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ZorbaTHut  2yr ago (text post)   2752 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for September 7, 2022

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How bad of an idea would it be to try psilocybin alone with no supervision while on vacation in a foreign country?

That’s a bad idea. Also don’t bring or buy illegal drugs into a foreign country, that’s an even worse idea. I think you have a sense that it is and that’s why you need to ask. Things will probably be okay but there’s a non trivial chance of something very bad happening.

I have never done mushrooms so I can't comment on the high, but I have lived in some pretty shitty places (in the third world) so I can comment on that. It would be a bad idea.

If you can practically gurantee that you will be locked in your room safely with no intervention and won't be a risk to yourself, then you are going to be somewhat fine.

If you leave your room, potential thiefs, muggers and a whole host of people you don't want to deal with will smell out the fact that you are not in total control and will make the best of that opportunity.

Everyone responds to drugs somewhat differently. I'm assuming by try you're implying you haven't ever had any before? One of the several reasons first timers are recommended supervision is because some people do not respond well. To me it is an effect similar to a high does of cannabis edibles, I'd be willing to have some in your scenario because I know what I'm getting. Others have different reactions.

One trick if you decide to go through with it, mush them in something like a three musketeers bar, it greatly helps with the texture and makes you less likely to puke.

Based on my limited experience, I would say the emotional quality of your trip will depend a lot on your state of mind. If you're alone and in a bad place, you'll have an unpleasant experience. If you're with someone else and the two of you make it positive, then it'll be great.

That said, there's obviously higher risks here. Imagine you're eating some random amonita that's quite toxic rather than the correct shroom or something along those lines. You're putting yourself in a potentially dangerous position.

Everything depends on the dose and your general experience with drugs, if you're used to having your consciousness significantly altered outside your control, then you probably wouldn't have a problem with mushrooms either. I don't drink and never did any drugs before I tried psilocybin alone for meditation purposes, and I had to start very slowly. If you're someone who feels the need to control everything, be very careful and start slow. The entirety of the difficulty of psychedelics is in not trying to control things you can't control. Weird unfamiliar and maybe unpleasant things will happen, and you can't control any of it (the lack of control scales with dose, culminating in no control whatsoever at 5g or more), but if you try you'll make everything worse.

The way to minimize bad experiences is to start with 0.8g the first time, then 1.6g the second, then 2.4g and 3.2g, all weights in dried mushrooms. Leaving about a week between each dose, done in darkness (sensitivity to light increases dramatically), in bed possibly with headphones listening to classical music, with locked doors, close access to a bathroom, plenty of drinking water (you will pee a lot during the trip, and must not forget to drink water), and in a good mood with clear intentions for why you're doing this and what you aim to get out of this.

edit: some more specific details: the psilocybin content of dried mushrooms varies dramatically, even within a single mushroom between the stem and the cap. So if possible get a large quantity (like 14g) of dried mushrooms and grind them in a coffee grinder to homogenize them. Then buy a milligram scale from amazon and carefully weigh out your dose and put it in boiling water to make a tea out of it, all the psilocybin will dissolve in the water and you won't need to actually eat the mushrooms. This way also avoids the nausea that some people get at the beginning of the trip.

Thanks for the detailed info!

I have been extremely drunk many times but don't have any experience with hallucinogens. Unfortunately, I won't be able to try scale up over weeks because I am only planning on a week or so vacation in a country where mushrooms are legal. Guess I will try a small dose in a hotel room.

These are good pieces of advice for if @badciviilization is mainly concerned with a meditative experience. I will note though that if they're using it more recreationally I've never met a mushroom lover that didn't recommend nature and greenery.

done in darkness (sensitivity to light increases dramatically), in bed possibly with headphones listening to classical music, with locked doors

I would not recommend this set up if the goal is recreation.

Oh, very true! I honestly forget that people do these recreationally and not to understand the nature of self and sensory experience. Though I personally find it hard to think of anything less pleasant than doing shrooms in public.

I do shrooms both meditatively and recreationally, and probably my best experience was going to MoMA on a medium-low dose. It was low-key life-changing.

You'd be surprised. Context hugely changes the experience. One of the most pleasant afternoons I've had so far was taking a gram and wandering downtown Chicago in the summer with a couple friends. You don't want to be in the danger or navigating complicated situations but you're not totally helpless.

Pretty bad I think, unless it’s a very small dose. My experiences with a moderate-small dose was overwhelming and I required supervision.

< 3g in a hotel room is prob fine as long as you don’t have any psychological issues like suicidal tendencies

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