Do Shrooms Show Up in a Urine Drug Test: About Psilocybin's Detection

 

Hallucinogenic mushrooms, also known as psychedelic mushrooms, along with the compound found in them, psilocybin, have been a topic of discussion for decades. Researchers are still exploring the full effects of the active compounds found in shrooms but also how they relate to the physical and psychological addiction this drug can cause.

It’s important to note that the legal status of psilocybin mushrooms is in a very gray area. This leaves those who are facing drug screening, such as workplace drug testing, wondering how long this substance hangs around in a person’s system.

 

Table of content:

• Understanding Psilocybin and its Metabolites
• Mechanisms of Urine Drug Tests
• Detection of Psilocybin in Urine
• How Long Do Shrooms Stay in The System
• How to Detox from Shrooms Faster
• Key Recap Points
• Conclusion

 

Understanding Psilocybin and its Metabolites

Found in a whopping 200+ species of mushrooms (often called magic mushrooms, or just shrooms), psilocybin has an interesting effect on the human brain. It doesn't start doing its job until your body starts breaking it down.

Once you've eaten those shrooms, psilocybin rapidly transforms into psilocin. This is what is actually responsible for altered perception, changing moods, synesthesia, and in some cases panic attacks or mental health conditions in case of prolonged drug use.

Psilocybin to Psilocin: How Your Body Processes Shrooms

Surprisingly, shroom-detecting tests don't search for psilocybin. This is because they won't find it. 

After consuming shrooms, your body rapidly changes psilocybin through a process called dephosphorylation. This transformation mostly happens in the liver, which converts psilocybin into a new compound called psilocin.

Psilocin is what actually makes its way into your bloodstream, where it interacts with specific receptors in your brain, those that respond to serotonin. This interaction is what triggers those psychoactive compounds and leads to the well-known magic mushroom psychedelic effects.

Understanding What the Metabolite Tests Look For

Remember, those standard drug tests aren't directly looking for psilocybin. They're designed to look for the psychedelic compound psilocin instead. But it doesn't end there because psilocin gets broken down further. 

The main thing that ends up in your urine is called psilocin-O-glucuronide.This metabolic pathway means drug tests often zero in on finding that glucuronide conjugate.

Mechanisms of Urine Drug Tests

Urine drug tests have been one of the most common drug tests for a long time. They’re non-invasive, relatively cost-effective, and can sometimes even detect substances over a slightly longer timeframe compared to a blood or saliva test.

Understanding how these standard panel tests work is very important when trying to figure out whether shrooms or any other drugs might show up on a urine drug test.

To start, let's break down the two major types of urine drug tests you'll encounter:

• Immunoassay screening. Think of this as the first line of defense in drug testing, not only for shrooms but for a lot of other detectable drugs. It relies on antibodies specifically created to latch onto certain drugs or their leftover metabolites. A positive immunoassay usually means there will have to be more tests involved
• Confirmatory testing. If that initial test raises flags, labs use powerful techniques like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) or liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS).  These specialized tests provide detailed identification of substances, offering a much higher level of certainty.

How Urine Drug Testing Works

Of course, it’s not enough to just know what the two different types of standard urine tests are, you also need to understand the underlying mechanics behind them.

Immunoassay tests work on the principle of antibody-antigen binding. The antibodies are designed to seek out the target drug metabolite (in this case, that's mostly psilocin-O-glucuronide). If it’s found in the urine sample, the metabolite will bind to these antibodies.

This binding event triggers a signal, usually a color change, indicating a potential positive test result.

Finally, let's talk about two crucial things for drug test accuracy: specificity and sensitivity.

• Specificity. This means a test reliably picks out the right substance and won't mistake something else for it. This is why those confirmatory tests (like GC-MS or LC-MS) are so important for double-checking results.
• Sensitivity. This is about a test's ability to find even tiny traces of the target substance. A sensitive test helps avoid false negatives, those situations where the test gives a negative result even when the substance is there.

