SWIM’s Amanita Muscaria experience.

The mushroom’s main psychoactive chemicals are ibotenic acid and muscimol. Ibotenic acid is notorious for nausea, stomach pain, headaches, etc, and is a neurotoxin. However, when the mushroom is dried or heated, ibotenic acid decarboxylates into muscimol, making it totally safe and edible. SWIM can say he felt absolutely no negative effects.

Warning: if you don’t have advanced experience identifying mushrooms, do not just pick this mushroom willy nilly off the side of the street as it looks very similar to poisonous mushrooms.

Erowid puts a light dose at 5g or under (1 mushroom), moderate dose at 5-10g (1-2 mushrooms), and strong dose at 10-30g (2-6 mushrooms). So SWIM decided to play it safe at 15g (3 mushrooms). SWIM said it tasted pretty nice, he made a shake with a cup of coconut milk. NOTE: this was fucking strong.

It took about 90 min to kick in. HOLY SHIT. Unlike any other experience. Objects, material, things were starting to flicker in and out of existence. And things that didn’t exist were flickering into existence. SWIM cannot explain what was happening, honestly SWIM was freaking out a little lol, if SWIM had more this would’ve been a breakthrough experience. SWIM had music playing and the track would spontaneously skip forward then flick back about 10-15 secs. SWIM knows what it’s like to ‘think’ you’re stuck in time because of subjective time-space perception leading to very slowed time-dilation. But SWIM was literally stuck in a time-loop, going forwards in time then backwards. Lucky SWIM is very used to the ‘feeling’ of being stuck in time, someone new to these feelings would have a really tough time comprehending what’s happening to them and have a full on freakout. Well apart from tripping the fuck out, SWIMs entire vision would go different colours, new colour SWIM cannot describe. There was also unformed random geometric patterns that would come out of thin air then disappear as fast as they were created. These were nothing like the smooth, warm, welcoming fractals and patterns of your classic psychedelics. After about 3-4 hours SWIM fell asleep for 2 hours (SWIM just felt very hypnotic and tranced, so SWIM closed his eyes) when SWIM awoke things got interesting. SWIM kept noticing very distinct patterns in everything, eg. his fan would spin twice, then there would be a noise in the bush, fan would spin once, something else would happen, etc, and this repeated over and over again. This was very new to SWIM and he didn’t know if he was just very in synchronisation with the universe or still stuck in a time-loop. So SWIM called one of his housemates, SWIM was so relieved when they appeared. No SWIM was not stuck, phew. But like SWIM said, for someone new this would be wayyy too intense. SWIM talked a bit (SWIM knows he said some weird shit), then SWIM’s housemate left and things got fucked up. SWIM was lying on his bed and kept having this feeling he was drifting off the bed and falling off, but the fall down was like falling off a highrise and SWIM could feel everything splat very distinctly but with no pain. Then SWIM would be ‘reborn’ on his bed and this happened again, it probably happened about 60 or so times. SWIM cannot put this experience into words (well SWIM assumes he doesn’t have the vocabulary), but SWIM’s best description, it was a constant psychedelic loop of a death-rebirth experience. This was not scary as you might think, but intriguing and fascinating. The last few hours of the trip were fairly mellow and just with a little psychedelic headspace.

This rocked SWIM’s socks, he gives it a 7/10. SWIM is super eager to explore this mushroom more, it’s healing and spiritual development qualities, and where it can take SWIM on a breakthrough.

Again, like with most natural psychedelics these experiences are not for having fun, they are not recreational. They are insightful tools for spiritual development.

Hello! I really enjoy reading about your experiments, but... Please! Stop SWIMming

Powerful stuff indeed. AM is the king mushroom. The more reports I read about it, the more interested I am in making the time and space to explore it. I prepared and have in the freezer the skin and flesh of a couple plate-size specimens from last season in OR.

And Santa's sake, stop SWIMing, please!

Lmfao

It’s powerful stuff. #SWIMing

SWIM heard about SWIMs that they just got headache from this ... in SWIMs opinion its the most common experience of SWIMs, that SWIM read about. SWIM was better off this stuff so far, but maybe SWIM may convince SWIM at some time

Starting to get warm in Europe again, time to swim arise!

#SWIMing’🍄🍄🍄
#noheadache

I never could SWIM......

Very interesting report.

A variety of amanita comes up yearly all around my town, I have definitely been interested in exploring

the only sample I collected this past autumn was dried to a crisp and only the cap weighed 32 grams.

Have yet to do more than admire though.

Alk, how did you prep your AMs. I've done AMs twice. Both times, used 15g dried caps, refluxed gently in water for @1h. Consumed the tea and mushroom material, took a nap, woke up to strong central effects. Minimal body load, headspace was interesting, potent, intoxicating but not particularly, entheogenic. Got the distinct sense that had I done 25g, I would have left consensus reality.

