Chaga Mushroom (Inonotus Obliquus)
Comments
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Thanks so much David! I'd like to know which brands of Chaga and Turkey Tail extracts have the highest bioavailabiity. Since you seem to know can you give us a list of 3 or 4 of those extracts most potent, before i go and spend money on them. I don't know what i'm looking for. I bought a big jar of these chaga supplements and don't want to make another costly mistake (in more ways than one) like that.
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Following with interest. Thanks for sharing your knowledge David.0 -
There are a lot of Snake Oil sellers out there. My recommendation for both Chaga and Turkey Tail are the ones I'm using myself, all produced by Oriveda, a Dutch company. Only available online, but they ship for free, worldwide.
Several links I posted are pointing to parts of their website, because they give good and verifiable background information and make it easy to understand the workings of medicinal mushrooms. They are also the best value for money, in particular when looking at the price/potency ratio. Mushroomscience e.g. is selling genuine but not very potent extracts (15% polysaccharides for their Chaga). Suitable as an everyday prophylactic, but for almost the same price you can buy the Oriveda chaga, which has over three times the potency.
There are also a lot of tinctures out there, alcohol or water based, but without exception (at least I haven't seen one) they do not list bioactives and are not genuine extracts. Siberian Pi-water, anyone ?
Both Chaga and Turkey Tail are also promoted and sold by MLM companies (Chaga International and InForce). Despite the heavy promotion and the smart websites filled with (IMO very questionable) testimonials none of these list bio-actives on their labels. They also don't want to show you lab reports to back up their potency claims, like e.g. Oriveda and Mushroomscience will do on request. To me this does not feel kosher at all.
Like I said, there are a lot of Snake Oil sellers out there. Read the supplement facts label and don't let a hype blind you. Hypes create a distorted reality.
Hope this helps!
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Wendy 57..are you still doing well...I hope so. I want to use my chaga tea but my onc does not want me using natural products...of course. I have just had round 1 of 3 FEC, and am doing well, then on to 3 of taxotere and then taxoxifen. I brew my chaga in a crockpot set on low...1/2 cup. Simmer overnite on lowesr setting. Then I drink about 2 cups per day, then replenish the 2 cups of water or however much I use. I always use a strainer over my cup and return all chaga pieces to the crockpot. After 1 week I add another 1/2 cup of chaga andrepeat. When it starts to loose the taste I like I clean outcrockpot and start over. Very easy way to have a constant supply. I would like to know if the chaga interfered in any way with the effectiveness of your treatments. Thank you.
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Hi Rose - I'm still doing fine and still drinking my chaga. It's 6 years (12/1) from my surgery. I used the chaga throughout my "treatment" (15 months total - not counting 5+ years of Tamoxifen and AI's) I had A/C every 3 weeks x 4; then Taxol/Herceptin weekly x12; then Herceptin q3 weeks for 9 more months. I never got sick during my treatments and my blood counts were always good - never needed neulasta/neupogen and had one dose of aranesp (which I don't think was actually necessary)
Everything my naturopathic doctor ordered for me worked synergistically with my chemo agents (she gave me written information and research articles for everything she had me use) I told my oncologist that I was seeing a naturopathic physician also - and he said that I should "keep doing whatever I was doing - because I was doing great" - but he didn't want to know what supplements I was taking.
Thanks for asking - Hope you do well with your treatment. Wendy
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Thank you Davidstoner for taking the time to share your information...it has been very helpful!
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Thanks Wendy57 for your reply..glad you continue to do well. Would you mind my asking what other supplements you took during your treatment. My onc did say I could take l glutamine which I am taking. Thanks again.
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Hi everyone, My Mother-in-law lives in South Dakota, was diagnosed with colon cancer and is finishing her chemo now. I live in Alaska and through intensive research to help her, discovered Chaga would be really instrumental in her recovery. So, I went out and wild harvested a bunch and have it drying right now to send to her. I cut it up and put a couple raw chunks in my crockpot and steeped it, all day and it's really good and gave me alot of energy but not caffeine like or shaking like, if that makes any sense? From what I read, you can reuse the same chunks over and over until they lose color and flavor, so I did and got about 5 pots out of the chunks, (every time I took a cup out, I would just add new water). I accidentally stumbled across this forum/topic, and thought I would share that I will be getting more for our family to use and am seriously thinking about starting a business of going and picking it, cutting it and sending out the raw, unadulterated chunks to anyone who thinks they can benefit. If interested, reply here and I will go pick you some from the forests of Alaska, where there are no pollution problems either. It's been -35 and -40 degrees this week, but I will brave it
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Well everybody, used David's recipe to make my Chaga tea (took 6 days) started it yesterday.....will drink three cups a days, every eight hours. Was wondering if anybody has started......was also wondering how long it takes before you feel more energized???? Would appreciate some discussion......cheers
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A question for David: I drink chaga daily. I make it from fresh chaga that a friend of mine collected in NH's White Mountains. I tend to drink it hot/warm most of the time. Do you think one needs to drink it warm or else, will chaga tea lose it's potency if it is cold. I know when one drinks green tea it must be freshly brewed, but is it true for chaga?
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Good question....I keep mine in the fridge and drink it cold, so I hope David will answer this question for me also.
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No problem drinking the Chaga chilled.
The chunk from which you made the tea should not be too old (it seems about a year after harvesting it the potenty drops significantly). Something to keep in mind when buying raw chaga on Ebay or elsewhere.
