Well, we have harvested our crop of fava beans and ate some tonight, steamed, with butter. We ate the whole pod and bean, not just the bean. Maybe a cup or so, cut up, and here are the effects:

1. pain virtually gone (this is huge, as those who suffer with pain know all too well)
2. rigidity almost gone as well, neck can rotate side to side with barely noticeable cog-wheeling
3. feel "tingly"
4. feel very relaxed, good, almost drunk but not staggering or tipsy
5. vision good, double vision gone, tracking not a problem like it usually is
6. feeling "cuddly" (this is very rare!)
7. tremors virtually gone

This is better than any time we have EVER taken sinemet, FYI. It hit quickly, too, no sixty to ninety minute delay...and is still going several hours later.

What do you all think? Granted, we ate these at the end of the day, after a day build-up of the usual meds, so the fava is piggy-backing on all that sinemet....but still. I'll add that we had some three nights ago with very similar effects, although then I sauteed the pods in olive oil (they were not nearly as good, some were a bit bitter, for those who are thinking of trying this).

I've also read conflicting reports that you CAN eat favas if you take azilect and some that say you shouldn't....but I tend to not worry about this so much because our neuro told us they also tell you not to eat aged cheese but you'd have to eat a whole wheel of cheese to have a reaction and no one is going to do that. So if you ate a bucketful of beans and pods, perhaps then I'd worry about a reaction, but not with the small amount we are eating.

We are going to have some more for breakfast and I'll report again. Just wanted to share what we are experiencing, and after we eat all the bean pods, we are going to eat the leaves and try to find some way to eat the stems as the whole plant has varying amounts of dopamine in it. If anyone has any recipes for fava leaves or stems, please let me know.

I think this is like mucuna, and Fiona is right, the plant has who knows what all additional compounds, enzymes, flavanoids or whatever, that help synergistically. But somehow, this is better than the mucuna powder we tried, at least so far in our limited experience.