Tag: mycelium

Lion’s Mane Mushrooms: The Last Word (?)

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One year ago, I started taking lion’s mane mushrooms in capsule form. This is merely a dietary supplement, so there’s no need for a prescription, and I expected it could take weeks or even months to see any results. Thus, I told you at the time that I would report back with any results after a year. And so, here we are. And I have indeed noticed significant improvements in some areas. These are those:

Better Sleep:

Prior to starting the lion’s mane regimen, I would often wake up multiple times during the night. Sometimes I could get back to sleep, sometimes not. In any case, I almost always got out of bed between 4:00 and 7:00. After about five months on lion’s mane, I began experiencing solid sleep. Once in a while, my dog wakes me up, or I’ll get up to urinate, but I almost always get back to sleep quickly. And I’m sleeping until somewhere between 7:00 and 9:00 (some days, even later).

Awakening Alive:

Before the shrooms, when I got up in the morning, I would take the day’s first dose of Levodopa (Levo) then just crash on the couch for half an hour (which is about how long it takes for the Levo to kick in). Until the Levo took effect, I usually felt incapable of doing ANYthing. Since about five months after starting lion’s mane, I have generally felt capable of doing things the instant I get out of bed. Once in a while, I even forget to take the day’s first dose of Levo!

Off Periods Reduced:

I take Levo every 3 waking hours. Prior to shroomin’ it up, I could always feel when time was approaching for the next dose. About 2.5 hours after taking a dose of Levo, I would start having anxiety, or sometimes depression. Since about five months after starting lion’s mane, the anxiety / depression have been noticeably less prevalent, and the Levo doses don’t tend to start wearing off until just a few minutes before my next dose is due. I’ve even been seriously late (up to nearly two hours late) taking a dose, and STILL didn’t have any anxiety / depression (though I did feel the ol’ physical fatigue on those occasions).

No RLS:

Before lion’s mane, I tended to experience Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) one or two nights per week. (In my case, it manifests in the upper body, so I call it Restless Arm Syndrome.) Over the past month, I have only experienced RLS / RAS once. And that one time may not even have been RAS, as I was laying on the couch in a goofy position. And I’ve also been taking nicotine supplements during that time, so it’s conceivable that nicotine is what fixed the problem.

Reduced Medication:

I might expect improvements such as those described above if I had added a new medication or increased the dosage of one I’m already on. But there have been no such additions / increases. In fact, around the time I started noticing these improvements, I actually decreased one of my meds. I get Pramipexole (Prami) in tiny 0.125 mg pills. I had been taking eleven of these each day for the last few years, but reduced it to nine each day. (Since then, I tried reducing it to eight, but that led to a significant increase in anxiety.)

In conclusion, I highly recommend all you Parkinson’s sufferers out there try taking a lion’s mane mushroom supplement for at least a few months. But make sure you read those labels first to make sure you’re getting the correct part of the mushroom. Y’see, there are two main parts to a mushroom: the fruiting body and the mycelium. According to the articles I read, the helpful stuff is found only in the mycelium. I saw quite a few products on Amazon that only mentioned fruiting bodies. In the end, I settled on a brand that says it contains both parts.

‘Shrooms

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Long ago, a relative sent me a link to a news article about “lion’s mane” mushrooms and their possible use in fighting Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The article made it sound like this particular type of mushroom may be quite helpful. I decided to add some lion’s mane to my diet. Unfortunately, I was never able to find any grocery outlets that carried this particular fungus, and any thought of it slipped to the back of my mind. Which is a scary place, but that’s not what this post is about.

A few weeks ago, I was reminded of lion’s mane mushrooms (though I forget what it was that reminded me). I did some fresh Googling and read a few articles. Many of these articles were extremely scientific (i.e., hard to read), so I’ll just point you to this one, which sums things up in a human-readable form. At this point, I’m feeling pretty good about lion’s mane, so I decided to see if I could find it in pill form, since my attempts at finding full-fledged fungus failed, folks. A quick Amazon search for “lion’s mane extract” turned up loads of options. I focused on dietary supplements, though I made a mental note that you can also order a kit to grow your own lions mane ‘shrooms.

One thing to note: According to at least one of the articles I read, you need to read the label to make sure you’re getting the correct part of the mushroom. Apparently, there are two main parts to a mushroom: the fruiting body and the mycelium. It seems the helpful stuff is found only in the mycelium. I saw quite a few products on Amazon that only mentioned fruiting bodies. In the end, I settled on a brand that says it contains both parts. It contains 7,500 mg “per serving”; the articles I read concluded that 1,000 to 1,500 mg per day is appropriate, but I want results NOW, DAMMIT!

Any way…I’ve been taking them for a week now. It seems like my anxiety and depression have been slightly reduced, but those symptoms vary so much that it’s hard to gauge anything by them. I’ll let you know if I experience any major changes in my PD symptoms. If I don’t notice any changes after a year, I’ll take stock of my condition and report back to you at that time.