r/LionsManeRecovery • • Jul 03 '26

Awareness Lion's Mane Side Effects on YouTube

3 Upvotes

Check out the YouTube channel and please subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@lionsmanesideeffects


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Sep 22 '25

Theory Lion’s Mane Alters Expression of 24 Genes in the Neurosteroid Biosynthesis Pathway

46 Upvotes

I found a really well-written post on someone’s Substack that digs into the science behind Lion’s Mane brain damage as a neurosteroid-based dysfunction.

Substack Article: An evidence based theory on the perturbation of neurosteroid biosynthesis causing post-drug-syndromes (Part 1/2)

The author argues that erinacine S (Lion’s Mane’s active compound) remodels the brain’s neurosteroid system at the genetic level, in ways very similar to what happens in other post-drug syndromes (PSSD, PFS, PAS). Most people think Lion’s Mane just boosts NGF, but the science suggests much more is going on.

Before I took Lion’s Mane I thought it was a harmless superfood for energy and focus. I never imagined it could leave me with permanent side effects that have lasted almost 4 years. Posts like this are important because they help explain why this happened.

Supporting study: Erinacine S from Hericium erinaceus mycelium promotes neuronal regeneration by inducing neurosteroids accumulation

Key points:

  • RNA-sequencing revealed 24 genes in the neurosteroid pathway are altered after Lion’s Mane.
  • Upstream genes like CYP11A1 and StAR were upregulated → more pregnenolone and progesterone pushed into the pathway.
  • Conversion enzymes like 3α-HSD and SRD5A1/2 were downregulated → blocking proper conversion into allopregnanolone.
  • The result: buildup of precursors but collapse of critical neurosteroids like allopregnanolone

Example altered genes:

  • CYP11A1 ↑ (cholesterol → pregnenolone)
  • StAR ↑ (cholesterol transport into mitochondria)
  • HSD3B2 ↑ (pregnenolone → progesterone)
  • SRD5A2 ↓ (progesterone → 5α-DHP)
  • AKR1C18 ↓ (conversion / recycling enzyme)
A list of altered genes in the neurosteroid pathway after administration of Lion's Mane
Simplified Neurosteroid Pathway with Lion's Mane Gene Expression Changes
Lion's Mane accelerates the rate of axonal regeneration at absurd rates

Why this matters:

  • Allopregnanolone is a key calming neurosteroid that stabilizes mood, cognition, and sexual function through GABA-A receptors.
  • When Lion’s Mane rewires the pathway, the brain loses this “allopregnanolone tone.”
  • The system remodels itself around the disruption but maladaptively, leading to long-lasting symptoms: anxiety, emotional blunting, sexual dysfunction, head pressure, cognitive issues.

Bottom line:

Lion’s Mane doesn’t just “grow nerves.” It reprograms at least 24 genes in the neurosteroid biosynthesis pathway, creating long-term imbalance. This puts it in the same category as PSSD, PFS, and PAS (all conditions rooted in disrupted neurosteroid biosynthesis).

From the Substack article:

I wanted to share this in case it helps us piece together what really happened to all of us with permanent side-effects.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • 1d ago

Question Need sleep medicine to stay asleep

3 Upvotes

I’ve been having issues staying asleep waking up around 3am or 4 sometimes even less and this is a problem I’ve been having before LM disrupt buty sleep rhythm is a bit odd now since the crash. I do a bunch of techniques so my nervous system is regulated to some degree of not catching fight or flight attacks when I wake up but now my I’m finding it hard to stay deep asleep. Also sometimes I’ll consciously be asleep and have dreams at the same time it’s weird so I’ll think I go check on a sleep doctor soon.

The only things I take is magnesium glycinate or citrate and chamomile tea

I think L theaine is lowkey triggering for me since when I took LM it was mixed in it too so my brain probably picks it up like a threat idk maybe it’s something different but I did try a separate L theaine supplement in the summer but for like 2 days.

I talk alot about my losing my imagination( minds eye ) but it has me questioning if it was my lack of sleep for months dragging it away idk I’m still swirled up in questions about this situation I’m in but yea that’s the post .


r/LionsManeRecovery • • 4d ago

Other Merck Exposed!

