An Amanita Poisoning Account

“Oh, my god, you came by after eating Amanita phalloides”.

“Yes, and one of the things I recall vividly is that you said I might need a new liver. Well, I’ve got one!”

I asked him if he’d mind if I got his full story since I didn’t get any details at the time of the incident. It’s really difficult for me to grill people about their names and the circumstances of how they managed to poison themselves on deadly Amanitas, especially when it’s clear that they are really, really sick. He did tell me in September that he’d let me know how things came out with his experience. It turned out to be an incredible horrific story.

When he and his wife showed up at my house on 9 Sept. ’06, it was clear that he was in bad shape. They had examples of the mushrooms and even though it was long before any rain had fallen and the examples were small and quite pale in color, it was clear that they were death caps. I was somewhat puzzled because they had their copy of Mushrooms Demystified along but had deduced that the spore print they had taken was pink and not white. At that time, I told them to delay no longer and go immediately to the closest hospital, in this case Watsonville.

Saturday, I found out that it was only AFTER he had eaten them that he checked the reference. He said he went by memory back to a nice tasting mushroom he’d picked 15 years previously that he thought the current Amanitas looked like.

He said that he spent a delirious 30 hours at the hospital in Watsonville where he was on IVs for dehydration and lots of oral charcoal. He was then transported up to the medical center at UCSF where he spent another awful three or four days before his liver transplant. He recalled being in absolute misery and pain and felt sure that he would die. He even dictated a will to his family.

After the liver transplant, major complications set in, predominantly kidney problems. He said he spent three full weeks after the surgery in incredible pain with only IV feedings and heavy medication the full time. During that time he said he could not eat anything and he could barely function.

He says he still has tightness in his stomach muscles, numbness at the point of the incision and a lot of numbness in his right arm, an remnant of either the IV or some other issue with the hospital stay. He said that his body is just now starting to produce red blood cells again. As a consequence his energy level is extremely low. The good news is that his liver is in great shape although he is still on anti-rejection meds, something he said may go on the rest of his life.

He related that the major impact of the meal he ate, besides a very painful near-death experience, has been the cost. At this point medications are running him $1500 per month. The stay at the hospital in Watsonville was over $150,000, the ambulance ride up to San Francisco was $34,000 and the total to date (6 months later) is over $800,000! And the clincher? NO INSURANCE!

What amazed me was he appeared to be a very happy man. He joked around a lot and seemed to be in excellent spirits. He told his story as if it were some kind of pleasant book he read or something. I didn’t ask how he was possibly going to pay for his expenses and he didn’t volunteer. At least he is still alive but what a story!!!