Reishi and other ‘magic’ mushrooms

[downwardsfromzero]

I found a nice lump of chaga the other day. Some woodsmen kindly left the section of log to which it was attached right near the track I cycle along regularly. Much easier than having to climb up the tree and fetch it

 

[OrangeEnergy]

Hi there Nexians,

Does anyone here have any experience of using powdered mushroom extracts? There’s a lot of claims out there about how beneficial they are for all sorts of ailments and immune boosting properties. From what I can tell though most claims are derived from studies on mice.

I have been drinking a brew of Lions Mane. Even if all the claims aren’t true it still contains good nutrition.

I have just started taking Reishi due to the claims it can help with allergies. I have tried every over the years and nothing has ever worked so reading about the anti Inflammatory properties this has I’m happy to trial it for a bit to see if it makes a difference.

Has anyone had any positive experiences with this or other mushroom extracts ?

Woody

NOt personally, but

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

Chaga is a crazy powerful antioxidant. Far more powerful than most fruits and vegetables and herbs that have antioxidant properties. I have been grinding mine into powder and adding to a nice black tea blend and making a powerful antioxidant tea. Whenever I feel down or a cold coming on I bulk up on this chaga/black tea and take some Quercetin and Chelated Zinc and the cold never sets in, flushed it right out of my system. Chaga also works as an anti-inflammatory. I take a lot of CBD/CBG daily so I don't really notice the anti-inflammatory properties of the chaga, but I do feel a boost to my system when I drink it as a tea, either alone or with an herbal tea blend.

Paul Stamets is one of the leading experts in medicinal mushrooms. His research and discoveries have benefited us all.

 

[ABe©eDarian]

I added Chaga to my regimen about 2.5 weeks ago and feel it to be a worthy inclusion. I put it in warm water along with my reishi, maitake, and cordyceps. In addition to it being anti-inflammatory managing blood sugar and cholesterol levels is of interest to me.

 

[doodlekid]

Am a regular chaga user. Besides strong tea also alcoholic extract. There are compounds both water and fatty. It's mildly activating physical... besides all those nutrient/ antioxidant compounds. Though not living in a harsh winter country, internet offers possibility for purchase from remote locations. More frost more potent...

Chaga seems to be a worthy inclusion and it tastes very good. In bulk it's relatively cheap. Getting it ground up can be tricky. Taste is a bit vanilla/ chocolate/ bitter/ woody. Can I suggest a discussion on how to make extract from it!?

 

[ABe©eDarian]

I ordered the extract from a company called BulkSupplements along with other stuff I've gotten from them. Most of their prices are pretty good.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Can I suggest a discussion on how to make extract from it!?

Feel free. I believe one method is to simmer chaga powder in water, strain, and then make a tincture using the recovered solid. The ethanolic and aqueous extracts may then be combined. I'm not entirely looking forward to powdering my specimen - it's probably easier to crush it when it's still fresh, but mine has been drying out for about a month now.


While travelling in the UK recently I was delighted to encounter a Lions Mane grower so I've finally had the chance to try that one - as well as providing it to my aging parents. It's great, we've all benefitted from it even within a couple of days and it's a fantastic culinary mushroom too. I shall be getting hold of spawn or a culture soon. If that guy can grow it commercially in his garage then I can do the same in my shed.

 

[ABe©eDarian]

Recently I got the chance to try fresh lion's mane in a meal and it was so good. A bit seafoody.

 

[doodlekid]

I believe one method is to simmer chaga powder in water, strain, and then make a tincture using the recovered solid.

Another method, but very similar is to beforehand measure out the dry mass, water volume and pure ethanol. Then simmer the powder in the amount of water and compensate for loss through evaporation. When it cools down add the ethanol and then treat it like a tincture for a month or longer.

From this I came up with another even better method. One extra step. First you soak the powder in the ethanol, so no water added yet. Then strain the ethanol as good as possible. The still soaked result is added water to. Next you simmer this for a while. And at last re-add the ethanol strained earlier. Then treat this is a tincture for a month or longer.

The net result of this will be a more or less 50% water/ ethanol mixture with full spectrum.

You might ask, why not put the stuff in vodka straight?! Well the cell structure of the mushroom is resistant to most agents except heat. Therefore it has to be heated for the cells to break down and release their contents...

 

[dithyramb]

"Herb of spiritual potency" season is on here.

Boiled together with mistletoe last night, and drank before going to bed. I somehow see them as the plant/fungus versions of each other, and they do have similar relaxing and nervine effects. Felt a spiritual opening for sure, and this morning I feel fantastic...

 

[Prima Materia]

The Father of Tonic Herbalism on Reishi Mushrooms

 

[WarpZone]

Reishi and Lions mane are great. I take high doses of double extract powder which as both polar & non-polar fractions. They can be almost psychedelic in high doses. 5 grams of both is a good starting point for bigger doses. Also they do wonders for brain injury recovery. Bacopa Monnieri, Ginseng and Gingko Biloba have great synergy with them.

