A man in Austria reportedly amputated his own penis with an axe after ingesting a hefty dose of psychedelic mushrooms.
Fortunately, doctors in Austria were able to reattach the severed organ.
The patient’s shocking story is the first of its kind, according to PsyPost.org, and now detailed in the Mega Journal of Surgery.
The 37-year-old man was reportedly suffering from depression and alcohol abuse at the time of his psychotic break.
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring compound in so-called “magic” mushrooms with the power to thrust humans into hallucinatory states if ingested. It works by altering the brain’s serotonin receptors, altering our senses and heightening emotions. Throughout history, several indigenous cultures have used the drug in spiritual ceremonies and to bring enlightenment to the psychically ill.
Lately, mainstream medicine has caught on to the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin mushrooms as studies show it could help treat patients experiencing psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
However, the patient involved in the shocking new report found no such relief after using the substance without supervision to treat his ill mental health.
This is the first documented case of Klingsor syndrome related to psilocybin, in which a psychologically disturbed person self-inflicts harm on their genitals.
Doctors at Hospital Feldkirch in Austria wrote that the patient, who had been alone at his vacation home at the time, had eaten four to five individual dried mushrooms, inducing a brief psychotic episode in which he used an axe to chop his penis into multiple pieces.
Later, he was spotted by a townsperson after wandering from his home to seek help. He arrived at the nearest hospital in critical condition about 5 hours after the horrific incident.
The garish scene indicated to medical experts that the man had attempted to tie a piece of cloth around his penis to block blood flow and placed the rest of the organ in a jar filled with snow.
Doctors had to carefully clean the severed organ which had been contaminated by dirt and snow, and managed to repair the tip and about two inches of shaft. Other pieces had been too damaged to reattach.
The patient was unable to fully recollect the nightmarish event.
Immediately following surgery the man was placed under the care of psychiatric professionals as he continued to suffer from bouts of psychosis for about a week to follow. On the mend, he later continued recovery in the urology department.
Complications arose including necrosis (death of skin tissue), which healed with time. Within a few months of surgery, he had also regained erectile and urinary functions.
