For those of you who take mucuna, I'm starting mucuna and have questions. I have taken no pharmaceuticals yet for PD, although I do take antidepressants. My symptoms are relatively mild but tremor has gotten worse and is beginning to bother.
There's a lot of partial answers around this site and I'm hoping that getting some updated and more complete answers can help as a reference for me and others looking for this information.
1. Is mucuna best taken on an empty stomach? Is it ok to take with food if no protein is in the meal? If it causes you stomach upset what do you do about that?
2. I see some people recommend taking other supplements with mucuna (5htp, l-tyrosine, etc). Others seem to take it alone. What do you take, why, how much and how (together or separate from mucuna)?
3. Have you experienced side effects?
4. What brands have worked for you? Do you find capsules or powder to work better? Any suggestions for organic brands?
5. If you have been doing the Heinz protocol, how has it worked for you and would you recommend?
6. If you have taken only mucuna w/o sinemet, how has that worked for you?
Many thanks in advance for your answers.
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rebtar
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#1 yes, #2 Read Rich Silvestro's recommendations of companion supplements and natural source inhibitors, #3 No, #4 I say avoid the NOW brand of MP it seemed to be less pure, #5 n/a, #6 Good, no dizziness, smoother effect, longer lasting than standard C/L tabs.
Thanks for that info. I to take Mucuna along with C/L. I really don't know how much to take. I am experimenting with 2 a day along with c/l. Should I take with c/l earlier or later. Any help would be appreciated. Also where doI find Rich Silvestros information.
My husband takes 400mg Swanson Brand Mucuna 3 times a day. He has taken this for 11 years along with his Sinemet. His doctor at Emory Health in Atlanta is always astounded that he had not had to increase his medication.
I gather from your post that you might be Indian. If so, have you tried taking Nilotobin , also known as Tasigna. I understand that it is manufactured in India and cost a fraction of the US price. I have also discovered that it can be purchased in India without a prescription? I have obtained prices from various Indian pharmacies but am leery about being cheated. I thought you might have connections there that might be of help.Thanks in advance for your kind assistance Dennis
Normally when people talk about Mucuna they are talking about the whole plant, which contains some 10 - 15% LDopa. It is not practical to ingest enough raw Mucuna to address PD symptoms. There are 40% and 98% on the market which will do the job. I stick with 98%, which is very much cheaper; for some reason. My personal suspicion is that the 98% is the same as the Levidopa of Sinimet fame. LDopa is LDopa after all.
It is not the LDopa that is causing the grief, but the agonist, Carbidopa et all. The agonist addresses the nausea problem inherent in LDopa ingestion. The nausea problem is also addressed by the amino acid 5HTP. The sad truth is that NHS doctors cannot prescribe either pure LDopa or 5HTP.
I am on the Hinz protocol, and doing well, although not perfect, I would recommend it. It was expensive, but now I'm up and running its only around £20 per week.
I would recommend the fight-parkinsons website for options on treatment.
Hello Rebtar: I have been taking mucuna for over a year, but I am by no means an expert. I just have some experience--and it's been good. Mucuna gives me consistent results time after time with no augmentation or loss of potency. Figuring out the dosage that works for you will be up to you. I suggest you get the purest pharmaceutical grade 100% mucuna with no fillers. I go to nutrivitashop.com/products/...
This is the best product I have found. I've used others, but they all have some measure of fillers. This is 100% mucuna, and it has no taste. I will try to address your questions (I hope others on this blog will also answer according to their experiences)
I have a condition called RLS, not PD. Mucuna was the natural medicine of choice in India for Parkinson's Disease. They have successfully treated PD with Mucuna for hundreds of years. When mucuna begins to take affect (after you take your dosage), all shaking stops, at least for me it does.
1. Mucuna is best taken on an empty stomach. That way it has no competition for absorption. If you have food on your stomach, it may not work for you at all. That has been my experience. If it causes stomach upset, back off the dosage a bit until you feel fine after taking it. I have experienced nausea if I wait too long to go to bed after I have taken my nightly dosage. I just then go right to bed, and when I lay down, the nausea passes. It works for me in about 20-30 minutes after I've taken it. (I take mine in juice. I use a powdered lemon or orange from truecitrus.com. Then add stevia to sweeten. I don't want the sugar in regular juice to hit my stomach and raise my blood sugar sharply.)
2. If you take EGCg, which is a green tea extract, (mine is 400 mg capsules), it will extend the effectiveness of the mucuna and give you a longer sleep time. I do not take anything else with this mucuna dose and EGCg at night. I get about 4 hours sleep with a dosage of 3/4 tsp. mucuna. The EGCg extends that at least by 1 hour, sometimes by 2. Then, I get up and take another dose just like the first. Some nights I get at least 10 hours sleep.
3. The only side effect I have experienced is when I have food on my stomach and I've taken mucuna. It usually ends up making me sick, and I throw up. That takes care of it. I'm fine after that. No other side effects for me.
4. Powder works much faster. Capsules have to first dissolve in the stomach before the powder inside the capsule can work.
5. If you take prescription meds, you will not want to take mucuna until you can at least start cutting down on your prescriptions and then start very slowly with mucuna. Otherwise you'll get an overdose. Not fun!
MAY I RECOMMEND that you read the expert's book on Parkinson's Disease: "Natural Remedies in Parkinson's Disease" by Dr. Rafael Gonzalez Maldonado. He just released his new edition in February 2017. I found this on Amazon.com and downloaded it to my Kindle.
God bless you as you search for what will work for you.
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