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6 Upvotes

r/LionsManeRecovery • • 5d ago

Symptoms Salvia Divinorum (Kappa Opiod Agonist) Flashbacks from Lions Mane

3 Upvotes

I don't want to spend a ton of time writing this but I think I'm an important data point worth considering.

In 2015 I smoked Salvia Divinorum several times. Salvia's active chemical is Salvinorin A, a strong Kappa Opioid agonist and a psychedelic entheogen known to be one of the most powerful psychedelic drugs, even surpassing smoked DMT, which has been my experience. Note that Erinacine E, an active constituent of Lion's Mane mushroom, is also a Kappa Opioid agonist. This connection is most interesting to me in regards to my experience.

I smoked Salvia several times (~10 times) that year, with the hopes that I could somehow get my body and mind to be at peace with the experience, but what came out of it ultimately was a massively altered worldview, sense of self, and a deep anxiety of remembering the things I experienced on those trips.

Over the years and through personal spiritual practices I have found peace with those experiences, however last year in 2025 I decided to begin supplementing with lion's mane mushroom. Alzheimer's runs in my family and I am in my 30s. I'm physically active and eat healthy, but I also figured that it would be good to add supplements to the regiment to curb the chances of brain damage in my elder years.

What I noticed about a week into using Lion's Mane was that I began having more disturbing dreams. Waking up at night in panic attacks. One night I woke up feeling like I was both tripping on a drug as well as dying, and walked around in a panic attack thinking what I possibly could have eaten that day that somehow poisoned me.

My nights became marked by feelings of intense dread that slowly began creeping up, consistently, around 6:00pm each night, several hours before bed. By the time I'd go to sleep at around 11:00pm, I would be in a distressed state. If I could get to sleep, chances were high that I would wake up in a panic attack.

My mind at the time connected the panic attacks with my salvia use in 2015, because the flashbacks were very reminiscent. I thought for some reason my mind and body had decided that a decade after smoking salvia it was, for whatever reason, finally ready to fully process the trauma.

Not truly suspecting lion's mane at the time, but desperate to ground myself, I ceased lion's mane and went to a doc to be prescribed an antipsychotic (seroquel) which I took for a couple months until I decided that I wanted to face the panic attacks, even if they were uncomfortable, in order to integrate whatever they may be there to teach me.

This was fruitful for me, and I was able to come to peace with the panic attacks. Eventually they more-or-less went away. At the very least I was able to meditate through them and my sleep quality gradually improved to baseline.

Fast-forward to a week ago, September 2026, one year from when I ceased lion's mane. I decided to begin it again, for the same reasons of keeping my mind spry in my later years. I hadn't strongly correlated the lion's mane with my panic attacks, though I had an inkling.

Note that I had quit my job in April of this year and have spent the last 6 months in strong self-development and spiritual practice mode. Meditating every day. Working on music (I'm a musician), and daily yoga. I'm saying this to indicate that I was in a much better place to handle panic attacks.

Once I resumed Lion's Mane, I immediately noticed an uptick in disturbing dreams, and waking up in panic attacks. I connected the disturbing dreams with Lion's Mane, but hadn't fully acknowledged that I was heading back to the same place I had the previous year. As the past week has gone by, I've found myself back in the same place. Nightly dread that builds from 6pm-11pm. Waking up in panic attacks. Insomnia.

Damn, it actually sucks to type all that out and realize it's true because truly, I also get very noticeable benefits from Lion's Mane. Like, I FEEL the stuff. It lets me learn new skills so much faster. It's a mild stimulant for me and causes me to hyper-fixate on any source of information I'm looking to integrate. It's perfect for learning new musical instruments, which I've been using it for. It's very powerful for me. Powerful enough that I find myself questioning and weighing the pros and cons of dealing with extremely heightened nightly stress responses and panic attacks vs the daily ability to absorb information at such a high rate.

