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Here are my favorites book on medicinals mushrooms:

medicinal mushrooms by Christopher Hobbs (1995): the classic of medicinal mushrooms books, a lot of information, a lot of mushrooms, good references, well written, a very complete book

Fungal pharmacy medicinals mushrooms of western Canada(2006)by Robert Rogers: very interesting, a lot of info on natives use of medicinals mushrooms, the reference section is not so good, not very well written... a lot of repetitons, unclear categories, a lot of mushrooms are cover together, many pictures, a lot of info about traditional use in asia... a new edition should be out in a few month... seem of a better qualities...

Mycomedicinal by Stamets: very interesting... a short book with a lot of info... a good reference section, nearly a compilation of other studies, not as easy to read as the one from Hobbs... check other book by Stamets for info on medicinal mushrooms(mycelium running,growing medicinals mushrooms)

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I agree, the books on medicinal mushrooms are either out of date or give very little information on any specific mushroom. This is where a mushroom forum like this one could do a lot in spreading information about what kind of results people get using any specific medicinal mushroom.

I have decided to use Chaga tea to soak my foot in to see if it will heal the fungus infected toenails. I got to cut up some Chaga in order to make tea for soaking. I will now go out and buy wash pan in which I can soak one or two feet. I plan store the tea in a gallon jug between soakings.

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I agree, the books on medicinal mushrooms are either out of date or give very little information on any specific mushroom. This is where a mushroom forum like this one could do a lot in spreading information about what kind of results people get using any specific medicinal mushroom.

I have decided to use Chaga tea to soak my foot in to see if it will heal the fungus infected toenails. I got to cut up some Chaga in order to make tea for soaking. I will now go out and buy wash pan in which I can soak one or two feet. I plan store the tea in a gallon jug between soakings.

Soak just one. Then the other one is your control!

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Geez if the chaga likes your foot and starts to fruit you could go into business. Somehow using a fungal tea to kill a different fungus doesnt seem promising to me. Let us know if this works. If it does you might be able to bottle it up and sell it as Vlad's Magic Foot Elixer.

The real problem I have with all medicinal mushrooms is that there is virtually no proof that eating them does any good. Oh I know that scientists have used high tech equipment to extract weird chemicals from mushrooms and then used those chemicals to demonstrate all sorts of things, but that is different from just eating the mushrooms or making tea from them. Those weird chemicals with medicinal properties might not even be water soluble. Its a bit like eating a pastrami sandwich. We know penicillin comes from moldy bread but that doesnt mean that eating bread is going to cure your measles, nor does it mean that eating a moldy pastrami sandwich will help the measles either. The other issue is dose size. It could very well take 100 pounds of a mushroom to provide enough of the weird chemical to treat a mouse each day and while you would indeed be ingesting some of that same wonderful chemical it might well take 2000 pounds a day to provide enough to do some good. Some mushrooms certainly contain medicines but I dont really see us being at a stage where we know enough to have any sort of confidence that just eating those mushrooms will do any good.

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A while back I read about a guy who used ground up Chaga to kill fungus on an American Chestnut tree. See page 253 of Mycelium Running.

The Americans have been conditioned to use medicines approved by the FDA. These are medicines that have been obtained from medicinal plants and mushrooms, concentrated and put into a pill form or liquid to drink or inject. The big problem with these medicines is that all of them have side effects, as far as I know. They help you with one problem but create others.

Natural medicines do not have anyone to advertise them since there is no profit incentive. You could learn Chinese and then go to China and talk to all the herbalists and users of medicinal herbs and mushrooms and get the proof that way. They have thousands of years of proof.

To me it seams that we could try these ourselves and then share the information as to what effect it has had on us. When you speak of “dose” you are talking of commercial, concentrated medicines which can harm you even more when you exceed the recommended dose. Chaga can be made any strength, consumed at any rate and no harm has been recorded. There are no side effects because it is a natural medicine.

I have found that drinking Chaga tea has eliminated my arthritis pains. The pain in my hip was so bad that I could hardly walk, at times, before I started to use Chaga. I am now pain free. I had a wart like growth on one of my legs and it dried up and fell off after I started drinking Chaga tea. I have not had a cold or flue in years. Chaga is better than any antacid I have purchased in a drug store.

Because I am a diabetic I have to use a lot of different commercial medicines. Some of these I had to stop using since I developed bad side effects. Others give me heartburn that no store bought antacid helps but Chaga does.

I have started soaking my feet in Chaga tea. I have decided to do it once or twice a day for 30 to 45 minutes. I bought a plastic container with a lid on it. I keep the tea in the container. This morning I poured some of this tea into a pot and heated it up then poured it back into the container. That made a nice warm foot bath. I do not need a control :) I would rather have two feet with fungus free nails.

