9 replies to this topic

[tepol]

I suffer from anosmia , ( acquired 3 years ago ) and am sure I read here , or perhaps it was suggested , that lions mane could help somehow , so I decided to try it.

Any way aside from the 1st day ( for some odd reason ) ,Im not sure really if its having any effect ,and ao began wondering if this maybe due to the fact that , the brand Im taking is Swansosn Full Spectrum contains only the fruiting bodies , and not the erinacines from the root that are said to be more powerful ?

Im not really well versed on this brand ( swanson ) as i usually to try buy Doctors Best or Now Foods , but I didnt read any bad reviews and it was going cheap ( perhaps a bad omen )

If any one else used had tried this brand ( esp for ansomia ) , or managed to find a good source for the erinacines in the roots I'd be reallly interested to hear what you thought about it, and - or , and any other sources / things you found that helped.

thanks

matt

[chrono]

It might be indicative that the only thing scientific in the Swanson description is that "Preliminary research has revealed that lion's mane contains natural constituents known as erinacines, which may promote brain and nerve cell health." And as you say, the fruiting bodies don't contain erinacines. But if it's just straight up mushroom matter, it might be better than other products like Mushroom Science that use a poor extraction technique.

See this thread for lots of discussion on the extraction process, and what some of the best products are.

(I posted a couple of papers concerning the possible link between neurotrophic factors and olfactory neurons here)

You might also want to think about ashwagandha. I have no research showing a link to anosmia, but it's another compound which shows a lot of promise for neurogenesis (see this thread), does so via different mechanisms than lion's mane (so is good to combine), and is comparably cheap.

Edited by chrono, 25 June 2010 - 11:05 AM.

[babcock]

tepol, can you tell us what caused your anosmia?

If it was an event that damages your nerves then Lion's Mane would be a good recommendation. Lion's Mane does however take some time to work, you won't take it today and get your sense of smell back tomorrow. On an iherb user review of a LM product, a user cited that he had regained his sense of smell after 6 months of dosing or so. So there may be hope! Keep us posted. Also, I would take a look into some of those companies under the LM thread chrono posted. They seem to be the most reputable from our research.

[SATANICAT]

We have been engaged in a study to search for NGF synthesis-promoting agents in medicinal mushrooms since 1991. We discovered a class of benzyl alcohol and chroman derivatives in the fruit body of Lion's Mane mushroom called the hericenones C-H that stimulate NGF production from mouse astroglial cells in culture. (1-18) Subsequently, we discovered another group of cyathane derivative compounds from the mycelium of the same mushroom called the erinacines A-I that also induce NGF production. (4-22) (Figure 1)

http://findarticles....9/ai_114820665/

It looks like Swanson is only selling one component of the mushroom that stimulates nerve growth. That's probably why it's so cheap. But, you'll still be getting your money's worth if you double dose.

Edited by SATANICAT, 25 June 2010 - 03:15 PM.

[tepol]

tepol, can you tell us what caused your anosmia?

If it was an event that damages your nerves then Lion's Mane would be a good recommendation. Lion's Mane does however take some time to work, you won't take it today and get your sense of smell back tomorrow. On an iherb user review of a LM product, a user cited that he had regained his sense of smell after 6 months of dosing or so. So there may be hope! Keep us posted. Also, I would take a look into some of those companies under the LM thread chrono posted. They seem to be the most reputable from our research.

About 3 years ago I decided to take some psilocybe tampanensis Id been growing from kit to help with chronic tinnitus ( i mean non-stop ) that was driving me nuts.

Id read some evidence for mushrooms helping cluster headaches , and as there seemed to be some evidence for their being relationship between that and tinnitus I decided to try it .

On the onset of the trip then I ended up being horribly surprised by the delayed effects of the pscilocybe ,after waiting ( believe it or not almost 2 hours ) only for the whole jar I took to kick in . ( perhaps 100 g or 90 - Im not sure ) but the trip was, as you can imagine , not very good one .

NB* It did not help i took the whole jar in spite having assumed id just wasted the last 5 months growing this only to be duped - which was not exactly the best mindset for going into a intense trip unexpectedly

Towards the end after throwing up and coming down - I finally I felt the familair ( this will makes sense if you wish to know more ) " areas " in my skull suddenly shift forward towards the direction / areas I had the " injection done " .

It wasn gradually but abrupt and sudden i.e. just like being hit or making impact at force with something from falling except it was inside my skull .

At the same time this happened there was flash, that i never encountered in any trip before - much like a bolt of lightening between my eye that appeared at the same time i felt this shift in my skull .

I wasnt sure what to make of it at the time but I remember being pretty worried i.e. It defintely didnt seem like part of the trip but rather a physical response.

It wasnt until after the trip when i woke up later that day / morning ( this went on all the previous evening / night ) that i noticed i couldnt smell anything but that everything else had changed, or rather my self awareness / perception - and best of all no tinnitus .

In fact where it not for the loss of smell and the battle i had holding onto myself through the trip , the whole thing would of been a big success given the long term effects of what it did for me and , dare I say it , has seemingly continued to do since then - the loss of smell however was big loss , esp being born with it.

