I am new here. I am trying to keep informed.
I just tried Mucuna pills for the last month from Switzerland (2 a day) plus 3 levodopa 100mg but have not found an improvement, on the contrary. I will switch over to the Mucuna powder form I just ordered from India.
Has anybody any experience with Mucuna?
Thank you for sharing.
For the mucuna to get past the blood brain barrier you also should have some carbidopa, which presumably is included with the levodopa 100 mg you are taking. If that is the case and you have not seen any improvement after taking all this daily for the last month, that throws into question the Parkinson's diagnosis.
My husband has been using Mucuna successfully for about a year, but he uses a lot more of it than we've seen referenced anywhere else. So it may be that you just need to increase your dosage.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2004. Neither of us knew what PD was and we learned more about it from the internet than we did from doctors and specialists. While searching the internet for any articles with the words “cure for Parkinson’s Disease” (that were not preceded with the words “There is no…”), I came across references to Mucuna Pruriens used by Ayurvedic Doctors in India to treat the symptoms of PD. While not considered a ‘cure’, it is certainly used as an effective alternative to standard pharmaceutical drugs.
Mucuna is also known as Kapikachhu or Velvet Bean, and it contains naturally occurring levodopa (L-Dopa). I was drawn to the idea of a natural replacement (a nutriceutical) for the pharmaceutical L-Dopa due to a dislike for pharmaceuticals and a strong belief that Nature has a cure or a treatment for just about every human ill, so I ordered a 500g bag of Mucuna powder for my husband Geoff and I to experiment with.
What I did not find online (at first) was any reference to how much Mucuna to take or how often. The bag of Mucuna powder we bought came with a scoop, which was equal to 1 Tablespoon, so we tried Geoff on a dose of 1 Tbsp of Mucuna just before bedtime (so it wouldn’t spoil a day if it had any negative effects). Well it had an effect – my husband, who was usually so stiff he struggled to get into bed, could suddenly move easily and freely. The only problem was when he went to sleep his legs twitched for hours. This did not bother him – he slept through it all – but the twitching kept me awake. We worried that he may have taken too much.
We decided he shouldn’t take any more Mucuna until we could learn more about it. We asked his most trusted neurologist about Mucuna, and though he said he had heard of it, he also said, “Well if it had any lasting benefits we would have heard about it by now.” So feeling discouraged by the lack of information, we put the Mucuna aside for a number of years after sealing it in an airtight container.
What we didn’t realize then was that the Pharmaceutical industry does not do studies on natural substances like Mucuna (a natural bean) because they cannot patent something that can be grown by anyone. They are only interested in creating substances they can profit from.
It wasn’t until late last year when my husband’s pharmaceutical drugs were losing effectiveness for hours each day, sometimes never kicking in, that I decided to seriously search the internet again for more information about Mucuna. I found references to people taking 1 teaspoon of Mucuna three times a day. I also found a study of rats with PD who were given Mucuna, and from that study it was clear that after a year the Mucuna had not only been beneficial at various doses, but none of the rats had suffered any side effects even at the highest doses.
We decided to try Mucuna again and started by replacing one of Geoff’s usual doses of Stalevo (125mg levodopa, 31.25mg carbidopa and 200mg entacapone) with a dose of 1 tsp Mucuna* which we mixed with a little pure water so he could drink his dose. 1 tsp had no effect, so we increased the dose by half a tsp per dose until we found a dose that worked. Interestingly we ended up having to increase the dose to 1 Tbsp before the Mucuna had an effect. And at 1 Tbsp we discovered Mucuna took effect within 10 to 15 minutes (compared to 30 to 60 mins to ‘not at all’ with Stalevo), and the effectiveness lasted longer than Stalevo, typically 3 hours of solid ‘on’ time.
*It is worth noting that we used the Mucuna powder we had bought years earlier. Not only was it still effective, it was as effective as other fresher Mucuna powder we have bought since then. So it appears the L-Dopa in ground Mucuna beans does not deteriorate quickly, if at all over time. We have also found all brands of Mucuna powder, as long as they are pure Mucuna powder (just the ground up bean with no additives), are equally effective.
Since the rat study revealed no side effects from Mucuna over a year-long study, even at higher doses, and because we have a lot of faith in Nature, we risked giving Geoff more than three 1 Tbsp doses of Mucuna a day. We gradually replaced all but two doses of Stalevo with Mucuna. Geoff used to take 5 doses of Stalevo a day, but now only takes 1 Stalevo in the morning and another around mid-afternoon. Without the Stalevo, the Mucuna seems to become less reliably effective as the day wears on. We believe this is probably due to not having the Carbidopa element of Stalevo in his system (more likely than the synthetic levidopa) because Carbidopa helps the dopamine cross the blood/brain barrier. We’d like to also find a more natural replacement for the Carbidopa so he can eventually discontinue Stalevo altogether.
Geoff now takes Mucuna whenever he feels its effectiveness wearing off. He has taken up to 8 doses a day without any side effects. Only once has he had twitchy legs at night, but only because he took the dose too close to bedtime. (We realize now, that was the mistake we made the first time he tried Mucuna years earlier.) For Geoff each dose of Mucuna lasts an average of 3 hours, occasionally less than 2 hours, but often 4 or more hours when he’s had a lot of exercise too. The exercise seems to produce extra dopamine in his body naturally. So more exercise generally equals fewer doses of Mucuna.
Remarkably, the Mucuna has been far more consistent and reliable in its effectiveness than Stalevo ever was. Geoff rarely has long ‘off’ periods. If Mucuna doesn’t take effect within 10 to 15 minutes, we can usually relate it to something Geoff ate that he shouldn’t have - e.g. animal protein (for us that means dairy foods since we’re vegetarian) which interferes with the absorption of L-Dopa. But even when he occasionally risks eating dairy food, the Mucuna will always eventually get him ‘on’ again far sooner than Stalevo.
It has now been nearly a year since Geoff started taking Mucuna regularly every day, so we feel certain enough of its effectiveness, reliability and safety that we are happy to relay our experiences to others. However, it must be remembered that everyone is different and may not have the same results that we have.
It seems only logical to us that the body would more readily absorb a natural bean (a food) than a synthetic man-made drug, and that the bean would be far less likely to damage the body. In fact, since taking Mucuna, Geoff’s health and well-being has improved dramatically. He looks healthier, he feels better within himself, and he has more strength and stamina. He has a happy positive outlook on life despite his PD. We couldn’t be more grateful for this little ‘miracle’ of Nature.
Mucuna is not just for people with PD, it is used by body builders to build muscle, as an aphrodisiac, for better sleep, and by those who wish to elevate their mood. For more information about Mucuna, we found this site helpful – superfoodprofiles.com/Mucun...
I hope this information helps. I tried to cover all the questions that we had about using Mucuna, but if anyone has any other questions about its use, I’ll do my best to respond if I can.
Nice to here that , you can use EGCg as alternative to Carbidopa .
does each intake of mucuna powder require an intake of egcg? Thanks for help!
its preferable because egcg helps in Absorption of mucuna .
Thank you jaberaaalhd. Can you explain what EGCg is? Is it from a natural source?
Green tea polyphenols: novel irreversible inhibitors of dopa decarboxylase.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/113...
EGCG is a decarboxylase inhibitor like carbidopa (of Sinemet):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbi...
An article showing how to improve the absorption of EGCG:
Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) for Clinical Trials: More Pitfalls than Promises?
Thank you ever so much for this very useful information as all this is very new to me. I just ordered the powder form from India and it should get to France the coming week. There still many questions for which I don't have a reply. Would you suggest to start off the day with Mucuna followed by the synthetic levidopa (the one neurologist prescribed me 5 Levodopa Benserazide 100 mg/25 mg )
I will keep you informed of the results
I'm not qualified to suggest what you should do. But I can tell you our experience. Geoff found it more helpful to start the day with Mucuna than with Stalevo because, for him, Mucuna takes effect quicker, and Stalevo rarely does. But he then takes a Stalevo about 15 to 30 minutes after the Mucuna (just for the Carbidopa element).
I've read that you should start Mucuna very slowly to make sure it agrees with your body, beginning with a small dose and gradually working up to a bigger dose and/or more doses only if necessary.
There are no hard and fast rules, we can only experiment, take notes and make adjustments to find what best suits each one of us. I just hope our story gives courage to those who want to try something more natural.
Great report! Thanks a million!
What were Geoff's original symptoms ? New with PD, 76, no meds yet. Please advise. Thanks
Hi Tmarsella,
I'm so sorry not to have replied before. I've only just seen your question. You'll be well into your PD by now.
Geoff's original symptoms, we realise now, started with decades of severe pain in the the base of his skull and the back of his neck. That pain started in his late teens, which is when he was exposed to lots of pesticides when he worked on a farm. When that pain finally began to reduce in his 40's, he started getting pain and stiffness in his left shoulder (he thought he had frozen shoulder). It then moved into his upper arm where it felt like a muscle was permanently rigid. It was as if the pain and stiffness was moving down the left side of his body, though he also sometimes had what he called a "back-up" while he was eating - probably his swallowing muscles being affected.
