He brewed 'mushroom tea' before injecting it intravenously
A man ended up in intensive care after injecting himself with magic mushrooms causing a life-threatening growth of fungi in his blood.
A team of doctors and medical students at the Creighton University School of Medicine in Phoenix released
a case report last week in which they describe an incident where a 30-year-old man with type 1 bipolar disorder stopped taking his medication and decided to self-medicate with psilocybin, a hallucinogenic chemical found in some mushrooms.
During a series of manic and depressive episodes, the man had read about the therapeutic effects of microdosing LSD and psilocybin. He therefore decided to brew what he described as a "mushroom tea" by boiling magic mushrooms in water which he then filtered through a cotton swab and injected intravenously.
But over the coming days he developed symptoms of diarrhea, jaundice, lethargy and nausea before vomiting blood. It was at this point that his family took him to hospital where he was found to be suffering from acute kidney dysfunction, liver injury and multi-organ failure, according to
VICE.
He was then transferred to intensive care, with blood tests showing he had both a bacterial and fungal infection in his blood.
Whilst in hospital he suffered septic shock and "acute respiratory failure."
The case report states that the blood tests "confirmed both bacterial (ultimately cultured as
Brevibacillus) and fungal (ultimately cultured and DNA identified by a specialist laboratory as
Psilocybe cubensis – i.e., the species of mushroom he had injected was now growing from his blood) infections."
It concludes that this case underscores the need for ongoing public education regarding the dangers of using psilocybin and other drugs in ways "other than they are prescribed."
In total, the man spent 22 days in hospital, eight of which were in intensive care. He was given an intense course of antibiotics and antifungal drugs and was prescribed the antifungal medication long-term to prevent the mushrooms from regrowing.
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