Psilocybin for Fibromyalgia: Potential Paths to Pain Relief

Published on: December 12, 2025

Psilocybin Therapy to Overcome Fibromyalgia

Often stigmatized and downplayed, the reality of living with fibromyalgia is more debilitating than many people are aware of. If you live with this condition, you are likely familiar not only with the crippling physical pain but also the profound mental health impact and cognitive impairment that can come alongside it.

With pharmaceutical treatments for fibromyalgia simply not providing the relief that so many seek, some individuals have begun to explore the power of psychedelic therapy. Early research suggests that psilocybin impacts the pain-processing systems in the brains of fibromyalgia patients and helps to treat depression and anxiety symptoms.

In this article, we’ll explore:

• The wide-reaching impact that fibromyalgia has on patients
• What psilocybin is and how it works in the brain
• How psilocybin may work to treat fibromyalgia
• A real-life story of overcoming fibromyalgia with the help of a psilocybin retreat
• Top considerations if you’re considering psychedelic therapy

Fibromyalgia Explained: Symptoms, Impact, and Current Treatment Options

Approximately 2% of the US population lives with fibromyalgia, or four million people, with a disproportionate number of these being women. Worldwide, prevalence rates can range from 2% to 8% in some countries.

Fibromyalgia symptoms are generally described as widespread pain and stiffness, fatigue, sleep problems, and brain fog. However, these often don’t encompass the individual’s full lived experience.

Living with fibromyalgia can have a debilitating effect on a person’s daily life. They may struggle to stay in work, keep up with hobbies that they enjoy, and socialize with family and friends. For some, even basic tasks like bathing or cooking a meal feel impossible. Physical symptoms can lead to a vicious cycle of emotional distress and social isolation, with 50% of fibromyalgia patients suffering from depression and anxiety.

There is no widely accepted cure for fibromyalgia. Common treatments for managing fibromyalgia symptoms usually take a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating medications, psychological support, physical therapies, and lifestyle changes. Pharmaceuticals are often used to ease symptoms and aid sleep, while psychological and physical therapies aim to help the individual cope better in their day-to-day life.

Many people will experience no significant improvement in their pain symptoms using pharmaceutical treatments, especially given the myriad side effects that come alongside pain, sleep, and depression medications. So it’s no surprise that some fibromyalgia patients are seeking out alternative solutions, including psilocybin therapy.

What Psilocybin Is and How It Works in the Brain

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in “magic mushrooms.” The mushrooms have been used by Indigenous groups for healing and spiritual connection for centuries (if not millennia), and now, the Western medical and psychological field is slowly catching up to their potential.

Psilocybin works mainly by impacting serotonin signalling in the brain, which is heavily involved in perception, mood, and cognition. Once ingested, psilocybin is converted into psilocin, which binds to a wide range of neuroreceptors, notibly the 5-HT2A receptor, within the brain. These receptors are especially concentrated in the brain regions related to our sense of self, sensory processing, and emotional regulation.

This causes the default mode network (DMN) – the brain region linked to self-referential thinking and rumination – to become less tightly organized. At the same time, brain areas that don’t usually communicate start talking to each other, producing altered perceptions, changes in a sense of self, and ego dissolution at high doses.

Psilocybin also promotes neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to form new neural connections. This makes it easier for people to make changes, quit old habits, and enforce new adaptive behaviors in the aftermath of a session.

How Psilocybin Therapy May Help Treat Fibromyalgia Pain

When it comes to fibromyalgia, psilocybin’s ability to interact with the serotonergic system – and possibly stress-regulation systems such as the HPA axis – plays a key role in its potential to relieve symptoms. Given that fibromyalgia pain sometimes arises from altered pain processing in the nervous system, essentially a hypersensitivity to pain, patients need a treatment that focuses on modulating the signaling that’s associated with pain transmission, perception, and amplification.

On the neurological level, psilocybin reduces DMN activity, enhances brain connectivity and flexibility, and modulates the serotonin signaling, which is thought to play a role in pain transmission, processing, and amplification in fibromyalgia. Essentially, by modulating pain-processing circuits in the brain, psilocybin can potentially reduce pain signals and sensitivity.

Patients also experience a window of psychological and neural plasticity, making it easier to “reset” counterproductive thought and behavior patterns that worsen pain symptoms. These new neural connections also bypass existing pain pathways, helping to reduce how strongly pain signals are transmitted and leading to a reduction in pain.

These neurological effects underlie psilocybin’s emerging clinical efficacy in treating mental health conditions like depression and anxiety, which often accompany chronic pain.

