Psychedelics, and especially magic mushrooms, will be touted as having many amazing applications over the coming decades. From large doses of psilocybin for depression to microdoses of mushrooms for arthritis pain—the science has only just started and many questions remain unanswered and unasked.

Until concrete data is gathered on the effects of magic mushrooms on the body and mind, we’re left to explore anecdotes, small studies, and theoretical musings on the benefits of psychedelics. One specific area of importance is the possibility of receiving an immune boost from fungi—both a vague marketing term and a very real contributor to optimal health.

The immune system and how to boost it

Your immune system is best seen as a reflection of your overall health and fitness: 

• Immune boosters: Exercise, vitamins, minerals, healthy diet, and even mindfulness.
• Immune compromisers: Injury, disease, deficiencies, stress, some medications, and lack of sleep.
• Immune balancers: Vaccinations, some medications, and the ‘good’ bacteria in your gut.

Unfortunately, for many supplements and proprietary blends touted by ‘experts’, the title of “immune booster” does not require support or verification, and is not a claim that bothers the FDA or Health Canada.

For all intents and purposes, the onus is on you to verify the statements concerning supplements and non-pharmaceutical products.

When it comes to supplementing your diet, there are only a few specific additives or foods that definitely (supported by extensive research) boost your immune system, Vitamins C and D for example. Individual products or compounds are unlikely to single-handedly swing immunity in your favour—a holistic and all-encompassing approach is a preferred method. However, there are some indirect approaches to bolstering your immunity that have some basis in fact.

Mushrooms and the immune system

When added to a balanced diet, mushrooms provide a component of health that fruits and vegetables aren’t able to produce. Vitamin D is a compound that is integral to immune function and optimal health, and can only be created through direct exposure to sunlight. Humans produce it in the skin, but only with adequate time in the sun.

Fungi are also capable of this process, creating Vitamin D that is able to be absorbed by humans who lack it.

Placing sliced mushrooms in the sun for only 15 minutes, spread over tin foil, can increase the concentration of Vitamin D by nearly 25%.

Psychedelics and the immune system

In general, psychedelics can be an immediate stressor to your body, with elevated hormone levels (e.g. Cortisol) associated with emotional stress. However, this heightened level of stress rarely lasts much longer than a trip, when other benefits begin to manifest after the initial onslaught. Aside from the potential for significant impacts on stress and mental well-being, an intriguing hypothesis is being proposed that also implicates microdosing psychedelics.

Research has definitively demonstrated a connection between the gut—and the organisms that inhabit it—and our brain. Further, gut health has been implicated in major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, addiction and autism. These findings have prompted Dr. Kim Kuypers, preeminent psychedelic research, to propose

“…low doses of psychedelics exert their effects via an indirect ‘central’ route, i.e., via the gut…psilocybin is a phytochemical that ends up in the gut after oral administration.”

Serotonergic drugs are known to affect the GI tract—SSRIs have been used for their therapeutic value in the treatment of gastric disorders. With 95% of the body’s serotonin localized to the gut, the effect of psychedelics is only beginning to be uncovered.

The psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, psilocybin, has recently been ‘fast-tracked’ by the United States FDA for approval in treating depressive disorders. More specifically, the therapy has been indicated for both Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) and Major Depression (MDD). 

This has prompted interest in the chemical from those who currently suffer from all forms of depression; front-line therapies for the disorders currently employ antidepressant pharmaceuticals, along with behavioral therapies. Unfortunately, antidepressants blunt and diminish the effects of psilocybin—understandably, you may be wondering how to safely combine the two.

Antidepressants and magic mushrooms

Most antidepressants significantly diminish the psilocybin experience, from microdosing to macrodosing. Not only is this a bummer in general, but it can also be dangerous when individuals try to increase their dose of psilocybin to overcompensate for the effect. For others that are desperate for real transformation, the outcome of a disappointing trip can be equally as detrimental to the psyche.

The boogeyman of drug prohibition has also created the specter of Serotonin Syndrome—a legitimate and dangerous event to be sure, but incredibly rare among users of ‘classical psychedelics’. These include magic mushrooms and LSD, compounds that operate directly on your serotonin system. The syndrome and its associated complications are much more common among users of MAOIs, which are inherent in the mixture of plants that comprise ayahuasca.

