Mucuna with Rasagiline (Azilect)?

[Marcomando]

Anyone have any experience of trying mucuna while taking Rasagiline? Will I die..?!

Marc

[Lionore]

I tried it, and felt awful for several hours. I can't explain the feeling, but it wasn't pleasant!

[Lionore]

No one can predict anything. I was fine after about three hours but at worst call your doctor, 911 or get yourself to the ER.

[park_bear in reply to Lionore]

PWP need to think carefully about heading to the ER. If the problem is needing adjustment of your meds, the ER is the wrong place. The purpose of the ER is to deal with medical emergencies like stroke and heart attack. There have been cases of PWP needing medication adjustment, going to the ER, getting worked up for stroke, not receiving their usual PD meds, and coming out much worse than when they went in. The reason for this is ER staff are typically not experts on PD. They see someone with neurological problems and according to their training and purpose look for life threatening emergencies.

[stevie3]

Um....I did. I'm fine. Still here.

[munchybunch in reply to stevie3]

Hi Stevie. Me again! How did you work out the dosage of mucuna? Does it interfere with other drugs?

[Marcomando]

Ok thanks,

As I understand it Rasagiline is an MAO-B inhibitor - which means it prevents the body breaking down the dopamine you naturally produce. Therefore if you add extra dopamine you get an overdose (potentially) which can cause hypertension.

However as Rasagiline is regularly taken with LDopa when presumably the same conflict would occur I imagine it must be possible to try the natural Mucuna powder with Rasagiline as long as I try it in very small amounts until I work out if it's causing a problem.

I'm aged 55 fit and well (apart from this of course!) and a year in from dx, just taking 1mg pd Rasagiline.

I can feel I'm slowing up and my tremor is getting worse but I don't really want to go onto LDopa/Sinemet etc yet. Just curious about trying a little Mucuna to see if I notice any benefits...

Marc

[park_bear in reply to Marcomando]

If you overdose on levodopa and end up with too much dopamine in the brain, the symptom is dyskinesia – involuntary jerky movement. This is not life threatening and will subside in an hour or so. Rasagiline is intended to be taken with levodopa. PWP do not have enough dopamine in the brain. Extending the life of what dopamine is already there is good but is usually insufficient. The usual way of adding dopamine is to take carbidopa / levodopa. However, if you want to try just levodopa in the form of mucuna that will not hurt you in reasonable doses. Start with 100 mg every 8 hours or so and go to 200mg at a time if you need to. The expected dose limiting toxicity for straight levodopa would be nausea.

[SuperMNew]

I was taking Mucuna while easing off ropinirole, both at the same time for a while. I experienced some kickback from going off ropinirole, but that quickly subsided with the increase of mucuna. I've been on mucuna now for a year. No kickback from it, and it stays the same in its effectiveness.

[munchybunch in reply to SuperMNew]

How do you work out the dosage pls and where do you get yrs from? Thanks

[Hikoi in reply to SuperMNew]

SuperMNew do you take Macuna to treat Parkinsons or Restless Leg Syndrome? I expect amonts would be different for each condition?

[SuperMNew in reply to Hikoi]

Mucuna is used mainly for PD, but it works for RLS as well. I have RLS.

[BUZZ1397]

At first read that gave me a smile. Just how much Mucuna are you thinking of trying? I am an experimenter too. Asking first for help from others is good and going carefully is best for sure. I have taken Azilect and carbidopa/levodopa at the same time as they were prescribed me. I admit that during that time I also tried a cap of 100 mg standardized extract of mucuna and I'm not dead. But don't do it. Eventually I decided to cease azilect for awhile (I've got almost a 3 month supply of 1 mg) and look for something less risky to medicate with than azilect. Search "FDA adverse events Azilect" for more info. Currently experimenting again, this time going without C/L, replacing it with natural sources. Good luck Marcomando.

[SuperMNew in reply to BUZZ1397]

BUZZ1397, I purchase Velvet Bean Extract (Mucuna Pruriens) from Pure Science. The dosage is listed as 1 capsule (this product is 97% Mucuna, and 3% filler which is the highest I can find in the purest formulation.) I have found that for me, 1 capsule equals 1 hour of sleep. I take 4 capsules on an empty stomach, wait about an hour before it is absorbed and my shaking stops, and I sleep 4 hours. At the end of four hours, I take four more but again must wait until it is absorbed and sleep another four hours. I have done this for a year and I've had no reduction of effectiveness from the capsules. I get the same results night after night. I can't tolerate more than four at a time.

The bottle of capsules has 50 in it and costs $20 from Pure Science. That's about 6 nights of rest, which is about $3.25 per night for good sleep. It's more expensive than I like, but I get consistently good sleep on this routine. I have not found any other product that works this well.

[SuperMNew in reply to SuperMNew]

You will need to experiment. Not everyone can tolerate the same dosage.

[BUZZ1397 in reply to SuperMNew]

The experimenting is ongoing. I hope that I can completely quit usinf Carbidopa Levodopa someday

[BUZZ1397 in reply to SuperMNew]

Thank you so much

[SuperMNew in reply to BUZZ1397]

You are very welcome! I truly hope you can break free from prescription drugs that lose their effectiveness and leave you worse off than the disease itself. Mucuna is a natural bean. It's effectiveness is consistent, at least in my experience.