Detection of Psilocybin in Urine

It's true that your routine drug tests won't usually hunt for psilocybin directly, but traces can show up under the right (or perhaps wrong) circumstances. This might make you wonder, do shrooms show up in a urine drug test?

Let's break down the factors that influence whether a urine test can detect shrooms.

• Studies on detecting psilocybin and its metabolites in urine. Based on the limited studies we do have regarding this topic, psilocin and its leftover metabolites are usually detectable for roughly 24 hours after taking shrooms. There are reports of detection lasting up to 72 hours, but a longer time frame might be less consistent.

• Factors affecting psilocybin detection in urine
• Dosage - Bigger doses of psilocybin or more potent mushrooms generally mean more psilocin metabolites hanging around in your system. This could make them detectable for a slightly longer time.
• Frequency of use - Frequent shroom use might cause a bit of metabolite build-up, potentially extending that detection window. This is especially serious with those suffering from substance abuse.
• The person’s metabolism - Variations in metabolism and how well your kidneys function influence how quickly your body breaks down detectable drugs and clears out hallucinogenic substances.
• Test sensitivity - How sensitive the specific drug test that’s being used will also determine how long the detection window is.

Since psilocybin isn't something standard drug tests usually look for, a threshold for precise detection isn’t exactly well-established. Even the federal 5 drug test, which detects amphetamines (AMP 500 ng/ml), phencyclidine (PCP 25 ng/ml), cocaine (COC 150 ng/ml), opiates (OPI/MOP 2000 ng/ml), and marijuana (THC 50ng/ml) can’t be used for shroom detection. 

In general, a standard drug panel test is unlikely to detect psilocybin unless it includes a specific assay tailored for its metabolites. Other tests like GC-MS or LC-MS are likely necessary for reliable identification at low concentrations and are less common in routine screening.

Most importantly, doing these tests at home is easy, and if you need any help, be sure to check out our guide here: At-home Drug Test Quick Guide. 

How Long Do Shrooms Stay in The System

Figuring out how long shrooms and other psychedelic drugs stay in your system is tricky because there's no single answer that works for everyone.

Let's dig deeper into individual factors that make things complicated:

• Dosage. The bigger the dose of psilocybin you take, the more psilocin your body has to process. Naturally, it's going to take longer to clear out all those metabolites.
• Frequency of use. Regular or frequent use of shrooms can cause a slight build-up of metabolites in your body, which might extend the detection window slightly as opposed to someone who's only used shrooms once.
• Individual physiology. How quickly your body begins processing and getting rid of psilocin and its leftovers depends on many individual factors. Your metabolism, personal tolerance level, body makeup, and how well your kidneys and liver are working all play a part.
• Hydration levels. Water is a natural detoxifying agent, and staying hydrated does matter. Being dehydrated can slightly drag down your metabolism, which might influence how quickly those psilocybin traces clear out. But don't expect miracles from chugging a water bottle.
• Type of bodily fluid tested. Different detection windows exist for urine, blood, saliva, and hair.

Range of Detection Times in Different Bodily Fluids

Test sensitivity, along with specific drug tests and assay methods, will influence the reliability of detection:

• Urine. Psilocybin metabolites are generally detectable in urine drug tests for up to 24 hours, sometimes extending to 72 hours depending on several factors.
• Blood. Psilocin has a shorter detection window in blood, typically up to 24 hours after ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms.
• Saliva. Using saliva tests to detect mushrooms is also likely limited to a short timeframe, possibly comparable to blood tests due to rapid metabolism.
• Hair: Hair follicle tests have the potential to detect psilocybin use for months or even longer after ingestion. However, hair follicle testing for psilocybin is less common and may involve specialized methods due to potentially low concentrations.

Effects of Dosage and Frequency of Use on Elimination Half-life

Let's talk about a concept called "half-life." This tells you how long it takes your body to get rid of half a drug (or its leftovers, in the case of shrooms).

