I think the berberine that is extracted from the goldenseal is berberine sulfate, whereas, from the Chinese Coptis plant, it is berberine hydrochloride. Also, for me, it is a matter of cost. The goldenseal products are a lot more expensive from the sites I've seen it sold at, in comparison for what I've seen with the other berberine..

I'm not sure if there is any difference in effectiveness.

I wonder if some of the effects of turmeric on type 2 diabetes is because of berberine...although it is much more concentrated in goldenseal.

I thought the processing is what rendered the form of the berberine, not the source? Also, it seems like berberine is a component of goldenseal, so it's probably much more potent some forms than just straight up goldenseal.

Whoaa Nancy that's great news. It hasn't lowered mine yet but dangit all!!! I can't remember to take three doses a day. I just took my sugar now and it's been two hours since I ate lunch and it was 118. And I ate a very low carb lunch.

Whoo hoo!!!!! After I posted my last post I got on my workout clothes and went to the gym. Walked and ran on the treadmill for forty minutes. Did intervals.......did hills..........came home and checked my sugar and it was 80!
Ther berberine has to be working because exercise never lowered it that much before....usually only ten points. I'm so happy.

Nancy and Soapluvr,

If you were to go back and check my original berberine thread, you'd see that I posted that berberine seemed to work better when I exercised after a meal, such as a 30 minute walk. I don't remember in what particular post, but I remember noting it....

Sorry, I forgot to mention it. I've sort of adapted to using the berberine for so long that I just didn't pay any attention to my experience that it does work better for me after I've exercised.

I'm so happy for you Soapluvr, that is wonderful news... Now, what is your favorite soap?

Goldenseal was worthless for me.
Huang lin su/coptis/berberine HCL was worked real well.
For others-who knows?
Thanks to Ron for clueing us into this.
Bye for now
Eddie

One Life To Live and All My children. Used to watch General Hospital but gave it up a few years ago.

So now I need ot rememer to exercise after I eat. At least after my largest meal.

Whoa! Woke up with BG of 85 this morning! Now, 2 things changed... first of all, I definitely went into hyperthyroid territory and so I didn't take my thyroid meds yesterday. Thyroid builds gradually, and decreases gradually (takes about 4-6 weeks for full effect), so I wouldn't expect skipping one day would have much of an effect.

But I was away from home without my B HCL yesterday and decided to take all twelve of them before bed.

Now, might or might not be significant. Sometimes I've had random fluctuations like that I can't really explain. But I was so suprised by the low number I took it twice!

wow that is so awesome....
i might give it a try if i decide to lower my blood sugar sometime....
Keep us posted if you loose weight and also if you experience hypoglycemic symptoms.

Nancy,

Wow! I can't believe you took all 12 pills at one time....

I talked to my wife (TCM Doctor) and she said; if you skip a dose, don't double up as it is not safe to take more than 500 mg at a single dose. She says if you didn't give yourself a severe gastric upset, you're very lucky..... She did not seemed concerned about it causing a hypo and doubts that it could have caused a hypo. From a weight loss view point, she said, a larger than 500mg dose will not cause any additional appetite suppression. She didn't seem concerned that you would have any long term consequences from a one time large dose, but is concerned if you were to continue doing it that way on a regular basis....

This is my opinion now... If you use a stronger dose, you'll cause an imbalance of how your body will respond to the regular dose for a day or so....

I'm glad to hear it is working for you.... I'm going to post next in the Aloe Vera thread I started about my aloe vera trial use...

Ron

I'm not 100% convinced it was the BHCL. No gastric badnesses so far. *knock wood* In fact, I am marveling at the good behavior of my gut these days.

My appetite is pretty extraordinarily large again, due to the excess thyroid hormone I think.

Should be always skeptic...I hate disease.

Nancy, you're taking thyroid hormones, right?

and now you think the berberine is effecting the way that medication works for you, is my understanding correct?

Is there a danger with a hyperthroid? You mentioned the term "I think"... Is there a way to monitor the thyroid "to know"...???

Yes, for 20 years or so.

Nope. I think the thyroid hormone is messing up my blood glucose (raising it). I was hoping the berberine would counter that. But I suspect my issue is I'm creating glucose with my liver rather than being insulin resistant. Or I could be insulin resistant too. Just a suspicion and read various things about thyroid and BG that leads me to believe that's what happens.


Yes, there are blood tests and I'm getting one tomorrow. Plus I know the symptoms very well and can tell I am hyper. Can it be dangerous? Yes, at extreme levels or over very long periods of time. Right now it's just annoying as all get out. I'm too hot, my appetite is huge, my glucose is high, I'm fidgety, insomnia, pounding heart beat and strangely fatigued.

But I'm probably only very slightly hyper. I have been much more hyper when I first was diagnosed with Graves disease. It was hideous. Super rapid heart beat, hirsutism, personality changes (not for the better), sweating, palpitations, itchy skin, too hot, and so on. I took radioactive iodine to kill my thyroid gland and now I have to take replacement thyroid hormone for the rest of my life.

I'm tweaking my thyroid dose with my doctor's assistance because I suspected my prior dose was too low. But I think this one is too high. I have Goldilocks syndrome, need to find the one that is just right!