Alzheimer’s patient gets back speech and memory in groundbreaking mushroom trial

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After a decade of cognitive and functional decline, an 80-year-old patient with advanced Alzheimer’s disease showed remarkable signs of progress.

All it took was a single dose of an experimental hallucinogen to get her speaking more than she had in years — and that’s just the top of the list of her improvements.

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In this case study, published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, researchers focused on an 80-year-old Japanese-American woman with Alzheimer’s. Her condition had declined over the last decade and was reduced to urinary incontinence, speaking in single syllables and dependence on caregivers for mobility support.

She was then given a 5 g dose of magic mushrooms.

During the initial phase, she was agitated, sweated profusely and entered a prolonged sleep state that suggested unconsciousness. But around hour 19, she began speaking in full sentences, recalling life events she had been unable to articulate for years.

In the days and weeks that followed, more incredible changes emerged. She regained urinary continence, even in the evenings, and began dressing herself. She was able to make and maintain eye contact, remember social interactions, emotionally respond to others and hold lucid conversations.

At a one-month follow-up, the patient remained continent and reported a positive emotional experience, telling those around: “It is pleasant to come here.”

A subsequent 3 g dose of psilocybin was given to the patient, and was followed by increased verbal expression, humor and greater walking agility.

Miraculous as the mushrooms may seem, the study authors note that the patient’s improvements were temporary and psilocybin did not reverse the disease, as her neurodegeneration remained.

They did not specify exactly how long the improvements lasted.

However, the research does demonstrate that some function believed to be irrevocably lost to late-stage dementia may not be gone but merely inaccessible — and that a mushroom trip has the potential to recover it, albeit briefly.

The authors note that the study’s primary limitation is the one-patient model.

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