Depending on the personal situation it can take up to six weeks before the body is tuned in to the effect of chaga and effects might become noticeable.
Merry Christmas everybody!
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Thanks for the information, David! Merry x-mas to you and all the bc survivors, too!
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Hi Guys,
I am in the middle of chemo treatment now, and I just got a formula of mushroom capsules made with mostly chagga (and a few others) from my herbalist, since thats what she recommended. I decided to check to see my oncologist's opinion of whether its good to use this during chemo and she made it clear that she does not think it is safe to use this during chemo since she doesnt know if it would counteract effects of chemo or not. Should I get a second doctor's opinion? Is it possible my doctor is just not informed? Im so torn of who to believe, since there is a lot of stuff on the internet about how chagga is good to use during chemo and can keep ones immune system up.
Thank you.
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There is probably very little documention about the potential interactions of the mushroom capsules and chemo; I would listen to your oncologist for now because she's, technically, right and erring on the side of caution seems wise. A second opinion would not be out-of-order even if it's only to ease your mind.
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getting into a good time of year to search them out in the wild
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I started the Mushroom stuff immediately after Radiation as I was told by Med Onc and Rad Onc not to take them until I was done. I listened.
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I know this may be an old post, but there is published info about Siberian Chaga on PubMed and several other sites. I use earthborn products out of San Diego, Ca (she can send you some PubMed documentation too). I went in for my 2nd chemo yesterday. MO asked if I received a WBC booster (like neulasta sp?) because my WBC's and RBC's were "outstanding". I had great energy too, able to bike, do yoga...did have severe leg pain days 7-9 (apparently bone marrow growing new plat's), but otherwise I have done very well with chaga. I walked 4 miles before my chemo yesterday. My tumor is shrinking...I think the fact that i'm balding rapidly has had the most dramatic effect on me, even those I buzzed my head, it's hard to know that I will soon sport the Yoda look. Now that I'm comfortable with that, I'm ready for some serious ass kicking.
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@samiamaham - How did you do with the rest of your treatment while using chaga? I start next week and had already been taking a chaga tincture when I was diagnosed. I was curious as to whether it interferred with chemo.
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Well, I heard that Chaga Mushroom is helpful in cancer and in several other diseases as well. It also comes in many forms such as tea, powder, chunks etc. to consume as mentioned on a Chaga website - www.ChagaHerb.com
But the main thing is it is an herb, an Aurvedic doctor can have better knowledge than English medicine experts....
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We are lucky that it grows around here. While I haven't personally found any (ok, once, but it wasn't easy and I didn't find much), I can buy it locally for $40 / pound. I am grinding it up, and using a slow cooker to extract the goodness. 1/4 pound to a gallon of water, slow cooking for 6 hours. Makes about a 6 day supply if you drink 3 glasses a day. It tastes pretty good, with a little lemon its like ice tea.
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Yes I have, there are MANY healthy alternatives to treat cancer naturally and this mushroom ( and many others) are great!
I take a tinture daily
Karen
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Still using it. We believe it has benefits. Maybe its all in our heads, but we feel better when we take it.
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@Husband11, the information you have provided above has been very useful.
If you don't mind me asking, have you found out any negative interactions between Ibrance and Chaga?
We are starting Ibrance in a week and I want to make sure Chaga won't mess anything up.
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Dear nepretip,
Welcome to the BCO community. We are glad that you reached out to our members and we hope that you find helpful information here. Please let us know a bit more about your story and how we can all be of support to you. You may want to send Husband11 a private message if you are looking for specific information. Let us know if we can assist.
The Mods
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I can't say with absolute certainty that there is no risk whatsoever in using chaga tea while on ibrance, but my wife has gotten good results from over two years on ibrance plus letrozole, having taken maitake extract daily and chaga tea from time to time.
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THANK YOU for the useful input Husband11. As we opt to offset the side effects of the Ibrance we were looking for useful and safe solutions. Since there is (sadly) no clinical information about specifically mixing supplements and Ibrance I am relying very carefully on empirical data which is very far and apart.
So far it seems Chaga mushroom (as you said) might be useful and not have major interactions with the Ibrance. Only time will tell.0 -
Nutrition facts.org would be a good scientific resource
I eat cooked mushrooms. Daily and make broccoli sprouts that are dirt cheap. Both from that source of info.
Also look up valter. Longo and his fasting mimicking ketogenic diet. I fasted through chemo because it is supposed to Protect healthy cells and put the cancer cells in a vulnerable state so the chemo or cancer meds can knock them out.
Also research low Methionine diets like whole foods plant based. There are some things you guys can try to prevent feeding cancer cells.
Everyone talks about the low sugar but no one talks about the animal branch chained ino acids and how they feed cancer. It's worth googling
Watch the forks over knives documentary on Netflix for a primer
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I recently purchased some dried chaga extract from Bulk Supplements dot com. It appears to be what they claim it is, a dried version of chaga extract. It's not whole chaga, which one would have to stew to make the tea extract, but rather a dried version of the already aqueous extract. That is exactly what someone wants, unless they are trying for the ethanol extract. It smells and tastes just like it should, so I would say its clear that it is exactly as advertised. Reasonably priced and convenient way to drink the extract.
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I know from experience his Chaga is really good. It has a strong vanilla taste and smell like it is supposed to. His Reishi works really good too.
I bought an extract from a company on amazon.
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