TL;DR. Looking for lions mane supplements. Everything seems fake/gimmicky. What’s worked for you?
I’ve been hearing about and reading about lions mane ability to help maintain and regrow connections in your brain. Supposedly helps with memory loss and Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s runs in my family, watching my grandmother go through that was awful. It’s a fate worse than death. I’ve always had bad short term memory, even before I ever smoked weed. I was just diagnosed with adult ADHD and got medicated. That has been life changing (when I can get the meds that is). But I noticed my mind isn’t as sharp as it once once now that the meds help me focus Im noticing more trouble recalling simple things that shouldn’t be difficult to remember. Stuff I know, stuff I use everyday in my work. My brain just puffs out smoke and sputters.
I figured trying out lions mane couldn’t hurt. But the options available are crazy, every brand I look up is either crazy expensive or backed by fake reviews and lab tests if reddit is to be believed.
So what should I spend my hard earned money on? Have any of you had good experiences with a brand? I know lots of fungi and gals on here grow their own. Totally an option I plan to look into in the future but I have enough new things on my plate at the moment.
I grabbed a couple bricks and lions mane inoculant and grew 5-6 premade bags. This was probably two years ago? It was my first attempt and so they didn’t get as large as I’ve seen others grow them but they made me enough that I dehydrated them down with shiitakes and still have powder left. Granted I stopped taking it everyday and just throw it in soups or whatever now. Goodluck though! I definitely believe in the benefits. That being said I’d think most places won’t fake it, but some are likely cheaper than others.
I’ve always had great experiences with bulksupplements.com, but never tried lions mane myself. I’d love to hear peoples stories though as I have wanted to try this as well, and BS is where I’d probably get it a kg at a time for the price.
Thanks for starting this thread. I’ve been reading/hearing lots of good stuff about Lion’s Mane, and have been thinking about looking into it further.
I ~hope~ there’s an easier solution than growing one’s own, but I suspect that’s the answer that will predominate here. We’re GROWERS after all, so DIY comes naturally. Growing your own ensures that you know what you’re getting, at least. There’s so much fakery out there from people trying to make a fast buck, I don’t put a lot of faith in the market. (Jaded consumer here…)
A year or two ago I went a bit down the rabbit hole of researching mushroom supplements. Let’s just say that it can get confusing really fast. There’s a lot of conflicting information. I spent a few days on Reddit - Dive into anything and felt simultaneously more informed and more confused than before I started.
If you want something done right, do it yourself. Right? It’s the same reason I grow and can my own veggies, now my own pot, and probably my own mushrooms in the future.
I actually just started using 5 mushroom supplements within past month. I order mine from Paul Stamets website fungi.com in turn I just subscribed for the 45 day supplement renewal. It actually takes you to hostdefense.com. Pretty reasonable prices and at least from a well known source?!
Cant say that I had newsworthy change but I can say I have noticed smaller things changing for the better. At least thats what I feel. Good luck.
I too am on the fungi journey. What has worked for me is the powerderd form ( pic), so far. I have been using pretty regularly for the las couple of years, By adding it to my morning smoothies (1tsp). Those smoothies are loaded with frozen fruit, various mushroom powder and others. I have grown my own, and currently have some soaking (pic)in 190 proof, so I can extract later for tinture. I also have the Lions Mane I’ve grown, dried and ground and put in jar (pic). Yes I have seen good improvement in memory retention, more “sharpness” in thinking. Anecdotally speaking, I feel I’ve regained some lost neurons in my age (52). I also use Gingo Bilbao (powdered form)for , help with my memory and brain function also.
I also thought about just ordering, whole dried Lions mane. So I could grind up my self or soak for tinture. I’m going to try mine that I greww before I order, but when I order it will be from Etsy, where you can get a Lb for around $35, Grind yourself, insuring no filler.
Hapi
I’ve been taking Lion’s Mane supplements for a few years now. I also take several other supplements. I’m not sure what effects are from which supplements, but overall I do feel that the supplements have beneficial effect.
Another one to look at for neurocognitive purpose is Mucuna Pruriens. I take it. If you take this, be sure to take it with food. It gives me a headache if taken on empty stomach.
Also Ashwagandha. I can only take it in the evening about 1 to 2 hours before going to bed. If I take it in the morning, it makes me tired. Good for sleep. Supposedly good for several things. Stress/tension relief is what I feel from it, and a solid night sleep.
