NOW Foods Supplements, DOPA Mucuna, Standardized Mucuna Extract with Naturally Occurring 15% L-Dopa, 180 Veg Capsules

I’ll try to keep this as short as possible, but there’s a lot to get through. I’m no expert on anything, just a normal person getting by so I can’t explain the science but I can share my story and you can decide for yourself how to proceed. I first took mucuna pruriens from a different brand over a decade ago for reasons I can’t recall, sleep regulation I think. I took it for 2-3 years until I decided it wasn’t doing any good and stopped. A few years ago I was really struggling with sleep again and bought some of this NOW mucuna (I think it was labeled L-Dopa then) and within the first few days my sleep worsened so I stopped again. For years I had that bottle just sitting nearly full in my supplement cabinet and never touched it. A few months back I saw it and decided to throw it away, but felt bad about wasting it so I started taking 1 capsule with breakfast. In the years between first taking mucuna and now I had gone from a 28 yr old DJ working nights and going to school and gym during the day and partying on my nights off to a 41 yr old machinist who gets a hangover from staying up an hour past bedtime. I’d lost a step and never seemed to have the energy to do what needed to be done, namely remodeling a home and decluttering a rental, on top of all the usual daily and weekly routine chores we all have. With about 2 weeks of 1 capsule per day I gradually became more energetic and found myself completing tasks with little to no friction or inertia that would often keep me procrastinating for weeks or longer. The sight of dust on a table or cobwebs in a corner would trigger me to immediate action. My mood improved by an order of magnitude and I became more sociable with strangers, not to mention friends and family. Life just seemed to be clicking for some reason, but I had attributed it to a newfound love for folding knives (this will be important later.) Then I remembered I’d added this capsule to the handful I was already taking. I did some research to see what exactly was going on and began to learn about dopamine regulation. After a few more weeks I lost my motivation. I’m a 6’2” 260 lb weightlifter, so I figured 2 capsules was better for someone my size. Life started clicking again, and I put several irons in the fire and carried on. Then a few weeks later, the same loss of motivation and mood, the same return to friction. I went to 3 capsules a day. By this point the writing was on the wall. I didn’t “crash” into depression like others have described, but I generally stay at a consistent, if low, mood anyway. This is not a daily supplement, it’s an intervention to break the cycle of dopamine addiction you’ve unknowingly picked up from clicking and scrolling, sipping and puffing, etc. etc. This product will get you off the couch and into the gym or whatever you should be doing, but the key is that you have to cycle off for a while (2 weeks works for me), refrain from picking back up on whatever habit overloaded your system to start with, AND resist picking up new useless habits that would slide in their place. The mucuna can only do so much, and the more dopamine you pump into your brain the faster you’ll burn out or “crash”. I accidentally replaced my cell phone habit with folding knives, and in my enthusiasm spent thousands buying knives, scrap metal, tools, books, anodizing equipment and fluids, and spent hours making knives - on top of remodeling a house, decluttering a rental, gym, meal prep, studying and all the usual daily and weekly routines we all have. Everyone is different, so I can’t promise you’ll get results, but my experience suggests this stuff can give you a window to take action toward a more productive routine and better outlook, but can’t be taken constantly to maintain it like a vitamin or something. In my opinion this should be treated more like a medication and used in a “minimum effective dose” manner. The only side effects I noticed was more REM sleep, resulting in very vivid and detailed dreams and shallower sleep. This seemed to trigger a mild but nagging eyelid twitch that lasted for several weeks, which was annoying but didn’t affect my vision, and stopped eventually. If you’re looking at this product I assume you’re familiar with dopamine, possibly dopamine detox or fasting, but if not I can only point you toward Andrew Huberman or Cal Newport. Good luck out there.

