Psilocybin back in the news...

[xer0s]

A new study shows brain activity is actually decreased, allowing your brain to let go of your ego...

http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/24/m ... -activity/

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/ ... 6eef7ca69b

[GONNAFISTYA]

From the first link:

Researchers found that the psychedelic chemical, which is known to trigger feelings of oneness with the universe and a trippy hyperconsciousness, does not work by ramping up the brain’s activity as they’d expected. Instead, it reduces it.

Under the influence of mushrooms, overall brain activity drops, particularly in certain regions that are densely connected to sensory areas of the brain.

Perhaps Q3W's resident doctors can confirm that this is why the affects of mushrooms are lessened by taking in sugar?

[seremtan]

...allowing your brain to let go of your ego...

lol wut

[Unisaw]

Perhaps Q3W's resident doctors can confirm that this is why the affects of mushrooms are lessened by taking in sugar?

[Ryoki]

Refined sugar and honey are chemically very different... i think.

[Tsakali]

what I find interesting and equally unrelated is that fruits can contain diff. amounts of calories and nutrients, depending on when you decide to consume them from your fruit basket, with no interaction from the outside world... for the most part just chemical changes within.

[scared?]

stfu moron...

[GONNAFISTYA]

Perhaps Q3W's resident doctors can confirm that this is why the affects of mushrooms are lessened by taking in sugar?

Never heard this before. In fact - honey is a preservative for long term storage of dried shrooms and it is used when drinking mushroom tea to quiet the stomach. Errrr - or so I heard friend of a friend.

Honey tea is great, especially for first time users, but the honey is only to kill the taste of the mushrooms. The tea helps with the nausea and that's about the end of it.

I was talking about ingesting sugar after the affects of the mushrooms has begun to take hold (roughly 40 minutes after you've had the honey tea). Basically the rule is: if you're "tripping" too much or if the effects are too intense, drink something with alot of sugar (Pepsi or Coke or sugar-laced fruit juices) and the psychedelic effects begin to wane. The more sugar you take the less you feel the mushrooms.

[xer0s]

Or something acidic for the reverse effect. Right?

[GONNAFISTYA]

lol wut?

You don't think cola or fruit juices are acidic?
I guess I don't know what you're asking.

[Unisaw]

...allowing your brain to let go of your ego...

lol wut

A high dose will get you to ego loss = seperating you from your ego which is a traumatic but therapeutic event. I like my ego so I never saw the need to lose it. Others with copious baggage find it helpful to hit the "reset" button.

[Unisaw]

Honey tea is great, especially for first time users, but the honey is only to kill the taste of the mushrooms. The tea helps with the nausea and that's about the end of it.

I was talking about ingesting sugar after the affects of the mushrooms has begun to take hold (roughly 40 minutes after you've had the honey tea). Basically the rule is: if you're "tripping" too much or if the effects are too intense, drink something with alot of sugar (Pepsi or Coke or sugar-laced fruit juices) and the psychedelic effects begin to wane. The more sugar you take the less you feel the mushrooms.

Tea is great with fresh lemon to accelerate things. I did a quick search and found nothing about sugar as a way to soften the blow if things get out of hand.

[xer0s]

lol wut?

You don't think cola or fruit juices are acidic?
I guess I don't know what you're asking.

Always heard orange juice will increase the effects. Citrus maybe?

[Unisaw]

lol wut?

You don't think cola or fruit juices are acidic?
I guess I don't know what you're asking.

Always heard orange juice will increase the effects. Citrus maybe?

Yes. Cranberry, lemon, oj etc.

[GONNAFISTYA]

I did a quick search at the Shroomery and found nothing about sugar as a way to soften the blow if things get out of hand.

The Shroomery

I did some searching and couldn't find anything either. Perhaps it's just ancedotal as nearly every person I've ever done zoomers with has told me that sugar lessens the intensity, including the really cute chick at the mushroom/brownie store in Amsterdam. And, yes, it does work...at least for me.

They also say that alcohol can lessen the effects, but that's a fine line I don't want to tread.

