I am taking flagyl and curious if I shouldn't be taking my herbals. Does Enula contain alcohol?
Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
Most tinctures are made with alcohol, unless they specifically say 'glycerine' or 'glycerol' to refer to the liquid solvent, or 'glycerite' to refer to the tincture. However, there's such a small amount of alcohol in a tincture that you're probably fine on Flagyl. My LLMD told me it would be fine when he prescribed 1500 mg/day Flagyl. I've been taking lower doses of Flagyl than that since then, but I'm taking lots and lots of herbal tinctures, at least 2 tsp twice or three times a day. That's a lot more than you probably are, but it doesn't seem to cause me any noticable reactions.
Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
Also, Lymemd.blogspot.com said something once as an aside in one of his articles, where he mentioned that some patients on Flagyl are still able to drink a little bit in the evenings if they took their flagyl once a day in the morning. he wasn't recommending this or anything, but was basically saying that it's not a hard and fast rule that you'd get the 'Antabuse-type reaction' from mixing the two.
In general, I would personally NEVER say that it's OK to have alcohol for it's own sake while also taking drugs that can stress the liver, but I think that there's no major issue with the very small amount of alcohol that you're probably ingesting with herbal extracts.
ALso, you can minimise the alcohol ingested, by putting the liquid tincture into a small cup of hot water and letting it air out for a while before drinking. It's not totally fool-proof but it gets some of the alcohol to evaporate.
Posted by pryorka (Member # 13649) on :
The herb sure doesn't contain alcohol, otherwise drunks would be growing that stuff like crazy.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Herbs themselves do not contain alcohol (unless fermented) but tinctures of herbal extracts do unless (as noted above) they are made with glycerine. Something has to preserve the herbal contents. Alcohol does this best.
For those very sensitive to alcohol (where dilution and swirling it around a bit to air it out are not enough), most herbal extracts can be found in capsule form.
I know one LLMD who does not want his patients taking any alcohol tinctures as he feels the alcohol is just too strong for livers that are already damaged by lyme. -
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
Yes, Enula contains alcohol. The label says, "Ethanol (20-25%)." Ethanol=alcohol, as I'm sure you know.
Posted by WildCondor (Member # 434) on :
Yeah, it does. That is why you are supposed to put the drops in water and let it sit for a minute or so before drinking it.
Posted by soleil16 (Member # 16326) on :
My LLMD has also recommended boiling the drops quickly in a small amount of water if I am too concerned about the alcohol content.
Posted by pryorka (Member # 13649) on :
If you're buying that overpriced tincture from nutramedix I'd suggest buying the herb or herb concentrate from a herb distributor such as 1stchineseherbs or somewhere else. If you like you can then make your own tincture at a major fraction of the cost of the nutramedix price. If I ever get better I swear I'm going to start making tinctures at a reasonable price for all of us.
Posted by WildCondor (Member # 434) on :
I wouldn't boil anything!
FYI herbal companies cannot legally put what is in the tinctures on the labels, or say what it treats or why, it's against the law in the USA.
The Nutramedix plants and herbs are at www.nutramedix.cc on out of country website that explains it. Hope that helps.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
PS.. on the flagyl.. Some cannot even use mouthwash while on it. I would be VERY careful using tinctures... unless you don't mind chancing the nausea.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- WildCondor's got a good point. So, I've deleted my previous post after rethinking this. It may be better to stick with a nice warm water, not too hot.
Even if from roots, oils contained in such can be a very important consideration and, if put into super hot or boiling water, these therapeutic oils can dissipate, sending good stuff away with the steam.
There are also various phytochemicals and boiling water may affect their nature.
We prepare our Elecampane extract from the root of Inula helenium plants which are Certified Organically Grown on our own farm [in Oregon] without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.
===============
I don't know if Inula helenium is the only ingredient in Enula and I don't know about using a different form of Inula helenium but some herbs are only useful as tinctures. Scullcap is one of those. Most, however, can be used in various forms or preparations. Tinctures just are more condensed than even dried extracts.
You can read what preparations have been used in studies or observations in these abstracts: