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I found interesting that he closes his post with an excerpt about how safe mushroom picking is, and how adverse outcomes only happen to ignorant fools who know
by arkades 7y ago
I found interesting that he closes his post with an excerpt about how safe mushroom picking is, and how adverse outcomes only happen to ignorant fools who know nothing about mushrooms and don’t bother learning.
In an article that opens with “here is a list of things I know and books I read, and here’s how I poisoned myself anyway.”
- mrleinad 7y agoBecause he got himself poisoned right when he ignored everything he knew should do.
- anyfoo 7y agoYeah. And after my quotes above, the author notes that even after realizing that the intense sickness is likely related to the mushrooms, they still kept denying it. But they do find time in the article to pass some judgment on "busy" "city" folks and their presumed inability to endure silence. Even though that's a different kind of "judgment" than the kind demonstrated above, I find it somehow hard to be receptive to it... 8)
- fortran77 7y agoAnd instead of thanking the doctors for their heroic effort, he credits his woo-woo "visualization" techniques.
- Thorrez 7y agoThat was in the section wondering why he survived but the other 2 people in the same hospital didn't. Would those 2 people have gotten different doctors or gotten less effort from the doctors?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- tapland 7y ago"I found out that of three people admitted in 2006 to Strong Memorial with Amanita poisoning, I am the only one to have survived; 66% died." The death rate for Mushroom Poisoning in the US was apparently something like 2.9 per year since year 2000. He's really just discounting the 99.something% who survive for effect because two died in the hospital he was at. If that is even true.
- catalogia 7y ago> "the 99.something% who survive" For this mushroom, it's certainly worse than that. It seems likely to me somebody quoted him the "without medical attention" survival rate. > "Mushroom poisoning is more common in Europe than in America.[71] Up to the mid-20th century, the mortality rate was around 60–70%, but this has been greatly reduced with advances in medical care. A review of death cap poisoning throughout Europe from 1971 to 1980 found the overall mortality rate to be 22.4% (51.3% in children under ten and 16.5% in those older than ten).[72] This has fallen further in more recent surveys to around 10–15%.[73]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides#Similarity_to_edible_species https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides#Similarity_...
- tapland 7y agoThat doesn't change the point that he ended up in the same hospital that by chase had >2/3 of the total number of related deaths in the country. The people dying was the outlier
- solveit 7y agoMushroom poisoning and Amanita poisoning are very different things.
- fortran77 7y agoIt's not like the doctors, nurses, and other staff are at liberty to release medical information about the other patients he encounters. So all he heard, at best, were anecdotes.
- callmekit 7y agoMistaking Amanita virosa for inky caps is like mistaking a grapefruit for a pear. I don't understand how you can make this mistake if you have even minimal mushroom foraging experience.
- zkomp 7y agoWhen they are small, and if you only go by your own memory I'm sure it can happen... "Destroying angels are sometimes mistaken for edible mushrooms such as young puffballs, button mushrooms, and meadow mushrooms." https://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/death-cap.html https://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/death-cap.html
- Alex3917 7y agoI mean all of those at least look vaguely like amanitas in their full or immature form. Whereas inky caps look NOTHING like amanitas in any form. It's more like confusing a grapefruit with a kitten or something.