Mushrooms can do magic to cancer patients

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It seems odd to think how do mushrooms possess magic? Recent study reveals that this magic mushrooms really did have something to be called magic, especially on cancer patients.

Based on the two small studies, the hallucinogenic ingredient found in the "magic" mushroom, can dramatically reverse "the cloud of doom," the feeling of anxiety, fear, and tension, to cancer patients. A dose of a man-made drug psilocybin quickly affects patients and lasts six months for many.

According to Live Science, Psilocybe cubensis  or Magic mushroom contains a compound called psilocybin or psilocin, which are psychoactive and causes hallucinations, euphoria and other trippy symptoms. These mind-melting mushrooms boost the brain's connectivity allowing to synchronize activity among areas that would normally be connected.

In Central America, magic mushrooms were long been used in religious ceremonies. But, because of the effects of these mushrooms, the United States and other countries already considered these fungi as a controlled substance and are now part of the black market in drugs in the US as well.

"In 2010, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Following a successful surgery and chemotherapy, I was totally consumed with anxiety and fear of recurrence for over two years, and it was running my life and ruining it as well", said Dinah Bazer, who took part in one of the studies, in a media conference.

Bazer also said, "after taking psilocybin, I was bathed with God's love, and that continued for hours. When that experience was over, the fear and anxiety were gone, and my life was changed."

In spite of the positive result, psilocybin is not readily available to doctors since psilocybin is illegal and listed as a schedule 1 drug in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Only palliative care is recommended.

Per Everyday Health, one of the studies led by Dr. Stephen Ross, director of the department of psychiatry at NYU Lagone Medical Center in New York, 29 patients with advanced cancer is introduced either with psilocybin or vitamin niacin.

Test results show that 80 percent of the patients were relieved from stress after taking psilocybin. The effects lasted for more than six months based on the test scores for anxiety and depression.

The second study conducted to 51 adults with life threatening cancer, introduced with a low dose (weeks after, with a higher dose) of psilocybin were also relieve from stress that lasted for six months.
These would also connect to the study previously conducted in 2011.

Live Science reported that the research found a shocking stable change, which after one dose of psilocybin, people became open to new experiences for at least 14 months. People tend to me more creative, appreciates arts more and values novelty and emotion.

Likewise, psilocybin's effects seem to target more on emotions. People who experienced psilocybin's effects described that mushroom trips are extremely profound and bring the feelings of joy and connectedness to others and to the world that made their whole life change like magic.