it will probably last you a good while.

 

[Fresnel]

Low dose gave me a warm fluffy mildly drunk high, no negative effects. Were dried, which I believe breaks down some of the less pleasant chemicals in the mushroom.

 

[Doldrugs]

Please, if you undertake this project, isolate the psychoactive chemicals of interest in a relatively pure form, and ingest them as such.

How? That's a tall order for the average person.

Buy a large amount and grind them into the powder to make a standardised product. Re-dry in a 80*C oven for 20 minutes, spread nice and thin.

Where is this information coming from? How many times have you done this? Does age or source matter? What is a good dosage?

 

[Transform]

I have done it with one large batch and have taken doses from it about 8 times.

Source will always affect potency but the whole point of this is to reduce the variation between mushrooms. You will need to titrate your dosage up slowly but I used stem and cap and found 7g was about threshold with 10g giving a pleasant mild sedation. Cap-only blends will be stronger.

Age should not really matter, muscimol appears pretty stable.

 

[Foreigner]

Nope.

I have friends who've done it. It doesn't sound pleasant.

Aside from the variances from mushroom to mushroom, if you can't metabolize their contents for whatever reason, your kidneys and liver will take a real hit.

The unfortunate thing about liver damage is that it's not usually detectable, and remains asymptomatic for most of your life, unless you reach a level of damage where the blood enzymes start showing up. By then you're SOL.

 

[Doldrugs]

Heating should take care of that. I've never found concrete information on decarb temps and times for ibotenic acid, though.

 

[Xorkoth]

A friend of mine had his one breakthrough psychedelic experience on amanitas, it sounded like an amazing trip. I have read a variety of glowing reports, but even more where people didn't enjoy it very much. It's a pretty unique substance, it's not a psychedelic, it's more like a dissociative but it's not really a dissociative either. One day I'd like to try them, I might go with Amanita pantherina though instead of muscaria, as several people recently have reported them to be stronger and better.

 

[Doldrugs]

From a 1985 study.

Distilled vinegar has a PH around 2.7, which results in the most complete conversion. So theoretically you could just boil in vinegar for 2.5 hours (I assume you'll go through a good amount of vinegar, though). Anyone try this or have any thoughts on the best way to do it?

 

[Jonneh]

I believe both muscimol and ibotenic acid are water soluble, so you'd have to drink your vinegar. Parboiled (and drained) Amanita are rendered edible (which is to say non-psychoactive). Sounds good otherwise though.

 

[Doldrugs]

I believe both muscimol and ibotenic acid are water soluble, so you'd have to drink your vinegar. Parboiled (and drained) Amanita are rendered edible (which is to say non-psychoactive). Sounds good otherwise though.

There wouldn't be any ibotenic acid. Look at the chart. At this pH, 100 C for 2.5 hours should convert it all to muscimol. I could then strain out the mushroom solids, evaporate the vinegar, and take the resulting material in gel caps.

 

[Jonneh]

There wouldn't be any ibotenic acid. Look at the chart.

Of course - I mentioned it alongside muscimol for completeness' sake. It's somewhat surprising nobody has tried this before, especially given that boiling with vinegar had already been documented. Perhaps it was included ostensibly for extraction, rather than conversion, purposes. I suppose they never drank the liquid, too!

 

[mozaik0000]

Fly agaric can surely be worth it if you keep a few things in mind.

The already mentionned potency variation: the caps i picked high up in the Alps were many times stronger than the sea-level ones i picked.

Gently find your sweetspot, and be wary to not go over it once you found it: overdosing is pukingly unpleasant and uninteresting... Don't hope for psylocibin type visuals.

They can easily make you nauseous: anything that can help relieve nausea (ginger, weed,...) is welcome. Tobacco, alcohol, greasy food,...will probably trigger bad feelings.

I don't know about advanced extraction/conversion. I just make a tea to avoid swallowing plant material, can taste ok with some salt & spices.

 

[Bitchniggaz]

Ive had a few interesting experiences with wild northern european amanita muscaria.
At 20grams dried they were fully psychedelic, very heavy bodyload but i didnt have any problem with nausea.
Rarely do though, i can handle most plant drugs without much nausea, sometimes i purge on aya or pedro but mostly not.

However when i took about 5grams dried after the peak of an 350mg harmala/200mg dmt/ pharmahuasca trip, shit got real!

I got into some kind of feral enlightened beast mode, i wasnt aggresive or angry but i had this weird intense energy flow.
In the mirror i looked like a muscular troll kind of being, it was a very primal and powerful experience.

The fly agaric is a powerful ally if you treat it with respect.

 

[Doldrugs]

Does anyone know if there are any drug interactions with muscimol?

 

[Solipsis]

Valproic acid for example since it is a transaminase inhibitor - would prevent muscimol breakdown.. Perhaps even best to avoid rosemary for this reason curiously
(But honestly I would definitely avoid muscimol if I were on antidepressants, antipsychotics / neuroleptics, or bipolar meds anything like that)

Other than that I would be pretty careful with anything that contributes to GABAergic effects, even if they are of the more classical GABAergic - sedative - type.

Somehow muscimol does not seem like a very forgiving easy drug, so I would avoid combining with any considerable 'heavier' drug IMO. My only attempt at A. Muscaria pretty much failed (no effect) but I would not push beyond maybe some cannabis - even disregarding actual pharmacological interactions.

 

[Doldrugs]

I would definitely avoid muscimol if I were on antidepressants

Why?