mushrooms

What MikeNH said.  I am taking them myself since I have inoperable cancer and trying other things.  

MSK has listings for many alternative items, such as mushrooms.

This link on Reshi.  

https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/reishi-mushroom

 "

• To stimulate the immune system
  Laboratory studies suggest that reishi mushroom may stimulate some cells of the immune system. A small clinical trial showed that reishi can enhance immune response in advanced-stage cancer patients. More studies are needed.

"

"Beta glucans, polysaccharides present in reishi, have demonstrated antitumor and immunostimulating activities (18) (40). Its triterpene compounds may inhibit tumor invasion by reducing matrix metalloproteinase expression (16), and tumor metastases by limiting attachment to endothelial cells (17). Recent findings indicate that reishi induces natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity against various cancer cell lines via activation of the natural cytotoxic receptors (NKG2D/NCR) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-signaling pathways, which result in exocytosis of perforin and granulysin (31). Reishi polysaccharides were also shown to increase expression of the major histocompatibility (MHC) class I and costimulatory molecules on melanoma cells, resulting in enhanced antitumor cytotoxicity (32). In human ovarian cancer cells, reishi inhibits proliferation by suppressing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and upregulating connexin 43 expression (39).

In other studies reishi increased plasma antioxidant capacity (6) (7) and enhanced immune response in advance-stage cancer patients (8). Its extracts also inhibited 5-alpha reductase, an important enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone and is upregulated in benign prostatic hyperplasia (9)."

Annabelle41415 said:

Doctor

Although I've heard many benefits from those, it's sometimes hard to get the doctors to prescribe them so you can get them legally.  I'm hoping that you are able to get some assistance for it to see if it helps.

Kim

I am seeing a herbalist/accupuncturist and they give me various herbs, including resihi mushrooms, that I boil and make a liquid that I take 4 tablespoons, three times a day.  

https://mushroomscience.com (someone here recommended that site to me)  sells various mushrooms and so do the other places.  Not really a question of legality.  It is more (a) confirming with your doctors that it is okay to use them while on treatment (my oncologist, at Memorial Sloan Kettering, is totally fine with me using them now, not sure if that will change if I go back on chemo and (b) sourcing and preperation of the herbs/mushrooms.  

On point (b), that is one of the things that sometimes throws a roadblock in mushrooms and also research on mushrooms (or so some say).  There are concerns about where the herbs come from, how they were grown and prepared, etc.  Some say unless mushroom (whatever name here) is grown in the proper region under the correct conditions, then the efficacy is reduced or gone.  Sort of a variation of unless the grapes are grown in a certain place, you cannot call it champagne    The same applies to preparation.

Hopefully more research is done on these things and some of these variables (which really happen in any research) can be controlled enough so that more definative conclusions and, hopefully, good results, can be found.

I will have a better sense of how I am doing with this in the next two months when scans done.  Right now I still feel fine.

And when I do tell people that I am taking mushrooms, I always follow up with "Not the Grateful Dead kind." 

both contain mushrooms, the homeopathic dr suggested them to a friend. He sailed through strong chemo so we got the ok to take them. My husband has basically been coasting through as well, a bit more tired but he is in treatment 10. 

There's support in the medical literature for the use of mushrooms

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=mushroom+cancer&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C10&as_ylo=2010&as_yhi= 

Peter

I'm using Chaga now but was considering Turkeytail as it take upwards of 10+ years for chaga to grow. Turkey tail can be cultivated at home in as little as 6 months. Do you grow your own,wild harvest or premade.

Ditto above. Mushrooms come in solids and powders but you can get tinctures as well. You can add the recommended number of drops to liquid. It is an easy and quick way to get your mushroom supplements on board. Try a holistic practioner or a good health food store with knowledgable personnel to make sure that they are quality sourced. Ours are all checked with our chiropractor using muscle testing to ensure that they are helping. I hope that helps. We are currently doing chemo.

Dan