Doctors recently reported the strange case of a 30-year-old man who injected magic mushrooms into his bloodstream, only to find that they had started growing in his veins.

The Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry published a case report about a man who sought to self-medicate for opioid dependence and depression by injecting magic mushrooms directly into his blood. Referred to as “Mr. X”, for anonymity purposes, the man had reportedly been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had stopped taking his prescribed medication. Instead, he had started researching the therapeutic effects of psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic found in over 200 species of mushrooms, as a way to treat his condition and decrease his reliance on opioids. The compound had been shown to be effective in treating symptoms like depression and anxiety in numerous medical trials, but only when consumed orally. Mr. X had other plans…

The protagonist of this strange story reportedly managed to get his hands on psychedelic mushrooms, which he boiled to obtain a “tea”, which he then proceeded to filter through a cotton swab, and then inject directly into his bloodstream.

Photo: Zhen Hu/Unsplash

Although the boiling process was meant to kill the mushrooms, it didn’t really work as Mr. X had hoped. Two days after injecting the mushroom tea into his veins, the man started feeling tired, then he started vomiting blood, and eventually developed symptoms like jaundice, diarrhea, and nausea. He was found by his family, which took him to the emergency room.

Doctors reported that during their first interaction with Mr. X, he was unable to give coherent answers to their questions, and that his liver and kidneys weren’t functioning properly. Tests revealed that he had started to go into organ failure. The cause of all these health issues was the truly shocking find, though.

Apparently, the mushrooms Mr. X had injected himself with had begun to grow in his bloodstream. It remains unclear whether his confusion at the time of admittance was caused by the Psilocybe cubensis fungus growing in his blood, but the above mentioned health issues definitely were.

Photo: Arek Socha/Pixabay

Mr. X He had to be put on a ventilator to breathe and had his blood filtered several times. His condition gradually improved over the 22 days that he spent in the hospital, but he continues to take antifungal drugs designed to prevent further growth of the mushrooms.

This extreme case highlights need to educate the public on the dangers of researching treatments on the internet, and using drugs in ways that they are not prescribed.