I am not aware of any side effects from the use of cryptolepis, however most traditional use has been of limited duration as has most trial studies on the herb.
The physical impacts of the long term use of cryptolepis are unknown.
I generally prefer limiting its use to 3 months at large doses, 6 months at lower doses.
Stephen
November 23rd, 2008 September 7th, 2007
- You can scroll down after that entry on this page (link above) to find sources and links.
While Cryptolepis is not featured in this book, it might be good to read it through as there are other things he suggests for Babesia, too - and his web site offers more recent thoughts.
I'm not sure about using Cryptolepis outside of this protocol or with abx.
There is a write-up on Cryptolepsis (p.25-26) in Stephen Buhner's 1999 paperback book Herbal Antibiotics, Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Copies are likely readily found via an amazon search (ISBN 1-58017-148-6).
Cryptolepsis is apparently active against Malaria, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella dysenteriae, Neisseria gonorrhea, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans and Campylobacter .
Here is an excerpt from his book:
"Cryptolepsis has been found to be remarkably potent for malaria in human clinical trials.
One such trial compared the effectiveness of cryptolepsis with chloroquine, the usual synthetic drug for malaria treatment, in comparative patient populations at the outpatient clinic of the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine at Mampong-Akwapim in Ghana, West Africa.
Clinical symptoms were relieved in 36 hours with cryptolepsis and in 48 hours with choloroquine.
Forty percent of the patients using chloroquine reported unpleasant side effects necessitating other medications; those using cryptolepsis reported no side effects."
References
Boye, G. L. 'Antimalarial Action of Cryptolepsis sanguinolenta Extract:' The International Symposium on East-West Medicine, chapter 14, pages 242-255, 1989.
Cimanga, K., et al. "In Vitro Activities of Alkaloids from Cryptolepsis sanguinolenta." Planta Medica 62(1): 22-27,1996. Abstract.
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"In Vitro and Vivo Antiplasmodial Activity of Cryptolepene and Related Alkaloids from Cryptolepsis sanguinolenta." J Natural Products 60(7): 688-691, 1997. Abstract.
Dean, Karen. "Cryptolepine Analogs" and "Cryptolepis." HerbalGram, no. 42, spring 1998, page 21.
Greller, P., et al. "Antitimalarial Activity of Cryptolepine and Isocryptolepine, Alkaloids Isolated from Cryptolepsis sanguinolenta." Phytother Res 10(4):317-321, 1996. Abstract.
Paulo, A., et al. "In Vitro Screening of Cryptolepsis sanguinolenta Alkaloids,." J Ethnopharmaco144(2):127-130, 1994. Abstract.
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Lauren