Peace

SWIM (#SWIMing) got dried caps from several Lithuania suppliers and placed them all together in a blender, 130g dried caps all up. I’m not 100% sure how they were prepared although I’ve heard UV light from the sun is essential for ibotenic acid > muscimol. SWIM just took 15g in a cup of coconut milk and made a shake.

SWIM has done them again with a friend, and zero negative body effects. At about the 3 hour mark it gets really sleepy, probably due to agonising GABA receptors. SWIM just had some kola nut extract to combat it.

So someone who is You ate 15 grams of a legal mushrooms. very nice, and yes, you do'nt need a lawyer, and also using "someone who isn't me " or "my cat" etc.. never really worked in court.. at best you may end in psych yard using these : "so my rat smoked dmt and wondered if.." ok, I stop with the jokes and I know you're really attached to your SWIM SWIM formulation, although this forum is anonymous and its redondunt when everyone uses SWIM.

Anyway, thanks for sharing, those experiences with amanita or the combos ( yopo, blue lotus, syrian rue and datura ) are interesting.

You may also mix amanita muscaria and blue lotus, L theanine and kava kava for a gabaergic, and dreamy visionary state.

Haha well I’ve been to max security prison when I was young for making MDA, so I’m a little cautious nowadays, and I’ve never participated in online forums so I don’t really know the go, but time to share and learn about plants.

I’ve never had kava before, it interests me, especially since it’s main alkaloid aganoises CB1. And what does l-theanine do?

Heh,

Muscaria can be a funky beast. I still have a ton of dried amanita from my various forages over the years. I used to eat them more frequently... until the day that I finally got my ass handed to me.

So, a little back info - I have been hunting muscaria for a while and have become very familiar with our local variants. The mushrooms that I primarily found were amanita muscaria var. persicina. Since I have started hunting them, they've been reclassified as Amanita persicina (excluding "muscaria." ) They've got the same basic active profile as muscaria - ibotenic acid and muscimol.

When I'd lived in the north part of the state (KnoWhere, South Eastern US), I had collected a few hundred specimens from a general location within an area of roughly 50 km radius from my house. Therefore, I'd really not had the "unknown, varying" doses that you may (later in this story) read about. All of the mushrooms that I'd collect were in a relatively fixed range of potency. During the main season - I'd often collect between 10 - 30 specimens every other day or so. During that time, I began to explore the amanita (with caution.)

I would either: eat them on the day that they were picked - fresh, but sauteed; dry them in a dehydrator and store them for making a tea; or lightly cook them in the oven for a period of a few hours - (we called these "reindeer cookies".) Eating the fresh was my first choice, reindeer cookies was second, powdering the dried caps and mixing that in scrambled eggs was my third favorite, and lastly - a simple tea that had been made from dried caps was my fourth favorite. I'm trying to think if I've ever eaten them any other way - but if I have it eludes me.

In time, I'd grown more comfortable in the amanita head-space, but I guess I never really had any difficult experiences. Well, I moved. I packed all my amanita into storage jars (dried via dehydrator or dried via "reindeer cookies" ) and set off for a new adventure. I moved further south and further from my familiar A. persicina variants. In the new town, it is coastal and subtropical - not really ideal for the persicina. Eventually, after traveling about 30-40 km inland, I finally found some persicina.

I saw them while I was working, so I put a mental marker to distinguish their location, and the next day I drove back out there with a friend. This was his first time finding persicina, though he'd eaten a lot of amanita muscaria prior to - but he was not the one to collect the specimens that he'd consumed. Due to this being his first (guided) find, I told him to keep all of them except one. I said, "these are all yours, buddy. I've still got a ton of dried mushrooms at the house, so I have no need for these. I enjoy the taste even sauteed with butter and garlic, so I'll hang on to one." We collected all the ones that we could find and then headed back to our homes. While driving back - i told him of the 4 methods that I'd previously used to store or consume them. Due to the unknown profile of the mushrooms from that locale, I suggested a tea or reindeer cookies for ease of storage and controlled dosage.

We returned to our "neck of the (non)woods" and parted ways. I stored my mushroom (roughly 16 cm in diameter) in the refridgerator so that I could eat it the next day. And... I did. Wow... errr... I guess that whole "potency is inconsistent" claim has some validity. I'd eaten larger quantities before, but never experienced what follows:

The large cap was gently cleaned (with a soft bristle brush) to remove dirt or debris, and then I sauteed the mushroom as had done many times before. Once I was satisfied with the cook time, I served myself a nice "breakfast." The mushroom tasted lovely [I really enjoy(ed) the taste of fleshly cooked amanitas.] After consumption, I began doing my daily routines with little concern about the forthcoming psychoactive effects.

Roughly 30-45 minutes after consumption, I noticed that things were starting to get "weird." The effects were different than the countless times I'd eaten them prior to that day. (For reference, there was a period where I ate reindeer cookies daily, all through out the day. I was no stranger to the amanita - so I'd thought. But, again, all of my previous experiences had been from a different locality.)

