I just ordered sixty 200 mg berberine pills
through Amazon for about 23 dollars.I will
evaluate.I am planning on trying 2 pills twice a day.
Eddie

wow, that is expensive Eddie..

I take 500 mg, three times daily now, and seen much improvement, but at the price you paid, I'd try something else... Is what you ordered pure berberine hydrochloride?? Berberine sulfate is out there but it does not produce the same results... I've not seen Berberine Hydrochloride anywhere here in the USA unless it is in an herbal blend.... If you can give me a reference site or the name brand, I'd like to check it out...

I notice that just the berberine keeps my BG about 10 to 15 numbers lower than without, but when I add a little walking into the mix, I can get my day time numbers in the low 80s' consistently and sometimes in the 70s', but I don't feel comfortable below about 78, I start feeling a low energy..


Ron

When will you be going back to China, Ron? Not that I'm pushing...just anxious to see you come back with some sort of contact or contract.

Waiting patiently Glennette

I'll respond to Glennette here and try to post in her journal if she has one..

I'm leaving within 2 weeks, getting some last minute things taken care of first. I have a company in China willing to work with me on establishing a quality controlled product coming out of their plant and they're willing to subject themselves to whatever testing is necessary to prove their quality control. They produce many herbal products, but I'm specifically focusing on the Berberine Hydrocholoride for starters. Whether I have to create a business or find an American business to work with the Chinese company does not matter to me, except if I have to do it, I am just needing to learn more about start up costs, licensing, etc.. My fiancee is also beginning some research on her end and we'll be discussing things when I get there, but I really want to see this product reach the USA as soon as possible, whether there's a buck in it for me or not..

Eddiemcm said he bought some, but not sure yet what he bought, but I know his price is very high and probably out of the affordable price range of many diabetics.

I am still in the experimental stage with it on myself. I was taking 2/3 of the recommended amount and while keeping my BG down on a Chinese lifestyle, it didn't work the same here, so I've just upped the amount to 3 doses daily, instead of 2 and my BG is now lower, but I have to wait and see if it has a positive effect on my cholesterol on my next testing. I'm also confused about my last cholesterol test, as I only fasted about 11 hours. I usually fast 14 hours. I think 12 hours is recommended. Since on just 2 doses daily, my blood pressure is way better and very normal... I don't find it works well as an appetite suppresant, but I can go longer without eating, but not sure that means anything in terms of weight loss. I'm not losing ,that is for sure. I think I have the world's slowest metabolism, besides being a person who doesn't believe in starving myself and I don't..

2 weeks? I'm really happy to hear that!

I know that what Eddiemcm got is the sulfate b/c I saw it on Amazon and did a search there to find the hydrochloride with no luck.

How much better is your blood pressure? This would be great for the DH but mine runs low so that would be a concern.
MY Doc just took me off my ACE inhibitor b/c I was becoming dizzing on the lowest dose possible, cut in half. She said that it's probably due to the weight loss.

Hope you get good news on your cholesterol test. I'll find out my latest #'s tomorrow. I had a cup of coffee with stevia in it just before my last appointment as I wasn't expecting her to do cholesterol tests, hope it doesn't mess things up.

Just out of curiosity, what were you doing different on your Chinese lifestyle?

Fortunetly I don't need an apitite supressant. The slow but steady weight loss with just lc is great for me. My biggest concern is getting better control on my BG and the neropathy in my feet. I've only seen a reading in the 80's once and my lowest A1C was only 6.1 so I'm really hoping to find something that can help. Doc said that if i wanted to try any of the newer medications like byetta I'd have to see an Endo and she knows how I hate to see new Doctors, plus I doubt that my hbo would approve since I'm within the so called guidelines. So unless this latest A1C is over 6.5 I'll not be doing that!

Sorry, I don't have a journal. It's normally very hard for me to write. It's partly from a stroke 5 yrs ago but I also have a lot of brainfog and tend to space out at times or just forget simple words. This is another thing I hope can improve with BG improvement.

So I'll be sending my best wishes for your endevors! Keep in touch.
Glennette

Hey, my sister is going to China end of this month. She went to Bejing in Oct to help a friend there with a medical treatment and she loved it so much she wanted to go back for fun. I wish I could go, but I can imagine that trying to eat gluten free in China is about impossible.

Have fun in China!

Glennette....

I posted further back a week or so ago in my journal... all of my supplements...
This is about all I can tell you:

I've been getting better health for a while, so it is hard to account for exactly what did it. I prefer to think it is just a combination of everything.

First, herbs don't cause anything to go too low, that is because it is natural and it only helps you to get and stay in normal ranges, never gets you below ranges, unless you're mixing herbs with prescription drugs, then you might get into such a situation, but I don't take prescription drugs...

I began taking Berberine Hydrochloride for the sake of curing diarrhea, which it did in less than 24 hours. My Berberine is pure, by the way, not blended with anything else. My Fiancee, who is an Herbal Doctor, recommended to stay on it a few days and that is when I discovered that it's use brought my BG down about 10 to 15 points lower. So, while in China I switched to just that, but now, I'm not as active, so I'm also supplementing with gymnema sylvestre. I was taking them together, but I'm learning that taking them apart by an hour or so gives more steady lower results. When I return to China, sometime next week, I'll probably go back on just the Berberine, as there is so much walking there, I won't need anything else to get an average around 90 to 95..

