Does LSD have a stronger affinity for receptors then mushrooms

So I know obviously you need a much smaller dose of LSD to have the same effects as mushrooms. But is LSD similar to NBOME in that it hits the receptor much harder then mushrooms? Or in in your opinion are they both about as strong.

So like for example it is better to take mushrooms day 1 and LSD day 2? Tolerance will exist no matter what but with this example would tolerance be less then LSD day 1 and mushrooms day 2?

 

Well since you're asking for opinions I will give you mine, and they are based on research I have done but since this research was done some time ago I'm not gonna give links right now, feel free to hunt this information down and correct me.

I'm pretty sure both LSD and psilocin are "partial agonists" at the serotonin 5HT-2a receptor, the one believed responsible for most of the pscychedelic effects. This means they both bind to the receptor but create a weaker response than the natural ligand, but still some response so it cannot be called an antagonist. As far as potency, yes LSD is more "potent" in that it requires less of the drug to produce effects of equivalent strength.

Of course psilocin and LSD hit a bunch of other receptors too, and you can google up a chart that shows the binding affinities to the different receptors. Some of these interactions I'm sure have been studied a lot more, or less than others.

I have heard some things said about the nbome family, that they are full agonists at the 5HT-2a receptor, of course these haven't been studied as much as LSD and psilocin (and mushrooms) have been. Many people believe that the NBOME family is not as safe as LSD and psilocin/psilocybin/mushrooms which are well known for their safety and are basically non toxic.

The nbome family definitely still feels like a phenethylamine to me, especially at higher doses, and they don't really feel that safe to me in higher doses either. IMO most phenethylamines don't feel safe at heroic doses, where with LSD I may be trippin so hard I can't see my hand in front of my face but I don't feel like i'm gonna have a seizure or something.

LSD definitely molecule for molecule is more likely to bind than psilocin. It has a higher affinity for the receptors responsible for psychedelic effects. As far as what to take on day 2, definitely take something different than you took on day 1, I would imagine cross tolerance between different chemicals to exist but be less than the tolerance to the chemical you took on day 1 itself. I would probably pick LSD for day 1 and shrooms for day 2 if I really wanted to trip 2 days in a row.

As for the more subjective differences between the chemicals, many of them are probably at least in part caused by subtleties not easily noticed when just looking at the numbers. I do not believe we can ever totally remove all of the mystery in the universe

 

AceK gave a pretty good summary. Of the 5ht2a receptor which is generally implicated with psychedelics, 25I-nbome is a full agonist as where LSD and Shrooms are partial agonists with LSD having higher efficacy than mushrooms at that receptor site.

This brings me to one of the issues that I have with the current understanding of trying to define psychedelics by receptor sites, particularly by one receptor site. Many would suggest that LSD is more psychedelic than 25i-nbome yet 25i-nbome has a higher efficacy at the receptor site currently implicated as the prominent receptor site for psychedelics. More investigation into the interaction between various receptors and how they elicit subjective psychedelic affects is something that should be explored in the future.

From data I've seen, LSD has higher efficacy than many receptor sites than shrooms but shrooms has higher efficacy at some receptor sites and LSD effects other non-sertonergic sites such as some adrenal receptors which may play a part in it's affects which shrooms does not.