While only 3% of mushrooms are poisonous, in Northeast Ohio, there has been a recent influx in mushroom poisonings, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Bill Hickman is one of many who have experienced mushroom poisoning. Last year, Hickman picked and ate mushrooms from his parent's yard before he fell ill about eight hours later.
"My wife decided to go get the mushrooms I ate; I told her where I got them, she got some of them and brought them back to the house, took some photos and sent them to the Poison Control Center," Hickman said.
After calling poison control, Hickman went to University Hospitals, where he was treated by Liver Specialist Dr. Pierre Gholam.
Gholam prescribed Hickman a medication that was not yet FDA-approved; however, Hickman recovered in just a few days with the medication.
“I've been through a lot of stupid things I've done; this was one of the first times I didn't think I was gonna make it,” Hickman said.
Poisonous mushrooms can often be difficult to differentiate from edible ones, making it dire for foragers to be well-educated when picking mushrooms.
It’s important for those collecting and consuming mushrooms to use caution. The Cleveland Clinic recommends not consuming wild mushrooms that haven’t been identified by an expert.
One common poisonous mushroom is the Amanita phalloide, which, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is white with umbrella-shaped tops and a cup at the base of its stem, and it can often be mistaken for mushrooms sold in grocery stores.
Symptoms of mushroom poisoning can vary from gastrointestinal discomfort to liver failure and death, the Cleveland Clinic said. However, acute liver failure is not common.
“They [mushroom poisoning patients] can develop a very severe fatigue, and then they can develop problems with blood clotting, cognitive impairment, other things that definitely can become life-threatening,” Gholam said.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the most common initial symptoms are:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Diarrhea
These symptoms can develop between 20 minutes and four hours after ingestion. The symptoms will clear after the toxins are out of the system.
Hospitals across Ohio are seeing patients poisoned by toxic mushrooms earlier than normal. Doctors advise people never to eat mushrooms in the wild. If they're growing in your yard, dispose of them carefully and wash your hands.
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