Psilocybin, the "magic" compound in psychedelic mushrooms, produces visual and auditory hallucinations, altering your perception of the world around you. It is said that effects range from creativity enhancements to spiritual awakenings, euphoria, and so much more.
While your individual shroom experience will vary based on many factors, we'll go over the typical effects and how long they last below.
The Most Common Effects of Magic Mushrooms
Anecdotal evidence suggests the effects of shrooms are much like those associated with LSD and other hallucinogenics. These are the most common:
- Altered perception of time and space
- Changes in feelings and mood
- Peacefulness
- Temporary body temperature and libido changes
- Euphoria
- Depersonalization and derealization
- Spiritual awakening
- Distorted thinking
- Visual alteration and distortion
- Drowsiness
- Dilated pupils
- Lowered inhibitions
- Impacted concentration
- Lack of coordination
- Hallucinations
- Unusual bodily sensations
Some avid users say they even experience flashbacks of previous trips, lasting for about two minutes each time!
That said, it's worth knowing that shrooms impact everybody differently, depending on your mental state, dosage, immediate environment, and personality.
Let's Break All The Magic Mushroom Effects Down
As per clinicians' suggestions, all the effects of magic mushrooms can be categorized into four classes — perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and ego.
Perceptual Effects
Perceptual changes are very much dose-dependent; the more you take, the more your perception of everything changes. This could range from mental imagery to intensification to complex hallucinations to illusion to distortion.
Often, shrooms change your sense of time and location. Users often lose their usual linear cause-and-effect processes.
Depending on your dosage, you may have mixed senses. This strange yet apparently pleasant sensation involves "hearing" colors or "seeing" sounds. Some researchers suggest this is due to the brain's "rewiring" that occurs due to the psilocybin.
Cognitive Effects
Here's where your creativity levels and thought patterns change.
Magic mushrooms are known to increase traits related to creativity, like divergent thinking, sometimes-nonsensical language patterns or word associations, attributing meaning to musical pieces, and expanding semantic (i.e., language meaning) activation.
Emotional Effects
Many people have a misconception that psychedelic mushrooms change the way you feel. But that isn't purportedly true. Instead, they intensify the emotions you are already feeling.
So, if you're feeling sad right before you ingest psilocybin, it could strengthen this feeling. However, anecdotal reports suggest that most users are excited or happy right before taking shrooms and, thus, can access unique emotional states.
Perhaps one of the more famed emotional effects is euphoria, which is a pretty obvious one to spot. Primarily, this state is characterized by:
- Uncontrollable laughter
- Involuntary grinning or smiling
- Silliness
- Forgiveness
- Giddiness
- Playfulness
- Exuberance
Ego Effects
Psilocybin can subtly or drastically change your sense of self, causing ego loss. While its "mystical-esque" experiences related to your identity, connection with the universe, and the self only reliably happen at higher doses, less intense ego effects can occur with lower dosages.
Some studies suggest it's the fully-fledged ego-loss or dissolution state that is most likely to have a long-term impact on your outlook and personality. And since higher dosages cause this, it's been somewhat researched in clinical settings.
Do Different Magic Mushrooms Produce Different Effects?
We get this question a lot. And the answer is no, not really.
But, some shroom varieties (such as Liberty Caps, Wavy Caps, and Blue Meanies) contain much more psilocybin than others. Since this chemical produces the psychedelic effects, ingesting these could give you a more intense experience than consuming other types.
Currently, scientists are researching the "halo" effect. They know that some magic mushrooms contain distinct alkaloids. However, they're trying to discern whether they actually influence the subjective experience.
If they find a correlation, you may be able to take certain varieties for specific effects. But as of now, all perceptual, cognitive, ego, and emotional changes could occur, regardless of the particular mushroom — it's the intensity of your "trip" that changes.
How Long Do Effects from Shrooms Last?
The effects of shrooms can last between three and six hours, and it takes roughly 30 minutes for them to kick in after ingestion. But like the experiences themselves, this depends on various factors, such as:
- The dosage
- The mushroom species
- Whether you consume fresh or dried mushrooms (the latter are more potent)
- How you consume them (steeping shrooms in tea can have an effect in just five to ten minutes)
- Your age
- Your tolerance (over time, your body will become less susceptible to mushroom's effects at lower dosages)
- Your frame of mind and expectations for the trip
- Other substances or medications you've taken
- Pre-existing mental health illnesses
Sources have mentioned that psilocybin can stay in your system for around 24 hours. Although according to urine tests, psilocin (i.e., the compound your body converts psilocybin into) can stay in your system for approximately three days.
However, that isn't set in stone either. The duration depends on many variables, including the species of mushroom, your age, and even your body composition.
Interested? Here's Where to Purchase Your Own Magic Mushrooms
If you're a shroom newbie, you're probably equal parts excited and nervous about your first journey into the magic mushroom sphere. So, you need to purchase products that are properly processed for minimal toxicity risk, such as the ones you'll find in our store.
While these are Amanita based and not Psilocybin based, you'll find that you're also more likely to experience some more tame effects than listed here.
Whether you want to check out some magic mushroom gummies, cookies, or capsules, or microdose with powder, we've got you and your trip covered.
References
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/308850#effects
https://www.drugs.com/illicit/psilocybin.html
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsmedchemlett.0c00048
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-long-do-shrooms-stay-in-your-system