The dangers of foraging for your own mushrooms have come to light recently, after that of an Australian woman poisonous mushroom lunch killed three of her relatives.
According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), there are 15,000 reported species of mold found in the UK.
Generally mushrooms with white gills, white rings or skirts around the base should be avoided – those with a red color, including on the stem, pores or cap, may also indicate toxicity.
But how do you know if you’ve been poisoned by a mushroom? What happens to your body and what should you do if you suspect you’ve eaten one? Read on for everything you need to know.
Pictured: Amanita Phalloides, or the Death Cap, is one of the world’s most toxic fungi
How do you know if you have been poisoned by a mushroom – all the symptoms
Often, after eating a poisonous mushroom, you can be asymptomatic.
The symptoms of poisoning depend on the type of poison and the amount ingested, but general things to look out for include vomiting, abdominal pain, confusion, drowsiness, and fainting.
Other symptoms include headache, dizziness, facial and abdominal flushing, and palpitations.
The most serious symptoms are seizures, hallucinations, difficulty breathing. kidney/liver failure, a coma or even death.
Symptoms may appear immediately after eating the poisonous mushroom or they may appear several hours later.
According to GPsymptoms that occur within 2 hours are less dangerous than symptoms that occur later (after 6 hours).
The symptoms of poisoning depend on the type of poison and the amount ingested, but general things to look out for include vomiting, abdominal pain, confusion, drowsiness, and fainting.
What happens if you consume a poisonous mushroom?
What happens next depends on which poisonous mushroom you ate and how poisonous it is.
In particular, with the Amanita Phalloides (death hood fungus), the symptoms occur six to 24 hours after eating.
However, you may feel well for a while after the first symptoms, which can lead to patients not doing anything about it or being discharged from the hospital prematurely.
This can be fatal as the pain returns along with jaundice, convulsions, coma and eventually death.
The reason death caps are so toxic is because they contain a high concentration of compounds called amatoxins – they are extremely dangerous and can stop protein synthesis in cells, causing the cells to die.
According to the RSPB, eating a few bites of the ‘harmless-looking’ death cap mushroom can be fatal
Likewise, if you ingest the angel of destruction (Amanita virosa), you will experience severe vomiting and diarrhea, which may last for a few days before appearing to subside.
Despite a deceptive period of improvement, the effects of liver and kidney poisoning can set in, causing essential organ failure.
What to do if you think you have been poisoned by a mushroom
It is important to act as soon as possible as soon as you suspect poisoning.
If you’re not seriously ill, call NHS 111 for advice – if you’re seriously ill, dial 999 to call an ambulance or go to the nearest emergency room.
Doctors may give you activated charcoal to induce vomiting.
The important thing is that you do one of those options instead of ignoring it, even if you don’t have any symptoms.