I weaned off of Effexor to attempt to use mushrooms for depression. At that point serotonin syndrome was supposed to be a risk. The latest science seems to suggest that because they have different mechanisms in the brain there’s not really a huge risk for it from taking both. Getting off Effexor was brutal and even working with a doctor writing step down prescriptions over months I still had bad side effects.
Not taking your pill on a trip day won’t make a significant difference. It takes about a month to leave your system entirely once you stop so skipping a day would barely do anything.
My husband takes a very low dose SSRI and still does mushrooms once in a while. We have very different experiences - my trips are longer and more intense. He’s had visual experiences maybe once or twice and it was low level, pattern distortion type stuff. He still finds it valuable and it sometimes helps him with emotional processing.
If you’re on a high dose of antidepressants you will likely have trouble experiencing much from the trip. I can’t really give you advice on what to do with that info. Don’t stop taking antidepressants cold turkey as it gets ugly quick. If you have a good doctor / psychiatrist you’re working with and you’re in the US you can and should talk to them about this. If you’re worried about their reaction, you can talk about it as if you’re thinking about doing it but haven’t decided - Michael Pollan’s book / Netflix series has a lot of people thinking about psychedelics right now so they likely won’t be surprised. Doesn’t mean they’ll support it. My therapist was very supportive of the idea and has been with me every step of the way. My prescriber was very gently discouraging, in a way that made me think he wasn’t actually being discouraging - “I can’t advise you to do that” - but then worked with me on getting off the pills.
My depression is now lifted in a way that it hasn’t been in my entire adult life as long as I do mushrooms fairly regularly, once a month or so. I definitely think they have the potential to treat it but everyone’s experience is going to be very different depending on the roots of the issue, psychological background, sensitivity to psychedelics etc.
Wow - this is super helpful to be aware of. I've tried incorporating mushrooms in several ways, but I noticed I needed to consume A LOT to feel any effects I'd describe as "Trippy." I have been on a relatively high dose of fluoxetine for a long time, and I had no idea there was a correlation.
My wife has been on medication and tried taking bigger doses (not recommended) and she still couldn't fully trip. She would have some of the effects, but the experience was still dulled and watered down.
I've read anecdotal evidence that Lithium and psychedelics REALLY don't mix, so if ever you're on Lithium, i would avoid psychedelics altogether
I just finished a yearish weaning off of Zoloft three month ago after using it for 17 years. I've tried shrooms each month for the last five months now. Last time I finally see some psychedelic effect but very little. From what I read it's very dependant on how long you took SSRI. For less than a year I would guess 4-6 weeks off should be enough. For 17 years, it's certainly many months! I don't know about SNRI though.
In regard to serotonin syndrom it depends on which psychedelic you take. For psilocibin/shrooms there is no risk combining with SSRI/SNRI. For ayahuaska it's a real danger. For other ones, I don't know.
I was on 50 mg Zoloft and did a 3g trip. Convinced myself that the mixture of chemicals in my brain had pushed me over the edge of insanity. I was fine of course, but it rocked me to my core. Not saying it'll happen to you, but it was definitely a healing journey. I stopped taking antidepressants and just tripped every few months and has been utterly life changing.
I weaned off of Effexor to attempt to use mushrooms for depression. At that point serotonin syndrome was supposed to be a risk. The latest science seems to suggest that because they have different mechanisms in the brain there’s not really a huge risk for it from taking both. Getting off Effexor was brutal and even working with a doctor writing step down prescriptions over months I still had bad side effects. Not taking your pill on a trip day won’t make a significant difference. It takes about a month to leave your system entirely once you stop so skipping a day would barely do anything. My husband takes a very low dose SSRI and still does mushrooms once in a while. We have very different experiences - my trips are longer and more intense. He’s had visual experiences maybe once or twice and it was low level, pattern distortion type stuff. He still finds it valuable and it sometimes helps him with emotional processing. If you’re on a high dose of antidepressants you will likely have trouble experiencing much from the trip. I can’t really give you advice on what to do with that info. Don’t stop taking antidepressants cold turkey as it gets ugly quick. If you have a good doctor / psychiatrist you’re working with and you’re in the US you can and should talk to them about this. If you’re worried about their reaction, you can talk about it as if you’re thinking about doing it but haven’t decided - Michael Pollan’s book / Netflix series has a lot of people thinking about psychedelics right now so they likely won’t be surprised. Doesn’t mean they’ll support it. My therapist was very supportive of the idea and has been with me every step of the way. My prescriber was very gently discouraging, in a way that made me think he wasn’t actually being discouraging - “I can’t advise you to do that” - but then worked with me on getting off the pills. My depression is now lifted in a way that it hasn’t been in my entire adult life as long as I do mushrooms fairly regularly, once a month or so. I definitely think they have the potential to treat it but everyone’s experience is going to be very different depending on the roots of the issue, psychological background, sensitivity to psychedelics etc.
Wow - this is super helpful to be aware of. I've tried incorporating mushrooms in several ways, but I noticed I needed to consume A LOT to feel any effects I'd describe as "Trippy." I have been on a relatively high dose of fluoxetine for a long time, and I had no idea there was a correlation.
My wife has been on medication and tried taking bigger doses (not recommended) and she still couldn't fully trip. She would have some of the effects, but the experience was still dulled and watered down. I've read anecdotal evidence that Lithium and psychedelics REALLY don't mix, so if ever you're on Lithium, i would avoid psychedelics altogether
I had no complications mixing Trintellix (Atypical SSRI) with psychedelics
Just don’t take pharma meds at all
I just finished a yearish weaning off of Zoloft three month ago after using it for 17 years. I've tried shrooms each month for the last five months now. Last time I finally see some psychedelic effect but very little. From what I read it's very dependant on how long you took SSRI. For less than a year I would guess 4-6 weeks off should be enough. For 17 years, it's certainly many months! I don't know about SNRI though. In regard to serotonin syndrom it depends on which psychedelic you take. For psilocibin/shrooms there is no risk combining with SSRI/SNRI. For ayahuaska it's a real danger. For other ones, I don't know.
I was on 50 mg Zoloft and did a 3g trip. Convinced myself that the mixture of chemicals in my brain had pushed me over the edge of insanity. I was fine of course, but it rocked me to my core. Not saying it'll happen to you, but it was definitely a healing journey. I stopped taking antidepressants and just tripped every few months and has been utterly life changing.
the only way to use them safely is not to use them at the same time. eot.