Yobros! I’d second Paul Stament’s “Host Defense”. Probably the World’s foremost mycologist and the model of OG attitude. I’m far, far away and have to rely on a local company that produces various fungi in gel-caps. With my cancer battle using RSO as a main tool, memory loss was/is horrific! Particularly short-term memory. I’ve cut back to a ‘maintenance’ dose level now after a year and it’s a huge relief to see my memory returning…I actually had to stop RSO for a week just to confirm that it wasn’t Alzheimer’s or cancer spreading to my brain. I’ve been doing 4 fungi; Cordeceps, Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Turkey Tail for about 2 months now and while it’s hard to judge with the RSO dosage reduction, I am not gonna stop now! Best of luck to you! Do look into Paul’s many YouTube videos, especially the TED Talks.
Don’t trust Paul Stamets. 15 years ago, he was actually trying to be a kind and compassionate messenger of peace. Nowadays, he’s just another white guy capitalist.
Make sure to buy US-grown, 100% USDA organic mushrooms because they can soak up heavy metals pretty easily and you don’t want that from unregulated, dirty production in China.
You also only want to consume the whole fruiting bodies, not the myceliated brown rice powder that Paul and other mushroom sellers are hawking these days. They claim the mycelium grown on brown rice is better for you than the mushrooms, but all the research is on the mushrooms themselves…and the myceliated brown rice is a lot cheaper for them to make, so…you decide.
Honestly your best bet is to go to a local farmers market and talk to the mushroom growers. Tell them you want to buy dried organic whole mushrooms and ask them for a price per pound. You can grind them yourself. You’ll usually be able to get them for about $40-50 a pound, which is worth the premium because they will have been grown well and by people whose life depends on it.
Then you’ll want to create a dual extraction tincture to get the most benefit from the mushrooms - some of the medicinal substances can’t be extracted by our bodies directly, so they have to be extracted externally by soaking the ground up mushrooms in alcohol. Search in the Mushroom thread for instructions on how to do a dual extraction.
Stamets is really good at maintaining a certain public image. He has lots of adoring fans. I’m kind of split on him, personally. He’s very likable in the Fantastic Fungi documentary, I’ll give him that much. After seeing him in that I came away with the impression that I’d love to share a joint with the guy.
The professional mycology community is generally not a big fan of his. I think a big part of that is due to the way he runs his business. His books are pretty good overall, but he also makes some wild claims that aren’t always backed up by academic research.
I tried the Host Defense “Stamets 7” supplements a year ago. The only thing I noticed from taking it was a massive increase in IBS symptoms.
I can speak to this… I’ve been taking their Turkey Tail myself for the last 5 months. Now for someone like me who works with the public I find I usually am getting sick roughly every 3-4 months(I know its alot) typically ranging from a mild cold to a more severe flu-like symptoms. I come into contact with it all. So far in the 5 or so months taking this mushy I have not been sick. I also will get it from my little one when she gets what I call “the drip nose” and this year around march she got pretty sick was crawling all over me and should have gotten me sick but alas I pulled through without catching it myself.
I’m hoping to see if I can go the entire year without getting sick(knocks on wood) as I am giant baby when I get sick. It’s true I admit it wholeheartedly.
So far I’m a big believer and wouldn’t mind expanding to include lions mane in with the Turkey Tail.
Yeah it’s a real shame. He had a great opportunity to show how kindness and cooperation helps everyone. Instead, he chose greed.
For reference, he recently screwed his Host Defense / Fungi Perfecti employees by hiring two big law firms specializing in blocking employee attempts to unionize.
Fungi Perfecti has responded by hiring the union-busting firms of Littler Mendelson P.C. and the American Labor Group. These firms represent clients such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Starbucks, all of which have faced multiple Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges with the National Labor Relations Board for illegally interfering in their employees’ freedom to unionize.
If he can’t be trusted to treat his employees well, why would I trust his products?
@nube This is fantastic info! …and it’s a real bummer, man
@Rhai88 I get similarly sick a few times per year, and mentally I turn into a big baby Thank you for sharing your experience, I think I’ll try the Turkey Tail supplements soon
Thank you all for engaging in this topic. I’m always weary of people pedaling snake oils. Looks like I’ll be trying to grow my own this fall maybe. Trying to decide what to buy just seems impossible. The only brand that seems unanimously approved is far to expensive to be a viable option in the long term. I had the host defense in my cart but after learning about him and his company I feel less confident in the product.
) is good reason to support his brand.
Thank you for sharing your experience, I think I’ll try the Turkey Tail supplements soon