In keeping with their reputation, the destroying angels employ a deadly and tricky family of toxins called amatoxins. Common to some Amanitas as well as some Galerina, Lepiota, and Conocybe species, amatoxins will cause gastrointestinal distress (diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain) after five to twelve hours. However, symptoms typically remit after that, and one might assume that the worst has passed without going to the hospital. By the time the symptoms get worse again, after a day or two, it will probably be too late for the victim, who will likely suffer liver and kidney failure and enter a hepatic coma, ending in death. The symptoms are harsh and the ultimate treatment is severe: liver transplant. Though there is a series of experimental treatments that may or may not help, the best way to avoid being killed by amatoxin is to learn to identify the poisonous mushrooms before starting on the edible ones.
