Plant medicines offer unique tools across three main categories: functional mushrooms, cannabis, and entheogens.
Functional Mushrooms
Lion's Mane leads the conversation for MS specifically, with research pointing to nerve growth factor stimulation and potential neuroprotective effects. Reishi, shiitake, turkey tail, chaga, and others bring meaningful anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating properties — both relevant to an autoimmune condition and to general health maintenance.
The specific MS benefits vary by mushroom, but the overall profile is interesting enough that this has been a daily fixture of mine for roughly nine years, added to my Garbage Disposal Smoothie.
Cannabis
While I smoked my share of weed in college, I left it behind for decades due to career, family, and legal priorities. When MS came, it brought physical symptoms but left my mental clarity intact — and I was reluctant to add anything that might introduce fog. After eliminating most alcohol, sugar, and processed foods from my life, I don't have room for things that don't provide clear benefit.
But as neuropathic pain became strong and persistent, I needed options. Mindful meditation helped — particularly the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn — but as pain, spasticity, and sleep disruption intensified and pharmaceutical options fell short, cannabis re-entered the picture. I found even a little could make a significant difference.
When severe MS-related trigeminal neuralgia became an issue, cannabis became a life-saving tool. It was one of the few things that actually worked. The anticonvulsant properties of certain CBD oils could interrupt attacks, and a 1:1 blend of THC and CBD helped blunt extreme pain.
Neuropathic pain, trigeminal neuralgia, muscle spasticity, nerve buzzing, sleep disruption, stress, sensory overload — MS can leave the nervous system stuck in a constant state of "too much." For me, cannabis helps turn the volume down.
The muscle relaxation and antispasmodic effects calm the body. The pain relief blunts some of the burning, electrical, compressive nerve pain and paresthesia. Better sleep alone has enormous downstream benefits for recovery and resilience. And beyond the physical, creating space for mindfulness and reducing chronic stress matters too — chronic stress and chronic inflammation are not friends of MS.
After lobbying for cannabis law reform in my home state fell short, better medical access helped justify a cross-country move.
Sometimes, a U-Haul truck is good medicine.
Like anything, context matters. Dose matters. Strain matters. Timing matters. And it's not for everyone. But for me and many people with MS, medical cannabis isn't really about getting high. It's about getting a little relief from a nervous system that sometimes refuses to quiet down.
Entheogens
Like cannabis, I had early psychedelic experience — primarily psilocybin and LSD — and then no use or interest for decades. But when conventional medicine options for restoring nerve function or pain relief fell short, I started asking better questions. While many years had passed since my initial psychedelic journey, it wasn't an intimidating door to reopen.
Research into entheogenic plants and psychedelic compounds is generating genuine scientific interest as a potential complement to conventional MS treatment — not as a cure, but as a tool for addressing some of the condition's most stubborn secondary challenges.
While research into psychedelics for MS is relatively limited, there are a few plausible mechanisms for benefit.The most established pathway runs through mental health. Research consistently shows that anxiety and depression worsen MS outcomes — and psychedelic therapy has demonstrated remarkable effectiveness for both. The direct MS research hasn't caught up yet, but the logical connection is hard to ignore.
A second mechanism involves neuroplasticity — the brain's capacity to form new functional connections and adapt around damaged pathways. In a brain managing MS-related damage, that capacity matters a lot. Early research suggests psychedelics may meaningfully support it, with some preliminary work pointing toward neurogenic effects as well — though that research is still early.
Psilocybin-containing mushrooms are at the center of most current research, with trials examining their effects on neuroplasticity, depression, anxiety, and PTSD — all conditions that travel alongside a chronic illness diagnosis with uncomfortable frequency. The early data is promising enough that institutions like Johns Hopkins and NYU now have dedicated psychedelic research centers. Protocols that combine psychedelic and functional mushrooms, such as the Stamets Stack ( Lion's Mane + psilocybin + niacin), show measurable results and real potential. Psilocybin is currently legal or accessible in an increasing number of U.S. and global locations.
