What happens if you take too many magic mushrooms? Can you overdose on shrooms?
Learn more about our drug rehab programs in Atlanta or verify your insurance now.
What Are Shrooms?
Shrooms is an informal term for mushrooms that can cause hallucinogenic or psychedelic effects. These effects result from psylocibin, a compound that naturally occurs in the mushrooms.
There are several different types of shrooms, which are sometimes also referred to as magic mushrooms. Experts have identified more than 300 species of fungi that contain psilocybin, and they acknowledge that the actual number is likely significantly higher than that.
People typically ingest shrooms by eating them, either raw, dried, or incorporated into a gummy or other edible. They may also be boiled into a tea.
How Do Shrooms Affect Your Body & Mind?
When a person consumes shrooms, their body converts the psilocybin into psilocin. Though psilocin is also present in small amounts in some magic mushrooms, most is created via metabolization, as the body breaks down the mushrooms and prepares them for elimination.
Psilocin activates receptors in the brain that are associated with serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is involved with functions such as mood, memory, learning, sleep, and sexual desire. Psilocin’s interactions with these receptors are believed to be responsible for shrooms’ effects.
Though discussions of how shrooms can make a person feel usually focus on their psychological impact, the mushrooms can affect your body as well as your mind.
Physical effects
Common physical effects of using shrooms include:
- Dilated (expanded) pupils
- Elevated body temperature
- Increased heart rate and blood pressure
- Dry mouth
- Numbness in the face
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Impaired coordination
Psychological effects
The cognitive and psychological impact of shrooms can include:
- Disrupted ability to accurately perceive time and space
- Elevated mood, potentially to the point of euphoria
- Visual and/or auditory hallucinations
- Sense of increased empathy and connection with others
- Mystical experience or spiritual awakening
Bad trips
Though people who take shrooms are likely doing so in hopes of having a positive experience, there’s no guarantee that this will occur. Shroom use can sometimes result in what’s known as a bad trip, which can involve effects such as:
- Terrifying hallucinations
- Feeling that time is standing still
- Anxiety
- Panic
- Paranoia
- Dramatic mood swings
- “Ego death” or lost sense of self
Can You Overdose on Shrooms?
In the U.S., the increased use of prescription painkillers and other opioids has cause a dramatic spike in overdose deaths over the past 25 years. Alcohol overdose, which is sometimes referred to as alcohol poisoning, also remains a serious concern, especially for people who regularly engage in binge drinking.
Psychedelics typically don’t appear in news reports about the nation’s overdose epidemic. But that doesn’t mean using shrooms is a risk-free endeavor.
Can you overdose on shrooms? Yes, you can.
Overdose occurs when you take more of a drug than your body can safely metabolize and eliminate. The effects of an overdose can vary depending on which drug or drugs you took.
In the case of alcohol and opioids, overdose can suppress breathing, lower heart rate, cause a dramatic drop in body temperature, and prevent organs from functioning properly. In the absence of an appropriate medical response, these symptoms can be fatal.
In the case of shrooms, overdose can be highly unpleasant, but it is rarely life-threatening. Common signs of a shroom overdose include:
- Profound confusion
- Intense hallucinations and inability to reconnect with reality (psychosis)
- Extreme anxiety and paranoia
- Restlessness and agitation
- Aggressive behaviors
- Severe abdominal pain
- Muscle weakness
- Tics or twitching
- Seizure
The greatest physical danger during a shroom overdose is that the person’s distorted perceptions and impaired judgement will cause them to act in a way that is harmful to themselves or others. Of course, physical symptoms such as weakness, twitching, and seizure can cause injuries and other concerns.
It’s also important to remember that some mushrooms are toxic to humans. Unless you are an expert, consuming mushrooms that you picked yourself or that you got from an unreliable source can be a fatal mistake.
Can You Get Addicted to Shrooms?
In the previous section, we noted that overdosing on shrooms is possible, but it’s not usually the same as overdosing on opioids or alcohol.
A similar statement can be made about developing an addiction to shrooms.
Magic mushrooms do not pose the same risk of addiction that heroin, fentanyl, alcohol, meth, and certain other substances do. But some people do become dependent on them and have a difficult time curtailing their use.
The clinical term for an addiction shrooms is other hallucinogen use disorder. As established in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), this condition encompasses addictions to LSD, DMT, mescaline, MDMD (molly), shrooms, and similar substances.
The DSM-5 describes addiction to hallucinogens as one of the rarest substance use disorders, affecting an estimated 0.5% of adolescents and 0.1% of adults in the U.S.
Though rare, addiction to shrooms can be highly disruptive, potentially undermining a person’s physical health, emotional stability, and social well-being. Thankfully, it is also a treatable condition. With proper care, people who have struggled with compulsive shroom use can regain control of their behaviors and begin to lead a healthier life in recovery.
Find Help for Compulsive Shroom Use in Atlanta
Buckhead Behavioral Health is a trusted source of personalized addiction treatment for adults in the Atlanta, GA, area.
Treatment options at our outpatient rehab include detox, a partial hospitalization program (PHP), an intensive outpatient program (IOP), an evening IOP, and a virtual IOP. Our team can work closely with you to understand how you have been impacted by shroom addiction, so that we can identify the programs and therapies that best align with your unique needs and goals.
To learn more about how we can help you or a loved one, or to schedule a free assessment, please visit our Admissions page or call us today.
