Identification: Slightly Urgent (possibly poisioning)

Discussion in 'Fungi, Lichens and Slime Molds' started by tanuki33, Oct 30, 2009.

  1. tanuki33

    tanuki33 Member

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    Hi All,

    A friend, inexperienced with mushrooms, ATE some before looking them up on the net or getting expert advice... about 1 hour ago.

    He indulged himself in a cathartic experience about 3/4 of an hour after he at them.

    They looked like supermarket mushrooms apparently... and smelled like them.

    My Question is: Are there deadly look-alikes? I seem to remember the horse mushroom having some.

    I am going to include some pictures in a couple minutes.
     

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    Last edited: Oct 30, 2009
  2. tanuki33

    tanuki33 Member

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    pictures as above
     
  3. MycoRob

    MycoRob Active Member

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    I do see a cog-wheel veil on the younger guy, which is a key feature of the horse mushroom. Are there any specimens left and have the gills on those turned brownish (like the store bought Agaricus do)? I'd start a spore print on one - i'd even go to the area and see if any are left growing and pick one to do a spore print.

    Of course, the poision control center should be called if negative symptoms result from eating any wild mushroom. They have a list of local experts in every area of the country, have some on call 24/7, know what mushrooms are growing where, and can ID it.
     
  4. tanuki33

    tanuki33 Member

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    Hi MycoRob,
    Thanks for responding. I was hoping you might catch this post. My friend took my advice and took the specimens with him to the hospital. They did some blood work on him and released him with a cautionary to watch for cirtain signs over the next few days... just in case. He purged pretty thoroughly within 45 min of eating a single cap (as large as a tea saucer mind you) The cap in the picture is bigger than the palm of my hand and I stand 6'2''.
    The thing that bothered me is that, while it looked and smelled exactly like the mushrooms you get from the store, and was just as meaty, the gills never changed color. I tried brusing them and everything and they stayed a nice creamy white.
    He has not experienced any side effects. The most notable thing that came out of this is that he seems to have a resting heart beat of 43. That apparently had them concerned for a bit because he is not really an athelete of any kind. I would also think the least he could do is show a little stress.
     
  5. MycoRob

    MycoRob Active Member

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    I know two people who get severe diarrhea from regular Agaricus mushrooms - although i'm still not completely convinced that these were them. I hope someone else chimes in with some ideas about these mushrooms. Also, i wanted to know if your friend consumed the mushrooms with alcohol - it's one of the first questions we're supposed to ask when we get a mushroom poisoning case. i imagine the low resting heartrate would be from the lack of energy from purging the system. glad things worked out ok.
     
  6. tanuki33

    tanuki33 Member

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    yeah.. he had a shot of tequila (100% blue aguave fresh from mexico). I do not think they were ink cap or any relative of...
    I will have him grab some more of those mushrooms and see if we can get a spore print for you.
    Have you ever seen horse mushrooms with such pale gills?
     

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