Glossary map / Experience
The words for each phase of a magic mushroom or truffle experience defined: set and setting, onset, peak, comedown, body load, tolerance, bad trip and HPPD.
The effects of magic mushrooms and truffles start 20 to 60 minutes after taking them, come in waves, and fade over several hours. DRUGSinfo, the Dutch public information service of the Trimbos Institute, puts the main effects at about three to four hours and adds that a user is not yet sober after that (DRUGSinfo). The terms below name the phases and the conditions that shape them.
This page describes acute effects only. It contains no dose advice.
Set is the mental state a person brings to the experience; setting is the physical and social environment. Ludwig von Bertalanffy used the terms as early as 1958, and Timothy Leary popularised them from 1961 (Wikipedia). The same amount of the same truffle can feel very different depending on both. Harm reduction advice usually names a calm day, a familiar place and people you trust.
A sober person who stays with someone during the experience, keeps the setting calm and steps in if something goes wrong. A sitter does not take anything. Dutch-Smart's own product pages suggest a sober third person when two people with no experience take truffles together.
The way two substances change each other's effects or risks. Two combinations with psilocybin are well documented. Cannabis together with mushrooms or truffles "can lead to an intense, unpredictable trip" (DRUGSinfo). In an analysis of online reports, 47 percent of 62 reports of a classic psychedelic taken with lithium involved seizures (Nayak et al. 2021). Separately, DRUGSinfo warns that people prone to psychosis run a much higher risk. Anyone who takes prescribed medication should check the combination before using anything.
The first phase, often called the come-up, from swallowing to the first noticeable change. DRUGSinfo gives 20 to 60 minutes; pharmacological reviews give an average of 30 to 50 minutes for oral psilocybin (Wikipedia). The delay comes from the conversion of psilocybin into psilocin, and an empty or full stomach shifts it.
The physical side of the experience, strongest in the first hour. DRUGSinfo lists relaxed muscles, chills, headache, nausea or stomach discomfort, thirst, dilated pupils, dizziness, a slightly higher heart rate and blood pressure, yawning and watering eyes (DRUGSinfo).
The phase with the strongest effects, reached at about one to two hours (60 to 130 minutes) after an oral dose of psilocybin (Wikipedia). Typical are more intense colours and sounds, moving patterns, visions with eyes closed, a changed sense of time and space, and strong, changing emotions in both directions.
An experience dominated by fear, panic, confusion or paranoia. Taking too much raises the chance of one, according to DRUGSinfo, and so do mixing substances and an unsettled set or setting. Most pass as the effects wear off, but a person who is a danger to themselves or does not respond needs emergency help.
The phase in which the effects ease off, usually gradually and in waves. Perception returns to normal before judgement and reaction time do.
The total time from onset to the end of noticeable effects. For psilocybin, about four to six hours, with a range of three to twelve (Wikipedia). In a controlled comparison, the mean duration was 4.9 hours for psilocybin, against 8.2 for LSD and 11.1 for mescaline (Ley et al. 2023).
The reduced response to the same amount after recent use. For psilocybin, tolerance appears after a single dose and fades after a few days (Wikipedia). Taking more to overcome it adds risk without restoring the expected effect.
Tolerance to one substance that also lowers the response to another. It can develop between psilocybin and other classical psychedelics such as LSD, mescaline and DOM, which act on the same receptor (Wikipedia).
Short for hallucinogen persisting perception disorder: lasting or recurring visual hallucinations and perceptual distortions after the drug has worn off. It is listed in the DSM-5 (Wikipedia). Reliable figures on how often it occurs are lacking; in a 2022 placebo-controlled study of 142 participants who received LSD, psilocybin or both, no cases were reported.
Taking an amount small enough that no clear psychedelic effects are noticed, repeated on a schedule over weeks. In a self-blinding study with 191 participants, the microdose and placebo groups did not differ significantly after four weeks; the authors conclude that the reported effects can be explained by the placebo effect (Szigeti et al. 2021).
Continue with the legal terms, including what the Dutch law says about driving after use.
For a stay in the Netherlands · adults only
Fresh truffles are legal in the Netherlands. Dutch-Smart, the publisher of this glossary, sells them with test kits and truffle grow kits.