TLDR: To treat symptoms of low dopamine levels, here's what's working for me: 500-700mg Glutamine (amino acid, a major brain neurotransmitter) 1-3 times per day before food. 1/32 teaspoon of this mucuna pruriens (~7 mg L-dopa) every 1-2 days, watching effects. 600 mg of acetyl l-carnitine before breakfast Other vitamins and minerals, especially Bs Update 3/23/23--I am feeling mentally and physically alert, a huge improvement. (see caution below) Last summer I was prescribed the smallest possible dose of a dopamine-boosting CNS med, 5mg. After decades of untreated symptoms, I felt calm relief for the first time in my long life. Then in December, the HMO denied me further prescriptions and treated me like an addict for having asked for more. They also tried to force an antidepressant on me that would affect the absolutely wrong mechanism and worsen anxiety and sleeplessness without compensating for the low dopamine. Their timing was especially cruel. My heart goes out to all Americans who experience this medical bullying. I did not want to bother with this department further. Instead, I revisited my nutritional supplements (which I keep on an excel spreadsheet, and periodically adjust). I also suspected the CNS drug was causing symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, specifically numbness in toes, feet and lower legs. A neurologist found some long nerves to be unresponsive. (Update: Probably due to potassium deficiency, from drinking reverse osmosis water for 1.5 years, which strips out *all* useful minerals. I started taking 99mg/day potassium chloride--NuSalt--and drank filtered tap water again. Feeling slowly restored in feet and toes. Neuropathy runs in family but I feel much better.) My first choice for treating my scrambled low-dopamine brain was to take the amino acid glutamine. Gives me an immediate mental boost and durable energy, and is curbing cravings, especially for sugar. Glutamine is likely not toxic until you take massive quantities (at my weight, that would be 38 grams per day instead of 2 grams max). (google side effects of amino acid supplements) I also took one 400 mg cap of this this mucuna pruriens in the morning. Like other reviewers here, after an initial boost, in just a few days I had fatigue, blurry vision and brain fog. Stopped it for a week. Brain fog cleared. Took one pill per week, same thing. Read the label more closely. The dosage of this capsule is just too dang high. So I emptied some capsules and measured. Each capsule = ~1/4 teaspoon product = 60mg L-dopa. L-dopa does cross the blood-brain barrier and it's the precursor for dopamine. I don't know how that compares with the 5mg of my CNS drug but it was waaaay too much for me. Stopped taking altogether and was dragging and unfocused within a week. I reduced dosage further. Now I am taking about 1/32 tsp of this powdered product in my coffee before breakfast, every day. Am feeling energetic and calm throughout the day. Not speeded or anxious. The idea is to microdose--hopefully kickstart your own dopamine production, rather than replace it chemically. Plus, about 600 mg of acetyl l-carnitine in my prebreakfast cocktail, which I have noticed gives me energy and focus. We will see. I'll be watching this mucuna very closely as I don't want to develop a habituation as some have reported. 3/23/23--Because I'm now feeling good, I will next stop for a couple of days to see the impact. 4/25--Have not taken any more mucuna. I think it did help me for that time. But other medical issues took precedence including thyroid. Things get more complicated at 60+. And, um, reducing wine consumption to 1 bottle red per month definitely helped my alertness. Good luck to all.

These vitamins really do work for supplements whatever you want to call them. It's basically a life changer I was really depressed and down didn't feel good inside. I purchased these and felt really good I didn't repurchase them because I didn't realize that they were working until I stopped taking them. I will continue to purchase. One time I did get them and they had an odd smell like a sour smell eye contacted Amazon and they refunded me my money right away. If you're looking for something to help with your mental State of mind purchase these I promise you'll be glad you did!

It works slowly and steadily depending on the severity of anxiety and stress. For me it is tensed musculoskeletal pain along with chronic anxiety and stress and i can definitely feel a difference in just about a single dose. One should take the minimum possible dose to start with and slowly achieve their required daily dosage else it can worsen the problem. I take it on an empty stomach because of my gut issues but one can try otherwise. Ideally consulting a doctor is advisable but sadly enough most doctors here are as clueless as we are about herbal pharmaceutical treatments. I am on my 10th day and for someone who has had chronic physiological anxiety and stress for almost all my life, this stuff is good. This brand is pure and potent at a reasonable cost. One should not take it if there is no issue and only for the requisite period of time to normalise the Dopamine levels. Wish you'll good health!

Good

Excelente producto llego muy rápido

Estoy muy contenta con sus esfuerzos. Padezco una enfermedad que disminuye los niveles de dopamina y con la Mucuna están mejor. Gracias

good in use