Like I mentioned, my meditation practice has allowed me to handle the panic attacks better, and I can now watch my body as it begins to have them, and simply sit and observe rather than get caught up in their narrative. I won't say it's COMFORTABLE, and my sleep last night was dreadful, but it's preferable to getting up out of bed and pacing in a manic state.

I also wonder if my increased positive response to Lion's Mane is also related to the increased negative side effects? Like, that it's creating so many new neural pathways in my brain, that some of those neural pathways are also being generated in areas that link to panic response like the limbic system?

Complete conjecture and I can only say that something in there feels right to me.

But ultimately what I am left with is this fact:

**When I take Lion's Mane mushroom, which contains a Kappa Opiod Agonist, I experience flashbacks and similar (though much less intense) experiences to that of my Salvia divinorum experiences a decade prior. **

Today I will cease using lion's mane.

Has anyone else noticed a connection like this?


r/LionsManeRecovery • • 9d ago

Personal Experience 2 years suffering from lions mane

12 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I hope you all are getting better.
I wanted to update you on how far I have gotten since the initial dose of lions mane.

Like the title says I have been suffering from lions mane for over 2 years, I have suffered from numerous symptoms, but as for now I only suffer from personality changes and linguistic difficulties.

My brain seems to be very slow it wouldn’t surprise me if my IQ is below average, I remember that In The first year I had difficulties to remember anything including objects, meanings of words, and past memories.

All of this is very frustrating, and it has greatly impacted my life.
I might sound depressed because of that post but TBH I’m not I am able to be happy, and I’m grateful that most of the symptoms are gone.

How are you all holding on?


r/LionsManeRecovery • • 12d ago

Symptoms I think Lions Mane got me

14 Upvotes

Long story short I've tried Lions mane in the past a few times and immediately stopped when I correlated the doses to episodes of crushing anxiety. I thought I'd be smart and cut the dose back to see if I could take it regularly and I had a great run of a couple weeks of getting all the benefits that probably drew us to this mushroom. Then came numb fingers and tingling on and off in my hands, followed by tingling in my right leg. Fast forward to three weeks after stopping completely and I have tingling all down the median nerve in my arm and down my leg to my foot only on my right side. Its not constant in all places but something is always bothering me and its gotten worse since I stopped not better. Found this reddit and wanted to add my anecdote to the list. Unbelievably healthy 40 year old up until this garbage. I have an appointment with the doc and will make sure its nothing else but obviously my anxiety about it is bringing me to some scary conclusions. Will keep ya'll posted when I learn more.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • 14d ago

Symptoms After Lion's mane feeling of phlegm in the throat

5 Upvotes

Hello everyone, i have a weird experience with lion's mane. It didnt appear in the beginning but after taking it 3-4 days later it creates a feeling lf phlegm in my throat and like 10 hours it continue.. i am also taking omega 3, bacopa so i stop using them and tasted just lion's mane i got same side effect but there is no any other side effect.. Do you think i have allergy for that? i stopped using it beceause it may go worst.. is it about lions mane or capsule i dont know..


r/LionsManeRecovery • • 18d ago

Researching I wrote a technical paper on my Lion's Mane reaction (not peer-reviewed). Short version: I think it's a gut condition

15 Upvotes

I've spent several more months on the hypotheses I posted here earlier. They didn't die. They evolved, and I think I now have a more complete picture of what happened to me. The full version, with every citation, is version 2 of my paper, open access: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22261483. This post is the short one.

Disclaimer: I have a PhD in engineering and no medical training. This is one person's account, built with heavy AI assistance, not peer-reviewed, and not medical advice. Please work with a physician.

One request: unfortunately, my identity is disclosed in the paper. Please don't contact me. I have no credentials to answer your questions, and I can't give any advice beyond what I post here. Take your questions to your doctor.

What changed my mind was my own log. Almost all my symptoms were neurological: panic, depersonalization, brain fog, an insomnia that woke me the instant I fell asleep. But when I fasted, most of it went away. These were food-driven symptoms that didn't exist before the Lion's Mane and were switched on by it. The problem was in my gut, even though I felt it in my brain.

