Re: RLS: herbal precautions

[Guest guest]

Re gingko. A couple of years ago I began taking gingko because of all the

adverts about memory. I had taken it for several months when I began to

have the most horrific headaches. I didn't connect it to the gingko. I

thought it was my sinuses acting up again etc. It progressed to the point

where I was almost completely immobilized. Then I thought I was having a

real bad continuous migraine. If I lay flat on my back the headache would

recede but the instant I got up there it was again. I was in Florida at the

time and it really ruined my visit there. Upon arrival home I contacted the

VA and they had me go to the Pain clinic where they injected something into

the back of my head. That process in itself was excruciating. Whatever it

was it made the whole back of my head numb. After a couple of hours it wore

off and the headache was back. I went back to the Pain clinic one more

time. Same results.

Then in desparation I thought of acupuncture. I made an appointment with an

Acupuncturist in Rutland (my first experience with acupuncture). He

questioned me minutely taking his time. Very quiet man. Then he took me

into another room and had me lay down on a treatment table. After a

complicated bunch of preliminaries he finally got around to the needles.

They weren't painful at all. After he had all the needles in (none in my

face or head) he told me to lay still and relax and he'd be back in around

20 minutes. Then he left. The light in the room was low and there was

quiet music playing. My legs and arms never twitched and I dozed off. When

he came back he removed the needles and I made an appointment for the next

week.

As I drove home I realized the headache wasn't near as bad. After the next

appointment the headache had vanished and I haven't had one since. Mr.

Brown never said definitely that the cause of my headaches was gingko (I had

stopped taking it after coming home from Florida). But a short while later

I did read that one of the side-effects of gingko is headaches. I

remembered reading a long time ago that when a person begins to feel a

migraine coming on they should drink a cup or two of hot strong coffee to

stop it. Since caffeine causes arteries to narrow, must be that migraines

are the dilating of the arteries in the brain and that must be what the

gingko does to some people.

All I really know, and my experience and conclusions are not based on any

scientific research, is that I wouldn't touch gingko with a ten foot pole!

Besides I can remember all I want to and have given up on attaining genius

status as this late stage.

CHEERS

Jeanne and Mr. Biggles in Poultney VT

Where the snow is once more DEEP and shining like diamonds in the light of

the street lamps.

P.S. Now that my medical insurance covers acupuncture the same as

chiropractic I'm toying with the idea of going back to Mr. Brown to see if

it will help my RLS.

[Guest guest]

Re gingko. A couple of years ago I began taking gingko because of all the

adverts about memory. I had taken it for several months when I began to

have the most horrific headaches. I didn't connect it to the gingko. I

thought it was my sinuses acting up again etc. It progressed to the point

where I was almost completely immobilized. Then I thought I was having a

real bad continuous migraine. If I lay flat on my back the headache would

recede but the instant I got up there it was again. I was in Florida at the

time and it really ruined my visit there. Upon arrival home I contacted the

VA and they had me go to the Pain clinic where they injected something into

the back of my head. That process in itself was excruciating. Whatever it

was it made the whole back of my head numb. After a couple of hours it wore

off and the headache was back. I went back to the Pain clinic one more

time. Same results.

Then in desparation I thought of acupuncture. I made an appointment with an

Acupuncturist in Rutland (my first experience with acupuncture). He

questioned me minutely taking his time. Very quiet man. Then he took me

into another room and had me lay down on a treatment table. After a

complicated bunch of preliminaries he finally got around to the needles.

They weren't painful at all. After he had all the needles in (none in my

face or head) he told me to lay still and relax and he'd be back in around

20 minutes. Then he left. The light in the room was low and there was

quiet music playing. My legs and arms never twitched and I dozed off. When

he came back he removed the needles and I made an appointment for the next

week.

As I drove home I realized the headache wasn't near as bad. After the next

appointment the headache had vanished and I haven't had one since. Mr.

Brown never said definitely that the cause of my headaches was gingko (I had

stopped taking it after coming home from Florida). But a short while later

I did read that one of the side-effects of gingko is headaches. I

remembered reading a long time ago that when a person begins to feel a

migraine coming on they should drink a cup or two of hot strong coffee to

stop it. Since caffeine causes arteries to narrow, must be that migraines

are the dilating of the arteries in the brain and that must be what the

gingko does to some people.

All I really know, and my experience and conclusions are not based on any

scientific research, is that I wouldn't touch gingko with a ten foot pole!

Besides I can remember all I want to and have given up on attaining genius

status as this late stage.

CHEERS

Jeanne and Mr. Biggles in Poultney VT

Where the snow is once more DEEP and shining like diamonds in the light of

the street lamps.

P.S. Now that my medical insurance covers acupuncture the same as

chiropractic I'm toying with the idea of going back to Mr. Brown to see if

it will help my RLS.

[Guest guest]

Jeanne,

Sounds like you learned about Ginkgo the hard way! Jill and Connie's

warning about herbal supplements makes sense, especially since I, for

one, do not really think in terms of taking a drug, when I purchase my

St.'s Wort with Kava at the health food store. I think it does help

me, so unless it's " all in my head " , then it obviously is a drug. Just

recently I commented in one of my posts that I didn't take any meds

except for Mirapex, and then went on to tell about my good results with

St. 's! Oops!

ne, 58, Lawrenceville, NJ

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