However, the lowered dopamine was obvious for me and it did decrease my muscle mass as well. However, this only made worse some problems I already have in that department. In fact, I felt like my tendons were weakening and I was pulling things all the time. For that reason, i stopped using it.
Have you thought about using it in combination with dopaminergic agents? I take a lot of herbs and supplements that tend to raise dopamine levels and transmission (e.g., precursors, weak reversible MAO inhibitors, agonists) and I also take berberine at 300 mg 3x/day. I have had no problems such as you described. In fact I wasn't even aware of berberine lowering dopamine until I saw your post, and now I'm kind of glad that I've been taking it because there are days when I feel like I'm overdoing the dopamine so maybe it would have been even worse without the berb.
My dopaminergics:
* mucuna pruriens 4:1 extract: 2-3 grams/day
* d,l-phenylalanine: 1-2 grams/day
* rasagiline: half a mg once every few days
* n-acetyl-l-cysteine: 2-4 grams/day
* l-theanine: 600-800 mg/day
* tianeptine: 12-15 mg 2x/day
* amantadine: 100 mg/day (just added this a week ago and it's truly overkill, started making me hypomanic so I've cut the phenylalanine and rasagiline for now but am loving the amantadine!)
* catuaba 4:1 extract: 2-4 grams/day
* bacopa monnieri: 300 mg/day
* ginkgo biloba: 250 mg/day
* jiaogulan: 800-1000 mg/day
* magnolia extract: 500 mg/day
* beta-alanine: 1 gram, a few times a week
Several of the above-listed items are used by body-builders, so I would think this could be a good option for you if you want to try berberine again.
Edited by deeptrance, 17 December 2013 - 08:02 PM.