Chaga is nice too. One time I brewed huge amount of very strong tea and drank it until I threw up. It is alkaline so it will neutralize your stomach acids with high doses and cause a purge. Does not feel toxic even then and the purge has zero acidity and tastes just like the tea.

Cordyceps is legit testosterone booster, it can make you kind of angry. Somehow it also irritated my prostate and caused some pain so I'm not sure if it's healthy for everyone. Not using it anymore because side effects.

Shiitake is great for cooking and supposedly very healthy. My favourite gourmet mushroom.

Ate one bag of Agaricus Blazei extract, did not notice anything but supposedly it is anticancer and otherwise healthy.

 

[Voidmatrix]

Cordyceps is legit testosterone booster, it can make you kind of angry.

Do you have any papers, or anecdotally, have you noticed an increase in strength, power, speed, libido, energy, etc? Simply making one angry and having some feelings of prostate issues doesn't guarantee that it's a test booster.

One love

 

[dithyramb]

Reishi for me is psychedelic too.

 

[WarpZone]

Do you have any papers, or anecdotally, have you noticed an increase in strength, power, speed, libido, energy, etc? Simply making one angry and having some feelings of prostate issues doesn't guarantee that it's a test booster.

One love

There is some studies, although some of it is related species of fungi and they used mice. But yes I have also experienced anecdotally all of the mentioned.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874124001168?dgcid=rss_sd_all

Cordyceps Sobolifera could promote Leydig cell proliferation and bolster testosterone secretion.

Cordyceps militaris Fruit Body Extract Decreases Testosterone Catabolism and Testosterone-Stimulated Prostate Hypertrophy

The androgens testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) are essential for a variety of systemic functions in mature males. Alteration of these hormones results in late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). The fruit bodies of ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Cordyceps Militaris also increased the secretion of testosterone and DHT by primary testicular cells, with no changes in the mRNA expression of steroidogenic enzymes, but decreased the growth of prostatic cell lines

Effects of Cordyceps sinensis on testosterone production in normal mouse Leydig cells - PubMed

The stimulatory effect of Cordyceps sinensis (CS) on MA-10 mouse Leydig tumor cell steroidogenesis was previously demonstrated in our laboratory. In the present studies, we further determined the effect of CS on steroidogenesis in purified normal mouse Leydig cells. Different concentrations of...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The results illustrated that Cordyceps Sinensis stimulated normal mouse Leydig cell steroidogenesis in a dose-dependent relationship

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S102194981630182X

Cordyceps sinensis and cordycepin activate PKA pathway in Leydig cells.

 

[Transform]

Reishi for me is psychedelic too.

Ever tried taking it in combination with Zanthoxylum extract*? That feels like such a turbo brain power boost, I thought I was coming up on psilocybin and waited for the visuals to start kicking in.

*It was a mixed tincture for backache, I'll see if I've a record of the ingredients somewhere.

 

[supervilian]

I have tried a few different brand combo pills with Lion's Mane, cordyceps, reishi, etc, but never really got much out of them that I noticed. I regularly drank mushroom tea during covid lockdown and really enjoyed it. It gave me a much nicer feeling energy boost, and a general chill feeling of well-being, felt good. The only reason I stopped was because it was too much of a hassle in the morning trying to get out the door running late all the time.

 

[dreamer042]

All the wisdom says to first make the tea, then do the tincture in preparing a dual extraction, but I never saw the logic in that. Why apply heat and cook out all the volatiles before making the ethanol extraction? Longer soaks are generally preferred in maceration as well. So i usually will soak the mushrooms in ethanol first for a few weeks, months, or years, then filter them out and boil. I add the ethanol extract into the water extract at roughly 50:50 ratio for a really nice tincture.

Shout out to microingredients for their mushroom powders, they are great quality and usually slightly cheaper than bulk supplements. I take the lions mane extract every night, usually with some freeze dried whole lions mane powder from the local mushroom sellers, and I usually take their mega mushroom blend in my morning smoothies.

 

[ommani]

Reviving this thread from the past to prevent the apocalypse in the future (it’s complicated)… suffice it to say, I have been taking encapsulated extracts of reishi, lion’s mane, and chaga, and haven’t noticed too much, so far.

However, I have also been adding dried reishi to my daily teas, and have noticed a calming effect, along with a significant diminishment of stimulating effects from the caffeine - so much so that I am needing to add 2x+ the amount of guayusa that I would usually have per cup.

As noted by @dithyramb reishi does seem similar to mistletoe, in terms of its calming effects, and seems even more pronounced in terms of offsetting the effects of caffeine.

Something I’m interested in is whether, in a similar fashion to how CBD and CBG can offset the effects of THC, amanita and reishi could be used to offset the effects of psilocybin… if all goes according to plan, I hope to find out this weekend.