I hear that modern medicine has a way to cure this condition. It involved injecting medicine under the nails. My way is pain free :)

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Don't overlook a book because it's date back a little... still a good sources of information for traditionnal medicine ( natives, chinese, folk medicine, herbologist), extraction methods, history of use... and an esay way to get an initiation of medicinals mushrooms... it not all the articles in specialised journals that have been written for a general public... a lot of recent articles focused on eluciding the mecanism of medicinal mushrooms's actions... witch is great if you are use to immunology but not easily understandable if it a new field for you...

and we have more and more articles on the effects of whole medicinals mushrooms ( or easily reproducible extraction)in vivo... some on animals and a fews on humans...

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  • 5 months later...

Hi

I just wondered if you have tried Tea tree oil or Colloiidal silver on the fungus?? Lavender Oil is anti fungal also I think. The Chaga may work also but the oil/ silver might be easier. Hope this helps.

A while back I read about a guy who used ground up Chaga to kill fungus on an American Chestnut tree. See page 253 of Mycelium Running.

The Americans have been conditioned to use medicines approved by the FDA. These are medicines that have been obtained from medicinal plants and mushrooms, concentrated and put into a pill form or liquid to drink or inject. The big problem with these medicines is that all of them have side effects, as far as I know. They help you with one problem but create others.

Natural medicines do not have anyone to advertise them since there is no profit incentive. You could learn Chinese and then go to China and talk to all the herbalists and users of medicinal herbs and mushrooms and get the proof that way. They have thousands of years of proof.

To me it seams that we could try these ourselves and then share the information as to what effect it has had on us. When you speak of “dose” you are talking of commercial, concentrated medicines which can harm you even more when you exceed the recommended dose. Chaga can be made any strength, consumed at any rate and no harm has been recorded. There are no side effects because it is a natural medicine.

I have found that drinking Chaga tea has eliminated my arthritis pains. The pain in my hip was so bad that I could hardly walk, at times, before I started to use Chaga. I am now pain free. I had a wart like growth on one of my legs and it dried up and fell off after I started drinking Chaga tea. I have not had a cold or flue in years. Chaga is better than any antacid I have purchased in a drug store.

Because I am a diabetic I have to use a lot of different commercial medicines. Some of these I had to stop using since I developed bad side effects. Others give me heartburn that no store bought antacid helps but Chaga does.

I have started soaking my feet in Chaga tea. I have decided to do it once or twice a day for 30 to 45 minutes. I bought a plastic container with a lid on it. I keep the tea in the container. This morning I poured some of this tea into a pot and heated it up then poured it back into the container. That made a nice warm foot bath. I do not need a control :) I would rather have two feet with fungus free nails.

I hear that modern medicine has a way to cure this condition. It involved injecting medicine under the nails. My way is pain free :)

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  • 6 months later...

I recently buy some new books on medicinal mushrooms:

The Fungal Pharmacy: The Complete Guide to Medicinal Mushrooms and Lichens of North America by Robert Rogers (Paperback - Nov 15 2011) ( about 20$)

a new version of fungal pharmacy... the last one was autopublishied... now a very professional looking book... a huge book(nearly 4 pounds)... writing still a little confusing... lot of info on various use of medicinal mushrooms and especially about native use... lots of pictures (not all of them of high quality)... covert way more species than any other book... you can find in there result from studies in the '50 in Russia to the one published 2 years ago in India... in the same page you will find the most frequent terpens composition of a particular mushrooms and the spiritualistic qualities of that fungal essence...

A big part on the use of lichen... a thing not often covert by other guide...

An incredible amount of info to use with care... a lot of the studies report in the book we're not without criticism...

So to conclude... a most have for anybody who are really interest in medicinal mushrooms or who looking for different info that those present in most other guide... but absolutely not a good intro to medicinals mushrooms... not always clear...

Mushrooms for Health: Medicinal Secrets of Northeastern Fungi by Greg Marley (Paperback - May 30 2010) (About 12$)

a great intro to the world of medicinals mushrooms, covert the major species... very clear... well written...

if you wish to by only one book on medicinals mushrooms try that one (the last edition of Medicinal Mushrooms by Christopher Hobbs date from 2003)... in fact a must have for most mushrooms lovers...

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Mushrooms for Health & Longevity by Ken Babel (2011) (less than 10$)

a very small book... about 60 pages... including a few ones with recipes... covert the basic and most popular species... a few polypores and many edible species(mainly asian mushrooms)... mainly about ageing disease... a good choice if you are more interest in eating mushrooms than making medicines from them... clear and well written... but pretty short... a good way to motivate some change in your diet... especially for the Babyboomers out there...

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