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Thank you! & Tincture questions

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Posted 4/27/2017 2:20 PM (GMT -5)
First off, I wanted to start by saying how grateful I am for this forum, its moderators and members. The support and advice that I receive here is something I truly appreciate and I wanted to do a gratitude shoutout to express my thanks. Your advice, time, and kindness is so appreciated!

Now onto my tincture q's (sorry there's so many!)

I'm still trying to wrap my head around tinctures and wanted to throw out some questions for those savvy...

- Does the base matter (ex. glycerin or alcohol)? Also, is it ok to use alcohol tinctures is you normally avoid alcoholic drinks?

- What are the advantages of using tinctures over powdered herbs- are they more readily absorbed in the system?

- Is it ok to take tinctures together and instead of putting them in water, can they be put into orange/lemon/unsweetened cranberry juice?

- Lastly, what's the best way to determine dosing? Is it ok to stay on a low dose, like 2-3 drops, if it feels good there? I.e- benefits & no herxing?
Posted 4/27/2017 2:25 PM (GMT -5)
Aloha,

Welcome. I also love this board. Best Mod-Squad and supportive group EVER.

I will let someone more knowledgeable than myself talk about herbs. That said I do alcohol based tinctures. If you let the herbs sit out for a few minutes the alcohol burns off. Many sell ACV based herbs.

I put all of my herbs together in a glass of water. I prepare the night before and drink in A.M.

I prefer tinctures because I need to go very slow. I start with one drop of everything. Stay there for a few days, then two drops, etc...

Good luck.
Posted 4/27/2017 2:45 PM (GMT -5)

aloha234 said...
First off, I wanted to start by saying how grateful I am for this forum, its moderators and members. The support and advice that I receive here is something I truly appreciate and I wanted to do a gratitude shoutout to express my thanks. Your advice, time, and kindness is so appreciated!

Now onto my tincture q's (sorry there's so many!)

I'm still trying to wrap my head around tinctures and wanted to throw out some questions for those savvy...

- Does the base matter (ex. glycerin or alcohol)? Also, is it ok to use alcohol tinctures is you normally avoid alcoholic drinks?

- What are the advantages of using tinctures over powdered herbs- are they more readily absorbed in the system?

- Is it ok to take tinctures together and instead of putting them in water, can they be put into orange/lemon/unsweetened cranberry juice?

- Lastly, what's the best way to determine dosing? Is it ok to stay on a low dose, like 2-3 drops, if it feels good there? I.e- benefits & no herxing?

I think the difference is the tinctures will last longer in alcohol (longer shelf-life)

Tinctures are better than capsules for slower titration up to dose. But powdered herbs (uncapsuled) are probably pretty close as far as absorption being. I think generally liquid is absorbed faster.

Tinctures can be put in juice, yes. Buhner recommends pomegranate juice. (but any juice should be fine...there are some benefits of the pomegranate juice) It's EXPENSIVE.

Yes - can be taken together.

If you're good on 2-3 drops...I would increase since that's a low dose. I would keep increasing until I felt something...and then you can back down to previous dose and stay there awhile...then try to increase again.
You don't NEED to get on the recommended dosages that Buhner has stated....but if you aren't herxing...then I would increase past the 2-3 drops...for sure.
Posted 4/27/2017 6:41 PM (GMT -5)
Hi!

I had a phone appointment with an LLMD who is well-versed when it comes to herbs. He told me that alcohol is a better base, he says it's more effective. Personally, I find tinctures much easier to deal with. Less mess and you can start really slow - it's easier to see what you're taking. The doctor told me that all of the herbs can be taken together and in the beverage of my choice. He said I don't need to mix them in any beverage if I prefer, that I can just drop the drops directly in my mouth. Hope that helps! Good luck!
Posted 4/27/2017 10:20 PM (GMT -5)
The only reason that someone puts them in water or juice is so that they will easily go "down the hatch."

It is totally a personal preference of whether you do tinctures with alcohol or without. And the same holds true with powder and encapsulated or as a powder made into a tea.

It is all what works for you.
Posted 4/28/2017 9:48 AM (GMT -5)
I've been taking a few of the powdered herbs just by dumping them into my mouth and having a glass of water (without lemon) at the ready to help wash it down, others I put into capsules. When I'm first starting a new herb, I prefer tinctures so I can start on very low doses. When I get up to 20 drops twice a day, for my body, I'm ready to switch to powdered herbs, because the dose is high enough for me to be able to switch over much easier.

On the low dosing - it depends on what herbs you are on low doses of. For example, I'm staying on low doses of Skullcap (8 drops, twice a day), Red root (10 drops, twice a day) and Red Clover (8 drops, twice a day) as those are not main treatment herbs, but help with the herxing - and I'm not experiencing very hard herxing.

But, for the core protocol, you will need to get up near to full doses for it to be effective enough to do what we need them to do - heal us. With this said though, we all have different doses that our bodies will tolerate, so while one person may need to use (let's pick on JK) 500 mgs 3 times a day, some may only need to use it twice a day, while others may need to use it 4 times a day. This is where we have to listen to our bodies carefully when we are trying to find our 'upper limits'. You won't experience a herx, but side effects instead. We have a great community here that can help you as you learn your way through this though!
Posted 4/28/2017 11:01 AM (GMT -5)
Buhner does call Skullcap a part of the core protocol, just an FYI.
Posted 4/28/2017 11:21 AM (GMT -5)

PeteZa said...
Buhner does call Skullcap a part of the core protocol, just an FYI.

True, but as we can see on page 214 of Buhner's Healing Lyme (2nd edition), it is one of two herbs that are used as cytokine remodulators. (www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2014/1/turn-off-the-cytokine-switch/page-01)

Since not everyone needs that much help with cytokines, it's not always necessary to get to the full dose in order for it to be effective enough.
Posted 4/28/2017 12:50 PM (GMT -5)
Page 142 in his book sure convinced me that the borrelia cytokine cascade was real and in me and important for me to address.

I guess it is not important for everyone though, you are absolutely right.

So I change my post to NEVERMIND.
Posted 4/28/2017 1:13 PM (GMT -5)
PeteZa, you know just as well as I do, that not every herb works as well for one person as it does for the next, and that we all tolerate different levels of each herb differently. No need to get snippy.
Posted 5/4/2017 8:50 PM (GMT -5)
Thank you all for answering my tincture questions. Very much appreciate. I ended up getting some unsweetened cranberry juice to mix the tinctures in to make the taste more palatable. I'm going to work on ramping up my tincture and powdered herb intake, slow & steady, but pushing through to receive the most benefit.
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