While the prospect of a blunted trip isn’t dangerous in and of itself, the possibility is nonetheless a barrier to those who may most benefit from psilocybin therapy. For those that are stable and determined to make the most of their psychedelic experiences, tapering off of antidepressants is an approach that’s frequently considered.

Tapering antidepressants for psychedelic therapy

Antidepressants are prescribed for a reason, and tapering your dose will come with inevitable outcomes. Before making any changes to your medication regimen, a thoughtful reflection on whether it’s truly a good time to undertake such a process is necessary. Crisis, major life changes, and instability should be general indicators that now is not a good time for drastic measures.

Ideally, you’ll have your prescriber on-board and notified. Along with brain zaps and general discomfort, tapering can also increase suicidal ideation—discounting the potential benefit of psilocybin, safety is always of paramount importance. Reduction of dosing as not a strict science: a fast taper limits your unmedicated timeframe, but may introduce strong and unwanted side-effects.

Tapering off of antidepressants slowly is often recommended, minimizing side-effects and allowing for time to reflect on the changes in mindset that accompany the process. This isn’t a one-way process—if you feel, at any time, that your mental stability is at risk, reassume your regular dose and delay your psychedelic experience. 

After fully tapering to baseline over weeks or months, it is best to allow for a further 2-4 weeks to fully eliminate the compound from your system. At this point, you’ll be ready to experience the full, mystical and transformative experience that you seek. Afterwards, medication should be resumed, but the dosage can be discussed with your prescriber to account for any changes in mindset.

Antidepressant & Psychedelic Drug Interaction Chart

Sleep is not usually the first thing that comes to mind when you think about magic mushrooms. While yawning can be a common side effect, the stimulation of a trip often pushes the thought of sleep to the background. The experience provided by psilocybin is not unlike a waking dream, though the similarities between the two situations continue well beyond the visuals they’re able to project onto your mind’s eye.

The direct effect of magic mushrooms on sleep

Perhaps the most well-known effect of psychedelics on the sleep of its users is the propensity for wild dreams:

“Even when I close my eyes and feel like the trip has run its course, my mind is still operating at an elevated activity level, I sat in a dark room, but I could still see light. I’d close my eyes and could see flashes of electricity.”

This outcome is probably due to the influence of psilocybin on the serotonin system. This neurotransmitter (a chemical that allows your brain to think) powers the parts of your brain associated with happiness, well-being, learning, and cognition. It also has strong connections to dreaming; namely the speed and frequency of shifts between phases of sleep.

The bulk of vivid dreams occur in the phase known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Research demonstrates that alterations of the serotonin system—SSRIs for the treatment of depression—can modify the time spent in REM sleep each night. The same effect is expected of classic psychedelics like LSD and magic mushrooms; you may find your dreams intense and vivid, or unremarkably dull or even nonexistent.

The connection between a psilocybin trip and dreaming

When researchers look at the brain images of patients tripping on psilocybin, they describe the pattern as similar to dreaming states—increased “volume” of activity in regions associated with sleep and primitive emotion. Further, when the drug is administered during or just before sleep, it seems to induce higher activity levels during REM sleep, confirming their connection. 

Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, a preeminent researcher in the psychedelic domain, mentions “a waking dream” is more than just a metaphor when it comes to a trip.

Psychedelics have the capacity to blur lines between dreams and reality, with distortions of time and memory to match. While the realization that you’re dreaming only rarely saves you from a nightmare; a reminder that “it’s just a mushroom, it will end” often helps to soothe a bad trip.

Magic mushrooms and sleep

When it comes to sleep, there are two main things to keep in mind when taking magic mushrooms:

• Don’t expect to sleep on shrooms. While Dr. Carhart-Harris mentions above that psilocybin was administered to some patients before sleep, the situation is out of the norm. Make sure to give yourself enough time, at least 6-8 hours, between taking mushrooms and bedtime.
• Be prepared for vivid dreams. A very common side-effect, this outcome may ignite a trip-like dream—or equally intense nightmare. Yet another reason to avoid sleep after dosing, and gives a reason to trip in the morning!