25/01/2026
I love this, and Susun W**d đ„°âš
Scary Story of Post-menopausal Brain "Decay"
Here is an informative "story" from FB.
It is obviously an ad for a product.
I removed the blatant advertising.
Left the story and its recommendations.
It's a good read.
A scary read if you believe the big lie it is based on:
That estrogen production ceases after menopause.
It doesn't.
Every woman produces estrogen every day of her life,
From before birth until the end.
And you know my recommendation:
No need for supplements.
Drink a quart of nourishing herbal infusion daily.
You will have of plenty of estrogens.
Your brain will function superbly.
It's a scary story because we fear losing our memory and mental abilities.
I was truly terrified that being under anesthesia would wipe my memory.
But thirty hours â
17 during the actual surgery, plus a 13 hour induced coma â
Of anesthesia did not dislodge a single neuron.
All those botanical names are still intact.
My memory is unimpaired.
Hooray nourishing herbal infusions.
Now for the "scary story." [And my comments.]
As you read, remember:
> You have plenty of estrogen every day of your life,
From before birth right up until the moment you die.
> Menopause is a change in how and where estrogen is produced
Not the cessation of estrogen.
> Mushrooms are marvelous.
I keep several mushroom powders on my table and season my food with them.
I do believe they are most effective when eaten, rather than as tinctures.
The story:
"In the late 1990s, a neuroendocrinologist named Dr. Elena Richter noticed something strange. She was treating women in their 60s and 70s who looked "fine" on paperâbut were falling apart inside. Their brain scans were normal. Their bloodwork came back clean. But they kept describing the same terrifying moments:
> Standing in the kitchen, mouth open, unable to remember the word for the thing they use to drain pasta. A word they'd known for fifty years. Their husbands watching. The word just... gone.
> Calling their daughter by their sister's name. Their own daughter. The child they raised.
> Telling their husband a story at dinner, watching his face shift. "Honey, you told me that yesterday." No memory of it. None. Not even a trace.
> Walking into rooms with complete blankness. Not confusionâemptiness. Like a file had been permanently deleted."
[Check out my great course on herbs that nourish the brain at: https://www.betterlisten.com/collections/susun-weed-courses/products/nootropics-with-susun-weed ]
"Other doctors told these women it was anxiety. Stress. "Normal aging." Handed them pamphlets about meditation and sent them home. But Dr. Richter saw what the other doctors missed. After reviewing hundreds of cases, she found something obvious that everyone had missed.
"Almost every woman she treated had gone through menopause 10 to 15 years earlier.
The hot flashes had stopped. The night sweats had faded. Life moved on. But now, a decade later, something worse was happening. Something no one had warned them about. Dr. Richter asked the question no one else was asking: What if menopause did something to the brain we're only seeing now?
"What she found changed everything. Estrogen wasn't just a reproductive hormone.
It had been managing five critical operations inside the brain. Every single day. For decades. When estrogen dropped, those operations didn't slow down. They stopped."
[That's the big lie. That estrogen is gone. Couldn't be further from the truth. Estradiol is gone, but estrogen comes in many forms, and, with good nourishment, continues to be made your entire life. Yes. Even decades after menopause.]
"System 1: The Regeneration Signal
> Your brain grows new neurons using two proteins: NGF (Nerve Growth Factor) and BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). Estrogen directly stimulates both.
When it dropped, the signal telling your brain is reduced to a whisper your neurons could no longer hear.
"System 2: The Structural Integrity
> Estrogen maintains the myelin sheathâthe protective coating that lets neural signals travel fast and clear. When it drops, that coating begins degrading. Signals slow. The 'fog' set in.
"System 3: The Cooling System
> Estrogen controls brain inflammation. When it drops, chronic low-grade inflammation begins. A slow burn damaging neurons year after year. Invisible. Silent. Relentless.
"System 4: The Cleanup Crew
> Estrogen acts as a powerful antioxidant, clearing oxidative damage while you sleep.
When it drops, the 'rust' piles up faster than your brain can clear it. Every morning, a little more damage. Every year, a little more decline.
"System 5: The Gut-Brain Connection
> Estrogen supports the gut bacteria that communicate with your brain through the vagus nerve. When it drops, that communication line fills with static. Messages that should have been clear became garbled or lost entirely.
" In 2001, Dr. Richter conducted a study that should have changed medicine. She recruited 234 women between ages 58 and 74âall of them 10 to 17 years post-menopause. All of them experiencing the same symptoms: brain fog, word retrieval problems, memory lapses, poor sleep, mental exhaustion. All of them had been dismissed by doctors. Told it was 'normal aging.' Told to try crossword puzzles."