Psilocin has a half-life of about 50 minutes. This means within an hour, roughly half of it's gone. Then, within the next hour, half of what's left is gone, and so on.

While a typical dose might disappear from your system fairly quickly (often within a day), things get trickier with repeated use or super-high doses. Those scenarios can make the process take longer, potentially leaving detectable traces hanging around.

How to Detox from Shrooms Faster

There's no magic bullet to help you detox from shrooms and their psychoactive compounds instantly. It just takes time.  While your lifestyle choices can slightly affect your metabolism, don't expect any drastic changes in how quickly your body clears things out.

That being said, let's explore some natural methods people sometimes turn to – just remember, they're no guarantee.

Hydration

Staying well-hydrated is always the number one suggestion for all detox methods, and for a good reason. Good hydration supports your kidneys and speeds up your natural metabolic processes. 

Staying well-hydrated is always a good idea, and it can slightly support your body's natural processes. But you need to be careful –  trying to "flush" your system with too much water won’t help, the only thing that will do is lead to water intoxication.

Diet 

Eating a balanced diet full of fruits, veggies, and fiber is important for your overall health. But it’s also important for your digestive system, which might play a small role in clearing out metabolites faster.

Exercise 

Regular exercise boosts your metabolism and gets your blood flowing. This could theoretically help your body process things a bit faster.  Keep up your workouts, but don't expect it to magically erase shrooms from your system.

While exercise and healthy habits are generally beneficial, their impact on how quickly your body eliminates psilocybin will likely be minimal. Don't expect drastic changes in the detection window from these factors alone.

It’s also important to note that exercise is a great way to control any withdrawal symptoms that appear when you’re trying to detoxify from shrooms or heal from drug abuse.

Hydration and Diet Considerations

Before you go all out in your quest to detoxify your body from shrooms, there are two very important things you need to remember.

The first is to always avoid going to any extremes. Crash diets, excessive water consumption, or drastic lifestyle changes won’t help, and may even be harmful. Focus on sustainable healthy habits rather than extremes.

And the second is there’s no such thing as a miracle cure. Products marketed as "detox teas" or similar dietary aids are unlikely to significantly impact the elimination of psilocybin and its metabolites.

Key Recap Points

So, let’s recap the most important takeaways:

• Many standard drug panel tests do not test psilocybin directly. They are more likely to detect psilocin, which is its primary metabolite. But this is only the case if they include a specific drug test designed for it.
• Psilocybin and its metabolites are generally detectable in urine for a relatively short time frame - usually up to 24 hours, but it can sometimes be up to 72 hours, depending on several different factors.
• Tests designed to detect psilocybin metabolites might exist, but these are likely less common in routine screening.
• Dosage, how frequently you use shrooms, your metabolism, and the sensitivity of the specific test that’s being used all influence how long mushrooms stay in your system and the likelihood of detecting psilocybin.
• While a healthy lifestyle generally supports your body's natural processes, don't think extremes are the answer – they can actually do more harm than good. Talk to a healthcare professional about how much exercise is good for you.
• It's worth noting that those initial hallucinogen tests (the immunoassays) aren't foolproof. Sometimes, they mistakenly flag something else as the target substance. That's why those confirmatory tests are a good idea, just to double-check the results.

Conclusion

We understand that the topic of shrooms and how long they can be detected in your system is very complex. But, with a bit of research and a careful approach to the topic, you can learn a lot.

Anyhow, knowing exactly what to expect, and how to act if you're up against a urine drug testing can provide only benefits. This especially works well when it comes to shroom consumption. 

 

Resources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8156539/https://www.healthline.com/health/do-shrooms-show-up-on-a-drug-test
https://go2asap.com/blog/shrooms-and-drug-tests-what-to-know/
https://californiaprimerecovery.com/how-long-do-shrooms-stay-in-your-system-a-comprehensive-guide/