Most people talk about shrooms making them emotional, creative, or a little floaty, but hardly anyone thinks about what they do to your gut. Funny enough, the digestive side of a trip is real, and people have very mixed experiences. Some feel totally normal. Some get a nervous stomach. And a few even wonder if shrooms cause constipation, a concern sometimes tied to shelf-life issues discussed HERE. The short answer is that constipation isn’t a common effect, but your gut can definitely react in different ways depending on what you eat, how you feel, and the type of mushrooms you take.
What the Gut Usually Does on Shrooms
Most of the time, shrooms are more likely to cause the opposite of constipation. They don’t act like heavy food. They’re small, fibrous fungi that the stomach tries to break down quickly. One source explains that digestive discomfort comes from the body reacting to raw mushroom matter rather than the psilocybin itself, saying it’s normal for people to feel “gastrointestinal distress due to the mushroom’s chitin structure.”
That’s why some people feel bloated, gassy, or a little cramped during the first hour. Your stomach is just irritated from the mushroom material, especially if it wasn’t chewed well or you ate it on an empty stomach.
Can Shrooms Actually Make You Constipated
Constipation is not a typical effect recorded in studies. But it can happen indirectly. If you take shrooms without eating all day, your digestion slows down because you haven’t given your gut anything real to work with. Some anecdotal reports mention people feeling “backed up for a day or two,” but this is more about dehydration, poor diet, or stress before the trip rather than the mushrooms themselves.
A scientific article on gut involvement notes that psilocybin may interact with serotonin receptors in the digestive tract, explaining that these receptors “modulate gastric activity and transit.”
Serotonin controls both mood and bowel movement, so a temporary shift can make things feel slower or faster. But again, this varies from person to person.
Why Some People Feel Sluggish Afterward
If someone feels constipated after the trip, it’s usually from:
• not drinking water
• not eating before or after
• being stressed or anxious during the come up
• sitting still for long periods
These things slow digestion in general, not just with shrooms. Once you hydrate and get a normal meal in, the gut usually resets.
How To Avoid Digestive Problems With Shrooms
If you want to keep your stomach happy, here’s what experienced users usually do:
• drink water before and after
• avoid taking shrooms on a totally empty stomach
• chew them well or use tea
• avoid heavy, greasy food beforehand
• listen to your body if things feel tight or slow
Shroom tea is especially popular because it skips most of the heavy digestion and reduces stomach issues a lot.
Summary
Shrooms don’t usually cause constipation. Most gut discomfort comes from the mushroom material itself or from not eating or drinking enough before the trip. A few people report feeling temporarily backed up, but it’s rare and usually easy to fix.
Most people don’t get constipated from shrooms. Some feel stomach discomfort at the beginning of the trip because mushrooms are tough to digest. Constipation can show up if you’re dehydrated, stressed, or haven’t eaten, but it’s not a core effect of psilocybin. Staying hydrated and eating lightly before and after usually keeps things smooth.
Sources
The Ouroboros Foundation – Psilocybin and Gastrointestinal Distress
ScienceDirect – Do the therapeutic effects of psilocybin involve actions in the gut
The Fun Guys – Do Shrooms Make You Constipated