Why You Should Try Shrooms
In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that about 50 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, and 43.4% of Americans battle with mental illness. This statistic is barely news, considering there are awareness initiatives for both matters worldwide. Respectfully discussing mental illness and acknowledging chronic pain victims is truly laudable but becomes meaningless when we still see little to no headway in finding the source of their pain, and arguably, more importantly, finding some semblance of a cure.
Cue in: Healing Mushrooms (professionally known as Psilocybe Cubensis).
A Brief History
Psilocybin and psilocin are the chemicals found in what some would call "shrooms" and were revered by specialists way before the "hippies" made them famous. The exact period of their first use is shaky, but temples of mushroom gods were found in Mexico and Guatemala by people who lived around 1,000-500 BCE. Much later in the early 1900s, a botanist known as Mr.W recorded that his scientific use of the mushrooms shaped time and made "a short time [seem] long, drawn-out, and a longer time [seem] very short." In 1960, Harvard professors Dr. Leary and his team experimented with the fungi on prisoners to see if recidivism rates would decrease (they did, by 40%, proving that the mushrooms impacted emotional and mental wellbeing).
The US government banned the drug in 1968 but allowed it again for monitored research in the early 90s. A post in the "Journal of Psychoactive Drugs" shows signs of patients free of their cluster headaches. They noted how psilocybin "[was] comparable to or more efficacious than most conventional medications," proving (yet again) to the world that the mushrooms are not only for freeing the mind but for healing the body, too (Chriss).
How Mushrooms Can Heal Pain
At UC San Diego, neuroscientists and clinical professors joined forces to understand the healing properties of Psilocybin further. Timothy Furnish, Joel Castellanos, and others championed the Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative (or PHRI for short). PHRI is changing the way modern healthcare views "magic mushrooms."
Furnish was an associate clinical professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine, while Castellanos was a pain physician for UC San Diego Health. Castellanos experimented with showing how there is a "possibility that psychedelics could reorganize pain pathways in the brain" and that it "holds out the promise of a much more long-lasting treatment than current medication can offer." According to UCSD News, their findings "can produce significant, meaningful and lasting reductions of chronic pain conditions such as cluster headaches, complex regional pain disorder, phantom-limb pain, tinnitus, and others."
This discovery is groundbreaking news. Imagine the masses of people suffering from an undiagnosable headache, an invisible flaring of the muscles, or, as in Albert Yu-Min Lin's case, the aching of a phantom limb, finally finding relief. (Albert Yu-Min Lin is a UC San Diego researcher and National Geographic Explorer who had an accident in the desert, resulting in lower left leg loss. He suffered insurmountable phantom symptom pain but was thankfully relieved by a single session with Psilocybin.)
A New Age in Medicine
Since Psilocybin is a non-addictive medicinal fungus, it can be an excellent substitute for highly addictive pain medications like oxycodone, opioids, and prescription pain medication. The American Psychiatric Association conducted a national poll in 2018, which revealed that over 2 million Americans ( 5% of US adults) abused opioids and prescribed pain medication, resulting in more than 67,000 deaths. Psilocybin may change all of this considering how just one session can induce "immediate, persistent and profound reduction in what had been debilitating post-trauma pain" (Coleman). Hopefully, soon, the mushrooms will give many suffering from chronic pain instant relief.
As you can see, medicinal mushrooms have come a long way. It's surprising how even in the 21st century, we still have much to learn about the earth and the human body (for instance, scientists and doctors still stumble over what the coccyx does and why we yawn). Nature has proven once again that it holds the healing agents we need to survive.
The holistic approach is truly the way to seek healthy, wholesome remedies to mental and bodily ailments. Disclaimer: "magic" mushrooms are not legal in many states of the United States, and due to their psychedelic properties, we recommend you seek treatment with licensed medical professionals.
Who they are:
A company dedicated to uplifting health and wellness brands across the globe through meditation and yoga workshops hosted by local entrepreneurs.
What they wanted:
A contracted blog writer to educate followers on the medicinal advantages of mushrooms and the fluidity of a brand.
What I did:
Wrote two outstanding blog posts about Psilocybe Cubensis, or “healing mushrooms” and empathetic consumerism.
Conducted thorough research on the brand voice and the topic at hand.