Next his left hand movements became very slow and rigid (as a typesetter he thought he just had repetitive strain syndrome). But then his left leg started to drag, and he was having trouble using a clutch (had to get an automatic car in the end). When his face developed that mask-like lack of expression we realised something was very wrong. I was afraid it was brain cancer. That's when he finally went to a doctor and got his PD diagnosis. He was 57.
He has never had any tremor, just rigidity. I would be very interested to know if anyone else has ever experienced PD symptoms like rigidity moving through their body like this, either before or after being diagnosed.
Dear Health Seeker 7, I've just finished reading your in depth personal portrait of mucuna use. I will be rereading it many times, there is so much info you've included. I too have had PD for 10 years, and kept it at bay using natural supplements for 8. Last year I realized things were really progressing. I finally joined this site where I found mucuna. It worked, but not great. I still have hand tremor, and extreme fatigue. Then I realized just recently that the dose I am on is really small. I was taking only 4 Banyan 500mg mp tablets that contain anywhere from 3.5 % to 7.5 % dopa. Your post which I found tonight will help me judge my intake. Does your husband take anything else at this time ?
Thanks.
Hi Kerrington,
Apologies for not responding sooner. Yes, my husband does take other medication, which was prescribed a few years into his PD when the side effects of Sinemet were causing him excruciating cramp like pain. He was suicidal at that time - all he could do was sit rigid and in agony most of the day, while at night he was woken constantly with severe painful cramps, mostly in his legs.
It's a long story, but eventually a brilliant neurologist - who recognised the pain as a side effect of the PD drugs - changed his 5 x Sinemet to 5 x Stalevo (to slow down the uptake of L-dopa) and added 2 x Gabapentin with each of the 5 doses to stop the cramping pain. He also had him take 1x Pramipexole (a dopamine agonist) and 2 x Amitryptaline at bedtime, which helped him sleep through the night pain free. Fortunately, the Pramipexole hasn't caused him any of the compulsive side effects agonists are famous for. (His neurologist told us he once prescribed it to a man who suddenly became a flasher!)
Years later when the Stalevo lost its effectiveness and we discovered what seemed to be the miracle of Mucuna, my husband was able to reduce 5 doses of Stalevo down to 2 a day (just for the Carbidopa element). He has also gradually reduced 10 doses of Gabapentin down to 2 a day (1 dose with each Stalevo), and 2 Amitryptaline down to 1 at night. He has not been willing to try going without Pramipexole yet as he feels that is the main drug that freed him from so much pain. Whether or not he still needs Pramipexole physically we can't know for now - he still needs it psychologically.
Hello, I love all you info on your experience with mucuna pruins, I tried all natural for 3 years, I dont think I was taking enough and at the time I didn't no to wait to eat protein, as I used mine in a protein smoothie. I'm using cardopa/levadopa 25/100 4xday and ER 50/200 2 at bedtime. I Like to try just mucuna again. A blogger on here said they like 100% pure which Is refined and doesn't contain any of the other good components of macuna. What brand do you find works best for you? Also I do have the green tea extract which is supposed to help mucuna cross the blood brain barrier. Thank you, Maria
Hi Maria,
Thank you. Please see my response to Kipper1285 below regarding the Mucuna we buy. My husband hasn't explored using green tea extract in place of Carbidopa yet. He tried drinking green tea but didn't see any improvement. I would love to hear how you get on with using Mucuna and green tea extract and to know what dosages work for you please. Many thanks, Ann
Wow! Thanks so much for the wonderful write up! Very helpful!
You seemed to hit the nail on the head. I,too experimented with Mucuna . However, being a newbie I was lead to believe that it needed to be taken with amino acids, tyrosine and huge amount of b6
The dosage Mucuna was constantly changing up and down to find the optimum dose. I gave up using Mucuna not because it didn’t work but because (I didn’t know it at the time) but I became extremely toxic to the b6. Do nothing was working. So neurologist started me on 8tabs Sinemet (1 every 2 hrs). I feel just as bad on that as I did on my worse Mucuna days. So health seeker tell me where to buy pure Mucuna powdèr or capsules and how would you go about weaning off all or most of the rx drugs?
You can buy Mucuna powder online from a number of sellers. Here in the UK we usually buy from Detox Trading because their prices are usually the lowest and their service is excellent. However, we have never been able to tell any difference in quality or effectiveness of Mucuna powders that we've bought from many different sellers.
Having said that, we've never bought Mucuna as an extract (what it is extracted from might actually be of value - for instance beans contain valuable vitamins, minerals and fibre), nor in capsules (they're more expensive and the dose would be too low for my husband), nor have we bought brown Mucuna powder, which I believe has been ground from roasted beans. We only buy pure grey, raw (uncooked) Mucuna powder. Raw, because heating destroys delicate nutrients, and we like it the way nature intended it. I personally believe the grey powder is likely to contain the most nutrients as well as natural L-dopa.
