What are poisonous mushrooms?
Poisonous mushrooms are mushrooms that contain poisonous substances that can cause poisoning or death in severe cases when eaten by mistake.
It's important to be careful when foraging for wild mushrooms, as some types can be very dangerous.
Introduction to the Types and Toxicology of Poisonous Mushrooms. The types and concentrations of poisonous substances in mushrooms vary depending on the time and region. The degree of poisoning is also closely related to the physical condition, eating habits, and cooking methods of people, so the symptoms of mushroom poisoning are complicated. Symptoms of mushroom poisoning can be broadly classified as gastrointestinal, neurological, and allergic.
The morbidity and mortality rate of this type of liver damage is up to 90%. Symptoms usually begin to appear 6 to 24 hours, or even 48 hours, after consumption, starting with vomiting, followed by abdominal pain and diarrhea. In severe cases, this can rapidly deteriorate due to toxic myocarditis or toxic encephalopathy, and if left untreated, death can occur within 1-2 days. In some cases, the condition appears to have improved after vomiting and diarrhea, but the toxins are still invading the liver and destroying the liver cells, after which symptoms such as liver pain, hepatomegaly, and liver hemorrhage may occur. For the neuropsychiatric type, symptoms may include mild headache, flushed skin, sweating, nausea, shortness of breath, dilated pupils, hallucinations, chills, fever, loss of time and distance concepts, and even crying and laughing at times, singing and dancing wildly, etc.
Gastrointestinal type symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, difficulty breathing, blood in urine, and other symptoms, with an incubation period of up to 6 hours. Severe cases may result in death. Hemolytic type symptoms can destroy a large number of red blood cells within 1 to 2 days, causing acute hemolytic anemia. It may also cause chills, fever, abdominal pain, headache, back pain, and general weakness. After hemolysis, it can cause kidney damage, and in severe cases, it can lead to uremic death. If mushroom poisoning is found, first aid treatment should include removing the poison in time by using vomiting, gastric lavage, and diarrhea, and promptly sending the person to the hospital for treatment. Even if measures such as vomiting have been taken after poisoning, the person should still go to the hospital for a period of observation and be discharged only after the doctor has determined that they are cured. Of course, the most important thing is to avoid eating wild mushrooms that are not known, especially those that are very brightly colored.