First, I noticed the excess saliva. Ok, fine... I can spit, no problem. Then I noticed that my stomach began to feel nauseous. Ok, fine.... I've been nauseous from other substances, no problem. But, then the kikker - I started profusely sweating. Within 15 minutes of sitting there (wondering if I had possibly messed up this time) my clothing was drenched. It looked like I had just gotten out of a river, and I changed clothes. More sweating, more saliva, more nausea and another change of clothes later, I found myself in the bathroom hunching over the porcelain throne: Exit amanita.

"Whew!" I thought, "luckily I got that out of me before this goes much further." I was wrong. So we're on the third change of clothes and I'm getting hit hard - harder than any previous amanita experience. Back in the bathroom, I decided that clothing was futile due to the amount of sweat. "Shower. Please. Something. Ready to be done. What has caused this extreme shift from all the previous amanita experiences?" I managed to turn the shower on and slither into the tub, laying down and letting the water rush over me... and that's when it happened.

I'd never had an out of body experience from amanitas, but I heard that it could happen. I just assumed that it would not happen to me. I was wrong, again. As a laid on the floor of the tub, I began to get pulled from the body. I was transported to a familiar place. I was standing at the top of a waterfall that had been near my home-town. (This was also the first place that I'd taken/made aya.) The water was flowing between and around my legs, but the current was amplifying. It became so strong, that I lost my footing and began to be carried toward the falls.

Uncertain what may follow, I was prepared to be smashed upon the rocks at the bottom of the falls. Along with the water, I went over the edge and began falling to my doom. But... covering happened. I was suspended in mid-fall and the water was flowing through me as I hovered - seemingly flushing me out. After some time, I began to fall, again. With the mighty flow of the falls, I began to descend at an accelerated velocity. The force of the water pushed me away from the rocks and towards the center of the pool that laid below the falls.

I hit the pool and was pulled down to the bottom and felt like a force was pressing me against the rocks that had been unseen before entry. After a while of struggling to break free, I was confronted by a fish. The fish was familiar - it seemed to be my interpretation of another nexian (she no longer logs on...) and we had a discussion. Once our conversation had come to an end, the rocks began to shift and revealed an underwater cave. The opening of the cave created a vacuum and I was drawn in. The rocks closed and the water vanished into the depths of the cave. I peered down the long, dark pathways within the caverns and began to stand up and start going in.... and then "POOF!" I was back in this consciousness, laying on the floor of the shower, completely astounded.

I laid in the shower for an additional hour or so, waiting to "feel better." After ~6 hours from consumption, the sweating had subsided and the nausea was going away... I'd stopped wearing clothes, at that point, because it was pointless. I would just sweat until they were drenched.


And that's the story of the last time that I've eaten amanita. I have no intentions to eat it again. The experience was generally uncomfortable and didn't seem to offer much insight or personal benefit. If it did, then it did so in a very discrete manner.


Take Care!
ACY

Wooow, that's quite a story.

The symptoms you describe sound like a typical muscarine poisoning. Maybe the mushroom wasn't completely dehydrated yet.

Apart from the (poisoning) symptoms at first sounds like a good OOB experience. Personally I find most OOB experiences (even when sober) don’t give insight but rather freedom from the physical reality. It does take a while to learn how to independently move (you have no limbs). I’m curious if you have much experience OOB?

It has been shown that dry caps can have significant quantities of ibotenic acid. For example, caps dried for 11 days in the sun had 8% of the original ibotenic acid remaining.

Your feelings and the absence of a headache are probably not a good indicator for neurotoxicity. Hear-say is probably not the best way to avoid neurotoxins. The fact that few people taking amanita caps use an acid boil suggests to me that people are not worried enough to try and optimize the ibotenic/muscimol ratio with minimal quantities of muscimol. I hope it isn't neurotoxic in the doses people are consuming it in.

Change in Ibotenic Acid and Muscimol Contents in Amanita muscaria during Drying, Storing or Cooking

dragonrider,

Yeah, I'd come to the conclusion that I had not cooked it long enough, or achieved a high enough temperature, to convert all the ibotenic acid into muscimol. That was my error.

Along with varying potency from a different locality.

Take Care,
ACY

Like I said I don’t know how exactly they were dried, I just know they were dried whole caps from 3 different Lithuanian vendors and I powdered them,no one I’ve shared with has had any negative effects whatsoever between the 10-15g range.. However, you are right, I shouldn’t make any statements I’m not 100% sure about.

According to this study by GCMS other alkaloids found in Amanita Muscaria are: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16464551
Tryptamines
5-methoxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine
5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine

Tropanes
Atropine
Scopolamine

Harmalas
Harmine
Harmaline

I also know they contain muscarine too (which is a neurotoxin).

We are all well aware alkaloid content varies from location to season to age. Maybe I just got lucky.

I just read the study you cited, you do realise 8% of any active dose of a substance would render the efficacy completely void.

I guess I have a fair amount of experience out of the body. It really depends on your frame of reference.

Which components are you curious about? I have documented a few of them, here - though most are kept for myself. I'm willing to share if asked.

Take Care,
ACY