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Reishi
Reishi Lover

Registered: 12/15/10
Posts: 21
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 11 years, 7 months
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Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms
#14038213 - 02/27/11 08:09 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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What's your favorite medicinal mushroom and why? What are some ways you use it or them?
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solumvita
Q.B.E.


Registered: 02/12/08
Posts: 2,061
Loc: South Africa
Last seen: 7 months, 20 days
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: Reishi]
#14040483 - 02/28/11 06:29 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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reishi easiest to grow and best adaptogen
-------------------- One of these days all the answers will be revealed until then we learn from each other! www.mushrush.co.za
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Reishi
Reishi Lover

Registered: 12/15/10
Posts: 21
Loc: Earth
Last seen: 11 years, 7 months
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: solumvita]
#14040646 - 02/28/11 08:00 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Yeah a fav of mine I use it frequently as a base in my smoothies along with Chaga.
-------------------- The Best Source For High Quality Organic Medicinal Mushroom Extracts ] Best Price Around, Also With Free shipping.
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teknix
πβπ
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π°π‘ πΌπ⨻


Registered: 09/16/08
Posts: 11,953
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: Reishi]
#14040699 - 02/28/11 08:25 AM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Shiitake is by far my fav so far!
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kotter


Registered: 01/15/11
Posts: 210
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: teknix]
#14048628 - 03/01/11 01:50 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Shiitake, hericium, cordyceps and ganodermas are all on about equal footing for me as tonic/medicinals. I use all of these daily in capsules, sometimes make teas out of ganoderma species and cook up as many shiitake and hericium as availability permits. We've also been adding small amounts of shiitake, reishi and cordyceps to a seriously cancerous feral cat's food. This started after a vet suggested we put her down as one growth at the back of her tongue was making it hard for her to eat or breathe. All three are being given to her as soluble spray-dried extract powders. If too much is added to her food she refuses it after a few bites but she really seems to like smaller amounts and eats ravenously (we are using maybe a pea sized pile of each one mixed with a can of food ). I do not think that it is curing her but she is eating well again, she has no more wheezing, has better overall energy to the point of becoming active again & the growths have diminished in size. The other cats have stopped running away from her whenever she appeared and are once again socializing, sleeping and grooming with her. I believe she is still in the process of dying but she is clearly feeling much better and experiencing a better quality of life.
Edited by kotter (03/01/11 01:53 PM)
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badman


Registered: 06/14/06
Posts: 4,039
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: kotter]
#14048786 - 03/01/11 02:20 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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how are you spray drying?
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Alkaloids
3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine



Registered: 11/15/98
Posts: 743
Loc: pubis mons
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: badman]
#14049540 - 03/01/11 04:30 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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kotter i don't know you, but the healing sentiments that you have expressed in healing that cat caught my attention. I appreciate your kindness towards others. Thank you
Do you grow your own cordyceps then kotter or do you source that from elsewhere? From the reading i've been doing it seems that mycelial culture extracts are preferred over traditional harvesting due to less possibility of contaminants. I had mulled over the idea of trying to grow some in the future. I'm interested in your comments about them being of equal standing though.
Since i am getting started with "medicinal" mushrooms, i found the comments here useful.
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kotter


Registered: 01/15/11
Posts: 210
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: Alkaloids]
#14050075 - 03/01/11 05:59 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Both Cordyceps and Reishi in my future for growing or at least that is my intention as I steadily bootstrap expand my facilities and activities. Cordyceps has felt like a true 'ally' for quite some years. Right now I only grow shiitake in significant quantity (on logs but am now beginning with bags) and have been struggling with getting a culture of Hericium corolloides going. Or more accurately with not getting it going apparently. I do have some erinaceus on logs which fruits only sporadically and weakly and also some "americanum" in spawn bags and in liquid culture - both of which are about ready to do something with. Ganoderma oregonense and applanata grow here naturally as does a nice Pleurotus and at least two Hericium species.
Its not cost effective for me to compete with commercial producers of spray-dried extracts. They are sprayed in (usually) an ethanolic solution into a dry stream of air in a three story tall stainless steel vessel. Its a nice method of dehydration that is gentler on delicate molecules than reduction with heat. Most of mine come from China via Mayway in bulk although I would jump on any source I knew was organic and domestic if I did not have to buy it as individual capsules. LOTS of herbal and fungal products are available this way. The last lot of Munton's malt extract I bought had gone this direction as well.
Its just my opinion but I do not feel I get everything out of Cordyceps when it is prepared this way so when I ingest or encapsulate it I usually combine the spray-dried extract about 1/2-1/2 with raw Cordyceps biomass. Its far more active than just the biomass but I don't feel like something is missing. Cordyceps totally rocks when cooked into chicken or another bird soup.
Their equallity is more in reference to my preferences. For me there are some huge differences in actions: Unlike the others, Cordyceps is very stimulating and energizing for me so I don't take it at night or late in the day unless I do not plan on sleeping. Reishi hits me strongly as a diuretic so I use it early in the day as well or I find myself getting up to pee all night. Hericium and Shiitake probably have different activities but I can't eat enough of either one. I'd probably have them with every meal if I lived alone and had both in steady enough supply. Erinaceus and corolloides might have identical or different activities but I can't find much of anything at all about chemistry or pharmacology of any Hericium but erinaceus. I'd sure love to learn more if someone is aware of information on that. I'm drawn to the corolloides almost to the point of obsession or I would not be as happily engaged int such a masochistic endeavor as trying to get a culture isolated and going.
Thanks on the compliment but I find it strange that everyone does not care about suffering beings when its in their power to do so. I might better buy the notion of "putting animals out of their misery" if we embraced it as readily for ourselves. I have certainly put animals down when it seemed to be the right option for that individual but it does not seem like it should be the first choice?
[spelling correction entered:
Edited by kotter (03/01/11 06:56 PM)
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arago
Mr. Wind Up Bird



