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I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

blog.mycology.cornell.edu

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Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#21

Post by rectangletangle »

Although it's not quite the same thing, this reminds me a bit of amnesic shellfish poisoning. In addition to all the terrible gastric problems ASP has the curious side-effect of severe permanent anterograde amnesia, where all memories before the incident are retrained, but the poisoned individual can't create new long term memories. So they're limited to working memory which only lasts a few seconds.

However research has shown that some specific types of long term memories can be still be made. For instance if an amnesiac individual is asked to draw the same image repeatedly, they may still improve in speed and efficiency without any apparent conscious memory of having drawn the image before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesic_shellfish_poisoning

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#24

Post by emmelaich »

dekhn wrote: post #5

Almost every year, I read an article about a family (usually from Eastern Europe) that was picking mushrooms and misidentified an amanita as somethign they recognized from their home country. THey usually end up at UCSF (world-class transplants) and it's typically the kids who are affected the most.

That happens here in Australia.

What looks very much like an edible mushroom from Asia or elsewhere can be poisonous.

And vice versa.

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#25

Post by m463 »

anyfoo wrote: post #8

Huh: "I mistook them for inky caps [...] even though I spotted an Amanita nearby [...] I should have been more suspicious as mushrooms do grow in colonies." "I couldn’t find my Mushroom book, was in a hurry, so I trusted my judgment, fried them up in olive oil, and ate them as a side dish." "I should have recognized then that they weren’t inky caps, because inky caps exude a black substance when you fry them." "At th…

Actually, it looks like a common sort of decision tree that a normal person goes through when they have a medical problem.

And it is the same sort of decision tree people go through when nothing is wrong.

How many times have you heard a friend say "my heart behaves strangely sometimes".

Sometimes I have heartburn, or sweat more that expected and I wonder...

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#26

Post by AceJohnny2 »

For a more positive outlook on why people get enthusiastic about mushrooms, I recommend the amazing book "All That The Rain Promises And More...", which has probably the best cover of a non-fiction book I've ever seen:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_That_the_Rain_Promises_and....

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#27

Post by outworlder »

Mistletoe wrote: post #17

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amatoxin Amatoxins are one of my favorite chemical structures, so beautiful.

The effect doesn't seem to be so beautiful...

> Because it inactivates the RNA polymerases, the liver is unable to repair the damage that beta-amanitin causes and the cells of the liver disintegrate and the liver dissolves.

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#28

Post by m463 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #18
catalogia wrote: post #6

> "With early diagnosis, another experimental treatment includes massive doses of penicillin to stimulate the liver’s defenses." The solution to fungus is... more fungus! Really goes to show the incredible breadth of this form of life.

How so? This is pretty much the same idea as an Irish petty king inviting in some Norman troops to show the other petty kings who's boss. (It turned out to be the Normans, of course.) Penicillin works by killing other similar things.

Sort of a "hair of the dog" (except it's another dog species)

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#29

Post by m463 »

egdod wrote: post #11
gbronner wrote: post #4

I'm curious if parents still admonish their kids not to eat wild mushrooms. The first time I was with a family friend and watched him pick and eat wild mushrooms, it was as if I'd discovered a new strain of magic. Today, I'll eat chicken mushrooms if they look exactly like the ones I've seen before. Otherwise I'll pass. I sort of feel like those killer whales that have to be taught by other whales that fish are food,…

> I'm curious if parents still admonish their kids not to eat wild mushrooms. Absolutely. Really, eating anything you find in the wild is risky unless you’re completely sure what it is. (Wild strawberries are pretty easy to identify, for example.)

More so after Into the Wild became a movie (not mushrooms)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCandless

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#30

Post by fortran77 »

arkades wrote: post #10
anyfoo wrote: post #8

Huh: "I mistook them for inky caps [...] even though I spotted an Amanita nearby [...] I should have been more suspicious as mushrooms do grow in colonies." "I couldn’t find my Mushroom book, was in a hurry, so I trusted my judgment, fried them up in olive oil, and ate them as a side dish." "I should have recognized then that they weren’t inky caps, because inky caps exude a black substance when you fry them." "At th…

I found interesting that he closes his post with an excerpt about how safe mushroom picking is, and how adverse outcomes only happen to ignorant fools who know nothing about mushrooms and don’t bother learning. In an article that opens with “here is a list of things I know and books I read, and here’s how I poisoned myself anyway.”

And instead of thanking the doctors for their heroic effort, he credits his woo-woo "visualization" techniques.
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