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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> Article on mushrooms & synapses
        
(Message started by: pamstroud on Jul 4^th, 2004, 3:43pm)

Title: Article on mushrooms & synapses
Post by pamstroud on Jul 4^th, 2004, 3:43pm

I found this article, which is quite New Age-y, but has some information on how mushrooms affect consciousness -- of particular interest was the part on how they induce greater alertness and affect REM. A quote: "According to our expert G.K.Aghajanian, both psilocybin and mescaline bind to these 5-HT2 sites in the locus coeruleus and thus alter the functioning of this system, ultimately raising levels of alertness and arousal."

The URL is http://www.lycaeum.org/books/books/psilocybin-solution/ch5.htm

It's long, so if you already know about how the brain and synapses work you will want to skip the first parts.

Trying, w/o much hope of success, to take some of these puzzle pieces and make some kind of picture.

Pam

Title: Re: Article on mushrooms & synapses
Post by notseinfeld on Jul 4^th, 2004, 11:42pm

Pam, the whole puzzle has been taken care of you here: http://www.lycaeum.org/books/books/psilocybin-solution/

Additionally, it's some of the best material I've ever read!

enjoy

Title: Re: Article on mushrooms & synapses
Post by notseinfeld on Jul 4^th, 2004, 11:43pm

whoops---If I had clicked your link first I wouldn't have reposted---duh!

nots :-X

Title: Re: Article on mushrooms & synapses
Post by pamstroud on Jul 5^th, 2004, 12:28am

Well, it's still not enough for me to put the puzzle together. There seems to be a connection between the fact that if we go into REM sleep -- ie not alert -- we are likely to get hit, and the fact that psillocybin resets us to a higher state of alertness, and at the same time puts us into a state of waking REM. I don't know how to put this all together. What is it that gets out of whack with our brains and what does the p. fix?

Pam

Title: Re: Article on mushrooms & synapses
Post by floridian on Jul 6^th, 2004, 9:12am

Pam,

A few thoughts on sleep: In REM sleep, the body becomes paralyzed and dreaming occurs. REM is also associated with apnea and lower oxygen levels in the blood (maybe too much paralysis - breathing becomes irregular). Oxygen aborts headaches for most, and for some, vigorous exercise at the immediate onset of a cluster can abort. Serotonin is involved in breathing and sleep patterns. Clusterbusters change serotonin metabolism (maybe reducing paralysis of the breathing).

Thats not an iron-clad explanation, I know. But its one way of thinking about it.

Title: Re: Article on mushrooms & synapses
Post by notseinfeld on Jul 6^th, 2004, 9:34am

Cuppla Mo' Ideas:

Apparently psilocybin is anatomically *almost* identical to the natural serotonin, a hormone, our brains produce. I think it's fairly well know that CH folks have irregular distribution of this and other hormones that contribute to the intolerable pain we experience. In consuming 'God's flesh' I believe our receptors get completely full and somehow here the clock is reset as if our little brain say "hey, look at me regulation serotonin perfectly". All conjecture but something's going correctly.

Also, one of the most interesting parts of that treatise I thought was the eradication of the Raphe System under the influence of entheogens. If you recall this system is what filter out most of the bombardment of information hitting us every second of every day in order that we may survive as a species. During sleep, and during a trip, the system is temporarily relaxed and a free flow of all that info is allowed to pass through. Imagine, reality is more like reality under the influence of mushrooms.

Hey, manna means mushroom and is spirtually linked. I think I've seen this word plenty in the bible, how about you? Is the body of the Lord the flesh of our toad stool?
What did the Jews eat in the desert? What would grow off some morning mist and be gone by 10AM?

Rudolf's nose is red because he's a Siberian reindeer who are known to eat Amanita Muscaria, a RED mushroom w/white spots. Lo and behold, a band of reindeer, (comit, cupid, etc) are pictured to be "flying". Plus, these particular mushrooms can be found growing under conifers of which a Pine tree is one. Don't we put a pine tree in the house for x-mas and get some 'goodies' underneath the tree?

I could go on all day ---

Title: Re: Article on mushrooms & synapses
Post by pamstroud on Jul 6^th, 2004, 10:22am

on 07/06/04 at 09:12:37, floridian wrote:

Pam,

Clusterbusters change serotonin metabolism (maybe reducing paralysis of the breathing).

Thats not an iron-clad explanation, I know. But its one way of thinking about it.

Thanks, that makes sense -- my fear of REM sleep was based on the perception that I do breathe shallowly when asleep and was not getting enough oxygen. Also why I slept with a low rate of O2 flow few times.

Maybe the CH's are related to us periodically becoming imperceptibly less alert, and breathing more shallowly than usual? (Or, thinking of oxygen as a vasoconstrictor, is that like saying periodically we become triptan deficient?)

I was thinking p. makes us more alert by changing the normal state of alertness to a different kind of hyper-alertness (as the article says, more attenuated to novelty), at a mostly sub-perceptible level.

BTW, I read a lot of your research posts in the archives and was wondering if you have a compendium of them somewhere?