Re: Bacopa

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/5/2005 5:20:54 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

writes:

Message: 1

Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 16:57:52 -0000

From: " " <megan@...>

Subject: Bacopa

Has anyone tried a herb called Bacopa? Apparently it can help with

speech, concentration etc. As always, I'm nervous it might make

Gregor's epilepsy worse!

Although this info I found seems encouraging:

http://www.psychiatrywithoutdrugs.co.uk/Bacopin.htm

..

..>>>> Look at this paragraph in the above link

Sedation without Amnesia

Bacopa also protects epileptic patients from seizures and combats the

drug-induced cognitive impairment resulting from treatment. Open trials in India

testing bacopa extracts on 13 epileptics over 3-16 month terms demonstrated a

significant reduction in seizures in most patients and a complete remission in 5

cases. Furthermore researchers at the University of New Delhi, India have shown

that it significantly reverses drug-induced deterioration in mental function

like memory acquisition and retention without affecting the drugs'

anticonvulsant activity.7 As a sedative with anti-seizure activity Bacopin may

well be

the first in a class of " clean " anti-epileptic agents which are free from the

mind-numbing side effects of conventional drugs. Indeed it is this ability to

sedate without dulling the faculties like memory and concentration common to

many epilepsy treatments and actually increasing mental alacrity that has lead

to

its widespread use as a smart, non-addictive anti-anxiety agent.

mjh

http://foxhillfarm.us/FireBasil/

[Guest guest]

There is some evidence that it increases thyroid function slightly.

I had heard it increased T4, but I myself was taking it from Dec 05 until April 06 when I learned that,

and in that time frame my thyroid function had increased, in my case not a good thing because I need to be right near the hyper end of normal to function, and this pushed me over into hyper symptoms. I happened to have testing in Nov and again right before I quit the Bacopa, and in fact it was my Free T3 that increased significantly.

Now this might often be a good thing for many, esp. people w/ds with their tendency to hypothyroidism.

My daughter has been on it since Dec 05 and is doing very well on it so far. I tried stopping it when I stopped mine, but she seemed to do less well both behavior and cognitive without it so after a week off I put her back on it.

I am a little uncomfortable giving an herb continuously, and something that is not a 'replacement' for something she is low on. But I don't know what to do about it at this point, nor do I feel I have a good enough understanding of the Bacopa to make good judgments.

I should add that HER thyroid levels are not increased over last year, in fact slightly decreased, but with an increase of thyroid antibodies also, I cannot say if they Bacopa is having any effect there or not.

Take care,Alice - violist & HSing mom to Alice (DS) born Thanksgiving Day 1995 :-)Hopewell Junction, NYhttp://users.bestweb.net/~castella

[Guest guest]

In response to the question " what do you think about bacopa? " on

another board, Dr. Leichtman replied " Not much. In actual use by

humans it has little to no effect. " Just passing that on, I don't

know what his sources are.

We started Will on piracetam tonight and I'm curious to see if that

will have any sort of effect.

>

> There is some evidence that it increases thyroid function slightly.

> I had heard it increased T4, but I myself was taking it from Dec 05

until April 06 when I learned that,

> and in that time frame my thyroid function had increased, in my

case not a good thing because I need to be right near the hyper end

of normal to function, and this pushed me over into hyper symptoms. I

happened to have testing in Nov and again right before I quit the

Bacopa, and in fact it was my Free T3 that increased significantly.

> Now this might often be a good thing for many, esp. people w/ds

with their tendency to hypothyroidism.

> My daughter has been on it since Dec 05 and is doing very well on

it so far. I tried stopping it when I stopped mine, but she seemed to

do less well both behavior and cognitive without it so after a week

off I put her back on it.

> I am a little uncomfortable giving an herb continuously, and

something that is not a 'replacement' for something she is low on.

But I don't know what to do about it at this point, nor do I feel I

have a good enough understanding of the Bacopa to make good judgments.

> I should add that HER thyroid levels are not increased over last

year, in fact slightly decreased, but with an increase of thyroid

antibodies also, I cannot say if they Bacopa is having any effect

there or not.

> Take care,

> Alice - violist & HSing mom to Alice (DS) born Thanksgiving

Day 1995 :-)

> Hopewell Junction, NY

> http://users.bestweb.net/~castella

>

[Guest guest]

I noticed that Bacopa(Brahmi) is in the Nutriveda. Poeple have given Brahmi

(Bacopa) tea to infants to help develop the brain, is what I read.

So I am not so far off giving my 4 year old son Bacopa!

My other children take Bacopa and they are Very smart. My 6 year old girl is

doing 1st and 2nd grade this year in a Private School, and My son skipped 2nd

grade and went directly into 3rd grade, they take bacopa daily. I think it may

help them remember things like spelling words, flashcard mathfacts and just

plain facts!!!

