This search was a little disappointing. There’s a lot of info, and some well-controlled studies, on the benefits of various mushroom compounds for inhibiting cancer tumors and boosting the immune system. However, there is nothing substantive on the use of mushroom compounds for scleroderma or for any of the individual symptoms Bill has. My biggest concern is that immune boosting would be counterproductive in Bill’s case. In scleroderma, the body’s immune system is already too strong, causing it to attack itself. Mushroom compounds might only strengthen the attack. So, the critical question: Is immune boosting helpful or harmful in an autoimmune disease?
Maybe Bill’s rheumatologist could answer that question. If immune boosting would not strengthen the attack, then the maitake mushroom (especially the “MD-10 fraction” of it) has strong immune-boosting capacity. Most of the Western tests have been done on mice and in cell cultures, but Japanese physicians use MD-10 on human cancer patients with success.
A few types of mushrooms were listed as “immuno-suppressive.” But these types didn’t show up when I tried to verify their effectiveness. In general, on all these searches, I avoid any website that sells a product, and I try to find peer-reviewed published tests showing that a given idea actually works. Nothing like that appeared for the three (allegedly) immuno-suppressive shrooms.
A few other items showed up along the way that might help: The Scleroderma Foundation has a good list of answers to frequently asked questions at www.scleroderma.org/medical/frequent-questions/frequent-questions.shtm. It also has a table of scleroderma medications, organized by symptom, at www.scleroderma.org/medical/medication.shtm. Finally, there is a Scleroderma Center at UCLA led by Dinesh Khanna , MD
Sorry the mushrooms didn’t pan out. --Janet
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