Can you supply a link please?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20584-chinese-medicine-offers-new-parkinsons-treatments.html
While visiting this and other PD forum as a guest, I noticed there's been a lot of interest about the herb gou teng. It seems that not many people have actually given it a try. I have been taking gou teng for 8 months now with very positive results, I decided to join the forum so that I can share my experience with everyone and hopefully more people will benefit.
Like most people I found out about the potential of this herb through the New Scientist article. I followed the link provided to the research paper about the trial. A TCM called ZAZ2 was actually used in the trial, ZAZ2 is made up of 14 herbs of which gou teng is one, in the proportion of 10g gou teng and 130g others. The patients in the trial took 8g of the mixture 3 times a day, thus a total of 24g a day. The amount of gou teng in 24g of ZAZ2 can be calculated easily to be 24 x 10/140 = 1.7g, which is the amount I used as a guide in choosing a dose. I had to assume the granules are of 5:1 concentration(5g of raw herb to 1g of granules)as that is the most commonly available.
To be cautious, I started with about 2/3 of that amount. I took about 1.1g a day for the next 3 months (a 100g bottle of 5:1 granules). I simply made a tea using the 1.1g of granules and drank 1/3 of it, 3 times a day. After 2 weeks I noticed I was feeling better. There was a lot less tremor, my movements were becoming more fluid. In the beginning I still had good days and bad days, but as time went on the good days got better and the bad days were not as bad. After the first 3 months I increased the dose to 1.5g a day and I am still on the same dose today. Improvement has been gradual, but very definite. Now 8 months later, my hand writing has improved, I can draw straight lines! My tremor is non existent 99% of the time (except when I am stressed), both my arms swing freely and normally 90% of the time when I walk, I am able to use my knife and fork properly again, I am able to sew by hand easily again. I started swimming again a few weeks ago, I was surprised to find how well coordinated my strokes were compared to 2 years ago when I was last at the swimming bath. To put this into context, I need to mention that I was diagnosed 7 years ago, and been on relatively high dose of medication(cocareldopa 275mg 3 times a day plus pramipexole 1mg 3 times a day). Now I get away with half the amount of L-dopa and just 0.5mg of pramipexole once a day.
Of all the things I have tried (green tea, N-acetyl cysteine, curcumin,lithium, acupuncture, forced exercise using a motorised bike, near infrared light therapy), gou teng is the only one that I can definitively say has made a difference . Hope this information is useful.
Regards to all,
Quiest
To clarify......you made a tea with 1.1g of granules (at 5 herb to 1 granule). That is equivalent to 5.5 grams Gou Teng herb each day. In the original mixture of 14 herbs used in the trial that would be equivalent to 77grams/day wouldn't it?
Sorry to be so picky but I intend to repeat your experiment!
In the original trial, patients took 24g of ZAZ2 granules a day, if my assumption of 5:1 concentration were correct, 24g of granules would be equivalent to 120g of raw herbs. 1.1g of gou teng granules would be equivalent to 5.5g of raw gou teng herb. Gou teng granules are freely available on the internet, I got mine from the US, www.maxnature.com, it may not be the cheapest, the posting cost itself is quite high. Just google gou teng granules,you'll find other sites that will supply it. I hope gou teng will work for you too.
Regards,
quiest
If,like me, you need a scientific rationale for taking it, here's a very recent paper describing how the major alkaloid in Gou Teng stimulates the clearance of monomers, oligomers and aggregates of alpha-synuclein in neuronal cell lines:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22113202
dear quiest...
I'm an Italian members. my mother has parkinson within 9 year.
in the website maxnature.com it isn't ZAZ2 !!!
where I can buy it ?
Please help me and my mother...
sorry for my english ...
Dear Quiest,
Thank you so much for your post about your experience with Gou Teng.
I am a recently diagnosed 42-year-old who wants to follow your lead and explore what the herb does for me.
I don't want to take up too much of you time, but can I ask you a few questions please, your answers will help me a great deal.
--- Do you still use the herb? Has the effect been consistent for you?
--- There are many brand options on the maxnature.com website. Which particular one do you use? Thank you.
--- Which dose have you ended up on?
--- Do you stay on the same dose indefinitely or have some on/off periods? If so, what are they?
--- Have you used other herbs with it to enhance the effect? If so, which brand and dosage did you use?
Thank you very much for reading. I really appreciate your help.
I bought the dried gou teng and grind it in a coffee grinder. Brew about 4 ounces of water with 2 teaspoons of ground gou teng allow to steep for about 20 minutes before pushing the plunger in my cafetier then drink. I have only recently started this as I am so fed up with the constant shaking… Also having Chinese herbal professional treatment. No pharmacist drugs at all…loads ofsupplements and herbs too…
Hi @Rozrr, 
Welcome back to the forum.
Thanks for sharing this information with the community, I’m sure others will respond to you soon with some questions or maybe share their own experience with this. I’d also advise you to speak to a medical professional such as your GP or Parkinson’s nurse to ensure causing more harm than good to your health. Feel free to explore our website for information and support: https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/information-and-support/complementary-therapies
Best wishes,
Reah