Amanita Research Forum

Hi all,
Could someone please explain to me the side effects of eating AM raw. Ibotenic acid is responsible for AM's side effects I know because it's a neurotoxin. And this is avoided when drying as it's converted to a safe chemical Muscimol. But what does it entail to eat AM raw? Can eating raw AM permanently damage nerve cells?
This interests me as I saw great effects when microdosing AM raw for things like anxiety. But I did notice a scary effect on my memory... My memory was just severely malfunctioning sometimes. E.g. I would go get my keys in the other room but on the way to get them I would forget why I stood up and walked to the other room. And sometimes I couldn't remember a simple word to use in sentences.
These side effects all went away after I stopped using AM raw.
But I'm keen to start microdosing raw again as I saw the positives outweight the negatives. But would I be risking damage?
Cheers

Like most things in life it depends.

There is a good chunk of misinformation because ibonetic acid is indeed used to crate brain lesions on lab animals. That sounds awful but you have to keep in mind that for that to happen it gets injected straight into the brain tissue itself; I have not seen any study suggesting that it could do that via oral normal doses, let alone micro dosing. Many things that we ingest without a second thought can be deadly at doses not too far from their normal range such as Tylenol.

Heck it is probably less neurotoxic than say alcohol and certainly nicotine. Even caffeine can be neurotoxic at high enough levels.

Side effects? it still depends. Some people are more tolerant some are more susceptible. Besides the common nausea, vomiting, and drowsiness, retrograde amnesia is also listed. That's not indication of brain damage that's just how the chemical expresses itself in your particular biology. Me? I never liked pot because it does the exact same thing to me. If you don't like the feeling then do try to convert as much ibonetic acid into musimol instead of earring it raw.

Also by definition you should not be feeling much of anything micro dosing. If you are going to eat it raw lower your dose and keep in mind that the active compounds vary tremendously from one mushroom to the next; each cap may require a different amount.

Thank you for your reply!
I ate like 1/30th of a raw cap for my daily dose. And you're probably right in that it's not microdosing since my area has some very potent AMs growing and I feel effects within minutes after ingestion e.g. numbing sensation in face, pupil dilation. The main positive is I become relaxed and can enjoy myself and be present on AM. Otherwise I'm normally too tense with a racing mind. These effects I don't really get on dried caps.
It definitely sounds like I was experiencing amnesia. But that's a relief that this wasn't a product of brain damage.

Hi! I have also noticed some concerning memory issues with consuming AM raw (in micro/minidose), but I am having major benefits relating to anxiety & PTSD that are pretty astounding, so I am proceeding cautiously, with breaks for my brain/memory to recover. Please keep me posted about how you are doing. I love the IBO effects in micro/minidose~ I feel like my system really needs it.

Good luck!