i don't recommend mucana, i've bought it in bulk and tried a teaspoon at a time and fellt mostly flushed and a few capsule products - can't give you a name, tossed them, and felt nothing. but i'm sure nothing i post will deter you so my advice is start slow, take the mucana at the end of the day, take the same CL during the day and take 1 cap at the end of the day. an extra 25mg won't probably be noticed but if your father feels something you'll have a baseline to work from. if that worries you, then take 50mg of CL as the last dose of the day and add mucana until an affect is felt. rhe reason i would avoid starting it in the morning is that's when your father's CL is at the lowest and he might not feel anything from a mucana since without the carbidopa the l-dopa in the mucana will likely be broken down and even with CL less than 10% of the l-dopa reaches the brain.

so test while at home where your father can accommodate any unexpected side affects or if he's under medicated while experimenting. my logic is add mucan when his CL concentration is highest and you'll notice any l-dopa in the mucana. so if 1 mucana cap is tolerated and helps his pd, then reduce the CL starting at the end of the day and working backwards. but i would go very slow, ya never know what other side affects can happen. this isn't like taking a supplement to just "feel better" or hope it reduces my chances of getting a disease, this is changing something that is the most important thing in your father's life and playing doctor. i hope you realize what you are doing, going from a pharmaceutical which if everyone plays by the rules is safe and consistent from dose to dose to going to plant product where regardless of what is says on the label and good intentions, there's no 100% guarantee as to it's purity or effectiveness. plant protein differs from growing season to growing season, you have no idea how long the bulk mucana has been stored, i'm pretty sure the company packaging it into capsules doesn't grow it, do they test it? mucana is grown where?

may i ask how your dad is doing on CL, how old is he and when he was diagnosed? 400mg is not a large amount of l-dopa. at 25mg of l-dopa/capsule, he would have to take 10grams of capsules.
keep in mind mucana might affect BP as does l-dopa and he's basically eating raw legume flour, just like grinding up non-toasted soybeans, there are a lot of enzymes in there there's a lot of stuff in there besides l-dopa. l-dopa is an amino acid, your body doesn't care if it comes from a bean or a test tube.

as far as FAVA, just how many people have posted here that have taken FAVA of any type that have reported positive results that are any different from taking CL? maybe 1 or 2?

just my opinion.

Ckokkinos...have your fther tested for favism before trying th e fava beans...it is a rare , but dangerous enzyme deficiency. The test is not costly................. G6pd blood test (might be $65.) just to be safe. What is your location for growing the beans...they are a cool weather crop.Broad Windsors have worked fine here. The last couple years I have perchased 25 lb bags from special order bulk at the local health food store...just make sure you ask for organic, sproutable beans. You can use the sprouts as l-dopa supplement too or plant them. I try to plant mid March as many as possible here in east TN. We have a bumper crop right now that I am trying to get out of the field this week, may have to try to sell some to a local market/ our freezer is full. Am opening the field to PD'rs first to see if they help symptoms in anyone of our local support group. One thought for you is to look up making liquid sinemet... that is how my friend cut back and could take charge of her dose better. It goes to work faster because it is already dissolved and you can take more frequent smaller doses...which helps with off times being less dramatic and can sometimes get rid of them altogether. As far as mucuna goes...it is a little too strong for me (though others find it very helpful) Favas are more of a gentle support you hardly notice...to me , they are amazing.

Was blessed so much this week....a neighbor has brought me several large round bales of old , unfeedable hay....which I have been working very hard to "unwrap" and mulch the gardens with. We are so hot and very dry this summer..it may be the only thing that saves the crops. We have had a fantastic fava bean harvest...still 4 half rows to pick today and tomorrow and then this springs plants will be pulled out . The ground will be mulched and new beans planted the end of JUly for " buds" (alias "tops" ) for tincture production. They may make some small bean pods before 26 degrees hits us again. God is so good to supply our needs.... just pray that I can hold up and do my part to do the work!

Hello from TN. Just thought I would let you all know that are planning to put out a fall crop of favas for tincturing ....good planting date for peas and favas/ seedbeds and other crops is July 26th. So that's when my favas will be going in the ground, Lord willing. I soak them for 24 hrs, then plant. They like the cooler weather / I usually plant in March to start harvesting in June The end of July I put out a second planting. We get a few small beans before December, but lots of BUDS (new word for the little ball at top of each stem that I dry and tincture for my l-dopa supplement) It is still working just fine to take care of my PD symptoms . I found that I can make a stronger tincture by straining out the first batch of BUDS after about 18 days from the brandy and putting a second picking of dried Buds into the same brandy. That way I can use less, which is great...because I am not into drinking alcoholic beverages. Less is better..even by a dropper size amount for me. Blessings from Bean Acres.

