Psilocybin mushrooms changed me – how I approach and handle life and how I manage both my emotions and my chronic pain. Psilocybin mushroom research is still in its infancy — you won’t find much science-backed information on the trend of microdosing, especially not for pain or uncommon conditions like vertigo.
In fact, even though macrodosing mushrooms has a long cultural history, you won’t find a ton of research on that either. The least we can do here at Psillow is track some of the research and make it accessible for your own interest. It’s the anecdotal stories, similar to cannabis, that really make a difference – I’m just one of many, and I’d love to hear more stories about how mushrooms changed you!
How Psilocybin Effected my Chronic Pain
Your usual concoction of drugs most often prescribed for chronic pain simply didn’t work for me – anything ‘light’ like advil and tylenol would give me stomach upset like you wouldn’t believe; any commonly prescribed drugs like gabapentin or lyrica made me dizzy and uncoordinated; any ‘hard’ drugs like tramadol made me uselessly high and incapable of doing the most basic things. My chronic pain started when I was a teenager (you can read the full story on my website), and came with an assortment of problems, so early on I became a medical cannabis user. Cannabis was extremely helpful for my chronic pain, and frankly, pairs very well with psilocybin!
Like many, I experimented with psilocybin as a teenager – a macrodose (2+ grams) a few times. It didn’t have a significant effect besides, similar to cannabis, distracting me entirely from the nerve and chronic pain for the duration of the trip. Unfortunately, this method isn’t sustainable or advised if you’re looking to lead a relatively productive life, and frankly, I never felt like I wanted another trip for months after.
Mushrooms and Neuropathic Pain
Traditional painkillers tend to mask symptoms or target inflammation – psilocybin mushrooms effect seems to lie in neuroplasticity. Psilocybin interacts with serotonin receptors in the brain, specifically the 5-HT2A receptor. This interaction is thought to modulate pain perception and emotional responses to pain – literally changing how your brain interacts with pain, rather than necessarily changing the pain itself. This change in the brain, sometimes called ‘retraining,’ can help the neuropathways interpret and respond to pain signals differently.
For me, this is exactly what happened. Neuropathic pain, most often resulting from damaged nerves (which is the case in my situation), is often modulated by the brain. There is some evidence that psilocybin can encourage the growth of new neural connections, and even repair neural pathways – could this be a way to address the root cause of the pain, rather than just the symptoms? If so, psilocybin could result in a long-term solution for managing pain compared to conventional pain relief treatments, which often carry risks of dependency, tolerance and other negative side-effects.
The biggest benefit of using psilocybin mushrooms for my chronic pain was the psychological benefits. As we well know, chronic pain leads to mental health issues like depression and anxiety that are difficult to treat because they’re wrapped up in the physical issues that need to be treated. These mental health issues can even exacerbate the perception of pain, causing an unfortunate cycle in those suffering from chronic pain issues. Even if the research on psilocybin and pain is limited, there has been quite a bit of research on therapeutic use – psilocybin potentially offers a dual benefit.
Spinning Out: Microdosing for Vertigo & Migraines
One of the main reasons I started taking psilocybin was for vertigo. Almost like clockwork, every 4-6 months, I would wake up with a slight spinning sensation – and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Within a day, the room would spin out from under me every time I moved my head. This meant I was totally incapacitated for sometimes more than a week, before the vertigo dissipated entirely on its own. I had chronic migraines, likely related to my scoliosis and spinal issues, so it wasn’t a far jump to conclude that the vertigo was related. The main problem was that I often used cannabis to help me tolerate the migraines, and sometimes even conventional medicine – but with vertigo, these treatments could actually make it worse.
I went to ear, nose and throat doctors, as well as migraine specialists, since this seemed to be related to migraines. One doctor taught me the Epley Maneuver, which helped temporarily if I did it many times a day – the conclusion was that this was an inner ear issue. According to this doctor, these spinning symptoms were due to benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). BPPV is the result of misaligned calcium crystals in your inner ear canals that detect motion and send this information to your brain. When these crystals detach and move inside the canals, they send signals to your brain about your position which cause these spinning sensations. The good Doctor Epley designed movements to help dislodge the crystals and bring them back to where they belong. Unfortunately, this very uncomfortable method of realigning my ears would only treat the issue but wouldn’t do much to prevent it.
Enter psilocybin microdoses. By chance, a friend recommended taking a small dose of psilocybin to see how it affected my debilitating and ongoing issue. Soon, I was taking 100-300mg of psilocybin any time I felt the spinning sensation coming on – if I treated it early, it would somehow stop the vertigo from escalating. I started pre-emptively taking microdoses every few months – after about 2 years of doing this regularly, I stopped having vertigo spells almost entirely. There is no research on this, and so how it works is pretty much speculation.
There are some recent studies on psilocybin for migraine relief – one 10-person study out of Yale University found that a single dose of psilocybin reduced migraine frequency by 50% over a two-week period. For those migraine sufferers, there were fewer migraines and decreased pain intensity. Participants self-reported fewer migraine days and decreased pain intensity following treatment. Even with migraines, it’s not clear exactly how psilocybin alleviates the pain – likely it’s an interaction between serotonin and pain perception.
In contrast, dizziness and faintness can be a side effect of psilocybin use – so it’s hard to know exactly how it helps vertigo, especially in the long term. But for those of us who find ourselves laid out from vertigo regularly, for which there is next to no conventional treatment, it might be a path worth exploring.
Mushrooms and Coping Mechanisms
In the end, the biggest impact that mushrooms had on my chronic issues was that it essentially helped me cope better. Whether handling chronic pain, managing neuropathy symptoms, or mitigating vertigo, psilocybin had a profound effect on how I was able to handle these issues. For those of us who have chronic conditions, managing the ups-and-downs of feeling unwell while juggling other life requirements – like working, keeping up social and family relationships, and doing what’s required to eat, sleep and exercise effectively – can be exhausting and further lead to depression. Microdosing gave me the space away from these conditions, while for some reason enhancing my interest and ability to eat, exercise and even sleep better. What’s the science behind that? Not a whole lot at this moment – a little bit of ‘Enhanced Interoceptive Awareness’ that makes us more aware of bodily sensations and a definite boost in mood.
Reach out and let us know what your experience with microdosing (or macrodosing) mushrooms, we’d love to hear your story!
