Abstract: Psylocibin Mushrooms Microdoses to Treat Chronic Pain
I have had positive results from a six week, self-directed trial using microdoses of psylocibin mushrooms to treat the symptoms of painful peripheral neuropathy. I did this in a controlled manner, experimenting with quantity of mushrooms and dosage timing to determine the optimal quantity and time of day to have positive results. I experienced pain-free evenings for the first time in many years after the first or second microdose. I decided to try this after having read about the use of psychedelics to treat various psychological disorders, often with great success compared to prescription drugs and interventional treatments.
An important ulterior motive of this paper is to present this data to the scientific community and chronic pain patients for questions, comments and suggestions. I did not see pain management on the list of conditions treated in clinical trials, so I was skeptical of a good outcome until I realized that I could eliminate, or at least suppress, chronic pain in a repeatable and predictable way. I microdosed about half the days, and recorded several different parameters to eliminate ambiguity.
I am a 68 year old male who was diagnosed with auto-immune peripheral neuropathy in 2005. That diagnosis was repeated by the Mayo Clinic in 2009. My pain is limited to my feet, is frequently severe, debilitating, and chronic. I have seen many different specialists, and I have tried many prescription drugs and several interventional procedures, most with little or no pain relief.
It’s important to note that the small quantities of mushrooms I took never caused any form of reality distortion or cognitive impairment. The doses I took were effective for 3-5 hours, enough time to make it worthwhile in the latter part of the day. There were no adverse side effects or drug hangovers. The feeling was mellow and pleasant, particularly the pain-free part. I do not advocate this for others with chronic pain, but for those of us who have exhausted all other treatment options, psychedelic medicine has promise as a mainstream therapy as academics and professionals consistently produce positive results from clinical trials and other studies. I don’t suggest that others should try psychedelics to self-treat their symptoms, but I have had many pain-free hours as a result of my study,