Posted by pinksharkmark (12.128.176.52) on June 30, 2001 at 14:22:29:
In Reply to: Mushrooms posted by Mike R on June 30, 2001 at 13:42:23:
The comments we have received so far about pot seem to parallel your reasoning. If it is low grade, damp sativa, it tends to bring on a headache. A very high grade, properly cured, dry indica will sometimes stop a CH for some people.
As for the mushrooms... I can understand your reluctance to try it. Here are a few points to ponder before dismissing the possibility completely.
Mushrooms are generally a more mellow experience than LSD, and the experience is much shorter, usually 4 to 6 hours as opposed to 10 to 12 with LSD.
The dose most episodic clusterheads use to kill the Beast is quite low... just enough to produce a noticeable "buzz", (the rough equivalent of a "two-beer buzz") but far from the point where things get bizarre.
It is probable that if your anxiety and depression are not at a peak when you try them, the distressing aspects of the experience would be negligible. At any rate, a few hours later things would be back to normal, and you just might be painfree as well.
People interested in pursuing the psychedelic experience deliberately take enough to MAKE SURE they will get the effect they are looking for, and therefore never bother to try very small doses. They have been told (quite rightly, from their perspective) that under a certain minimum threshold amount they are just wasting their money. The effect of small doses is quite different, believe me... almost like two different drugs.
South American tribes use mushrooms as a matter of course for treating vascular headaches. One technique they use for migraines is to take a small piece of dried mushroom, maybe the size of a pencil eraser, and tuck it under their tongue. I have had reports from two people so far who use this trick to completely eliminate heavy shadows. With this method there is no detectable "buzz" at all.
Up to you, of course. At high doses of either psilocybin mushrooms or LSD, there is a synergestic effect: that is to say that if you go into the experience dreading it, the odds are you will have an unpleasant experience. If you go into it with the expectation of enjoying yourself, you probably will. Given your understandable fear of having another bad time, it is probably not a good idea to take a full-on "recreational" dose. But you may want to look into tucking a piece under your tongue, or doing a very small test dose (maybe half a gram of mushroom as opposed to the standard 4 gram "recreational" dose).
In the United States (except Florida) there is also the issue of legality to think about, but I presume that anyone who smokes weed will already have taken that into consideration.
Something to consider.
pinky