BULKSUPPLEMENTS.COM Berberine HCl Powder - 500mg per Serving, 500 Servings - 250 Grams

Tanked my appetite and reduced blood pressure. Wow, I just started taking this yesterday, and I'm stunned by result. I mixed it with other bitter orange / yellow powders: lutein, rutin, zeanthanin and put the mixture under my tongue. After around 30 seconds I wash it down with ginger ale. Everything clumps and so you need to keep drinking and making sure all clumps swallowed til it's gone. It's more bitter than my other bitter supplements but these results are worth it. I am taking twice a day. I am not hungry AT ALL. Will update if anything changes.

Update, 5/9/2017: Berberine did not give me good enough results to continue. After a couple weeks, I started seeing FBG (fasting blood glucose, which I take soon after I wake up) readings around 200-210; they had been 180-195 before taking berberine. And my A1c results: 03/07: 7.0 03/26: started berberine 04/28: 7.4 Since berberine is supposed to be good for cholesterol and some other things, I am going to continue taking 2 caps/day until I run out (I was taking 4 capsules for blood sugar). I had better readings for a couple weeks, but I think that may have come from taking spirulina, and/or spirulina+berberine. Spirulina is supposed to improve insulin sensitivity--which is the real problem many with Type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, PCOS, etc have; we make plenty of insulin but our bodies don't respond to it properly. I was taking 1 tablespoon of spirulina per day for about 3 weeks. One week overlapped with my berberine experiment, then I stopped taking spirulina to see if berberine worked alone. It didn't. :/ (I try to change just one thing at a time--supplement, diet, exercise, etc--so I can figure out what works and what doesn't.) In the study involving spirulina, subjects took 19g daily and insulin sensitivity improved 225%! However, that is about 2 tablespoons, and spirulina is a bit difficult to take in that quantity; it doesn't taste great! I actually found the easiest way to take it is to mix it 1 tbsp in about 4oz of iced tea and just chug it. Trying to disguise it in a smoothie, soup, protein bar or whatever just ended up being way too much food and way too many calories for me. Everyone is different, and berberine might be worth a try for you. It didn't make me sick or anything. ========== First review: A little background: I went off all meds for a while, and my A1c was 6.7. Then it was 6.1 after a few months on metformin, 1500mg/day. But I cannot tolerate that much metformin--I have extremely painful intestinal cramping and bathroom emergencies all the time. I went to Victoza + 500mg metformin, and my A1c went back up to 6.7. Then I tried Bydureon (made me terribly dizzy) and Januvia, and it went up to 7.0 (highest A1c I've ever had). My insurance won't cover Victoza, which I liked because it suppressed my appetite. So I decided to look at natural remedies again. Berberine was on my list of things to try (along with taurine, spirulina, cinnamon, resistant starch, and other stuff). I read some of the reviews here, was quite impressed, ordered some, and made my own pills. I had been seeing nothing but bad readings in the last 2 or 3 months with Januvia. 180-195 fasting (which is what I was getting with NO medication, NO metformin), 160-180 2 or more hours after eating. Within a couple days of taking berberine I was seeing about 20 points lower in the morning, and 120-140 after eating. Even 100 every now and then, if several hours after eating. I hadn't seen anything like that since being on 1500mg metformin, or Victoza + metformin. I want to get those numbers much lower, but it's not bad considering I've only been taking berberine for 10 days. Victoza costs about $850/month, has many side effects, and has to be injected. I'm really hoping berberine will lower my A1--I will update next time I get it taken. I was able to make exactly 250 "00" capsules from 100g, which comes to approx 400mg/capsule. The last 50 were a little less full than the others; this stuff is VERY fluffy, and I was able to tamp it down 4 or 5 times. Berberine is really, REALLY bitter! Even a little residual powder on the outside of the capsules will leave a horrible taste in your mouth for hours; eating and drinking won't get rid of it, but everything will taste like pure evil. I put the capsules in a jar with raw rice and shook it for a while to rub off extra berberine, then rubbed each capsule with a paper towel to clean them a little more. That took a while but I did it while watching TV, no big deal. 240 400mg capsules cost about $36-45 (240x400mg/1000=96g), while 100g from Bulk Supplements cost me $22. It didn't save me that much money this time, but I plan to buy 250mg next time, and making my own capsules will save me at least $60. I've been taking 4 of these caps per day; 2 in the morning before eating, and 2 with my dinner, along with my metformin. One day I took 6 and I think it upset my digestion a little (but a lot of foods throw me off, so it may have been something else). I usually skip one or two meals per day, but I may try 6 total on days I eat more.

Instructions for using this. When it arrives don't open it. Immediately throw it in the trash and tie up the bag tightly. Take that bag outside and put it in the can. Secure the lid. Then go back inside and order the capsules. Or you can try to choke it down and spend the next 15 minutes with a magic eraser cleaning your countertop.

I bought this product to help me with my blood sugar levels. I did a lot of research on this. I am a white male, age 60. Fasting blood test results on 9-29-17 and 4-4-18 Glucose went from 125 to 105. Hemoglobin A1C went from 5.8 to 5.3. C-Peptide went from 6.20 to 2.36. Here's the kicker: I only started taking the Berberine on March 3. That's only for one month. I went from Pre-diabetic to not. Incredible. I also took Red Yeast Rice for a while, but nowhere near the entire 6 months. Total cholesterol went from 285 to 202, Chol/HDLC ratio went from 5.4 to 4.5. Triglycerides went from 220 to 108. Blood pressure 110/80. Did I say I'm also 275 pounds? That's right, 5'11", 275 pounds. However, the more research I do on cholesterol, the more I'm finding that cholesterol numbers are a bunch of bunk, and a big racket for Big Pharma. Check-out the YouTube videos on this. So as they say: Your results may vary from mine, but I swear by Berberine. I make my own capsules. I take one, 500mg capsule, 3 times a day.

I gave the product 4 stars because it did what it was supposed to do. Took it with milk thistle just before or with a meal and had great success. Used it on and off over the course of a year. It also helped treat sinus infections and pneumonia. The reason I have to ding the fifth star is due to the fact it's been sourced from Chine - wtf. Didn't realize that upon purchase. Do a little research and it's common knowledge that many supplements sourced from China contain heavy metals that are toxic to your health. This product has been lab-tested but for what? I'm still waiting on answers.