An 80-year-old with severe Alzheimer's took magic mushrooms, and the results were incredible

Key Points:

• A case report published in Frontiers in Neuroscience describes how a high dose of psilocybin mushrooms temporarily restored several daily functions and communication abilities in an 80-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting dormant brain capacities may persist in late-stage neurodegeneration.
• The patient showed multidomain improvements including regained urinary continence, independent walking, enhanced social interaction, autobiographical conversation, and emotional responsiveness, with effects lasting up to a month after a single high-dose session followed by a lower-dose session.
• Researchers caution that this is a single observational case without controls or standardized testing, so causality cannot be established and findings should not be interpreted as evidence that psilocybin treats Alzheimer’s disease; safety and efficacy remain unknown in this population.
• The case highlights the potential for psychedelics to temporarily reorganize brain network activity and promote neuroplasticity, but emphasizes the need for carefully controlled clinical trials to explore therapeutic applications and mechanisms in advanced dementia.
• Experts warn against unsupervised use of psilocybin in vulnerable older adults due to possible risks, and ongoing research such as UC Berkeley’s PLASTICITY study aims to investigate psilocybin’s effects on neuroplasticity and cognitive aging in healthy older individuals.