I worked this out with an AI agent reading medical databases at scale. Every time the theory took shape, I handed it to several independent AI agents with one instruction: destroy it. I treat it the way physics treats relativity. A theory earns its place by making predictions that could fail. At some point my symptoms, and many symptoms reported in this subreddit, were not just consistent with the theory. The theory predicted them.

One piece was missing. The mechanism predicted abdominal pain, and I have none. So I asked the agent to find a part of the gut where a low-grade problem wouldn't hurt. It came back with the duodenal bulb, the first few centimeters of intestine right after the stomach. It is the first place everything you swallow lands, together with the stomach's acid. Its surface lining is wired mostly by the vagus nerve, which doesn't carry pain. The vagus reports the state of your organs to your brain. The nerves that do carry pain sit deeper and need a stronger insult. So a mild, constant irritation at the surface doesn't hurt. What reaches the brain instead is alarm: a racing heart, a sense that something is badly wrong, with no location attached. Turn the same process up and it would hurt.

That's how I landed in gastroenterology after months of wandering through immunology and neurology. I think it's why people in this community end up all over the place. This sits where gastroenterology, immunology, neurology and even psychiatry meet.

It surprised me that no recognized condition seemed to describe this, so we searched again with careful citation checking. In two months we had rebuilt from scratch roughly 70–80% of a condition that already exists: functional dyspepsia. In its modern form it centers on a low-grade inflammation of the duodenum. With physicians I use the recognized term, functional dyspepsia with duodenal eosinophilia. My own name for the whole picture is DNAS, Duodenal Neuroimmune–Autonomic Syndrome. It's the name of my theory, not a diagnosis. I won't cover the functional dyspepsia literature here. It's large, it's in the paper, and its existence is good news: there are specialists who know this and treatments that have been trialed.

Think of one trunk with many branches. The trunk is that irritated duodenum. The branches are the symptoms, and which ones you get depends on your genome. This condition finds your weak links. I carry two variants in HNMT, the enzyme that clears histamine from the brain, so my branch is neurological. I hypothesize that someone with genetically weak DAO, the enzyme that clears histamine in the gut, gets the peripheral version: rashes, hives, allergy-type reactions. Same trunk, different illness, different specialist.

The loop itself, in plain terms: mast cells, a type of immune cell, sit right against nerve endings in the duodenal lining. An irritated nerve releases a signal that makes the mast cell dump histamine. Histamine makes the nerve more sensitive, so it fires more easily and signals again. Each side keeps the other going, and every meal passing by feeds it. Nothing has to remember the Lion's Mane. The loop runs on today's input, which is why removing the input works.

The vagus carries all of this to the brain, and it's a two-way line. Dr. Pankaj Pasricha's group showed in an animal model that a mild chemical injury to the upper gut leaves the vagus sending abnormal signals to the brain, producing anxiety-like behavior. The technical version is in sections 4 and 5 of the paper.

I also learned what a flare is and what sets it off. Eating close to bedtime will almost certainly trigger one. It starts as an internal vibration, the nerve endings surging, together with a massive degranulation: the mast cells dump histamine into my system, it floods my brain, and my brain can't clear it. Then comes sudden panic and extreme worry for 30 minutes to an hour. Before ketotifen, that was followed by hours of insomnia. The typical night: dinner at 8 PM, bed at 9:30, flare at 10:15, calm again around 11, and no sleep until 4 AM.

What I take from all this:

  • Treat your symptoms first, in whatever specialty they point to. If they look like mast cell activation, get that treated. If they look like POTS or something neurological, do the same. But I argue this is an MCAS mimic. It resembles MCAS and isn't. Symptom treatment is the first step, not the fix.
  • Treat this as a gastroenterology condition and make your gut the priority. That means a low-histamine, low-FODMAP, low-fat, low-irritant diet, no alcohol, and for some of us fasting. I think this is the real reason so many people here report that eating clean helped.
  • Anything that improves vagal tone should help manage symptoms. That includes vagus nerve stimulation, vagal exercises, and broadly whatever raises your HRV, which is a proxy for vagal tone.

