[filipe]

Please read...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0605175332.htm

http://digg.com/health/Ginkgo_The_Li...hic_Pain_ifood

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=111669257334

What you think?

I actualy been taking it since August but as Mrs D told me I know it has some side effects....

[mrsD]

Your first link:

"It's still too early to stock up on ginkgo biloba if you have chronic pain," comments Dr. Steven L. Shafer of Columbia University, Editor-in-Chief of Anesthesia & Analgesia. Many treatments that are effective in animals do not prove to be effective in humans, or prove to have unacceptable toxic effects when given to patients,

The 3rd link is a repeat of the first link, slightly rewritten.

[mrsD]

This is the PubMed abstract of the Korean study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...m&ordinalpos=4

Anesth Analg. 2009 Jun;108(6):1958-63.
The effects of Ginkgo biloba extract EGb 761 on mechanical and cold allodynia in a rat model of neuropathic pain.

Kim YS, Park HJ, Kim TK, Moon DE, Lee HJ.

Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.

BACKGROUND: Neuropathic pain is chronic pain that is caused by an injury to the peripheral or central nervous system. The symptoms of neuropathic pain are continuing pain, hyperalgesia, and allodynia. Ginkgo biloba extract is an oriental herbal medicine that has various pharmacological actions. We examined the effect of Ginkgo biloba extract, EGb 761, on the mechanical and cold allodynia in a rat model of neuropathic pain. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were prepared by tightly ligating the left L5 and L6 spinal nerves. All the rats developed mechanical and cold allodynia 7 days after surgery. Fifty neuropathic rats were assigned into five groups for the intraperitoneal administration of drugs. The study was double-blind and the order of the treatments was randomized. Normal saline and EGb 761 (50, 100, 150, and 200 mg/kg) were administered, respectively, to the individual groups. We examined mechanical and cold allodynia at preadministration and at 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 min after intraperitoneal drug administration. Mechanical allodynia was quantified by measuring the paw withdrawal threshold to stimuli with von Frey filaments of 1.0, 1.4, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, 10.0, 12.0, 15.0, and 26.0 g. Cold allodynia was quantified by measuring the frequency of foot lift with applying 100% acetone. We measured the locomotor function of the neuropathic rats by using the rotarod test to reveal if EGb 761 has side effects, such as sedation or reduced motor coordination. RESULTS: The control group showed no differences for mechanical and cold allodynia. For the EGb 761 groups, the paw withdrawal thresholds to mechanical stimuli and withdrawal frequencies to cold stimuli were significantly reduced versus the preadministration values and versus the control group. The duration of antiallodynic effects increased in a dose-dependent fashion, and these were maintained for 120 min at the highest dose (P < 0.05). Only at the highest dose (200 mg/kg) did EGb 761 reduce the rotarod performance time. CONCLUSION: We conclude that Ginkgo biloba extract, EGb 761, attenuates mechanical and cold allodynia in a rat model of neuropathic pain, and it may be useful for the management of neuropathic pain.

PMID: 19448231 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Keywords here are ATTENUATES (not cures) and only at the highest dose used for 2 hours, and when injected directly into the abdominal cavity (the severe test injury given was in that area of the spine).

This is no cure, and I'd caution against using high dose Gingko at this time.