Has LICORICE ROOT TINCTURE helped your CH or not?

[Bejeeber]

I see lotsa people are trying licorice tincture.

Let's do a poll! (Question: Has licorice tincture helped your CH?)

If you or a cluster head you support have tried licorice tincture, please participate, whether the results were good, bad or inconclusive.

It'd also be appreciated if you could comment in a post here with any helpful info such as what brand of tincture was tried, what your dosage was and for how many days, etc.

THANKS!

[Jeffrey]

I started licorice yesterday at 5pm after a very bad night. I am 26 days into cycle, (aprox halfway). Been aborting with ice, O2 and water mostly. 

Saturday 2-5

     230am              h2o o2 ice k5 15 min

     430 am             H2O ice O2 k6  15 min

     630am             h2o,o2,water k7 15 min

*      8am        H2O k4 quick

*      915am             H2O ice  NASTY K8 45 min  -only toned down to k3 by 1005   

*      1045am          o2, ice, monster energy drink, O2 for 35 min, up to k7  60 min

back to steady k3-4

                      this SOB will not go away!!!! Lots of pain neck to base of skull too   

***5pm  start licorice extract 1:1 2ml   

                

     815pm  ice water k3-4 shadow 45 min

     145 am woke with shadow—water ice, k3 never got worse, light shadow             persisted,

I could not find "tincture" so am using a 1:1 extract.  Best as I can tell its NOT DGL and claims to not be "heat treated" for process of removing alcohol.

I will continue to post HERE ONLY and keep up reports on my "chart".

Keep smiling...... it makes em wonder what those mushrooms REALLY are about ;D

[dereksgirl]

My husband (ECH) started dosing yesterday.

Gaia Hebs 1 fl oz bottle 1:2 ratio (label lists "water and 25-35% Pure Grain Alchohol)

30 drops at 4pm

30 drops at 8pm HA following at 8pm 11:30pm 2:30am 5:30am and 6:30am - all aborted with 2mm Sumatripan.

Pain at base of skull  coontinues for 1-2hrs after abort.

(o2 theraphy still in process of set up so can not be used as abortive yet)

While we are assuming the Sumatripan is probably blocking the receptors, we hope to have oxygen set up this week and detox from the sum.

In the mean time he will continue dosing to see if Licorice is effective even during the use of Sum, even though it appears not.

To early to tell....

[dblu]

I started taking licorice root tincture ( Herb Pharm, 1:2) mid way into busting a cycle with RC. The seeds were keeping the bad HA's at bay but I was getting all my other symptoms. Licorice root would eliminate them either immediately or within about 10 minutes. I started with a two dropper full dose three times a day then, on Les' suggestion, only as needed.

No other medication except RC.

At this point I am feeling that the cycle has ended. Whether it was the RC seeds, licorice root, or both I can't say. But something stopped the cycle (ECH) for the first time in 25 years. Amazing!!

[dereksgirl]

In herbalism it is used in the Hoxsey anti-cancer formula,and is a considered [highlight]adaptogen which helps reregulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis[/highlight][/color]. It can also be used for auto-immune conditions including lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis and animal dander allergies.[15]

The key elements of the HPA axis are:

The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, which contains neuroendocrine neurons that synthesize and secrete vasopressin and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). These two peptides regulate:

The anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. In particular, CRH and vasopressin stimulate the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), once known as corticotropin. ACTH in turn acts on:

the adrenal cortices, which produce glucocorticoid hormones (mainly cortisol in humans) in response to stimulation by ACTH. Glucocorticoids in turn act back on the hypothalamus and pituitary (to suppress CRH and ACTH production) in a negative feedback cycle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquorice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal_axis

DH was able to abort 2 of his HA last night using 30 drops (ration 1:2) licorice as an abortive in addition to his 3 daily doses.

It does appear that this compound has some relation to the hypothalamus...

[Jeffrey]

I have acquired a licorice extract 1:1, Brand Name- Natures Answer. The claim is that the alcohol is removed thru a cold process ( Bio-chelated).

The doseage on the bottle is 1-2 ml or 28-56 drops 3 times daily.

I have not quite been maintaining the 3 times daily routine.

But at least once daily I hit a full 2ml dose.

Its been 5 days now.  SOMEthing is going on. Last 2 nights Ive only had 3-4 fairly light and quick (easy aborts with water and ice only).  But Ive also had CH's show up during the day at unusual times.  Shadows have been quite irregular and dont seem to respond to individual doses of the extract.

Is this the right product??

[Jeffrey]

Hey hey hey!!!

RC seeds arrived in mail fri 2-11.  60 seeds, mortar and pestle (great method btw), 5 oz warm water, 1/2 lemon, 2 hour soak............. empty belly.......... 1 hour stomach weirdness (mild) , 2 hours time and spatial distortions (Mild), then nothing.

Sat 2-12

     345 am  h2o ice k4 15 min

     530 am h2o ice k5 30 min-------- ICE RESISTANT first 20 min

     8am shadow! K2 ice h2o   sleep 1 hour

     930 am shadow k2 ice licorice 30 min

     10am shadow continues

I have been 100% PF since noon yesterday. Slept a solid 8 hours last night!!!!!!!!!!  WEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOO  and I FEEL good!!

