Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric) - Magic Medicine or Poison?

_{Image by Veronika from Pixabay}

This is a very complex subject, and it has taken me nine full months to learn the basics of how to make this mushroom safe to use.

The Science of Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric) Mushroom

This mushroom contains two psychoactive compounds; Ibotenic Acid (a neurotoxin and stimulant) and Muscamol (a hypnotic and sedative). Amanita Muscaria differs from psilocybin mushrooms, which have had so much press of late, especially in the micro-dosing community, but the compounds in Amanita Muscaria are in their own way just as important. If you know anything about synergistic compounds, you’ll see that it is a very complex balance when working with Amanita Muscaria as an internal medicine, i.e. something to eat/drink and find potential mental or physical health benefits from.

This is because we have Ibotenic Acid (a stimulant) and Muscamol (a hypnotic and sedative). All logic dictates that they would work against each other. But there have been so many reports that this is not the case, it is about finding the right ratio of the two compounds for any one human being’s physiology.

Most poisoning from Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric) comes from idiots eating the mushroom fresh. In its fresh state, it contains a large amount of Ibotenic Acid, which in large doses can cause agitation, nausea, vomiting, and in rare cases seizures. However, it is entirely possible to make a safe tea to try micro-dosing, firstly by drying the caps carefully for an hour or two between 45°C and 55°C (109°F and 131°F) until they are cracker-dry. Below 45°C and the mushroom can deteriorate before it dries, especially if it was wet when picked.

Another important factor is that strength can vary greatly between individual caps, so the only way to standardise the dose strength is to cut up many caps after drying and make a batch of the tea. Luckily the tea will retain its potency for 2-3 days in the fridge and for months in the freezer, so you just need to buy lots of small measuring containers (can get them on amazon) so that you can try different small amounts if micro-dosing. Because you’ve made one big batch of liquid, the tea will remain the same potency/ML.

The dried mushrooms can then be further decarboxylated (converting more Ibotenic Acid into Muscamol) by adding lemon juice to a very specific PH (use a PH monitor and keep adding citric acid until the pH is below 4.0 (the ideal range being 2.5-3.0) after boiling the caps for 20-30 minutes with the lid on the pan. Remember that both compounds are water soluble so they will quickly degrade with too much heating, and you don’t want the liquid evaporating from an open pan.

My experiments with micro-dosing Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric) were using as fully decarboxylated tea as I could make to help with extreme insomnia, and I can attest to its ability to knock you out, although as with other psychoactive medicines if you have any unresolved emotional issues it might throw them in your face.

I experienced extremely vivid dreams, and although the insomnia resolved itself within 5 days, I stopped micro-dosing myself after 4 days and haven’t returned to doing it because I wasn’t ready for what the dream entity was trying to tell me. I’ll explain no further though, as it is entirely personal and no one else’s business. Many people have reported micro-dosing Amanita Muscaria (with a high muscamol/Ibo ratio) helping with insomnia, anxiety, and depression with none of the issues I faced.

Sometimes you just have to say it is not the right time for me at the moment.

My Magic Amanita Muscaria Experience

To put it simply, Amanita Muscaria decided to help me in another way.

It took away my pain.

I’ve lived with varying degrees of extreme physical pain for approximately 15 years now and I discovered a new curse of pain last year in arthritic knees that crunch and crackle as I walk up stairs or hills while burning with pain.

Three to four drops of Amanita Muscaria tincture rubbed into my knees does what no doctor or physiotherapist to date has been able to even suggest was possible. Within two months, I have gone from not being able to climb my stairs without grabbing the banisters, feeling dizzy with agony, to climbing hills, exploring nature reserves and enjoying the outdoors once again.

_{Both pictures were taken today halfway up a hill foraging for some famous, fun, friendly edibles 😉}

Another example of the insanely powerful analgesic properties of this plant medicine is that I have a slipped disc that initially prolapsed in my 20s when I worked as a roadie. I am also a person who suffers from CFS/ME, arthritic knee pain (as mentioned), episodic sciatica from a prolapsed disc that is so painful I can’t move or get out of bed without help from a carer (luckily this usually only lasts around a month maximum before I regain more normal movement with the help of pain medication) and until I discovered Amanita Muscaria tincture, whenever this happened doctors would prescribe me at least a months worth of Tramadol, more than enough to build up a tolerance and potential addiction, which I did on one occasion.

Here is what happens when I rub 6-8 drops of Amanita Muscaria alcohol tincture onto the area where the initial disc injury occurred.

Within 10 seconds the pain lessens a little, within 30 seconds I get a warm feeling (to be honest it feels a little like I’ve pissed myself 😆) except there is no liquid, I haven’t pissed myself, that warm feeling is the cessation of all pain. The pain literally drains away. If the sciatica is extreme, I might add 2-3 drops in strategic places down my leg and on my foot. It has the same effect; within 30 seconds the pain drains away, cleansed it from my system.

Yes, you heard that right. A pain medication that beats Tramadol (the UK version of Oxycodone) when I am having a disc flare-up. A medicine that beats the highest strength ibuprofen gel for my knee pain and also beats anything else I’ve ever tried for muscle/joint pain from my ME.

_{Image by Ebay_thehappybotanist from Pixabay}

Why isn’t this prescribed to the millions of people it could help💲💲💲

There are a few reasons.

One, Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric) is a symbiotic mushroom. The mycelium network mainly grows around spruce, pine and birch trees where it co-exists providing the tree roots with nutrients they need, while being provided with soil environments and micro-nutrients the mycelium needs from the trees. Even when you find them in fields, if you look carefully, you will see one of these types of tree growing nearby.

Amanita Muscaria is not a mushroom you can grow in your house, or in a factory, or in a lab. You need a forest or specific soil conditions near specific trees. I also think this is probably why science has largely ignored Amanita Muscaria, it is hard to gain enough fresh material to synthesize the chemicals before the caps rot.

Two, money, money, money.... the root of all evil. I think the main reason and culprit is the fact that large corporations make billions/year from opiates. In truth, opiates (if the likes of Amanita Muscaria and other magical plant medicines have such strong pain reducing effects on everyone and it isn’t just a quirk of my physiology) only really need to be used in extreme hospital situations like surgery and emergencies like someone sustaining a catastrophic injury. Big pharma has a lot to answer for in this respect, as the opiate abuse epidemic is insane. But I suppose an ill, slowly dying and cognitively impaired population is easier to control!

Three, they are free. Doctors, ecologists, even conservationists I’ve worked with in the past, and scientists are all brainwashed by one simple fact. Yes, Ibotenic Acid is a neurotoxin, but the only study they ever did on this compound involved injecting it directly into a rat’s brain. A rat that promptly died.

Even people who have eaten fresh Amanita Muscaria have not died within minutes, yes it can mess their kidneys and liver up, but Amanita was never meant to be taken this way. And strangely, there are some (I think) mad people who eat them fresh and say they have no problems other than mild nausea.

_{Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay}

The scare-mongering around Amanita Muscaria is in some ways understandable. E.g. we don’t want our kids to see these amazingly pretty mushrooms and start chowing down on them. But in other ways, it is an obviously case of social conditioning by the medical community, almost definitely inspired (or engineered) by big pharma.

Those mad people I mentioned who eat them fresh almost definitely don’t get any neurological effects because they have very healthy, robust microbiomes.

Inject a neurotoxin into any animal’s brain and watch it die. Lace a neurotoxin into any animal’s food and you will see a massively varied effect, in many cases vomiting as the body can recognise dangerous substances and the liver’s ability to process a certain amount of the toxin.

Remove 80% or more of the neurotoxin (Ibotenic Acid) and you will see a completely different effect again, especially because of every human being’s unique physiology and digestive integrity.

Recipe for Tincture

I promised some people that I would write this blog to provide the recipes for the tinctures I use to get rid of my pain.

There are two simple ways to make it.

Recipe for Tincture one:

In my research, I’ve discovered that Ibotenic acid could be just as important as Muscimol for the seemingly miraculous pain relieving properties of the tincture. In this first method, you simply stuff as many fresh Amanita Muscaria into a sterilised jar as possible, sealing it and leaving it in a cool dark place for 40-45 days. You then strain the juice into another sterilised jar and dilute it with 100% ethanol (if you can get it). This method will retain a strong Ibotenic acid/Muscimol ratio, and as Ibotenic acid is only dangerous when ingested (it can not pass the blood brain barrier when used topically) it makes sense that it may have added pain relieving properties when applied topically. In this method you’re only adding alcohol as a preservative. Plus, this method is the ancient one they have been doing in Russia, the Baltic states and Siberia for thousands of years.

Recipe for Tincture two:

Dry the caps out to partially decarboxylate them converting a good amount of the ibotenic acid into Muscimol, then stuff as many as will fit into a sterile mason jar and cover with either 100% ethanol if you can get it in the chemist, or vodka if you can’t. Then leave it in the fridge for 3-4 months. The liquid should turn red or yellow or possibly brown, depending on the colour of the Amanita Muscaria mushrooms you picked. It takes longer with this method because ibotenic acid and Muscimol are water soluble so it takes longer for the active compounds to integrate with the alcohol.

I stand by everything I’ve said in this article. It is based on 1000s of hours of research, and everything I have said is true. I have tried to be as honest as possible about the potential for micro-dosing to be a tricky business, and it is essential that anyone with severe mental health issues such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia don’t mess with Amanita Muscaria. Also, Pregnant mothers and those who are nursing newborns shouldn’t take it internally and anyone with kidney stones should avoid it as research found out that Amanita Muscaria microdoses often activate the removal of stones from the bladder and kidneys.

Having said all that, it hasn’t killed me; it won't kill you unless you do the exact opposite of everything I've took the time to research and outline here. And as a tincture, it is scientifically impossible for that to do any more harm than a possible allergic reaction for some people.

However, if I don’t add this disclaimer, some lawyer will probably come knocking on my door one day, or big pharma might take out a hit on me.

Deaths from Amanita muscaria (fly agaric) are extremely rare, with the North American Mycological Association stating there are no reliably documented modern cases of death purely from its specific toxins in the last 100 years. Source: Wikipidia

_{The information provided on this website/blog is for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.}

Essential Sources of research:

Baba Masha, M.D. free PDF study of the medicinal
effects of Amanita muscaria microdosing with more than 3,000
volunteer trials :

https://amanited.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Microdosing-with-Amanita-Muscar-Baba-Masha-1.pdf

Amanita Muscaria Subreddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AmanitaMuscaria/

Thanks for reading 🌿

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