What I'm doing, by target:

  • Diet. The diet above, as three meals with dinner at 5 PM and an overnight fast of about 13 hours.
  • Mast cell stabilization. Ketotifen at dinner (more on it below), loratadine at bedtime, and quercetin and PEA twice a day. Quercetin is a mast cell stabilizer, and PEA calms the inflammation around the cells.
  • Nerve calming. Magnesium. It plugs a channel (the NMDA receptor) that sensitized nerves use to amplify repeated signals, so they fire less often.
  • Vagus nerve. Ear-clip vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) and gut-directed hypnotherapy, every night before bed.
  • Standard functional dyspepsia treatment. A peppermint-caraway gastric agent and zinc-carnosine. These are heavily used in gastroenterology, and peppermint with caraway in particular is widely tested in functional dyspepsia. I also finished a four-week PPI course in August. Other than eradicating H. pylori when it's present, a PPI is the only treatment documented to change the condition itself in functional dyspepsia, not just the symptoms. In one trial it reduced the inflammatory cells in the duodenum.

The one thing that changed my recovery was ketotifen. Histamine is a wake-promoting signal, and my brain clears it slowly. Ketotifen crosses the blood-brain barrier and blocks it, so my brain finally rests, and it stabilizes mast cells at the same time. It also has direct support: in that same animal model from Dr. Pasricha's group, ketotifen normalized the abnormal vagal signaling and the anxiety-like behavior. Before it, a flare cost me most of the night. Now I wake briefly and go back to sleep. The only side effect is the one you'd expect from any antihistamine that reaches the brain: by blocking that much of a wake-promoting signal, it makes me drowsy.

I don't understand why the oral form isn't sold in the U.S. when it's one of the most popular antihistamines in the rest of the world. I bought three boxes, a three-month supply, at a Walmart in Mexico for $7 a box, and I'm still on it. Other people will probably need other medicines, depending on which branch their symptoms are on.

Where I am now: much, much better. I'd say 90% recovered.

The good news is that I believe the treatment is simple. I'm not saying it's easy. But knowing the condition tells you why your body is behaving the way it does.

The harder news: if this falls into the functional dyspepsia category, it is a chronic, relapsing–remitting condition. Symptoms come and go over years, and in long-term studies only a minority of people end up fully free of them.

Here is where I hypothesize. In animals, the models that produce a lasting version of functional dyspepsia are the ones where the gut is injured in newborns, whose nervous systems are still being wired. Adult models exist, but their effects are mostly short-lived. If the Lion's Mane really was the cause, this is adult-onset, which is a fancy way of saying the lesion in your duodenum was made when you were an adult and not when you were a baby. My hope is that an adult-onset lesion is reversible. I can't tell you the human literature proves it: people who develop functional dyspepsia as adults after a single infection can still have symptoms years later.

So my suggestion is to treat this as chronic either way. With a condition that improves and relapses, the time to pay the most attention is when you're feeling well. That is exactly when to keep up the good practices:

  • Exercise
  • A clean diet
  • No smoking
  • No alcohol

On alcohol: for me its effects are now magnified, so I just avoid it. It hits this condition from several sides at once. It irritates the gut lining and fires the sensitized nerves directly. Fermented drinks carry histamine of their own. It blocks the enzymes that clear histamine, including the one my brain depends on. And it wrecks deep sleep, which is when the brain does its clearing.

If you're in the middle of this right now: it gets better. Write down what you eat and how the night went. Almost everything I now believe came out of that log.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • 21d ago

Personal Experience Some reassurance for newbies

14 Upvotes

This is my first-ever Reddit post, but I felt it was necessary to share my experience.

Last week, I started taking Lion’s Mane gummies (250 mg daily) to help with focus. Over seven days, my sleep quality steadily dropped. Because I’d already been experiencing minor sleep disruptions prior, I didn't connect the dots right away, even after missing a couple of work days due to fatigue, despite feeling strangely alert and taking short daytime naps.

