Barley grass

[janetstanford]

Have forum members heard of Barley Grass do any take it as a vitamin supplement and if so in what form
Thanks Janet

[Bobby Shaw]

Hello Janet,
I am new to the Forum, but I saw your post and hope my experience with wheatgrass might be of some interest to you. Sorry I do not have anything on barley grass. I was diagnosed with MDS-RCMD in 2008. Initially, I responded to Aranesp and G-CSF. During that time, my wife and I met an Indian doctor of Ayurvedic medicine, who was interested in my condition and recommended a set of breathing/yogic exercises and also that I should try wheatgrass, preferably by growing, cutting and juicing it ourselves. I was pretty sceptical and did nothing for a year. But we were due to meet him again at a time when my condition had deteriorated to treatment with two units of blood transfused every 3-4 weeks. So I began the exercises daily and also started wheatgrass pills (our small flat and a fair amount of travel made alternatives impractical). More or less at the same time, Prof Mufti at KCH and my haematologist here in Geneva arranged for me to be treated with lenalidomide (Aranesp). Some combination of these elements have worked wonders for me. I have been transfusion-independent since March 2011. My Hb count was 7.7 then, and has risen to 13.3 today. It is, of course, impossible to sort out which of these elements have been most responsible for this change (or how long it will last). But there is some minor evidence that wheatgrass has a positive evidence--see the footnote 10 in the Wikipedia article on wheatgrass. I certainly will not change my regime of exercise and pills!

As a side effect of the MDS and treatment, I have had some psoriasis on my soles and knees. My wife ordered Dr Wheatgrass Skin Recovery Gel for me, and it has essentially cleared the psoriasis. Hope this helps a bit, Bobby

[chris]

Thanks for that, Bobby. There does seem to be some evidence that wheatgrass has an iron-chelating effect and here is a link to the research paper. However, as with all supplements, patients should always discuss them with their medical advisors before taking them to ensure they are not going to react with other drug treatments ......or maybe even confound the results of trials??!!! I can quite understand that you would not want to stop taking it if everything is on an even keel for you at the moment. I'm sort of surprised that the guidelines of a drug research trial do not include asking participants about any food supplements/herbal treatments/vitamins etc they might be taking which might affect the results.Have you spoken to Prof Mufti about this as he might be interested in your experience?

Janet - presumably barley grass is a different thing?

http://www.asco.org/ASCOv2/Meetings/Abs ... ctID=33788

Best wishes

Chris

[janetstanford]

Hi Chris
that did confuse me we are posting at the same time your post popped up as i clicked submit ....hmmm i must look at both barley and wheat ..now wheat grass helps iron overload now that if it works would help as you know i suffer from that and if it helps it helps i shall investigate thanks for the link

take care Janet

[janetstanford]

Hello both
i have investigated and it is barley grass (mind is intact) bobby thanks for the wheat grass tip i shall look into that and Chris thanks again for the info the iron ....take care Janet