I am into my sixth year of PD. Up until now, I have avoided taking any PD drugs, relying entirely on supplements, in particular high dose B1.
About 10 days ago, I started taking mucuna. I have been taking capsules from piping rock, one in the morning and one in the evening. Not feeling any particular effect as of yet. I am thinking about increasing the dosage to two capsules in the morning and one at night. I am wondering if I should be at all concerned about taking too high of a dose.
I found this bit of information online.
“Each capsule contains 350 mg of extract of the Mucuna pruriens seed in a concentration of 15%, which is 50 mg of natural levodopa (equivalent to the synthetic levodopa in half a tablet of Sinemet Plus or one fifth of Sinemet 250). “
Any feedback is appreciated.
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Vt11
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Mucuna doesn't have the decarboxylase inhibitor that you find in the pharmaceuticals like sinemet which means that you cannot make a direct comparison. As a result the levodopa in mucuna has roughly a quarter of the potency of sinemet. So, to achieve equivalence to 100/25 sinemet (the base dosage) you'd require around 400mg of mucuna-sourced levodopa (8 tablets each dose). It's easier to achieve that with an extract along the lines of Barlowe's 40% extract. That's difficult to source here in Australia, much easier in the US and it still leaves you with a much higher blood plasma level of levodopa than it's sinemet-type alternative which could be problematical. To be honest I wish a pharmaceutical company would consider production of a mucuna 40% extract in combination with a decarboxylase inhibitor, I suspect it could become the gold standard treatment but whether there's profit in it is questionable.
Hi, The Barlowes I have for my husband says ea capsule is 600mg. Does your comment mean 8 capsules of barlowes is equal to one100/25 rx tablet? Just trying to understand the dosage. Thanks Mel
I was referring to the Now and Piping Rock brands which are only 15% levodopa. I think the Barlowe's is 40% extract which means one 600mg capsule contains 240mg levodopa, if you take into account it's lesser potency due to lack of the decarboxylase inhibitors carbidopa or benserazide then you arrive at a comparative dosage of around 50-60mg per capsule. If your husband takes two 40% extract caps that should equate pretty closely to one 100mg tablet of sinemet or madopar.
That's my understanding if mucuna is your standalone source of levodopa. If you're combining it with C/L or B/L you'd take substantially less because of the action of the decarboxylase inhibitor.
Hi Vt11,My experience with mucuna is quite different. I'm happy to give you details but long story short, I was taking tiny doses initially without effect. After researching published studies I learned that mucuna pruriens powder was used effectively and safely used for PwP at much larger doses. They reported it worked well for symptom relief but was definitely more challenging for the group to take the multiple large doses than taking a pill.
So I experimented on myself, gradually increasing my dose until I found what worked for me. I now take quite a bit, and do not have side effects as others have noted. I purchase organic whole bean powder from reputable companies and mix it into a small glass of water or almond milk. I take 5 doses daily of 1 tbsp each, when I first started it I took 2 doses. For me it works as well as the C/L, which I reluctantly started nearly 3 years ago and does cause side effects. I hope my reply takes away some of your fear of taking too much, but I highly recommend doing your research, taking it slow and listening to your body.
Swallowing the bean powder is quite a challenge. For me I find it's best to put a heaped tsp in my mouth, then I sip on something nice until it's all down. Lemon water or green tea or orange juice are good, but not cows milk or anything with protein. Protein inhibits the absorption.
Mucuna alone did little for me so I combine mucuna capsules with c/l for the decarboxylase inhibitor and it has been solid for me even at a high daily amount (nearly 2g mucuna + c/l ) w/out much dyskinesia as I progress.
I think I had read that mucuna might have some ingredient/properties that might help avoid dyskinesia. That had to do with the whole plant if I remember, where I only take the seed extract in capsule form.
Always a fan of a more natural option if one exists. Having more sources in general is comforting to me. Have had issues with a generic drug, inert fillers and such which was not pleasant
Also, when hurricanes take out Puerto Rico, as with Maria, 2017, it knocked out US pharma for a while.
Hi. I am taking alternate doses of madopar 3x 50/12.5 twice a day and mucuna extract from British supplements. It says 99%levodopa which is 353 mg levodopa per capsule. As mucuna doesnt have either carbidopa or bensezaride to cross the blood brain barrier my neurologist recommended to take it with green tea. He also prescribed the madopar. So i take the madopar in the morn. Then mucuna at midday madopar in the evening and mucuna before sleep. The mucuna works better than the madopar for me. Its one of the few mucuna that i find effective. I sleep quite ok, from 12 to 7.30 am. Only prob i have is my evening dose that often fails me. I also dance 5 rithms, do chi kung and walk to african or bollywood drums🙂. Bowen therapy has helped...Still learning
I tend to agree. For a year I was taking a 98% mucuna pruriens extract by NeuroActive, thinking it was a practical solution for swallowing less pills. But it lead to me having to increase my C/L from half (just for the sake of some carbidopa) to a whole tablet of 25/100 carbilev. Happily, when I switched to Zandopa bean powder, 7,5 g per dose, I got all the benefits of longer ON time and less dyskinesia and have been able to reduce the C/L to half again. My conclusion is that mucuna extracts are attractive, but they are little better than synthetic l-dopa. ON time can be as poor as 2 hours with an extract or as long as 3,5 hrs with Zandopa in combination with L/D.
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