DOSE:

700 mg

oral

Damiana

(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

110 lb

I haven't read about these symptoms occuring as a side effect of damiana or lion's mane, so I felt they'd be noteworthy to record.

For seven or so months, since January, I've been taking 2.1g lion's mane daily. It had little observable effect - maybe it did nothing, maybe it synergized with caffeine and so I attributed any changes to that - either way, it gave me no problems. It was absorbed into my daily routine, ignored the same way I ignore the effects of my morning coffee.

Over the summer, I got into experimenting with various herbal entheogens. Damiana particularly caught my eye, as I read it was a pleasant stimulant, with the potential for mild psychedelic experiences. I purchased some 700mg capsules of ground plant matter from the local herb shop, and began to take them each morning alongside the lion's mane. They initially appeared to have no real effect. Either the dose was too low for me, or they're a subtle enhancer.

Come late July, though, I began to get terrible light-sensitive headaches and fatigue. My brain felt clouded, and walking from one end of my dorm to the other made my muscles terribly sore. My appetite completely tanked. The pain didn't respond to ibuprofen, and caffeine worsened it. This lasted about a week. My theories were migraines (those run in my family, but I thought I was spared), a previously-unnoticed autoimmune condition, or a reaction between the damiana and lion's mane. I quit taking both, to clear out that possibility, and the headaches and fatigue stopped.

A week later, I was still off lion's mane. When I had 700mg of damiana, steeped into some passionflower tea, the fatigue returned. However, that was likely due to passionflower's sedative effects. I don't know what I was thinking.

Overall, damiana isn't something I'd return to. I could experiment with higher doses on their own, but it doesn't seem worthwhile. My boyfriend has reported similar sluggishness, though not this bad, from damiana.

Exp Year: 2025	ExpID: 119165
Gender: Female
Age at time of experience: 19
Published: Aug 28, 2025	Views: Not Supported
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Damiana (107) : Hangover / Days After (46), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Retrospective / Summary (11), Alone (16)