I have read that Mucuna contains neuro-protective qualities, so does not have the harmful side effects of synthetic L-dopa medication. It can also boost mood. My husband certainly feels well when he takes Mucuna. It is only the two doses of Stalevo he takes each day that cause him any discomfort. But he still takes those just for the Carbidopa content.
When my husband first tried Mucuna powder he started slowly with one dose at a time replacing one Stalevo tablet (after working out his best dose is one tablespoon of powder dissolved in a little water). When he eventually replaced all 5 doses of Stalevo he found that the Mucuna was effective for shorter and shorter spells as the day wore on. At first he just increased the number of Mucuna doses to about 8 a day, but then he added the two doses of Stalevo back in - one in the morning, one mid afternoon - so the Carbidopa would help more L-dopa cross the blood brain barrier. Now he takes about 6 doses of Mucuna each day, which get him back 'on' within 10 minutes and last at least 3 hours around 98% of the time.
I would advise anyone who wants to try replacing synthetic PD drugs with natural Mucuna powder to take it slowly and record the time of your dosages and any effects, including what you last ate if you experience any negative effects, since animal protein can prevent L-dopa being absorbed. But also don't be fearful. You can always reverse the situation if you don't have the same good results we have.
Hi HealthSeeker7. Thanks for your detailed information. I agree with everything that you have said because I have experienced the exact same effects with organic ground Mucuna from Banyan in the USA.
It is amazing indeed, except that I cannot find a doctor who will approve of this. However, I was prepared to go ahead and take it anyway because Mucuna is still Levodopa, a fact that my doctors have agreed with. Alas, I couldn’t follow through with this for three reasons:
1. Believe it or not, because insurance pays for the Sinemet/Rytary which I take, Mucuna is incredibly more expensive. Several times more expensive than my copay.
2. Even if I was able to “bite the bullet” and take the Mucuna powder, I was stuck with a unique problem - as a working professional with an active travel schedule, the Mucuna powder option was untenable.
3. There’s a tablet form of the organic pure powder that is sold by Banyan, but sadly it is not as effective.
Unfortunately, I am stuck with the pharmaceutical options only.
I understand your plight. Here in the UK PD meds are given to us free of charge by the NHS. But of course no doctor will ever recommend taking Mucuna because there is no profit for the pharmaceutical industry, and it is they who train medical doctors. So we take a financial hit buying Mucuna powder. (We pay approximately £20 per kilo of MP and use it at the rate of 6 tablespoons per day - I'm not going to work out how long that lasts.) But for us the benefits outweigh the price by far. We'd rather give up almost anything other than the Mucuna. The PD drugs no longer work for my husband anyway.
We haven't taken a flight anywhere since he started taking Mucuna, so I don't know how difficult it would be travelling with bags of grey powder, but I suspect it could be very dodgy, especially if they were confiscated.
I have had similar benefits from pure Macuna Pruriens.
after being at the mercy of my neurologist for years including four painful days of withdrawal from sinemet over the christmas holiday ... he stedfastly refused to script more. .so i otdered some mucuna pruriens online and mixed it with various drinks like soda pop tea, wine and beer and milk, and imdtill trying to find one which it dissolves best in,... perhaps wine . I stopped using the ground bean powder... since it would turn black and your saliva and stooll... i also tried fava beans but they taste weird and that movie ... now you can get medical grade levadopa made from mucuna pruriens
98% pure from various online sources.. and it is legal. theres alot i cant address here but i will later
You can make a tincture--see "Aunt Bean" online
What are your withdrawals like? I'm taking cardopa/levadopa and was taking entacopone which did help with Dyskinesia for 1 month half. I wanted to come off to see How I felt, tremoring a lot, now off 4 days, but my tremor seems faster and 2 25/100 takes about an hour for tremor to go away.
We've never noticed black saliva or stool, though the powder once dissolved in water can leave a slight black mark (not a stain) if splashed and allowed to dry. I believe the ground powder is grey because the Mucuna bean has a dark grey/black outer skin and light grey/white inner flesh. So the black must be from the pigment in the bean's skin.
Since Mucuna has been such a life saver for my husband, nothing about it seems like a negative to us. We are so grateful that nature has provided it, and that Ayurvedic doctors learned to use it for PD centuries ago.
It made me projectile vomit. IAt must be carefully titrated up as you remove or lessen the Sinamet.
I have tried mucuna capsules (Swanson's 350mg) past few days and I get a bloated feeling. Anyone else had this?
Not in our experience, but we're not all the same.
Mucuna Pruriens
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