Ottawa – Using magic mushrooms can lead to short-term mental and physical effects.
Mental effects
Magic mushrooms may cause heightened emotions and senses and people may feel happy and creative. They may laugh or giggle a lot and experience a sense of mental and emotional clarity.
Magic mushrooms can also cause hallucinations and affect people by:
- distorting their sense of reality (they see and hear things that are not there)
- mixing up their senses (they believe they can see music or hear colours)
- altering their sense of time
Some of the negative mental effects of taking magic mushrooms include:
- changes in mood
- light-headedness
- anxiety and panic attacks
- confusion and disorientation
- fear or paranoia
Physical effects
Taking magic mushrooms can produce:
- numbness, particularly in the face
- increased heart rate and blood pressure
- dry mouth, sometimes leading to nausea and vomiting
- muscle weakness and twitching, or convulsions
- exaggerated reflexes
- sweating and high body temperature, often followed by chills and shivering
- loss of urinary control
Long-term effects of magic mushrooms
Currently, no studies have evaluated the long-term effects of repetitive use of magic mushrooms.
Risks related to use of magic mushrooms
- What is commonly known as a “bad trip” may occur, particularly at high doses. These experiences may be frightening and may include paranoia, loss of boundaries and a distorted sense of self. Impaired judgement during these “bad trips” may lead to risk-taking behaviour, which may then lead to traumatic injuries or even death.
- In certain cases, users may experience frequent or overly intense psychedelic events that may induce abrupt “flashbacks”, i.e., reliving the previous experience.
- Using magic mushrooms with substances such as cannabis, amphetamines, alcohol, etc., elevates the risks of serious side effects and adverse events.
- For individuals predisposed to or with existing psychiatric conditions, there may be an elevated risk of side effects. This association is still being evaluated.
- For individuals with cardiac diseases, short-term effects such as increased blood pressure and heart rate could potentially be harmful.