As for my blood pressure, it was as high as 140/90 a year or so ago, but I've used other things, plus exercise and weight loss and it was averaging about 125/72 when I started on the Berberine and I'm getting readings now from 125/72 down to 120/68, so even though it was good, it has brought it down a little at times, as I hadn't seen those lower numbers prior..

Now, for cholesterol, I was only taking 500mg twice daily and only since December and I took nothing else to bring down my cholesterol. A year or so ago my cholesterol was about 300, about 6 months ago, it was 199 and last month it was 230. I think I goofed not fasting long enough... I have a home cholesterol kit (costs about $10 a test) and I'm thinking of trying it before I head out to China to see if my last test was a mistake. But, I just this last few days increased my Berberine Hydrochloride use to 3 times daily instead of 2 times and I think that alone will bring about good results on my next hospital test, which will be when I return from China in 3 to 6 months..
I do have my supplements posted and I've taken most of them on and off for the past couple of years, but none of them all the time. Perhaps some of the supplements can affect Cholesterol, but I've not taken anything for the purpose of lowering my cholesterol. The Berberine hydrochloride my prove to do that with my 3 dose a day, but that is not my intended us and if it lowers cholesterol, so much the better, but I'm not really concerned with cholesterol. It might bother me if it was at 400 or 500 or higher, but I'm ok with where it is... I don't buy into what I believe is a myth; cholesterol linked directly to heart disease...... I may be wrong, but we must all make our choices..

To answer your question about the difference in a Chinese lifestyle in China... To sum it up: more green vegetables and more walking... My carb ratio was about 40% of my diet, my walking was before and after meals up to 8 hours of walking in a day, many stairs to climb and never walked less than 3 hours a day and I had total control of my BG. I often would wake up to BG numbers in the low 90s' and once in a while in the 80s'... I had such good control, I even allowed myself to eat their rice, noodles and dumplings, plus fruits and a few of their pastries..

Here, because I am less active, I've had to completely alter my diet... I'm in frenche speaking Louisiana and so we say: c'est la vis.... (that's life)

I am heading to a herbalist in China Town soon.
What does the package from China say?
How does it refer to berberine hydrochloride?

I suspect that the herbalist might not be familiar with the term berberine hydrochloride

We used to buy (and the Company still does buy a variety of organic chemicals from China. Their quality was excellent as we had dictated it must be. However, we verified the quality of each lot by in-house testing. This is far from an overall endorsement for Chinese goods, I just know that in our case we obtained very competitive costs and excellent quality but we actively oversaw the production. There are still many rogue companies there that are poorly run, highly polluting, etc.

I wouldn't sell them too short though. Shanghai's dominance of the printed wire board industry (including sophisicated multi-level boards) only has taken them about 6 years. They said in 2001 that they were going to dominate the world and they did. There are many areas around Shanghai that could just as well be Southern California, you wouldn't know the difference looking out from your VW... very modern.

Probably overall, the best (highest quality) organic chemicals are routinely produced in India. China is not too far behind.

Please note that organic in the above means carbon based industrial, agricultural, and pharmaceutical chemicals, not organic as in California...
Just to let you know, I worked in the chemical industry for over 30 years in a variety of research and managerial capacities. (There were several US Companies that we wouldn't buy raw materials from.)

Have a nice day,
/smile

It is clearly stated on the packaging:

English Name:

Berberine Hydrochloride Tablets (100mg per tablet)

Chinese Name:

Yansuan Xiaobojian Pian

Good luck finding it.... I don't recommend the Berberine Sulfate as it will not get the same results...

Post here if you locate it and post how it can be obtained. I'd like to share this with anyone willing to try it. Remember, it lowers BG, cholesterol, blood pressure and controls appetite. It is herbal, so it won't cause hypos, or too low of blood pressure, etc...

I have read the Berberine comes in synthetic formulations as well.

Are you taking the herbal or synthetic version?

I would not take any synthetic formulation. I am taking an herbal plan extract.

[QUOTE=Cajunboy47].......... First, herbs don't cause anything to go too low, that is because it is natural and it only helps you to get and stay in normal ranges, never gets you below ranges, unless you're mixing herbs with prescription drugs, then you might get into such a situation, but I don't take prescription drugs... QUOTE]

I am uncomfortable with this statement. It could be true of a specific herbal. But there is no reason that any herbal, would not, like any other effective medication, also have side effects, and one of those side effects could be causing lows. It all depends, which herbal or medication, what dose, and which person.

Just speaking for myself, unless there are other associated active ingredients in the herbal med, I would prefer to take a synthetic form. Based on what I have seen and heard, herbal medications are notorious for lot-to-lot variability and until recently in the US there were no requirements that they be assayed at all. Perhaps things have gotten more standard in the last couple of years. I have not kept up with it.

Regardless of my comments above, if it works - keep doing it. It is hard to argue results.

/smile

That's my point... I've got control box after box... Each box is only a 2 day supply... Each pill is sealed off in its own little plastic/foil vaccum pack compartment on a card. 20 pills on a card. One card per box. Nice set of instructions in each box, if you can read Chinese, you've got it made....

I suspect our body can detect when something is synthetic, don't you think?

My eyebrows go up higher the further we get from all natural... If I could get the root or stem that this extract comes from and cook it, I would, but the sheer volume of it I'd have to get would make it impractical, so I feel settling for the extract is the next best thing....