Sydney man’s warning after becoming violently ill from testing mushroom brought out by rain

Mushrooms that have popped up around Sydney after heavy rain look tempting but one man learned the hard way they’re not an “easy food supply”.

A Sydney man tempted into eating wild mushrooms brought out by the city’s rainy weather has lived to regret his experiment.

Jonathan Herrman was hospitalised after spotting some “plain, white” mushrooms on his lawn that looked like an “easy food supply”.

Not knowing whether the mushrooms were poisonous or not, Mr Herrman learnt “the hard way” that some can be toxic.

Describing his “stupid moment” on Facebook, Mr Herrman said he decided to be careful and outlined his steps, taking only a small bite of one mushroom.

“First rubbed some on sensitive skin, waited, licked, waited and then took a thumbnail size bite,” he said.

“No discernible taste difference to an ordinary mushroom.”

However, about two to three hours later, Mr Herrman said things went south pretty quickly.

“I was as ill as I’ve ever felt in my life,” he wrote.

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The mushrooms looked innocent enough.

Jonathan saw them as an ‘easy food supply’.

“Violent vomiting, simultaneous diarrhoea (like I’d had 10 courses of Picoprep), sweating and a runny nose – my body was doing everything it could to dump everything it could,” Mr Herrman said.

His wife said rang the Poisons Information Centre and they asked if there was an oak tree nearby.

“There was/is,” Mr Herrman wrote. “Shrooms near oak trees are particularly feral/dangerous.”

Mr Herrman was still conscious and lucid but weak so his wife took him to the hospital.

“Still retching through ED (emergency department) and needing to race to the bathroom, I was given an anti-emetic, bloods taken and put on a saline IV drip,” he said.

“Two nights later and 5L of saline later, I seem to have got through the half life of the toxin and all clear, please G-d.”

Jonathan Herrman was hospitalised after eating a small bite of one mushroom.

Mr Herrman said he had since been discharged and was lucky to still have a functioning liver and kidneys as organ failure and transplant is one potential outcome of mushroom poisoning. He was also lucky to be alive.

In telling his story, Mr Herrman had one important message: “JUST DO NOT EAT THE WILD SHROOMS!”