Pycnogenol....

[Monika76]

Has anyone had luck with it? I would be excited to try it first before Elmiron.

[kadi]

What is it? Never heard of it.

[Monika76]

Another IC patient I correspond with via email said she believes its an equivalent to Elmiron in a natural form, without some of the chemicals. She takes it because her system tolerates it better than Elmiron so she highly recommends it. It can treat many conditions but for us the most important one is inflammation.

From the Pycnogenol website:

Pycnogenol® is a water extract from the bark of the French maritime pine grown as a mono-species forest, spread over the coastal region of south-west France. The unique source of Pycnogenol®, the "pine bark" has a well-established monograph based on macroscopic and microscopic findings defining its pharmacogonistic characteristics, an essential feature of the quality confirmation.

Pycnogenol® represents a natural blend of genetically programmed constant proportions of bioflavonoids including catechin, epicatechin, taxifolin, monomers, dimers of catechin and epicatechin, oligomeric procyanidnins and phenolic fruit acids such as ferulic acid and caffeic acid.

[ICNDonna]

You can read about pycnogenol at http://www.quackwatch.org/02ConsumerProtection/FTCActions/efamol.html

Donna