Psilocybin mushrooms and LSD make your brain bleed

   Psilocybin mushrooms and LSD do not make your brain bleed. There have been reported cases where minor brain hemorrhaging was a result of an overdose of LSD, but this is never the norm. At the same time, activities such as smoking or sex can increase the risk of brain hemorrhaging, but this does not mean that your brain "bleeds" when you smoke a cigarette, have sex, or eat magic mushrooms.

    There are two chemicals in "Magic" Mushrooms, psilocybin and psilocin, that are responsible for the hallucinogenic and psychedelic effects they have on the human. Psilocybin is metabolized into Psilocin once it enters the blood stream, and then it moves to the brain. Psilocin is very similar to a naturally occurring chemical called serotonin. Serotonin is a chemicals that controls sleep, appetite, sensory perception, temperature regulation, pain suppression and mood. When Psilocin is in the brain, it attaches to the receptors that would normally be occupied by serotonin, and results in the trip the user experiences. As with all other neurotransmitters, it is removed by metabolism and purged from the body in a certain amount of time. The only problem with these drugs is that the serotonin and dopamine receptors also control important brain functions, and an overdose could possibly lead to psychosis or death. The former happens very rarely, and the latter virtually never, but the risk still exists.

    LSD works in a similar way, affecting serotonin and dopamine receptors in the brain, but also does not directly cause hemorrhaging or spinal displacement. These myths have probably arisen from the strong or unusual bodily sensations caused by these drugs, or by slang terms such as "acid". If these drugs did cause brain hemorrhaging, then many people would have severe brain damage as a result and there would be thousands of people dead from these drugs.

Sources:

1. SAMHSA National Household Survey
Selected National Drug Abuse Indicators [US DOJ]
Trends in use of LSD for survey participants over 12. (Note: the National Household Survey does not include the military, prisoners, or the homeless)


2. Amphetamine, not MDMA, is associated with intracranial hemorrhage
Galloway G, Shulgin AT, Kornfeld H, Frederick SL
J Accid Emerg Med, 1995; 12(3):231-2.


3. Coma, Hyperthermia, and Bleeding Associated with Massive LSD Overdose, A Report of Eight Cases
Klock JC, Boerner U, Becker CE
Clinical Toxicology, 1975; 8(2):191-203.


4. NIDA InfoFax on LSD
The National Institute on Drug Abuse does not mention brain hemorrhage as an effect of LSD

5. What is a stroke? What is a hemorrhage?
From the American Heart Association Website

6. Mention of somatic pain in related psychedelic (psilocybin)
Les effets somatiques de la Psilocybine [Abstract in English]