[reverett123]

Day 2 of this one and it does have symptomatic effects. I am taking a single 500 mg capsule of "Chinese Red Ginseng" in the morning with my first meds and it seems to get me off to a good start. Least ways, between it and a similar dose of royal jelly at night I have improved greatly from three weeks ago when a big stress load left me barely able to walk. That experience sent me into "times awastin' " mode and I kave embarked upon a serious attempt to see if there is a cure among the herbals.

I am implementing a program including royal jelly, ginseng, aswagandha, and Vitamin D3 because those three share the common traits of research to back up their choice, folk tradition in the first three's case, and general safety f all four.

Each s supposed to trigger neuronal growth of one sort or another.

Ginseng does indeed seem to have increased my energy and while I am still working on my timing, it seems to augment my medications. And the things one hears about libido do seem to be true.

Blood pressure is doing well (133/86 just now) even though I dropped my medication for that a few weeks ago.

That's the report from Rat Woebegone.

[RLSmi]

Hope you continue to get good results. Ginseng, huh?

[reverett123]

I don't want to gush here, but this ginseng in the morning and royal jelly at night is doing far more for me than expected. The last week has been one of very high stress in my business, yet I am far better now than a week ago.

I literally began the week barely able to walk due to "Off" periods that had been gradually getting worse for the last year. Various autonomic problems were also increasing steadily.

Now a week later, the difference is amazing and still growing. Turned on in 30 min this morning instead of 1 to 2 hours. Slept well. Most encouraging of all is the noticeable increase in muscle tone in my lower legs!

A general sense of wellbeing. Lowered startle response. Increased libido (Qi or chi indicator). More energy.

More continuous response to medication. Smoother. Dyskinesias, primarily facial, were starting to be a factor, now gone completely.

Medline indicates that ginseng, at least, interacts with various receptors in ways that could result in better function. And it also works on the HPA axis to stabilize the stress response which the startle reflex change would reflect.

If anyone else tries it, it is important what ginseng you use. There are different species but the one that seemed the best choice is the panax species. (Also, there are a couple of different ways it can be processed. The designation "Red Chinese" reflects that. I believe it is steamed before being dried.)

I will continue to report in for awhile. So far, this is the best thing yet. And there is still the hope of neurogenesis, my original goal.

[oyster]

are you still continuing wth the curcumin thing while you try the ginsing and royal jelly?

[reverett123]

Yes, I'm trying to but have been very lax because if this stuff is going to work this well I want to get a feel for it alone first. None of my others work so quickly so it isn't hard to know what to credit it to. I will get back on track in another week or so. I really didn't expect symptomatic help with this and was thinking in terms of months. If I didn't have a Parkie Personality I'd be gleeful

As I mentioned it has been a real hell week workwise - lot of critical decisions to be made quickly. Wrong choice means bankruptcy. Stress, you bet. Started week barely functional but moved the RJ to bedtime and started the ginseng the following morning and "strode forth" as it were. Now this morning, two strange dogs wandered in, my three dogs raise hell, wife excited, smoke alarm decides it is time for a battery change, business still on mind, dogs still in overdrive, etc. Cool as cucumber? No way! But I was only off for fifteen minutes before starting back to on! In this part of Parkie World that is marvelous. This time last week with no stressors I was functional about four hours all day long!

[reverett123]

I continue to be impressed. 400mg ginsng in morning and 500 mg royal jelly in evening after last sinemet has had a headstart. Still having a tendency to go Off at midday but remember that when I started this I was almost unable to walk most of the day. And I am on until 11:00 PM or so from a last dose of meds around 6:00.

The ginseng effect has smoothed out a little and is discernable for two to four hours after taking. The RJ lasts about the same and seems to make me feel overmedicated. I intend to taper back on meds but have been too busy to do so. That in itself says a lot. I couldn't leave the blamed house a few days in the week preceding this!

I still intend this to be a longterm experiment, but this shortterm effect is a big surprise.

[Teretxu]

Thanks for the dosing tips, Rick. I guess I was taking too much Ginseng, it made my muscles too tight and I quit last year. Now I'll try your dosage for a while, and change my Royal Jelly to night time instead.


Teresa

[reverett123]

I have noticed that too much ginseng seems to lose something of its effect in my case. I am going on the assumption that these adaptogens work better in small doses but in combination with one another. Our systems seek to maintain a state of balance (homeostasis) and dropping a megadose of anything into those systems can be counter productive. Contrary to our Western mindset, just because a little is good does not mean a lot is better.

[oyster]

to take larger amounts of sup/meds is something i fight alot. if i read a posting here about some substance working well for a person i immediately want to increase my dose or start taking it if not already

balance in any part ofmy life is like gold to me.

[reverett123]

While I don't want to hijack my own thread, balance is a recurring topic in PD. The mundane act of standing and walking across a room becomes a literal "balancing act", for example. And PWP often have lives that are "out of balance" either from working all the time or drinking too much or both. The twenty-five cent description of PD as an imbalance between dopamine and acetylcholine is another. I don't think this is entirely coincidence.

Western medicine tends to see a healthy organism as one plowing ahead through the Sea of Life. Eastern medicine sees a healthy organism as serenely standing on one leg as the Sea surges past. Imbalance leads to stress via screwing up the finely tuned "fight or flight" center of the brain called the HPA axis. Even though their existence is barely recognized by science, the class of medicines known as adaptogens address this by restoring balance from both directions - too much or too little. Sometimes a little nudge is all you need. A big one could send you too far in the other direction. Do that often enough and you end up exhausted and your systems in chaos. Sounds a lot like ldopa treatment to me.