Beyond psilocybin, the broader plant medicine tradition includes ayahuasca, peyote, ibogaine, and other substances, each with distinct mechanisms and cultural contexts. Political changes are starting to make research more feasible.
Ketamine — not a plant medicine but a synthetic dissociative — has already crossed into clinical use for treatment-resistant depression and is worth including in any honest conversation about the landscape. Unlike most psychedelics, ketamine is legally available and in use in hundreds of well-trained clinics across the U.S.
Research and anecdotal experience suggest ketamine can be a very effective front-line treatment for severe depression. It also has unique benefits for neuropathic and other extreme pain that can be part of MS. This YouTube video about a University of Michigan lecture on psychedelic therapy I attended has more on this. However, ketamine can have issues with recurring use and other psychedelics may be better suited for long-term maintenance.
My research and personal experience using ketamine for MS neurorepair and pain relief is profiled in this video (also featured below) I had productive results from several IV ketamine sessions under medical supervision. While I achieved useful pain relief and emotional processing, I found the experience intensity made structured mobility and neuroplasticity exercises impractical. This led me to research a lower dose option called microdosing, outlined below.
That compatibility with neuroplasticity work is a critical difference. Neuroplasticity allows the brain to create new connections — connections that might support a retrained emotional response, or a physical movement pattern associated with fuller mobility. Psychedelics can amplify the brain's capacity for new plasticity, but neuroplasticity is a function, not a fix. The quality of what gets reinforced depends entirely on the quality of what's being practiced during that window.
I think of psychedelic-amplified neuroplasticity like wet cement. Used carefully, wet cement builds the Sydney Opera House. But when wet cement is carelessly stomped in, it just makes a crusty mess. If I'm in an amplified neuroplasticity window and I limp through my movement practice with poor form, that's the pattern that gets reinforced. If I move with intention and quality, that's what gets built in. Good training form isn't just important with psychedelics — it's everything.
LSD and DMT occupy different corners of the psychedelic landscape — LSD a synthetic compound with a long research history prior to legal restriction in 1970, DMT a naturally occurring molecule found in many plants and the active component in ayahuasca — both with a growing body of anecdotal and emerging formal research support. The NIH research paper "Psychedelics in Multiple Sclerosis: Mechanisms, Challenges, and Prospects for Neuroimmune Modulation and Repair" offers more on psychedelic therapy for multiple sclerosis.
While the mechanisms differ significantly from conventional disease-modifying therapies, psychedelics share some functionally relevant territory — anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating effects alongside emotional, psychological, and neuroplasticity benefits.
In general, psychedelic therapy experiences are very dose-dependent. A large "macrodose" quantity — which varies by compound — typically produces the classic, intense, sometimes recreational psychedelic experience that can last several hours. In my experience and in the research, this is generally most effective for achieving profound emotional shifts and breaking entrenched psychological patterns.
A smaller "microdose" often produces no obvious perceptual effect — less like a profound psychedelic experience and more like use of a common antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication. The effects are subtler but patients frequently report sustained therapeutic benefits over time across emotional health, mobility, and pain. In my experience, it's possible to do structured physical, neuroplasticity, and mental health work during the experience. Dr. James Fadiman's Microdosing for Health, Healing, and Enhanced Performance offers a useful research foundation for anyone wanting to go deeper.
While I feel ketamine and psilocybin therapy provided me with real benefit, I'm simply documenting what I've explored and what the research shows. Nothing in the research or my experience suggests psychedelics are a "one-size-fits-all magic carwash." They are a tool, in much the same way prayer, meditation, and cannabis are tools. In my experience, any and all of these tools may produce similar results with the right structured work and time behind them. Psychedelics may offer faster impact, but they are not a fit for everyone. There are serious contraindications for individuals with certain medical and psychiatric considerations. Also, as legality of psychedelic substances varies by location, travel or other accommodations may be needed.
Make of it what you will. Your mileage may vary.