Anyone using Berberine for type 2 diabetes? What is your experience and can it be used long-term?
Berberine anyone?
- Thread starter Glyko
- Start Date
I will raise the topic, as it is also interesting. And is there an age limit? I want to know this for my mom.
No side effects so far. I was on metformin that gave me severe gastrointestinal discomfort. Since I quit, I seem to be ok. I take Berberine just once a day with dinner
HeehlandHev
Member
- Messages
- 9
- Type of diabetes
- Prefer not to say
- Treatment type
- Diet only
I’ve just bought some, really don’t want to go on Metformin at all. I’ve bought it in Oregon Grape root form. Just trying it for now. Hope I don’t have side-effects either. I will really try and cut carbs and sugar too. I read that it tackles Non Alcholic Fatty Liver Disease as well. Which I’ve just been diagnosed with. So that would be great!
I just started using berberine with cinnamon about 1 week ago. For me it is already working miracles!! I'm on a lot of prescriptions for heart disease, so I need to check w Dr to make sure it's ok to continue. I sure hope it is! I had potatoes for first timetonight in a very long time, tested ..after 2 hrs it was 131... B4 it would have been between 180-210. What a shock!
My morning fasting numbers went from 140's to 120's...quick!
MissMuffett
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,206
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
I started taking it about a month ago but after 2 weeks started getting very bad pain across my diaphragm (stomach and liver area). I can only put it down to the berberine as I hadn’t changed anything else and the pain went away 48 hours after I stopped taking it. I don’t know if I want to try again as the pain was quite severe and I had to sleep sitting upright in a chair. 
I agree that (for me) Berberine was less difficult to endure than Metformin, which caused me chronic abdominal pain and constipation.
These effects are likely to be idiosyncratic, as most people I know get very different gastrointestinal effects (!)
Benjamin Bikman is enthusiastic about Berberine, despite his (apparently) less enthusiastic opinion of Metformin.
Both drugs act upon the mitochondia to raise AMPK, but by slightly different pathways.
Unfortunately, it seems that Metformin negates the helpful metabolic effects of exercise (and only makes nematodes live longer!)
In principle, I would accord with Bikman's view that there is no medication for T2D superior to Lifestyle changes.
However, my initial four year success with Roy Taylor 'reversal' & LCHF/Intermittent Fasting has now become less 'immaculate', and I am exploring my current mid-40's HbA1c (from a previous mid-30's) and raised fasting BG (6.5 to 7.5, irrespective of diet or exercise: only falls when I eat something!).
I have been reading about the healthy non-T2D cohorts who spent 5 years on LCHF diet and developed raised fasting BG and raised C-peptide...
(we see occasional stories that 'low carb made me diabetic', which might be describing just this pheneomenon?)
The concept of Physiological Insulin Resistance (as seen in normal adolescence), sometimes called 'glucose sparing', might explain these phenomena...
...way back in 1964, Randle first described the alteration in mitochondrial function that accompanied a diet with over 30% fat content (the 'Randle Cycle')
I suspect we just do not yet have the normative data for populations in the UK who are NOT consuming "a high carb processed diet out of boxes with barcodes"?
Just as the 'healthy' NHS Vitamin D levels were standardised in the UK in a population that was chronically VitD deficient, perhaps we really do not know what is 'heathiest'? (Especially now we know VitD does far more than prevent rickets, being an immune modulator and possessing wide-ranging hormonal functions...perhaps, according to Prof. Angus Dalgliesh, even including tumour suppression?)
For further example: with a healthy diet high in animal fat & protein, it seem red blood cells might 'live' up to 50% longer...so skewing the HbA1c measurement, and giving a 'falsely' high reading when compared to a population eating a standard 'supermarket diet'?
I should welcome the thoughts of forum members and am happy to enlarge upon the discussion here, if it is of interest.
Small edit by mods to comply with forum protocols
These effects are likely to be idiosyncratic, as most people I know get very different gastrointestinal effects (!)
Benjamin Bikman is enthusiastic about Berberine, despite his (apparently) less enthusiastic opinion of Metformin.
Both drugs act upon the mitochondia to raise AMPK, but by slightly different pathways.
Unfortunately, it seems that Metformin negates the helpful metabolic effects of exercise (and only makes nematodes live longer!)
In principle, I would accord with Bikman's view that there is no medication for T2D superior to Lifestyle changes.
However, my initial four year success with Roy Taylor 'reversal' & LCHF/Intermittent Fasting has now become less 'immaculate', and I am exploring my current mid-40's HbA1c (from a previous mid-30's) and raised fasting BG (6.5 to 7.5, irrespective of diet or exercise: only falls when I eat something!).
I have been reading about the healthy non-T2D cohorts who spent 5 years on LCHF diet and developed raised fasting BG and raised C-peptide...
(we see occasional stories that 'low carb made me diabetic', which might be describing just this pheneomenon?)
The concept of Physiological Insulin Resistance (as seen in normal adolescence), sometimes called 'glucose sparing', might explain these phenomena...
...way back in 1964, Randle first described the alteration in mitochondrial function that accompanied a diet with over 30% fat content (the 'Randle Cycle')
I suspect we just do not yet have the normative data for populations in the UK who are NOT consuming "a high carb processed diet out of boxes with barcodes"?
Just as the 'healthy' NHS Vitamin D levels were standardised in the UK in a population that was chronically VitD deficient, perhaps we really do not know what is 'heathiest'? (Especially now we know VitD does far more than prevent rickets, being an immune modulator and possessing wide-ranging hormonal functions...perhaps, according to Prof. Angus Dalgliesh, even including tumour suppression?)
For further example: with a healthy diet high in animal fat & protein, it seem red blood cells might 'live' up to 50% longer...so skewing the HbA1c measurement, and giving a 'falsely' high reading when compared to a population eating a standard 'supermarket diet'?
I should welcome the thoughts of forum members and am happy to enlarge upon the discussion here, if it is of interest.
Small edit by mods to comply with forum protocols
Last edited by a moderator:
Just purchased Berberine. Would love to hear more from people who've had some experience with it.
I took it some time ago with little discernable result - a drop of around .5 but not always, which was neither here nor there for me as long as I was in non-diabetic readings, which I was in any case. So when I ran out, I didn't replace and chalked it up as an experiment.
More recently (3 months ish ago) I tried a different make which had no fillers or preservatives and has to be kept refrigerated. This time the drop put my BG squarely in the 4s where previously I had been consistently in the 5s. I was quite happy with 5s and am equally happy with 4s. My blood pressure has also lowered. This is interesting enough for me to continue for now. Of course there might well be other factors at play.
Based on my experiment of one, I'd say worth a try but make sure you get a top of the range product if you do. And be patient - natural remedies usually need a few weeks of lead-in time before we see results. It may not work for you at all, or it may support whatever else you are doing. We are all different.
More recently (3 months ish ago) I tried a different make which had no fillers or preservatives and has to be kept refrigerated. This time the drop put my BG squarely in the 4s where previously I had been consistently in the 5s. I was quite happy with 5s and am equally happy with 4s. My blood pressure has also lowered. This is interesting enough for me to continue for now. Of course there might well be other factors at play.
Based on my experiment of one, I'd say worth a try but make sure you get a top of the range product if you do. And be patient - natural remedies usually need a few weeks of lead-in time before we see results. It may not work for you at all, or it may support whatever else you are doing. We are all different.
