Hello everyone,
Last Sunday I joined the Zoom call and shared my experience using Mucuna, the issues I've had with the Barlowe's Mucuna, and my own Mucuna mix.
I had been taking Barlowe's 40% brown mucuna since late 2020, I started with green tea extract (EGCG from Life Extension x2 caps) and a whole capsule of this mucuna, but I quickly realized that it was too much for me because I was experiencing terrible nausea and was starting to get dyskinesia in my shoulders and hips/lower spine. So I began to work on adjusting my dose. I kept taking it with green tea and lowered the dose to 1/8 tsp of mucuna, later I switched 1 of the EGCG caps for 1 capsule of Quercetin, and the effects were pretty much the same, but with less mucuna, the effects were lasting less time and they were inconsistent and not reliable, so I decided to switch the EGCG and Quercetin for Carbidopa by itself and lowered the Mucuna even more.
Side note: I only took Sinemet for a couple of weeks before I started experimenting with Mucuna. One day, I had taken a c/l pill and the next day in the morning, I decided to take 2 caps of NOW mucuna by themselves and see what happened. Well, to my surprise, the 2 caps of NOW mucuna worked for a few hours really well, and that's when I realized that carbidopa stays in the body depending on the amount and I also realized that I didn't need much carbidopa at all to help mucuna work.
So I ended up with two different doses that I take during the day along with carbidopa. My morning dose is 1/16+1/64 tsp of Barlowe's + about 2mg of carbidopa (I cut a 25 mg pill in 8ths. I use a precision jewelry scale to make sure I take enough and it has to read at least 0.020g, I've taken as little as 0.018g but just in case I always take 0.020 to 0.027 - don't wanna take too much.) and 1/16 tsp with the same amount of carbidopa.
I've been taking these doses for a few years now, but earlier this year, around May I started having problems with Barlowe's mucuna. It started wearing off early, not every day, but some days and it started with 1/2hr less, and after a while, it started being 1 hr less, just very inconsistent and was experiencing stronger and strange kinds of dyskinesia, like spasms in my sternum/diaphragm, walking very off, like my legs would jerk while giving a step, This didn't happen so often but it was concerning. So I looked at my bottles and realized that they were the same batch as some I had bought last year. I decided to order another bottle and the new bottle that arrived was the same batch.
Side note: A couple of years ago, Barlowe's had announced that they were going to stop carrying Brown Mucuna 40%, I freaked out and bought a bunch of bottles that lasted me a very long time, after a while (many months- possibly a year) I began feeling strange spasms and dyskinesia from the Mucuna and I realized that it was because I the mucuna was old, I bought a new bottle and the issues disappeared.
I contacted Barlowe's and asked If they had a different batch that was newer and they said that was all they currently had, he graciously sent me a bottle of white mucuna to see if I felt any different. I didn't end up taking it because the carrier is maltodextrin and I don't want that crap. So I began looking for other 40% Mucuna brands. The few that I found had additives, like rice powder, maltodextrin and other stuff, I don't want to take other crap that I don't need, all I was looking for was pure concentrated mucuna like Barlowe's. Unfortunately in the US there aren't any other brands like that and I already knew this because I looked for them when Barlowe's was gonna stop carrying the brown mucuna, I did find a brand like that in Europe though.
So I had a hunch that the Barlowe's mucuna was just a mix of 100% l-dopa from mucuna mixed with a pure mucuna bean powder as a carrier. So I decided to try this theory and make my own mix. I used the ratios from the Barlowe's mucuna bottle to make my mix. I've been taking my mix for about 3 weeks. It's definitely more stable and lasts almost as long as the original Barlowe's. I'm happy with my mix and I'm going to continue making it.
I've been having trouble sleeping lately and also was doing a parasite cleanse and started to take benfotiamine. Last week a couple of days I had very shaky hands which never happens, and my hands were clammy and my mouth dry and supper thirsty. I very much doubt this was the mucuna, I actually think it may be the benfotiamine and/or the parasite cleanse.
Side Note: I've noticed the mucuna at least for me takes about 2 weeks to "cycle" through the body, meaning after two weeks that is the real effect you will feel from now on, before that, the body is still adjusting and doses may last longer than normal or expected or less than normal or expected.
Helpful Side Note: in 1/8tsp of 40% mucuna there are +- 130mg of l-dopa
in 1/16tsp of 40% mucuna, there are +- 65mg of l-dopa
in 1/16+1/32tsp of 40% mucuna, there are +- 97.5mg of l-dopa
in 1/16+1/64tsp of 40% mucuna, there are +- 81mg of l-dopa
Here are the ratios:
There are 39000mg (39g) of Mucuna in a bottle of barlowes.
And 40% of that is 15.6 g (15600mg) amount of l-dopa per bottle.
And there are 23.4g (23400 mg) of whole Mucuna in the bottle.
So, I mixed 15.6g of 100% l-dopa from Nutrivita Mucuna with 23.4g of whole mucuna bean powder from Banyan Botanicals, and from that mix, I made my usual capsules of 1/16+1/64 tsp that I take in the morning and 1/16 tsp that I take in the afternoon. I used a precision scale to measure all this. Below are links to the teaspoons, the scales, the mucunas, the capsule-making machine, the capsules, the tiny funnels I use to make my capsules, and the pill cutter that I use to cut the carbidopa.
Teaspoons: amazon.com/5PCS-Small-Measu...
Precision Scale: amazon.com/dp/B0B73YG2SQ?re...
Jewelry Scale: amazon.com/dp/B07X1R442K?re...
Banyan Whole Mucuna Bean Powder: banyanbotanicals.com/produc...
Nutrivita 100% l-dopa from Mucuna: nutrivitashop.com/l-dopa-10...
Empty Capsules: amazon.com/dp/B07X7KBL27?re...
Tiny Funnels: amazon.com/dp/B06XCZDV15?re...
The Pill Cutter ( cuts multiple pills in half at once): amazon.com/dp/B00JMHZ5BG?re...
Capsule Filling Machine: herbaffair.com/products/cap...
Hope this helps.
This is how we take our power back!
Mucuna Please Read..do the homework
Any natural source of Carbidopa to take along with mucuna pruiens 
Examine Mucuna 
Mucuna Pruriens and B1 capsules 
Mucuna my natural protocol