[GONNAFISTYA]

lol wut?

You don't think cola or fruit juices are acidic?
I guess I don't know what you're asking.

Always heard orange juice will increase the effects. Citrus maybe?

I'd just assume that increasing the dosage would do that.

[4days]

anecdotal again, but orange juice:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13247&p=258627

[seremtan]

A high dose will get you to ego loss = seperating you from your ego which is a traumatic but therapeutic event. I like my ego so I never saw the need to lose it. Others with copious baggage find it helpful to hit the "reset" button.

actually it was the category confusion that got me: the brain (physical entity) vs the ego (non-physical concept)

[xer0s]

Oh whatever. You just assumed since I said it, it was wrong...

[Dark Metal]

It's an easy assumption to make.

[mrd]

I did a quick search at the Shroomery and found nothing about sugar as a way to soften the blow if things get out of hand.

The Shroomery

I did some searching and couldn't find anything either. Perhaps it's just ancedotal as nearly every person I've ever done zoomers with has told me that sugar lessens the intensity, including the really cute chick at the mushroom/brownie store in Amsterdam. And, yes, it does work...at least for me.

They also say that alcohol can lessen the effects, but that's a fine line I don't want to tread.

Never heard of sugar reducing the effects, but then, I'm usually not of a mind to reduce the effects.

From personal experience, alcohol can be a very slippery slope when dealing with hallucinogens. I don't think it lessens the effect so much as it just numbs everything in your body, just as it normally does. I don't usually drink too heavy if I do mush since the gut-rot is already enough to contend with. I usually drink a fair amount when I do acid though, for whatever reason. Helps to numb down the crazy fucking come-up. Plus when you're sloshed and riding on four hits, shit gets real.

[mrd]

As for the actual topic, interesting article. Not sure if this is true of psilocybin, but I'm fairly sure that LSD is analogous to a few naturally occurring neurotransmitters (tryptamines) which could explain its wide effects on the brain. Interesting to note that scientists would assume/figure that psychedelics ramp up brain activity.

This is a neat quote:

Some have argued, for example, that the geometric visual hallucinations commonly seen by people on psychedelics (and by some sufferers of migraines) help reveal the architecture of the brain’s visual processing mechanism. “One hypothesis is that what you’re actually seeing is the functional organization of the visual cortex itself. The visual cortex is organized in a sort of fractal way [it repeats the same patterns in different sizes]. It’s the same way that fractals are everywhere in nature. Like tree branches, the brain recapitulates [itself],” says Carhart-Harris. “You’re not seeing the cells themselves, but the way they’re organized — as if the brain is revealing itself to itself.”

I also often get this weird sound in my ears when I'm on acid, that sounds like a roaring wave of static or water is swirling through my head. It only reveals itself when nothing else of note is happening. I've had it multiple times... wonder if it's a similar thing to what they're describing here but in the auditory part of the brain?

[GONNAFISTYA]

I usually drink a fair amount when I do acid though, for whatever reason. Helps to numb down the crazy fucking come-up. Plus when you're sloshed and riding on four hits, shit gets real.

My experience is that while I'm on LSD, absolutely nothing else affects me. I took 4 hits this one time at band camp and I put back 6 beer and 2 joints in the span of an hour and felt no different than if I hadn't.

Not braggin, just sayin...

[mrd]

I usually drink a fair amount when I do acid though, for whatever reason. Helps to numb down the crazy fucking come-up. Plus when you're sloshed and riding on four hits, shit gets real.

My experience is that while I'm on LSD, absolutely nothing else affects me. I took 4 hits this one time at band camp and I put back 6 beer and 2 joints in the span of an hour and felt no different than if I hadn't.

Each to his own, although I will say that I typically drink considerably more than that if I'm tripping. Not unusual to drink 15+ beers and some hard. I try and avoid smoking too much as I find that the acute awareness of the smoke hampering my cardiovascular system is somewhat unnerving. I save joints for the come-down to stretch it out and enjoy the sunrise

[Captain]

this one time at band camp

lol so that's where you learned to play the skin flute.