Thanks everyone........

ohhhh, and I hope Ive not jinxed myself with this post........ but I AM prepared for anything that may come  and to dose again in 4 days if needed.

[clustermom13]

Wonderful news!  Enjoy it while it lasts, and may that be a long time.  NO JINX!  And if it isn't, well you are armed and ready

[Jeffrey]

Well ,  good news and (sorta) bad news..  Ive had 48 PF hours (good). Im sittin here at 3am Weds with my friend the ice pack (not so good).  BUT........ this a WIMPY  ass attempt on the part of the beast to remind me of its persistant "power".  HAHAHA...... The beast has been kicked in the nuts so hard,,,,,,, THIS is the best it can do??!! 20 min K2 put down with an ice pack!!!  yeah!!

Man....... I SOOOO wish I could just GIVE this to you all!!

[dereksgirl]

Hubby has been taking the licorice 3Xday for 10 days. His cycle changed the day before we started any meds - ever. He would usually have one 3 hour head banger a night. He had 4 the night before we got his script for Sumatriptan, and that pattern continued for the next 5 or 6 nights. Now he is all over the place. The licorice has been the only thing he is using - besides Sum. for the really bad ones.

He did have a number of HA that seemed to disperse within an 8-12 min period of using the licorice as an abortive. But it was not always successful.

We are discontinuing use tonight and switching to fish oil/vit D3 as mentioned in Batchs thread on CH.com

http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1291969416

Good luck to you all, hope you have success and PF days and nights!

[Jeffrey]

I hit the beast with dose #3 RC seeds last Thurs 2-24 after a week of ALMOST PF. Dose 2, after the initial HA rebound, (not bad btw) gave me 5-6 PF days.  I was surprised to wake up early Tr morning withpain that seemed different but was in the right spot. Ice pack knocked it right out.  But I dosed again just to be safe (dose #3). Other than a shadow on fri Ive been totally PF since!!!!!!

I DID wake up at 630 am today....... just like last week though.  Pain in the right spot, but different and GONE with just ice in 10-15 min.  No build up in Kip level. Just kinda there, and then really gone.   Im sittin here now postin cause I thought maybe it was nothing more than a reminder that I have been negligent in posting my recent progress/success.

I am surely convinced that the seeds are an effective treatment for me.  I began with them just past the halfway point of a normal cycle and to look at my chart speaks loud and clear!  If my chart was graphed the visual would be POWERFUL.

Thanks so much everyone........ I literally would have been lost were it not for the info and support youve given us here.

I am praying for us all...... Gods grace to bear up till we can get grace to bust!!!

[physmom]

I'm fairly certain D3 and licorice tinct are responsible for breaking my cycle. I was on the downward half of my cycle but still getting 3 attacks per night and no indication of it improving. Then after 2 days on this treatment I suddenly slept through the night with no pain. I still wake up with a very mild feeling (rather than pain) in my eye, which goes on it's own after an hour or two. Here is the routine I tried:

I had detoxed from all other meds. Only using O2.

D3 liquid from http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=3545&prodid=4014&cid=163&sid=0

DHA from http://www.detoxyourworld.com/acatalog/omega_zen.html

Licorice tincture from http://shop.napiers.net/liquorice-root-tincture-100ml-p-472.html?zenid=7a1b25fa75d77d564a5fbb9f5503ac42

Day 1:  2000 IU of D3 and 600 mg DHA taken with evening meal

That night was the same as usual, 3 attacks, perhaps pain even a little bit worse

Day 2: cup of black coffee with slice of lemon and sugar in the morning, 2 x 2000 IU of D3 with meals,  1800 mg of DHA spread over the day, 3 x 3ml licorice tincture

That night slept through, pain free, woke with slight shadow.

Day 3: upped D3 to a total daily dose of 6000 IU, the other components were same as yesterday

That night slept through, pain free, woke with shadow but even milder than previous day.

Also seems that rainy weather doesn't make me feel as yucky as it used to while taking these. I know the beast could have been due to leave on it's own but would not have expected it to suddenly go from 3 attacks down to zero! The licorice tincture is 40% ABV but in 3ml doses it doesn't trigger anything. It tastes pretty good too! :-) Not sure if the DHA helps but don't want to stop it yet just in case. The DHA I take is from a vegan source and so the components of DHA in it per mg are much higher than if you were taking fish oil (not diluted with other fats). So if you are using fish oil you might need more of it.

[ThatHurtsMyHead]

I hope more people take the Poll, as the discussions on licorice seem to differ greately from the current poll results.

Jeff

[Rob]

I had a very good experince with Licorice.  Started the process on 7/18/2011 (1:1 Licorice with organic alcohol).  Took it three times a day and reduced the amounts i used for three weeks (read all posts from Les).  Also avoided some things that I know are triggers.   It changed something in me.  I had maybe 1 HA a week while using licorice.  Since I have stop using the Licorice I have had less HA's (two a week), but I am shadowing a lot. Much better than I used to be.

I would recommend it to everyone.  I doesn't hurt to try.

Rob

[justaddwater]

This may have been discussed before, but when I saw that licorice was considered for use I was reminded that its use has the potential to interact with several prescription medications. Some of these interactions warrant consideration. For example, Digoxin levels have a very narrow therapeutic range, so anything that could influence that should be monitored closely IMO.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/licorice-000262.htm