I cant really say more than that because Im more than little leary of what might turn up on google should any one read it , but there are other things surrounding this , that might help provide more insight if your interested in hearing them , but I cant / wont go into them here.

thanks for both your responses

matt

Edited by tepol, 26 June 2010 - 03:16 AM.

[tepol]

We have been engaged in a study to search for NGF synthesis-promoting agents in medicinal mushrooms since 1991. We discovered a class of benzyl alcohol and chroman derivatives in the fruit body of Lion's Mane mushroom called the hericenones C-H that stimulate NGF production from mouse astroglial cells in culture. (1-18) Subsequently, we discovered another group of cyathane derivative compounds from the mycelium of the same mushroom called the erinacines A-I that also induce NGF production. (4-22) (Figure 1)

http://findarticles....9/ai_114820665/

It looks like Swanson is only selling one component of the mushroom that stimulates nerve growth. That's probably why it's so cheap. But, you'll still be getting your money's worth if you double dose.

Yes thats what i started doing today ( they recommend x2 for 500 mg )so Im taking that plus the Biotin ( 5 mg x 1 ) and Benotiamine - sp? ( 80mg x 2 )

I figured if i cant help my anosmia I might be able to to kill 2 birds ( i never understood the animal friendliness in that saying ) with 1 stone , and maybe help my neuropathy too ( I just ordered cdp choline today ) and plan on getting some of that ashwagandha Chrono recommended too.

I'll see how it goes any way, its just pity i couldnt take the bacopa or lithium . :(

Along with LM i would rank them as the no1 so far in my nootoprica extravaganza

m

[chrono]

It looks like Swanson is only selling one component of the mushroom that stimulates nerve growth. That's probably why it's so cheap. But, you'll still be getting your money's worth if you double dose.

The fruit bodies and mycelium contain different families of molecules which stimulate NGF to different degrees. Doubling the dose of almost anything will make it more effective, but doubling the dose of a fruit body-only product will not make it equal to a product that contains both families of molecules.

I hope some of this helps out your nerve problems, tepol. Not sure if CDP whould help, but I saw a few papers last week which suggested ALCAR was successful in treating neuropathy: [1] [2]. Pretty commonly available, so might be worth trying.

Edited by chrono, 26 June 2010 - 07:43 PM.

[tepol]

It looks like Swanson is only selling one component of the mushroom that stimulates nerve growth. That's probably why it's so cheap. But, you'll still be getting your money's worth if you double dose.

The fruit bodies and mycelium contain different families of molecules which stimulate NGF to different degrees. Doubling the dose of almost anything will make it more effective, but doubling the dose of a fruit body-only product will not make it equal to a product that contains both families of molecules.

I hope some of this helps out your nerve problems, tepol. Not sure if CDP whould help, but I saw a few papers last week which suggested ALCAR was successful in treating neuropathy: [1] [2]. Pretty commonly available, so might be worth trying.

Thanks Chrono - I was thinking about that actually , and also had peak at some of the companies making the LM , I guess the quest to find reliable source for mycelium is still very much ? when it comes to the extraction methods claims etc

Actually, I had a pretty good day yesterday after adding alpha lipoic acid to the mix , ( I could actually smell some smells i hadnt smelt in long time ) and then remembered reading something about ALA helping some folk with anomsia too , so perhaps its related ?

[chrono]

Actually, I had a pretty good day yesterday after adding alpha lipoic acid to the mix , ( I could actually smell some smells i hadnt smelt in long time ) and then remembered reading something about ALA helping some folk with anomsia too , so perhaps its related ?

I posted an abstract about using ALA for anosmia (linked in my first reply ITT), may have been where you saw it.

Not sure if you read the whole LM thread I linked to, but there are some pretty good sources there. Myco Essentials and Fungi Perfecti both make good mycelium products, and FP makes a combined extract using proper technique.

That's exciting that you've noticed something already! How much ALA are you taking?

[tepol]

Actually, I had a pretty good day yesterday after adding alpha lipoic acid to the mix , ( I could actually smell some smells i hadnt smelt in long time ) and then remembered reading something about ALA helping some folk with anomsia too , so perhaps its related ?

I posted an abstract about using ALA for anosmia (linked in my first reply ITT), may have been where you saw it.

Not sure if you read the whole LM thread I linked to, but there are some pretty good sources there. Myco Essentials and Fungi Perfecti both make good mycelium products, and FP makes a combined extract using proper technique.

That's exciting that you've noticed something already! How much ALA are you taking?

Im actually not taking that much , only 200 mg - and not a great brand either.

The strange thing is it feels like its having some sort of effect on beta alanine and cissus I've been recently taking , why this is I dont know , but there seems to be some sort of pattern where one are improves through the other being affected.

The nueropathy has been helped a bit too I suppose , but not nearly as much as I expected ( the one area I thought might be hepled ) and instead its the other 2 areas that seem to benefiting so far.

If I take the LM early morning ( say 5 or 6 am ) its seeme to be more benefical for neuropathy - have more of calming effect ( I literally fall asleep ) otherwise it sort of tapers out throughout the rest of the day , esp when I take my 2nd dose.

matt