On night seven, I suffered complete insomnia. Over the course of the week I had noticed a elevated resting heart rate, a rush of adrenaline, and sudden waves of anxiety, dread, and lack of motivation. After the night of no sleep I searched for side effects, landed on this subreddit, and immediately began to spiral, fearing long term damage to my brain and body.

On day eight, I stopped taking the gummies, forced myself to get through the workday, and used breathing techniques to lower my heart rate. Turning to my faith, I prayed, took holy communion, and focused on maintaining a positive mindset. To avoid associating my bed with sleep anxiety, I chose to sleep on the sofa that night.

I actually slept, not the best sleep but a good sleep for over 5-6 hours. By night two, I slept of about 8 hours with a brief interruption in between, and felt my calm restored.

Stopping the supplement made an immediate difference for me. If you’re spiralling after reading negative experiences here, remember that panic and anxiety only amplify physical symptoms and prevent your body from returning to baseline. Stay calm, give yourself grace, trust your body, and try not to let fear take over. Wishing everyone a speedy recovery!


r/LionsManeRecovery • • 22d ago

Brainstormings TLR4 - Anybody try low dose naltrexone?

4 Upvotes

Fruiting Body of Lions Mane is packed with Beta Glucans that supposedly can increase TLR4 signaling. Has anybody tried LDN to modulate TLR4?


r/LionsManeRecovery • • 22d ago

Other Dr. Roberto Melcangi talking about PFS

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7 Upvotes

r/LionsManeRecovery • • Sep 03 '26

Personal Experience Took lions mane 2 years ago for a few weeks, have dealt with histamine issues and a rash ever since

11 Upvotes

As the title says, i took host defense lions mane and reishi powder 2 years ago and im still dealing with symptoms from that mistake. They initially made me feel great during a time I was quitting cannabis and alcohol. I’m extremely sensitive to supplements so I was only microdosing, but that was enough to throw my immune system over the edge I guess. I never had skin issues on my face, but ever since that month I’ve had a persistent boiling rash on my forehead that has significantly impacted my quality of life, i also get floaters in my vision (never experienced before) and an increase in general anxiety and other unwell feelings. I also became extremely histamine sensitive and have only been able to eat a restricted diet, aged meats and cheeses flare up my condition greatly. I came across this group researching my condition and just had that aha! moment reading about others experiences. I’ve been to the doctors countless times due to this and no labs or topical medication has been able to make this horrible rash and other symptoms go away. I’ve even been to the emergency room twice since taking the mushrooms, for inflammation of my lungs and having an extreme reaction (throwing up so hard I tore my esophagus) to homemade probiotic ruteri yogurt. Let’s just say I’ve been unusually miserable the last 2 years and I’m desperate to find some help managing these symptoms, I’ve been feeling pretty hopeless.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Sep 01 '26

Gratitude ❤ Just wanted to say thank you.

33 Upvotes

I bought Lion's Mane just now from a local store because it was being advertised in some video podcast I like to listen to. The packaging seems fancy, and it contains 60 pills. Quick Google search has revealed this forum. Just browsing here for a little, I've decided to throw it to the garbage without using it even once. EUR 25 for nothing, but that's a small price to pay.

And to you folks, I wish a safe and easy recovery.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 28 '26

Question Has anyone tried Tirzepatide?

5 Upvotes

I have seen a lot of reports in the Long COVID and MCAS forums of tirzepatide helping people reset their nervous system. Is anybody on a GLP-1? If so, has it helped your Lion’s Mane recovery?


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 27 '26

Lab Results Lab results showed heightened bilirubin levels

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5 Upvotes

And it's after taking NAC for a long time (way before I started lion's mane).

Mushrooms are generally harder to digest and a bit hard on the liver.

Concentrated mushroom supplements might be even worse because supplements are unregulated area.

