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Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

nytimes.com

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Re: Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

#81

Post by hcks »

swalling wrote: post #3

What's missing from this article is that people are reaching for this because the standard medical treatment for these disorders, SSRIs, are pretty terrible. In the mild case, the common side effects are blunting of your emotions and sexual dysfunction. So you don't have panic attacks, but you live in a gray fog and your relationships suffer. In the worst case, they cause suicidal ideation. Psychedelics also have psy…

1/ please stop deterring people from undertaking the medical treatment recommended by professionals

2/ there is increasing evidence that psychedelic therapies for mental illness were all based on hype and don’t actually perform any better or at all

Re: Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

#83

Post by DiggyJohnson »

elliotec wrote: post #50
davmre wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: SSRIs were transformative for my depression. Side effects were minor and manageable (eg, Wellbutrin worked well to prevent any sexual dysfunction). I was on them for several years and had no problem tapering off. My understanding is that this is a pretty typical experience. Rhetoric like this was actively harmful in dissuading me for years from trying what ended up being by far the most effective treatm…

Same. I'm a big time psychedelic advocate, and relatively frequent consumer. Prozac actually saved my life. Psychedelics since have certainly enhanced it, but they could not accomplish what prozac did. I can go into more detail if interested.

Please do, I’m genuinely interested in your experience because, in my experience (!!) with family and acquaintances, I’ve only ever see Prozac as a part of a turn for the worse. I do acknowledge I might not be aware of cases where it was neutral or positive, however.

What was your experience like? And do you still take it?

Re: Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

#84

Post by amirs »

acchow wrote: post #28
swalling wrote: post #3

What's missing from this article is that people are reaching for this because the standard medical treatment for these disorders, SSRIs, are pretty terrible. In the mild case, the common side effects are blunting of your emotions and sexual dysfunction. So you don't have panic attacks, but you live in a gray fog and your relationships suffer. In the worst case, they cause suicidal ideation. Psychedelics also have psy…

> SSRIs, are pretty terrible They're terrible for some people, but they work well for others. I don't think they should automatically be disregarded. > In the worst case, they cause suicidal ideation Is this actually true? My understanding is that people in severe depression can have suicidal ideation but not actually be able to put in the effort/energy needed to go through with it. SSRIs initially give you a little…

I took Sertraline (one kind of SSRI) to treat anxiety, never had depression. No panic attacks anymore, sexual drive was still good, after 3 months I felt superhuman and like my life changed, 3 months after that the suicidal ideation started. I thought it was something I could power through, so I gave it another three months before it became unbearable, and I couldn't book an appointment with my treating doctor for another two months so I quit cold turkey. The withdrawals were so terrible, I was basically a zombie for two weeks. Took me a few months until I felt like myself again.

I no longer experience anxiety to the same degree I did back then, no use of other SSRIs or any other drugs.

This isn't meant to scare people into not trying SSRIs, just sharing my experience. I think had I been more informed of the potential risks and changed my attitude of toughing it out, it could've probably been more beneficial.

Re: Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

#85

Post by hcks »

debatem1 wrote: post #7

I'm not a medical person. Is there a readable summary of the research on therapeutic uses of magic mushrooms for laypeople?

There’s a bunch of fake studies that won’t replicate in 20 years when we’ll try to understand why we started frying peoples brain

Re: Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

#86

Post by DiggyJohnson »

simonvc wrote: post #46
explaininjs wrote: post #30

Been there, done that. Have the postcard. I got to experience the even more fun version where you feel like your death is imminent, you watch your surroundings stop rendering chunk by chunk, and your long term friend is telling you it is indeed all a simulation that everyone but me knew about, and I really was dying (more accurately: going "offline" for an upgrade, and my "spirit" wouldn't be persisted across version…

[flagged]

I’m pretty agnostic, but what are you answers to seemingly untraceable questions of life, meaning, and existence?

I’m starting to come around to the view that ridicule of religiosity is quite often more vacuous than spirituality.

Re: Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

#87

Post by jraby3 »

legitster wrote: post #17

I'm a fairly drug-averse person. I have no qualms about other people using them, but it took us over 30 years to really understand the implications of legalized opioids. And that was after a lengthy and expensive FDA process. So respect to all of the early adopters who have nothing to lose and are willing to put their own sanity at risk. I just don't understand people who in one breath curse the Sackler family but th…

Aside from the other comments, opioids are much more addictive than psilocybin. All drugs have risks, but the risk of death or serious issues (whether psychosis or addiction) are a fraction of what they are with opioids.

Re: Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

#88

Post by perth »

swalling wrote: post #3

What's missing from this article is that people are reaching for this because the standard medical treatment for these disorders, SSRIs, are pretty terrible. In the mild case, the common side effects are blunting of your emotions and sexual dysfunction. So you don't have panic attacks, but you live in a gray fog and your relationships suffer. In the worst case, they cause suicidal ideation. Psychedelics also have psy…

To add to this, I think the toxic part about this is that SSRIs are the first line treatment, and are handed out like candy when they are not magic cure-alls for whichever ailment. In fact there’s a risk of SSRIs activating self-destructive mania, even in people who do not typically fall under the “bipolar” umbrella. (which, the interactions of SSRIs with undiagnosed disorders is also unsafe given their track record of being handed out like candy).

Re: Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

#89

Post by DiggyJohnson »

petesergeant wrote: post #29
firecall wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what they never tell you, in my experience, is the horrible experience of trying to come off them!

I'm sorry your experience of coming off them was horrible, but that is not "the experience", and many people come off them without issue.

Isn’t the difficult if coming off SSRIs well documented, both from a procedural and symptomatic angle?

Re: Psychedelic Mushrooms Hit the Market in Oregon

#90

Post by katzenversteher »

legitster wrote: post #17

I'm a fairly drug-averse person. I have no qualms about other people using them, but it took us over 30 years to really understand the implications of legalized opioids. And that was after a lengthy and expensive FDA process. So respect to all of the early adopters who have nothing to lose and are willing to put their own sanity at risk. I just don't understand people who in one breath curse the Sackler family but th…

At least "natural" psilocybin can't be compared with opiods at all, other that both are controlled substances. Psilocybin is not addictive, it's way to exhausting and also physiologically not possible.

However, there is still a lot of potential for harm. The biggest one is triggering latent psychosis and other psychological issues followed by possibly dangerous actions under the influence of high doses.

I also believe the "recreational" potential is low but it will probably be very interesting for many people to try at least once.

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