My Butterbur/Petadolex updates

Ok, my timelines are a little blurry but almost a year ago I started taking Enzymatic Therapy Petadolex. I had posted in several threads about it, and was having some good results from it. A definite decline in frequency and severity of headaches.

About 2 1/2 months ago, I thought I would try a cheaper brand of Butterbur. Just a general high quality, properly standardized brand that they sell in the health food stores here.

Over the last month and 1/2 or so, I have had horrible migraines. I have had 2 which lasted over 4 days, and have been in the E.R. twice.

Obviously it's pretty tough to prove what's causing what, but the only thing I changed during this time was switching Butterbur types. I am going back onto the Petadolex this week.

The only other thing of note, I did find the general Butterbur harder on my stomach than the Petadolex. I have read on the forum there isn't much difference between the it and brands like Swansons, but I am playing it safe and going back on it.

Sorry to hear that, but interesting.
If it was Swanson's I think it is worth challenging them on this.
They insist its the same and we seem to have had similar results on here with either.
BUT if that is not the truth then they really need to be called on it.

Has anyone else has a similar experience perhaps.

P

What a bummer!

I'm on Swanson's and have had zero side-effects. I know that it has helped too. I've been on it since either June or July (can't remember exactly) but severity has decreased (pain maxes at a 7 rarely instead of 9.9 often) but I seem to have more neurological effects (which I maybe just didn't notice before). It also has decreased the frequency. I actually get a break between rounds, sometimes a day, sometimes many days.

I can't speak for others experiences but that's where I'm at.

It's not necessarily meant to be disparaging towards Swanson's or any other brand of Butterbur. It's just passing on my experiences so far using Butterbur. The thing is, I took Petadolex and do believe without a doubt that it was having postive effects. I switched, and appear to be seeing a a very bad result from that. And the switch is the only thing I have changed in my regiment that could have any effect. I am not a scientist or a Dr. though and I can't definitively 'blame' the switch.

I did not switch to Swanson's, but a brand that should have been on par with it. Swanson's has worked for some people on the forums, so again I am not disparaging it. I am just passing on experiences I am having now that may be of interest to some people. I personally will not venture away from Pedadolex again based of my experiences.

I mainly update people because I think other than one other forum user who has been using it about the same amount of time, I have been on Butterbur the longest out of anyone on the forum. I am one person passing on experiences though, not a study.

Also, I have not been very active on the forums over the last month or so and this has been the reason why. So I thought I'd give any update. It's been a horrid month.

I don't think the lesson is to avoid any one brand, it's that if something is working for you don't mess around with it!

TDU,

I just meant that if Swansons (which it wasnt you say....my mistake), are saying they are identical, but they are not.
We should feed this back to them. Thats all.

P

tdu,

I didn't take it that you be disparaging any brand but that you saw a "generic" version gave you problems. I guess it goes to show that not all brands are comparable. I went the route I did for monetary reasons but had I not seen any benefit, I would have switched to Petadolex before writing it off totally.

Could differences be in the "inert" ingredients? I'm just wondering as this group seems to have sensitivities to things that most don't. I know that brand name Rx vs generic Rx can even work differently though they are supposed to be identical. Just spitballing here.

Glad you've seen results though.

Petadolex claims to have better processing that they say is patented. When dealing with herbal remedies though it's pretty tough to go by what the companies claims. I don't know if you can trust them anymore than you can trust Swanson's saying theirs is 'the same' honestly. When I started Petadolex, there wasn't a lot of other high quality Butterbur supplements in the local stores here, so I went with it. Now I see more options from reputable companies, which is why I thought I'd give one a try.

I agree that not all brands are comparable. But with supplements it's pretty tough to know who to trust. The best I can do is go back to what was working.

In general the quality control and consistency in the supplements/vitamin market is not good. They are not regulated or held to the same type of standards as the pharmaceutical industry. This does not mean they are bad, just highly variable from manufacturer to manufacturer. I have had some products where the inconsistency in strength from pill to pill in the same bottle was quite noticeable. So it certainly pays to find a good brand of whatever and stick with it. The few pennies you might save are just not worth it compared to your quality of life.

I am ordering the Petodolax to see how it does. Apparently it is very I portent that it be "PA free", otherwise it can harm he liver. The clinical studies were on Petodolax so jt seems the safer bet. ( Athough it is rather expensive. Almost as much as all my other supplements put together. )