Psilocybin can also induce states of mystical experience, profound introspection, and emotional healing. When held in a safe therapeutic container, these experiences can help patients process trauma and grief surrounding their condition and change their relationship to their pain.

Psilocybin for Fibromyalgia Research: Current Studies and Early Evidence

Early research points towards psilocybin’s ability to help treat fibromyalgia.

In this 2025 pilot study, participants experienced less severe pain and less interference with daily activities, and had better sleep quality after psilocybin therapy. Some participants also developed a better acceptance of their pain. The study found no serious adverse effects associated with psilocybin use in fibromyalgia patients, and any side effects, such as headaches or short-term changes in blood pressure, were generally mild and temporary.

Another study from 2024 looked at how psilocybin changes brain activity in fibromyalgia patients using tools like EEG and MRI, aiming to uncover essential data that will inform the design of a potential randomized controlled trial.

This ongoing study plans to test whether low doses of psilocybin improve pain tolerance and mood in a larger group of fibromyalgia patients.

These initial papers indicate that psilocybin therapy shows promise by targeting both the physical sensations of pain and the psychological factors that can make pain worse.

Lisa’s Story: From Daily Debilitating Pain to Symptom-Free

Early clinical findings suggest promising outcomes – but they’re only part of the story. Behind the data are real people exploring new approaches to managing their pain. Lisa is one of them.

“I was an avid tennis player. What would start happening is that the racket would fly out of my hand. My hands and muscles weren’t working properly,” explained Lisa, a former MycoMeditations retreat participant who suffered from debilitating fibromyalgia for 10 years.

“Then it got to the point where I was missing work, and it got worse and worse. On some days, I couldn’t physically get out of bed. There were times when I passed out on the bathroom floor because I was in so much pain.”

Lisa’s symptoms led to her leaving her job and ending her relationship. She describes spending all of her energy on basic tasks like cooking a meal and showering, while her prescription medications meant she would spend most of the day asleep. “There was no quality of life, no entertainment, no socializing with friends.”

She explored the potential cause of her fibromyalgia being the Epstein-Barr virus, and found relief after starting a course of anti-viral medications. Her flexibility returned and her mobility increased substantially. But there were still unresolved symptoms. She felt stuck mentally and physically. While the virus was no longer active, the damage it caused remained.

Depression was an ongoing battle. But doctors told Lisa there was no way out, that fibromyalgia is a lifetime chronic condition and she had to come to terms with her diagnosis. The prospect of living with this pain for the rest of her life only worsened her mental health.

Ultimately, seeking answers for her depression was what led her to explore the idea of psilocybin therapy. “If I could get the depression managed, maybe I could find a better way to deal with the fibromyalgia.”

At the time, most available research focused on psilocybin use in cases of treatment-resistant depression. She found no information indicating psilocybin could help with her chronic pain, so she didn’t anticipate the significant pain-related benefits she ultimately experienced.

“The most amazing, life-altering week of my life”

Lisa signed up for an eight-day retreat at MycoMeditations. “I was absolutely blown away by what happened when I got there.”

“For the first time in 10 years, I had people around me that actually listened to me,” she described.

Her intention for the first dosing session was to deal with her fibromyalgia. During the journey, she felt as if her body was encased in concrete, but she wasn’t scared. “[I thought] my body’s healing. It wants me to stay still. So I’m going to stay still.”

“But then at the end of that journey, the concrete cracked, and I burst out of it. Almost like Superman with his cape.”

After the journey, Lisa’s pain was entirely gone. Knowing that this may not be permanent, Lisa felt empowered to embrace her pain-free state for what it was in the moment and started to formulate her intention for the second dosing session. This time, she would address her inner emotional pain.

In the second journey, she confronted childhood trauma and processed the guilt she carried about not taking her mother to a better-equipped hospital on the day she died. She felt the warmth of her mother’s love and realized that the circumstances of her passing didn’t affect the love she felt for Lisa.

On dosing day three, Lisa went on a peaceful, mystical-type journey. She described it as a perfect way to close out the two prior powerful healing sessions.

By the end of the week, she was able to go on the group excursion to YS Falls. “I started the week barely being able to walk off the plane. I finished it ziplining and bungee jumping into the falls.”

“It was the most challenging, but also the most amazing, life-altering week of my life,” she said. Not only impacted by the psilocybin journeys, Lisa also described the profound importance of the support she received before, during, and after the retreat from facilitators and other guests.

“The guidance and direction they give – that’s life advice that I still follow today,” she professed.

“[Before the retreat] I wanted to give up. They saved my life and gave it back to me.”