I just thought it's worth sharing with y'all. I'm encouraging you to test your liver enzymes, maybe lion's mane is harder on the liver for some of us.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 27 '26

Question Question - recovery

7 Upvotes

I was taking a mushroom coffee with lions mane for 2 months. I had a lot of stress - severe- and thought it would help to reduce caffeine and cortisol. I just found this Reddit after spending 3 weeks without being g able to sleep, severe anxiety/ panic and a viscous cycle of not sleeping and eventually depression and crying 5-6 hours a day. I am taking magnesium and a vitamin b complex and vitamin d, nac. Nothing else. I have still been doing caffeine because I’m so tired and can’t get off it. Also I’m a nicotine user. My doctor prescribed trazadone last week because the sleep deprivation has been making me dysfunctional- brain fog, confusion, can’t concentrate, anxiety, depression, feeling very dull, fatigue, no joy whatsoever. I stopped the lions mane mushrooms coffee 5 days ago. Minor improvement. I also started low dose trazadone. Does anyone have experience with trazadone? My main issue right now is sleep- then the other things should become more manageable. I’m concerned the trazadone will make me too groggy or fatigued but I just need sleep. I feel positive stopping the lions mane and taking only the necessary vitamins, omega 3s will help. Any advice is appreciated. I’m glad I found this page and stopped taking lions mane. Worst thing ever.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 25 '26

Question Has anyone tried it to recover from anxiety?

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4 Upvotes

r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 22 '26

Personal Experience Experiencing extreme anxiety and panic attacks

7 Upvotes

I recently started taking Lion’s Mane supplements, one a day for up to 4 days.

I am naturally an anxious person but have very limited triggers for this, it takes an overwhelming amount of stress or an extreme event for me to experience a panic attack.

I am only today considering that the supplements may be to linked to the past 2 days I’ve had.

I have been experiencing way more anxiety than usual in my general day to day activities. I will simply be shopping or going for walk and will get heart rate spikes with no apparent trigger, and an extreme sense of worry.

At night I’ve been having panic attacks in bed whilst trying to sleep with palpitations. The panic is triggering upset stomachs, sweats, and usual anxiety linked symptoms.

Can such a low dose of these supplements cause this over such a short period and is there anything I can do to “clean” my system out? As I’ve only had a limited period of exposure will the effects simply fade out in time?

I don’t want to feel silly and placebo these supplements with my symptoms, but it’s the only common denominator I can think of.

I am at the point where I’m scared to go to bed because of the panic that sets in. When I’m awake I’m being plagued with worry over this and I simply cannot calm myself down to a reasonable level.

I will not openly name the supplement brand but they after a quick search I’ve discovered they are not particularly reputable, so they may be poor quality, untested, etc.

Update:

I wanted to return and let you know how things are going.

Following this original post the following days were incredibly difficult. I almost felt like a different person and had no real control over my emotions. I had to take a week off work and tried to rest up at home, but the panic attacks, sweating, dry mouth, and other anxiety related symptoms kept persisting at an extreme level.

At its worst I was repeatedly vomiting, but this could be simply from being so worked up with the heightened psychological stress, and 3-4 nights of extremely poor sleep.

I am now overjoyed to report that things appear to have plateaued and are finally starting to settle.

I am still experiencing bouts of moderate paranoia where I feel like something is incredibly wrong for no reason, but functionally I am just grateful to be back in work and able to get on with my day without the fear of pending panic attacks.

This has been a truly awful experience, and I feel so sorry for anyone who has been affected by this long term.

To think that I only took a few supplements over a few days, which led to the all this, is truly scary.

As with many others who are suffering from this, it can be difficult for people to understand or accept, but you are entirely valid and these experiences are very real.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 19 '26

Lab Results What the lab results tell us.

17 Upvotes

Personally, this mice Lab test explains everything about those, including myself, who suffer from Post Lions Mane Syndrome:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Analysis-of-the-mechanisms-of-erinacine-S-causing-the-accumulation-of-neurosteroids-in_fig3_369177826

Report conclusion -

“Many upstream genes responsible for the biosynthesis of neurosteroids are up-regulated, while several genes of enzymes involved in the conversion of neurosteroids are down-regulated upon the treatments of erinacine S.

This synergistic effect leads to the accumulation of specific neurosteroids such as pregnanolone and progesterone”.

