diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/parser/sequenceDiagram.jison b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/parser/sequenceDiagram.jison
index 6cd0537cb..359141b92 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/parser/sequenceDiagram.jison
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/parser/sequenceDiagram.jison
@@ -12,24 +12,6 @@
 
 %options case-insensitive
 
-%{
-function matchAsActorOrParticipant(tokenName, tokenType) {
-  const ahead = this._input;
-
-  // Detect if an arrow or colon is coming right after the token
-  const arrowLike = /^(?:\s)*(->>|-->>|->|-->|<<->>|<<-->>)/;
-  const colonLike = /^\s*:/;
-
-  // Treat as ACTOR if database appears inline in a message (arrow or colon follows)
-  if (arrowLike.test(ahead) || colonLike.test(ahead)) {
-    yytext = tokenName;
-    return 'ACTOR';
-  }
-  // Otherwise treat as a participant type declaration
-  this.begin('ID');
-  return tokenType;
-}
-%}
 
 // Special states for recognizing aliases
 // A special state for grabbing text up to the first comment/newline
@@ -50,12 +32,12 @@ function matchAsActorOrParticipant(tokenName, tokenType) {
 "box"															{ this.begin('LINE'); return 'box'; }
 "participant"                                                   { this.begin('ID'); return 'participant'; }
 "actor"                                                   		{ this.begin('ID'); return 'participant_actor'; }
-"boundary"                                                      { return matchAsActorOrParticipant.call(this, 'boundary', 'participant_boundary'); }
-"control"                                                       { return matchAsActorOrParticipant.call(this, 'control', 'participant_control'); }
-"entity"                                                        { return matchAsActorOrParticipant.call(this, 'entity', 'participant_entity'); }
-"database"                                                      { return matchAsActorOrParticipant.call(this, 'database', 'participant_database'); }
-"collections"                                                   { return matchAsActorOrParticipant.call(this, 'collections', 'participant_collections'); }
-"queue"                                                         { return matchAsActorOrParticipant.call(this, 'queue', 'participant_queue'); }
+"boundary"                                                      { return yy.matchAsActorOrParticipant('boundary', 'participant_boundary', this._input, this); }
+"control"                                                       { return yy.matchAsActorOrParticipant('control', 'participant_control', this._input, this); }
+"entity"                                                        { return yy.matchAsActorOrParticipant('entity', 'participant_entity', this._input, this); }
+"database"                                                      { return yy.matchAsActorOrParticipant('database', 'participant_database', this._input, this); }
+"collections"                                                   { return yy.matchAsActorOrParticipant('collections', 'participant_collections', this._input, this); }
+"queue"                                                         { return yy.matchAsActorOrParticipant('queue', 'participant_queue', this._input, this); }
 "create"                                                        return 'create';
 "destroy"                                                       { this.begin('ID'); return 'destroy'; }
 <ID>[^\<->\->:\n,;]+?([\-]*[^\<->\->:\n,;]+?)*?(?=((?!\n)\s)+"as"(?!\n)\s|[#\n;]|$)     { yytext = yytext.trim(); this.begin('ALIAS'); return 'ACTOR'; }
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDb.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDb.ts
index d8421b84d..8b600c354 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDb.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDb.ts
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ export class SequenceDB implements DiagramDB {
     this.apply = this.apply.bind(this);
     this.parseBoxData = this.parseBoxData.bind(this);
     this.parseMessage = this.parseMessage.bind(this);
+    this.matchAsActorOrParticipant = this.matchAsActorOrParticipant.bind(this);
 
     this.clear();
 
@@ -341,6 +342,23 @@ export class SequenceDB implements DiagramDB {
     return message;
   }
 
+  public matchAsActorOrParticipant(
+    tokenName: string,
+    tokenType: string,
+    inputRemainder: string,
+    lexer: any
+  ): string {
+    log.info({ tokenName });
+    const arrowLike = /^\s*(->>|-->>|->|-->|<<->>|<<-->>|-x|--x|-\))/;
+    const colonLike = /^\s*:/;
+
+    if (arrowLike.test(inputRemainder) || colonLike.test(inputRemainder)) {
+      return 'ACTOR';
+    }
+    lexer.begin('ID'); // used  the passed lexer
+    return tokenType;
+  }
+
   // We expect the box statement to be color first then description
   // The color can be rgb,rgba,hsl,hsla, or css code names  #hex codes are not supported for now because of the way the char # is handled
   // We extract first segment as color, the rest of the line is considered as text
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDiagram.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDiagram.ts
index f2b701712..f7ca4938c 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDiagram.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sequence/sequenceDiagram.ts
@@ -7,10 +7,16 @@ import { setConfig } from '../../diagram-api/diagramAPI.js';
 import renderer from './sequenceRenderer.js';
 import type { MermaidConfig } from '../../config.type.js';
 
+const db = new SequenceDB();
+parser.yy = {
+  parseMessage: db.parseMessage.bind(db),
+  matchAsActorOrParticipant: db.matchAsActorOrParticipant.bind(db),
+};
+
 export const diagram: DiagramDefinition = {
   parser,
   get db() {
-    return new SequenceDB();
+    return db;
   },
   renderer,
   styles,