Maalox Moment

I am a pre-medical student at a major midwestern university, and I first experienced the true potential of the mushroom about 2 weeks ago. My drug experience is fairly limited; I used to smoke pot, which due to unfortunate legal troubles I have had to refrain from for the past several months. Other than that, alcohol is the only other recreational drug that I had done, and that only quite occasionally. I had acquired 7 grams of dried cubensis mushrooms, PF strain, about a week prior to my trip. Being an avid reader of the trip reports posted on the Shroomery, I knew the recommended doses and what effects to expect from various amoununts of mushrooms. Thus, I decided that I would take 2.5 grams, as this would give me a definite idea of what the drug was capable of, without completely making me lose track of my ego.

I decided to trip with my girlfriend, who for the purposes of this report will be named Karen. Karen weighs approximately 120 pounds, and I weigh about 210. As stated before, I had decided to take 2.5 grams, and I recommended to her to take 1.5, as the difference in body size could have differing effects on intensity. Karen, however, insisted on taking 2.5 as well, as she is much more experienced with drugs than I. She had not, however, had much experience with mushrooms. In the future, I doubt she will ingest with such hasty abandon.

The setting was a cold winter Sunday, as winter Sundays tend to be in the midwest, in Karen's apartment. We had planned to take the mushrooms in the afternoon, but I had to cancel that appointment to play golf (I'm pre-med, golf is a requisite skill). Her plan was to have some people over that evening to watch the X-files. I did not want to do a large dosage of psychedelics with Karen's friends around, as though they are nice people, they aren't good enough friends with me for me to be comfortable. However, as it often turns out, Karen's friends cancelled on her, and we were left alone.

Karen loves the X-Files, so we had to watch the show (it was the one about the guy who eats brains). X-Files comes on at 8:00 here, and we ate the mushrooms while watching the show. 2.5 grams of cracker dry cubensis is a lot of caps and stems, but I don't remember exacly how many. I would guess 4 caps and 5 stems. These were washed down with a glass of cherry Wylers (I'm too cheap for Kool-Aid).

Onset happened at about 8:45. For the reference of anyone out there, X-Files is *NOT* good brain food when you are about to trip. My thoughts started to become more vivid and graphic, and the TV just became too much to watch. The thought of some guy going around eating peoples brains started to make me queasy. Karen was feeling the same way, so we turned off the TV. We talked for a while, and I decided I needed to hear some music. The CD I chose was Plastikman's Musik. I was personally having a great time just sitting in a chair with my eyes closed, letting the music flow over me while I saw some mild CEVs. Karen, however, just found the music scary, and made me turn it off after about 10 minutes.

We then decided to turn on some different music, I believe James Brown. It was cool. Somehow I got the feeling that it was 1960's London, as Karen's apartment has mostly old furniture, and we were drinking Wylers out of these glasses with cartoon flowers on them. We talked for a while, and the trip started to get stronger, as trips do.

At about 10:00, Karen had to pee. When she tried, however, she was unable to. This was a source of much humor for me for that evening and for many afterward. While she was in the bathroom, I decided to look at myself in the mirror. I know that many people recommend against doing this, but, I thought it was quite cool. I was fascinated by my face. I had about a 3 day growth of stubble, which added a nice texture to my face. I noticed my pupils were impossibly large, covering up almost my entire iris. It reminded me, really, of those pictures of aliens that are really popular nowadays, where they just have those huge black eyes. It also made me think of Disney cartoons, where the pupils of the animals are all really large, giving me a sense of innocence. As I continued to stare into the mirror, my face started to become almost scaley and reptilian. This might freak some people out, but I knew it was only the drugs.

I had a much better time in the bathroom throughout the course of my evening. Once again, there was a large mirror which I proceded to have fun with on several occasions. Urination wasn't difficult either. The only difficult part was the visuals, with me trying to keep good aim at the toilet. I remember thinking that I wished the toilet would stop breathing so that I could hit it better.

The visual effects on this trip were interesting, though not horribly severe. There was a large amount of "breathing" on flat surfaces, and the textured ceiling seemed to flow like a stream. Quite fun, really.

Nausea is a frequent symptom of mushrooms, and I certainly had nausea. The initial nausea wasn't too bad, but as the evening wore on, it became stronger. This, combined with my present mental state, were making the mushroom trip extremely unpleasant. This, combined with Karen's frequent requests that we should "go do something", made me decide to drive to the local all night grocery store to purchase some Maalox.

The decision to drive was, in hindsight, a poor one. However, at about 11:00, I started my car and we drove off. I actually did very well for how I was feeling. The store was only about a block away, but it was on a fairly major street, which would increase the presence of police. The odd thing about driving is that it felt as though my hands were not really part of my body. I managed to control them, though. Nothing bad happened as I was driving well, and we made it to the supermarket.

Boy howdy, the supermarket was something else entirely. The flourescent lights were incredibly bright, especially since my pupils were so insanely large, allowing it all in. We found the digestive aids, and tried to act normal as I paid for the bottle of Cherry Maalox. Talking to sober people that you don't know is a very interesting experience. I always wonder if they know that I'm high, but the only giveaway is the large pupils, and I don't think most people would make the association between large pupils and being under the influence.

I drank some of the Maalox (suggested dosage be damned) and we made it back to the apartment without incident. I don't know about the rest of you, but I would much rather the trip was shorter than 6 hours. I think about 4 hours would be perfect, especially given the propensity for unpleasantness while tripping. So, at midnight, me and Karen were just wanting the trip to be over so that we could go to bed. The rest of the evening proceded without any real incident.

My only real tips are:
1) Make sure you have something on hand to deal with nausea. It will make your life much more pleasant.
2) Trip with a friend. Best if you trip with someone you are physically close to, as holding someone can be extremely theraputic, and can make a trip that is starting to go bad very much better.