Registered: 02/07/06
Posts: 828
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: Alkaloids]
#14050084 - 03/01/11 06:01 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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me,as well, kotter. That was an exceptional post. I don't want to say I'm a skeptic, but I've used cordyceps (from Aloha) and reishi and can't tell whether I'm feeling any different. Anecdotal evidence is overwhelming, but still I wonder. Is anything really going on? Shiitake and Hericium, god they taste good and I'm sure the polysaccharides are doing stuff for the immune system, but I don't get much goin' on from Reishi and Cordyceps. Andrew Weil has a word for this, and I don't remember what it was, but it's like yeah: an American will expect a big huge buzz, a YANG experience. And if they don't get it, then they think there's nothing going on. I probably need to take regular doses, for the long haul, to see if it helps.
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arago
Mr. Wind Up Bird



Registered: 02/07/06
Posts: 828
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: arago]
#14050160 - 03/01/11 06:10 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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* wow, the internet moves fast. I was responding to the feral cat post and already I'm out of date. Aren't you a doctor or something, kotter? I kind of remember you posting on these kinds of topics before, like you were working in a hospice?
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kotter


Registered: 01/15/11
Posts: 210
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: arago]
#14050398 - 03/01/11 06:47 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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No, I'm not a doctor and while I do have some education I lack any sort of a degree in anything. You might be confusing me with someone else as I've only fairly recently joined these forums.
I've never tried Aloha's product since it comes prepackaged only. Or at least that was how it appeared to me when reading about their Cordyceps with some fascination. I lack enough information to draw any conclusion but I'd make a couple of suggestions. Go to an Asian market or TCM apothecary with good herbs and buy a packet of Cordyceps with host. Put half of it into a pot of chicken soup, have a bowl and see if you notice anything. Or try eating 1-2 grams of someone else's Cordyceps. Humans can have different biochemistry and drug responses so it could be you and I just react differently to it. Or it might also be dose dependent? If I eat a half gram of biomass and a half gram of 5X spray extract (which is my usual dose) I have supposedly ingested the equivalent of 3 grams of Cordyceps. I'm not sure how that compares to what you are ingesting from Aloha in potency or dose. I really like their story online at the website but parts of it also reads like marketing packaging. I've been curious about trying their product but I'd like to know the dose you are not getting results from as maybe what I am using is fine for me?
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The Inner Eye



Registered: 06/20/10
Posts: 1,151
Last seen: 8 years, 9 months
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: kotter]
#14051428 - 03/01/11 09:50 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Did you guys know this: Using standard antimicrobial susceptibility tests, Psilocybe semilanceata was shown to strongly inhibit the growth of the human pathogen methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The source of the antimicrobial activity is unknown.
I found that most interesting.. can someone please tell me the medicinal purposes you speak of when it comes to mushrooms such as the shitake and others? I did not know shitakes were medicianl.
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kotter


Registered: 01/15/11
Posts: 210
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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There are other threads previously posted and ongoing here that have some interesting links on the subject. There should be a list of similar threads towards the bottom of this page? Google can provide links to a lot more details as well as a number of papers as PDFs. One of the chapters of the Mushroom grower's handbook from mushworld has a lot of good info with references on shiitake. Its posted here and is also available online elsewhere as a free download. I apologize for not recalling which chapter it was but its easy to figure out when looking at them.
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The Inner Eye



Registered: 06/20/10
Posts: 1,151
Last seen: 8 years, 9 months
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: kotter]
#14051731 - 03/01/11 10:38 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Youre right, shouldnt be cluttering this post with stupid questions!
Edited by The Inner Eye (03/01/11 10:49 PM)
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Alkaloids
3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine



Registered: 11/15/98
Posts: 743
Loc: pubis mons
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Re: Favorite Medicinal Mushrooms [Re: kotter]
#14054790 - 03/02/11 01:54 PM (12 years, 10 months ago) |
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Thank you for that detailed response kotter. I suspect that different responses to these fungi and fungal compounds can vary radically from person to person as well. If nothing else my experiences, as well as the experiences of others, with "actives" has shown me this in very dramatic ways at times. 
I love the way you have incorporated time of day/energy level with the ingestion of various species. Thanks again
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Alkaloids
3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine



Registered: 11/15/98
Posts: 743
Loc: pubis mons
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Quote:
The Inner Eye said: Did you guys know this: Using standard antimicrobial susceptibility tests, Psilocybe semilanceata was shown to strongly inhibit the growth of the human pathogen methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The source of the antimicrobial activity is unknown.
I found that most interesting.. can someone please tell me the medicinal purposes you speak of when it comes to mushrooms such as the shitake and others? I did not know shitakes were medicianl.
That makes sense when you think about their natural milieu. lol They would die pretty quick if they weren't exuding some serious bacteriocidal compounds. Good to hear about though. I've had very good success using Psilocybe spp. to treat a number of different states of dis-ease. Fungi in general, when used wisely, are amazing allies to us.
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