It is not uncommon for people to take shrooms while drinking alcohol. Some people even mix the two, producing products that are alcoholic drinks infused with Psilocybin. This common practice is among several enthusiasts, but people should be aware of mixing mushrooms and alcohol because of the possible interactions.
What are Shrooms?
Shrooms differ from the regular mushrooms common in the culinary world. They look similar, but magic mushrooms are not eaten as food, though they can be used for magic mushroom burgers or steeped as shroom tea. The difference is that ordinary mushrooms can be eaten in large quantities, and magic mushrooms should only be taken in controlled doses.
A person will feel the hallucinogenic effects upon ingesting psilocybin mushrooms. The head will start getting foggy, and the auditory and visual senses will get distorted. The psychoactive present in them will cause a trip that can last for hours.
There is a wide range of species, and some can be easily mistaken for toxic ones. Proper identification of wild mushrooms is important before processing them for consumption.
Alcohol and Mushrooms
The main reason why people take alcohol with magic mushrooms is that it can lessen some adverse effects. Mushrooms can cause paranoia and nausea, especially to people who are new to it or are taking higher doses.
Alcohol can reduce these unpleasant effects. There are various ways they can be taken with alcohol. People can eat a mushroom and wash it down with a glass of beer or wine. Others make Psilocybin-infused drinks, or shrooms drink, by mixing the powder mushroom to the brewing and fermentation process of beer and winemaking.
What Happens After Taking Mushrooms
When a person drinks alcohol, they become intoxicated. When people take mushrooms, they go on trips. Shrooms have psychedelic substances that cause hallucinations and heightened emotional states, making people feel twice as much as they usually would. To calm the nervous system and manage these feelings from getting out of hand, people would drink alcohol to tone it down.
Mushroom and Alcohol Interaction
Although people rarely get addicted to mushrooms, it can happen. Though it may not result in life-threatening circumstances, there are still adverse effects. Some of the symptoms are agitation, diarrhea, muscle weakness, panic, and even seizures and coma.
It is more common for people to experience bad trips, which are unpleasant hallucinations and anxiety. When the trip wears out, people will feel exhaustion and depression. Alcohol, on the other hand, can cause addictions, turning people into alcoholics.
They can even build alcohol dependence, leading to difficult withdrawals and recovery processes. When people have existing problems with addictions, taking mushrooms can exacerbate the symptoms and make people feel worse.
The situation becomes worse when people accidentally choose the wrong kinds of mushrooms with alcohol. Toxic mushrooms can even lead to fatality, and alcohol can turn things for the worse. While drunk, it would be difficult for a person to discern a good one and control its quantity. It is especially true for people who go on foraging outdoors. They can experience a lapse in judgment and make them suffer the intensified adverse effects for a more extended period.
Safety and Health
For safety and health reasons, it is better to take everything with precaution and moderation. For people who are easing into magic mushroom use, preparation and expectation management are essential before taking the substance for the first time. It is better for people dealing with alcohol problems to get cleared first before trying out hallucinogens.
This way, no existing problems will worsen. Avoiding any possible interaction is better than suffering from a bad trip that can forever be embedded in memory. If it cannot be helped, these experiments should be guided and supervised by a reliable and trusted friend to help manage any bad experience.
Alternating the use of magic mushrooms and alcohol is another solution, recovering from one’s effects before trying the other. If people already have better control of their trip and alcohol use, proceeding with precaution is still recommended. Asking expert’s advice can also help since they can help advise in terms of dose and mixing.
A Final Note on Shrooms & Alchohol
Since both magic mushrooms and alcohol have strong effects, it is still better to consume them correctly to avoid any problem. Although mushrooms will not always harm, mixing it with alcohol can negatively impact, especially when there are existing problems already. Starting on a clear head and intention is still the safest way to consume mushrooms and alcohol.
