Kilowatt3,

Thank you very much for the very well explained answer to my curiosity!  I was just curious mainly because the 150 Mg I take twice a day pretty much makes me 99% PF after 2 days on it.  I know our weight is a little different though.  I also know that Kudzu does not work for everyone.

Your explanation to why you have the recipe you have makes very good sense.  I am right on with you about "WTF - I beat the !#@#% HA's, why should I change anything??? "  I was just looking at it from my own personal response to Kudzu.

It would still be nice to know that if someone such as yourself just used Kudzu would have the same benefit and then we could look harder at one thing instead of 4 or 5.

Could you please post the contents of ingredients from your bottle of Kudzu?  Mine reads as:
Amount per Capsule
Kudzu(Pueraria lobata) (root)  165 mg
Kudzu (Pueraria lobata) (root extract)  150 mg
   (Guranteed 2% [3 mg] daidzin)


Thank you and PF days!

Hello Geewilly,

I'd be glad to post the info from my Kudzu bottle, but it's likely to be a few days or so before I can do it.  I'm away from home on business at the moment, and don't have it with me.  I do recall that the contents were 1000 mg of Kudzu, but I don't know if there was a breakdown into more detail; root vs. root extract, etc...  I think it was just "Kudzu root".  Looking at those ingredients from yours leads me to wonder if perhaps the 150 mg of "root extract" might contain a lot more of the active principle(s) that make the kudzu work, so the dosages might actually be closer than they appear.  As I understand it, daidzin is one of the compounds in Kudzu that appear to have medicinal properties - sort of a naturally occurring organic NSAID.

I'll be heading home tomorrow (Saturday), but it looks like as soon as I get home, we'll be preparing to flee our second major hurricane in three years :-P  We got slammed by Rita in '05, and the forcasts have Gustav running right up our a$$ sometime around Tuesday evening.  We've got a lot of preparation to do, and have to evacuate a lot of pets plus a horse.  I dunno if I'll be able to do much online posting until we've gotten this behind us.

Thanks again for joining the discussion!  I'll follow up here ASAP.

Regards,
Jim

Geewilly,

My Kudzu is "Good'N Natural" brand.
Contents are listed as :
"Kudzu Blend 1000 mg.
Kudzu Extract (Pueraria lobata) (root)
Kudzu (Pueraria lobata) (root)
(Standardized to contain 1% Daidzein)"

So, looks like the same ingredients, but in unknown proportions and with only half the Diadzein content of yours.

Stay in touch!

Regards,
Jim

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Wow.  I guess it makes one sleepy because of the alcohol in it.  Cyndi, you DO realize that alcohol is an almost universal trigger. Right?

This a perfectly good post.  But damn Linda_Howell you are like a bad penny.

Potter,

I will keep to my Trollish confines and don't expand them please.

Greg

P.S.  Just because Linda wanted to bedazzle this post with her sparkles does not mean we have to have your one sentence flames.  We can work on you and the challenge of paragraphs back in the other posts.

Greg,

I'm going to stay clear of the flame war, as I really haven't been a party to any of that conversation, but I have to say that so far as this topic is concerned, you really "don't get it".  Even after a few attempts at explanation.

Good luck!
Jim

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That you are right I don't get.  I do get that Kudzu has worked for well...atleast 3 of us.  I do believe that you explained your recipe very nicely and I am glad it has worked for not just you but also Cyndi's husband.

My question on the dosage was just out of complete curiosity and nothing else.  I was and still am very curious if you used the different brand and none of the other items if it works just as good.  I also understand that if something is working then why change it.

Thinking about the skullcap, two pharmacological effects come to attention. Taken from Wikipedia:

Virginian skullcap contains the flavonoid glycosides baicalin, dihydrobaicalin and chrysin glucuronide. Baicalin is known to be anti-inflammatory and analgesic[9][10]. Chrysin is found naturally in various plants including wild carrot, the Pelargonium species, which are germanium-like plants; the Passiflora or passion flower species, which include tropical passion fruit; and the Pinaceae species, including pine trees. Chrysin is sold as a nutritional supplement for male body builders because of its possible action in inhibiting the conversions of androgens to estrogens[11].

Some CH sufferers get help from anti-inflammatory drugs. E.g. steroids have a powerful effect on reducing inflammation and "calming down" the immune system. Probably the analgesic effect doesn't hurt either, since it reduces pain.

Chrysin might have an effect as well. I read somewhere that some CH sufferers have reduced amounts of testosterone. If chrysin inhibits the conversion of androgens to estrogens, that might be something worth considering.

Kudzu didn't work for me when I tried it. Neither did melatonin. I think I'll try and get some skullcap, though

- Best regards and PFDAN,
Rosa

I started this last night and I can report my FIRST ATTACK FREE NIGHT IN ALMOST 5 WEEKS!!!!        I am not going to make any other claims about success, but I had a full, beautiful, restful night of sleep for the first time in a long time.  Even if that's all this does for me, I can't thank Kilowatt3 enough for this!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

For the purposes of helping others, let me explain what exactly I took (as I had to modify Kilowatt3's original mixture/amounts due to what was available at the health food store I went to purchase all of the supplements/herbs.  Here's what I took last night:

- Kudzu (900 mg - 2 pills)
- Magnesium (200 mg - 1 pill)
- St John's Wort (300 mg - 1 pill) -- The pharmacist recommended a pill that also contained 80 mg of Rosemary (leaf) and 40 mg of Spirulina (algae).  It's also worth noting that the St John's Wort was standardized to .3% dianthrones measured as hypericin.  This has to do with the accuracy of the potency of the herb in pill.
- Skullcap (.5 ml liquid drop) -- They only had skullcap in liquid form, and this amount equals 500 mg
- Melatonin (5 mg - 2 pills) -- The pharmacist (and others here on this board) recommended going easy on this for my first night to see how it goes.  I'm going to see my Naturopath MD and get her advice about the 10 mg dose.

I have no idea if this will or won't work for anyone else, and I have no idea what the next few days will look like, but I can absolutely attest that I was attack free last night.  I will continue to report back my progress.  I will also report back what my Naturopath MD has to say about all of this.  She has a double medical degree as a Naturopath and a Medical Doctorate, and I trust her opinion on these things a lot.   My biggest concern is just making sure that I am not solving one problem while causing others.

Thank you again, Kilowatt3 and thanks to everyone else who has contributed to this thread and shared their experiences!

-josh

Yet another PF night!!!   I upped the melatonin to 7.5 mg in last night's dose, but I think that may be a bit much for me.  I am still really drowsy this morning.  But hey, a small price to pay for a pain free 36 hours, so far!

-josh

I've found this thread really interesting. I'm all for the herbal supplements (I already take 3 - 6mg melatonin every night) and I've read about magnesium helping too.

My question is about the St John's Wort. What part does that play? The only reason I ask is because I know here in the UK, medical advice suggests the St. John's Wort reduces the effectiveness of the contraceptive pill.

I am considering trying out the herbal concoction providing I can find the right stuff here but just wanted to find out a bit more first.

I've always heard the opposite about magnesium and calcium. Years ago, my doc advised a magnesium supplement  to help with my migraines. Magnesium allows our bodies to metabolize calcium. Without magnesium, our bodies cannot absorb or make use of calcium as well as Vitamin C.  But I think the thing to remember is that you're not on this herbal regimen for more than a week or two anyway. I don't think harm could be done in such a short period of time.