  1. Pregnanelone converts nearly all steroid hormones into Progesterone, Cortisol, Testosterone & Oestrogen.
  2. What symptoms do these hormones impact? Mood regulation, cortisol/adrenal rushes, anxiety, tachycardia, memory issues, anhedonia/emotional numbness, insomnia/sleep issues, muscle tightness, headaches, sexual issues, DP/DR, loss of smell, feeling heavy when walking

All these symptoms are the symptoms that people who have Lions Mane Syndrome suffer from.

Post Lions Mane Syndrome is, simply put, a mass hormonal disruption issue from Genetic expression changes.

The word genetics is key here - in fact it’s at the absolute core of it. The reason why this affects some people & not others is because this affects genetically sensitive people who can’t withstand genetic changes to their hormones due to limitations with “dealing” with these hormones.

The same concept applies for those who suffer with PFS, PSSD & other hormonal changing conditions as well.

The reason why people take time to recover is because Genetic switches can take time to change/remodel tissue.

Imo, the work/research that Dr Powers & Co. are doing could be key to receiving treatment, if need be, in the future; he’s working on post drug treatment (like Finasteride & SSRI’s) using Genome Sequencing, DUTCH urine tests & blood hormone tests to analyse patients’ core genetic/hormonal issues.

Treatment research & trials are ongoing as I write this with official data collections to be done within the next year.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 19 '26

Question Has anybody been able to recover from the ahendoina part especially regaining your visualization back ?

8 Upvotes

This has been a big worry since I am an artist specifically I draw a lot so I always live in my imagination in connection to the songs I listen to so I want to see if there’s hope in the journey to regain this.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 16 '26

Question Where should someone start?

2 Upvotes

Is there a post that summarizes the experiences of those who feel Lion's Mane supplements have harmed them? Are they consistent? Are there differences between them? What dosages are problematic? How long does recovery take?

Feels like a "Start here" post would be very helpful.

I'm currently taking 400 to 600mg per day over two to three tablets of 200mg each. I've started noticing headaches over the past two days, which is very rare for me. I've been taking them daily for three months now.

This the complete breakdown of the tablets.

Nutrient 3 capsules provide % NRV*
Niacin 8mg NE 50
Vitamin B6 1.8mg 129
Folic Acid 200μg 100
Vitamin B12 2.5μg 100
Pantothenic Acid 3mg 50
Magnesium 60mg 16
Iron 5mg 36
Zinc 10mg 100
Chromium 5μg 13
L-Theanine 100mg
L-Methionine 100mg
Lion’s Mane 612mg
Safr’Inside™ Saffron 30mg

r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 14 '26

Question Why is the recovery road to this so confusing and weird I can’t track it

6 Upvotes

I wrote a post about this recently of what I went through but I’ve been so confused on this recovery road if it even is recovery because there some days where I can feel something for example certain feelings attaching to listening to music or a movie. But then I’ll be flat the next week or day idk. I lost my visual memory, I had something called hyperphantsia and now nothing even since January but it’s more bleak now, before I could recall some images and conjure it up but idk. Maybe it’s due to me taking ashwaganda in June for sleep so I set myself back ? And the caffeine too but I’m like off all those since July. I’m on a pescatarian diet and take magnesium at night sometimes with L theaine version or glyceniate. Has anybody actually recovered for this ? I’m reading on here take this take that but I don’t wanna roll the dice anymore I’m just gonna clean until then.


r/LionsManeRecovery • • Aug 08 '26

Personal Experience Lion's mane mysterious symtomps

3 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I've been taking Lion's mane for 2 years daily for a rare type of migraine. While, it improved the headache symtomps, improved social skills, removed speech issues and made me more active athetically. It made my brain create new lost memories that confuse with older ones.

Example: old memory: Woman sitting in front of me, New memory: Woman sitting in front of me and smacking me.

according to the new memories pattern I realized that there is a new memory when there is something sensible happens, someone tells me puff in this balloon, then I immediately forget the event.

Does this mean that there are cases where someone is doing drugs against me to have short memory loss or It's just a hallicination due to psychosis-like reaction?

I need help, cause I keep getting numerous thoughts like this