Using grapefruit juice to enhance or support medication

[MarionP]

It's been awhile since I've seen this topic discussed, are there people who use grapefruit juice, not as something to be worn away from, but to use its medication slowing properties where its metabolism slows down depletion of C/L or extends it's "on" time? I have done that some in the past and I'm just wondering if it's occurred to anybody else, I know we had some discussion about it but that was like four or five years ago.

[Parkie1]

I'm interested. Any info I can read on it?

[MarionP in reply to Parkie1]

In 2019 there were two webpages or conversations mentioned in a conversation here at health unlocked but I managed to lose them. It's very possible ParkBear knows, and even better, could access them, they may have original actually come from parkbear. I have looked but have not had a lot of luck yet finding them. As I find the energy I will let you know if I run across anything.

The idea is that grapefruit juice competes with L dopa and mucuna so that the enzymatic consumption of them in the liver is slowed, thus extending the effects of adopa mucuna etc. this can actually become a strategy for extending on. Or slowing down the onset of off. But there is a potential trade off to be managed if you are on other medications that also involve the same enzymatic consumption pathway in the liver as the liver consumes them. For this reason the doctor hegemony and priesthood uniformly recommends not to eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice, but you see it's not as simple as all that and that is where the interest lies because one can actually use it as a strategy to help oneself, despite doctors uniformly preaching against it. This is where the complexity goes and the certain amount of risk, but there is such a thing as dignity of risk which doctors don't worry about so much on your behalf and tread the extremely conservative path on behalf of their own fears, in which sometimes they can depart from giving you advice that is in your best interest so that they can minimize the risks, as they see it anyway, to themselves at your expense and at which point you as the active self-determined person have to contemplate the right course for yourself, bearing also of course the responsibility for the decision. At that point you may decide to do some experimenting, carefully of course.

[Parkie1 in reply to MarionP]

Thank you Marion. I'm wondering if it might help as I metabolise cobeneldopa very quickly. A 50mg tab gives me peak dose dyskinesia, and wears off sharply after 90 minutes

[CaseyInsights in reply to Parkie1]

Here is a previous post on this issue and a reply and paper by wriga commenting on the post

healthunlocked.com/cure-par...

[MarionP in reply to CaseyInsights]

That's it, Wriga!

[Parkie1 in reply to CaseyInsights]

Thank you. Very interesting, but sad that no protocol for use with PD meds has been established. I see that it inhibits Dopamine Agonists too. I have 4mg Neuro patch plus co -ben, so I'm hesitant to experiment due to possible unknown effect on liver.

[amykp]

Yeah, the problem with grapefruit is not so much what it does for your dopamine (which I agree would be interesting to experiment with) but what it might do for some other drug you are taking (which might or might not be so fun, depending.) Statins are a good example, although they are not exactly life-threatening either, but you'd want to know the dose you were getting, I should think...and grapefruit would change it.

Doctors imo are just always terrified of getting sued. So they have no idea what else you might be on, or whether you are truthful, and the safest thing for them is not to mess with the status quo.

BTW I use grapefruit to enhance a drug I am taking called rapamycin, despite the fact I also take a statin. But the rapa is only once a week, so I don't worry.

[garygjs]

Not able to address the grapefruit issue but this recent paper on Levodopa absorption may be of interest:

content.iospress.com/articl...

Perhaps surprisingly, soybeans are flagged as a foodstuff that may extend 'on' time:

jns-journal.com/article/S00...