Soaked approxiimately 1,000 fava beans for 24 hrs. So far have about 400 of them planted. Got the garden area tilled before a hard rain came,. Ground is still very wet, but the favas have to go in. Resorted to making walking paths with hay and poking the seeds into the wet ground while crawling on the old hay paths. Hope I can get the rest planted in the morning. It will be my first and only planting of favas for fall. Just hope the chickens don't dig them up!

We had a terrible thunderstorm with heavy rain here during the night...was afraid to look out at the garden this morning, but , the corn and staked tomatoes are still standing. Saturday , was able to get the rest of the fava patch planted (probably about 850 seeds altogether....it took many hours of spreading a walking path of old hay and then crawling along the path, poking a hole and planting a bean....You got to really appreciate something to put in that much work, but, we need the plants to collect tops for tinture. I got a lot of beans harvested this year, but things kept coming up that I missed picking tops (BUDS) when they were ready to harvest and dry...so the tincture supply is lower than usual) Had no more room in the lower garden area where the spring planting had been that I'd tilled.Was unable to dig in wet ground from the previous rain...so am sprouting the rest of the seeds for fava humus...tastes great
FAVA HUMUS: soak fava beans 24 hrs/ rinse well/ then rinse 3 times a day for 3 days
*I leave them in my colander
Then peel the skin off/ rinse well / steam for about 8 minutes (til able to chew) Grind the steamed beans into flour consistency and make humus by adding crushed garlic to taste/ lemon juice to taste/salt/and any spices you would like and olive oil or coconut oil to make spreadable ..use like dip for chips or on bread.
Raises l-dopa level too! So don't eat too much at a time (has to go thru digestion first, so you won't notice for several hours, may give more support the next day )

Aunt Bean, I am interested in trying fava bean extract. Can I purchase some from you? Do you have a web site? Thanks

I do not have a website. Very much a learner on computer. Just a old farmer and like an old dog...it is hard to learn new tricks..computer is one of them for me. I don't sell tincture , but will teach others who come to the farm how to make it. I am lucky to produce enough for the needs of myself and my friend with PD. Harvested more beans than tops this year and just got the fall planting into the ground to harvest tops from in a couple of months, Lord williing. Glad to teach anyone how I am treating my PD naturally!

Just an update on Bean Acres: The fava beans have not come up well at all that were planted the end of July and first part of August. I purchased a really poor bag of bulk seeds this year. I am going to go against my usual growing time and try to replant this Sunday. Hopefully we will get more plants that will give us at least one picking of tops before temps hit 26 degrees this year. One year they made it to the second week in December...that would be a blessing this year. Tomatoes have gone crazy this summer...probably have gotten a bushel from each plant so far and they are still producing. Green beans have done exceptionally well also....but fava "tops" are the most important crop here and we need more to see us thru until the end of May when the spring crop starts it's harvest time. Aunt BEan feels very well and I hope to go to Rock Steady Boxing Camp next year in Indianapolis so that I am better equipped to help our support group with exercises that target PD symptoms. Our group responded well to adding exercise to our meeting time...a very necessary thing for all of us. Summer is coming to a close, but work is not. I recieved a heavy coverall for cold weather...it was my brother's, which makes it even more special...hopefully I can take being outside in cold weather this year to create new raised beds for the coming year. Bean Acres is open to people with PD who want to come learn natural ways to combat their symptoms. The farm has been such a blessing to me, and my prayer is that God will use it to touch many lives in a possitive way who also have this horrible disease...IT is not incurable. God Bless you all Aunt Bean

Short update. Planted 145 favas in raised beds this morning that will be able to be covered over when the weather gets too cold. They were seeds that I saved myself. Have had terrible germination from my last bulk purchase ...some long rows in the garden have maybe 10 plants when there should have been 150. This will be my final planting outside/ Planning to plant fava seed in the Greenhouse toward the end of September though when it stays a bit cooler in there than 100 degrees (goes up to 110 degrees sometimes on these 90 degree days...too hot for sure!) God Bless!