>

> I give the herb Bacopa to my other school children. (Planetary Herbals 1

tablet daily) for memory learning and brain power ect.

>

> From some research I have found that use of Bacopa can improve Articulation

and correct Speech defects used over a longer period of time.

>

> I am starting my son on Bacopa, I look forward to see what happens.

>

> It seems that he is improving with the Fish oil?? We'll see what adding

Bacopa does!

>

[Guest guest]

We also give our 2 yr old son bacopa (we do the extract and he gets 10 drops

3x/day per our ped). He's been on it (along with NV and several other

supplements incl fish oils) and has shown tremendous changes in speech,

mental focus, etc.

On Nov 20, 2010 10:49 PM, " herbsgirl " <afwitmer@...> wrote:

I give the herb Bacopa to my other school children. (Planetary Herbals 1

tablet daily) for memory learning and brain power ect.

From some research I have found that use of Bacopa can improve Articulation

and correct Speech defects used over a longer period of time.

I am starting my son on Bacopa, I look forward to see what happens.

It seems that he is improving with the Fish oil?? We'll see what adding

Bacopa does!

[Guest guest]

I too am fascinated with Brahmi, here's just one study which validates it's

effect on memory and learning in mice

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1375237/ -but Brahmi is not in the

regular chocolate and vanilla nutriiveda so that is not what is working for the

majority right now. Brahmi is in the new NV Accell, and for anyone using herbs

please know the biggest issue with these botanicals has been heavy metals from

what I read (probably because they are slow growing in many cases?). All of the

foods in NV and the rest of the products formulated and endorsed by Dr. Deepak

Chopra and team are tested free of heavy metals, herbicides and pesticides:

This is info about NV Accell which contains the Brahmi but which other than me

is too new to know if it's working for others yet. It's safe for children,

pregnant women and it's not nutrition dense like the regular NV -this product is

a triple metabolic support that aids in digestion (has natural enzymes) reduces

stress (partly from the Brahmi) and supports metabolic function.

" NutriivVeda Accell contains an exclusive blend of Wild Crafted Organic

Ayurvedic herbs all 10:1 combined with Enzymes, Natural B-Vitamins, Ionic Trace

Minerals, Chromium and Greens. 10:1 Extract means that one gram of extract is

equal in potency to 10 grams of herb. "

http://nutraeasy.com/pursuit_com/products/accell/ (still working on this site

-but this is the new Pursuit site)

Again outside of my son Tanner and the improvements he's noticed and that I

heard from his teachers this product has not been used in this group- just the

regular chocolate and vanilla NV -but for anyone supplementing with Brahmi I

suggest you check out and compare the Accell to what you are currently using

with someone that understands medicine and nutrition because the NV Accell is

very impressive.

But about the surges we have seen so far in this group which appears to be just

about 100 percent of all that try it for just about every age and

diagnosis...don't underestimate the power of all of the essential amino acids

'together' with these amazing botanicals - I just wrote this blog based on all

the articles and recent research about neurogenesis.

http://nutraeasy.com/wholefoodtherapy/2010/11/20/neurogenesis-does-mother-nature\

-know-best/ (this is going to be the " wholefoodtherapy.com " website but we

again are still working on it) In the regular NV -the most impressive botanical

for our group is probably the turmeric/curcumin which there is a wealth of

research on now. I know that NV is going to be validated to hold much hope for

so many- and not just in this group -based on what we've seen it's a slam dunk

research study no matter who does it.

So while I am fascinated with Brahmi as well -we can remove that from the mix as

to what has been helping dramatically with most this past year with NV as again

all the dramatic reports are on the regular NV -see ingredients here

http://pursuitofresearch.org/ingredients.html And I say to anyone doing random

supps -why not just 'try' to stop all the individual supps and just try the NV

product or products -and you let us all know which you see more surges with. I

have to work on my new blog about the difference between supplements and getting

nutrients from food

NV was formulated by world renowned medical and ayurvedic experts who are

respected world wide in both western and eastern medicine. Of course I tell all

to check with their own doctor as well and of course most don't go to world

renowned medical doctors. But some may see for example Dr. Perlmutter in

Florida and based on some of what I read from him I can't wait to read his new

book. He like Dr. Chopra and Dr. Simon are traditional medical doctors who

appear to have great knowledge and or interest in nutrition and as a neurologist

like Dr. Simon -I believe he may also have some interest in what we are seeing

in this group! And just in case he doesn't see any of your children -I tweeted

him the above and the below links. I still believe the answer to what we are

seeing in the way of surges may lie somewhere in this

http://pursuitofresearch.org/science.html

=====