[Normal is not what we are seeking. We want optimum. We want healthy, hormlnslly-rich aging. That means we need nourishing herbal infusions and well-cooked whole foods made at home without vegetable oils.]
"Dr. Richter's study:
> Group 1 (Control): No intervention. Continued their normal routines.
> Group 2 (Standard Supplements): Took the most commonly recommended brain supplementsâGinkgo biloba, fish oil, B-vitamins. The same things doctors had been recommending for years.
> Group 3 (Five-Mushroom Protocol): Took a specific combination of five functional mushroomsâLion's Mane, Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Turkey Tail.
"She tracked them for 16 weeks. At baseline and at weeks 8 and 16, she measured cognitive function scores, BDNF and NGF blood markers, inflammatory markers, sleep quality, and self-reported mental clarity.
"The Results:
> Group 1 (Control): No improvement. Slight decline in cognitive scores over 16 weeks. BDNF levels dropped an average of 4%. Inflammation markers unchanged or slightly elevated. Their brains continued deteriorating.
> Group 2 (Standard Supplements): Marginal improvement. 8% average increase in cognitive scores. BDNF levels increased 11%. Inflammation reduced by 7%. Most women reported "no noticeable difference" in daily life. The supplements they'd been told would help barely moved the needle.
> Group 3 (Five-Mushroom Protocol): Cognitive function scores improved by 47% on average. BDNF levels increased by 68%. NGF markersâwhich had been nearly undetectable in most participantsâincreased by 73%. Inflammatory markers dropped by 51%. Sleep quality scores improved by 62%.
"But here's what made Dr. Richter's hands shake when she reviewed the data: Brain imaging on a subset of 40 women in Group 3 showed measurable increases in hippocampal volumeâthe region responsible for memory and learning. The average increase: 12.4% over 16 weeks. In women 10-15 years post-menopause. Women whose brains had supposedly "stopped regenerating."
"Their brains weren't just functioning better. They were physically rebuilding. The five-mushroom protocol worked because each mushroom filled a specific void:
> "Lion's Mane restarted the regeneration signal. It contains hericenones and erinacinesâcompounds that cross the blood-brain barrier and stimulate the brain to produce NGF and BDNF internally. Not from outside. From within. In Dr. Richter's study, women taking Lion's Mane showed a 73% increase in NGF markers. Their brains received the "grow" signal for the first time in over a decade.
> "Cordyceps rebuilt structural support. It increased ATP productionâcellular energyâallowing neurons to maintain their myelin sheath and transmit signals efficiently again.
Women reported the 'fog lifting' most dramatically after Cordyceps was added to the protocol. [Huh? I thought it was part of the protocol, not "added" to it.]
> "Reishi restored the cooling system. It reduced inflammatory markers by over 50% and dramatically improved deep sleepâthe phase when regeneration actually happens. Women who hadn't slept through the night in years reported full, uninterrupted rest within 2-3 weeks.
> "Chaga reactivated the cleanup crew. Its antioxidant compounds cleared the oxidative "rust" that had been accumulating for a decade. Brain imaging showed reduced oxidative stress markers in 89% of Group 3 participants.
> "Turkey Tail reconnected the gut-brain axis. Its prebiotic compounds restored communication between gut bacteria and the brain. Women reported improved mood stability and reduced "mental static" within the first month.
"In the years since, every component of Dr. Richter's findings has been independently validated:
> A 2023 University of Queensland study used super-resolution microscopy to watch neurons extending and connecting after exposure to Lion's Mane compounds. A Japanese clinical trial showed significant cognitive improvement in adults 50-80 after 16 weeks.
> Studies in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology confirmed it increases deep non-REM sleep within days. Research in the Journal of Neuroinflammation showed significant reduction in brain inflammatory markers.
> International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms documented neuroprotective effects and ' impressive results' in preventing oxidative memory damage.
> Multiple studiesâincluding a landmark 2025 Swedish studyâhave now confirmed adult brains CAN grow new neurons, even into the late 70s."
--
It is in beauty.
You have plenty of estrogen every day of your life.
It is a giveaway dance.
Menopause is a change in how and where estrogen is produced. Not its cessation.
Breathe with the plants.
Mushrooms are marvels.
Let your heart beat as one with the earth's heartbeat.
Menopause is a passage to power, not the end of estrogen.
We are surrounded by green blessings.
Drink a quart of nourishing herbal infusion every day.
Gratitude
Joy