A Lasting Impact

Once back home, Lisa felt renewed and reenergized. Today, Lisa reports having no fibromyalgia symptoms. Her depression has lifted. She’s back to full-time work and living her life. And she’s still in touch with her retreat group – six years later.

She encourages anyone suffering from fibromyalgia to take their healing into their own hands, as she did. “Don’t let doctors tell you that you’re condemned to this for life. You don’t have to be stuck in that cycle.”

Considerations if You Have Fibromyalgia: Accessibility, Safety, & Legality

If you are someone living with fibromyalgia and are considering psilocybin therapy, there are a few things you should take into account when deciding on where to go.

Remember that psilocybin is a scheduled substance in many jurisdictions. While underground practitioners exist, consider whether you would feel safer in a legal setting. In the US, you can access legal psilocybin through regulated psychedelic therapy programs in Oregon and Colorado. If you feel called to a psychedelic retreat, then going abroad to Jamaica, where psilocybin is legal, may be a great option for you.

It’s also crucial to ensure the center you choose caters to your physical needs. You should have a comfortable space to rest before and after your psilocybin session, and the journey space itself should be set up so you can lie or sit in positions that are most comfortable for you. The setting should be accessible for those with limited mobility, and support moving around should be available, should you need it.

Finally, safety is paramount when ingesting any kind of psychedelic. This means that the people who guide you must be properly trained in psychedelic facilitation and grounded in a practice of ethics and integrity. Make sure that they take you through a thorough screening process to rule out any medical or pharmaceutical contraindications, and willingly answer any questions you have for them. Your facilitators should also have an understanding of fibromyalgia, the way it takes shape in a person’s brain and body, and how psilocybin may help to treat the condition.

A New Direction in Fibromyalgia Treatment With Psilocybin Therapy

While there’s more clinical research to be done on psilocybin therapy for fibromyalgia, early studies and anecdotal accounts indicate its promise as a novel treatment.

By promoting neurological shifts, psychological insight, and emotional processing, psilocybin can help fibromyalgia patients not only experience reduced pain symptoms, but also fundamentally change their relationship to their condition – and life itself.

Looking ahead, we hope to see rigorous, randomized controlled trials that explore the mechanisms at play in fibromyalgia patients under the effects of psilocybin and establish foundational treatment protocols.

At MycoMeditations, we offer a safe and supportive environment for those living with chronic pain to explore the power of psilocybin therapy. We combine science-backed frameworks with heart-led therapeutic care at our retreat centers in Jamaica. Discover more about our approach.

Psilocybin for Fibromyalgia FAQs: Safety, Risks, and Looking Ahead

How does psilocybin affect fibromyalgia-related pain?

Psilocybin is a promising treatment for fibromyalgia thanks to both neurological and psychological mechanisms.

Psilocybin promotes neuroplasticity and interacts with serotonin receptors in the brain, which play a role in pain processing and perception, as well as mood and cognition. The compound can also elicit a profound experience of emotional release and psychological insight, which often helps individuals with fibromyalgia change the way they relate to their condition, process trauma and grief around their pain, and make positive behavioral changes in their day-to-day.

What does research show about psilocybin and chronic pain management?

Research on psilocybin for chronic pain relief indicates that it has a positive overall safety profile and may help in reducing pain symptoms as well as markers of depression and anxiety in chronic pain patients.

Why might psilocybin therapy work better than traditional medication?

Psilocybin therapy may work better than traditional medication because its neurological effects last long after the dosing session, potentially resulting in a lasting reduction in pain symptoms, while prescription medication is usually taken daily to have an effect. Psilocybin therapy differs in that it takes into account the mind-body connection and the role of psychological and emotional healing in pain management.

Patients also often experience a window of neuroplasticity following a journey with psilocybin, enabling them to more easily break free from maladaptive patterns and build more positive, healthy behaviors.

Is psilocybin therapy safe for pain management?

When individuals undergo thorough medical and psychological screening to rule out any contraindications, psilocybin therapy is a generally safe option for those seeking chronic pain relief. It’s crucial that people with chronic pain receive sign-off from a healthcare provider to safely undergo psilocybin therapy, and do so with trained therapists and/or facilitators.

How could psilocybin change the future of fibromyalgia treatment?

Psilocybin could be a new frontier for fibromyalgia treatment, helping individuals attack the root cause of their pain, rather than just numb or manage symptoms. In order for psilocybin to become more accessible for those living with fibromyalgia, we need to see considerably more randomized controlled trials and the establishment of treatment protocols that demonstrate the potential of psilocybin therapy.