Has anyone experienced gastritis, or other digestive problems while taking curcumin? We had no positive effect when taking it in separate doses or with food, but when taken in the morning on an empty stomach, it worked well, but we have had severe gastro intestinal problems and have had to discontinue. I understand this is not unusual, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has had this problem and has found a way to alleviate it.
We have been taking it for quite some time, but have just begun to have the gastro intestinal side effects.
Thanks!

I asked Dr. Aggarwal this very question. The first time I was not specific enough. I wanted to know if curcumin taken in bulk form, with no capsules, and no bioperine, but with a fat, such as avocado, coconut oil, or flaxseed oil would work and also eliminate the side effects. This was too complicated a question, I guess, as he asked me to be more specific.

So I just asked him how to lessen the effects since many people experience G.I. efects owiht crucumin. Here is is response:

Dear Alex: GI effects are not common. May be you can start taking 2 capsule
every hour with milk/yogurt/etc? Best wishes

I have been taking curcumin for about a year and a half now, both in powder form and in capsule form. I haven't had much experience with G.I. (except what others have told me), so I don't know if this will be of much help. However, I read about a guy with follicular lymphoma who mixes curcumin powder with avocado (fat!)--I can't find the link (sorry)--and I forget what else. Avocado lowers cholesterol, too, as I recall. I wonder if the fat content might protect us from any distress: when I was mixing curcumin powder with warm coconut milk, I had no trouble whatsoever, except that the taste was a bit gross, no matter how hard I tried to think of it as a chocolate shake. However, ever since I have been testing capsules, I have had occasional stomach rumblings. I have never tried milk, but I have tried cream (pretty gross, too). If you follow the yoghurt advice (that could work), try to avoid yoghurt with added sugar. I am still trying different things, and will report any successes here and on my blog. And if someone finds a great solution to this problem, PLEASE pretty please post it here, thank you!
Good luck!, Margaret, Florence, Italy

James Betz told me he has PhD in molecular biology from the University of Vienna. I guess someone from the acor list might want to go to the trouble to verify this.

I had suspected that biaxin might potentiate resveratrol, and James Betz had one of his assistants look in into this. Not only does it potentiate it, but it also has a synergistic effect. Whether this will do anything against mm by itself, I cannot know. I can tell you that Biaxin is covered by insurance, so this can reduce the cost. If this means I could get by on two pill of 50 mg of thalidomide a week in combination with resveratrol and biaxin, this would be more than worth it.

I CANNOT vouch for the veracity of anything this man says, but he seems to be real to me. That is enough for me.

I really did not want to stir up a hornet's nest with the acor list. That list really helped me when my idiotic local oncologist told me I had "less than 3 years to live". That was almost 4 years ago. Barbara Hammack, Bob Tindall (now deceased), Helen Volkeema (now deceased), Don Shultz (mm spouse now deceased), were all very helpful to me.
Brad Rathkopf is the most knowlegeble mm patient on the entire list, and also very helpful. I was rather suprised to learn what it is he does, as first he would post more about the supplements he tried. I have a very deep regard for the man, even if I do not necessarily agree with him.

I really did not think anyone who can even turn on the computer or has half a brain would send anyone his or her credit card number to someone they did not know. I should have edited that part out and left in my emails to James Betz, as them my comments would not have been misconstrued.

I do not quite understand why so mamy on the acor list only want to stick to conventional medicine, or at least that is what they post.
I do not care what helps me. The first I email I got from David was in response to my query about hearing from people who had had long remissions. I did not care how they got there. Dual stem cell transplants, doing yoga for hours, eating 5 pounds of blueberries a day--it did not matter at all to me HOW it was accomplished. I prefer the least toxic approach, but if there is a relatively toxic approach that will put me into remission permanently, I might opt for it. Unfortunately, SCTs are very toxic but do not really do that. There is a man at my local group exactly my age who is from the U.K., got married here, but had to go back to the U.K. for treatment. He had a full allo, which is apparently in common practice there. It took him a pretty long time to recuperate, but this is as close to a cure as we can get. The risk for these kind of transplants is really great, and one must have a full match for a really good outcome. The odds of finding a full match are not that great. If I thought I could get a permanent remission out of this, I might try it, if the risks could be lowered. I do not subscribe to any particular philosphy, as anyone can see. My own father is and M.D. and worked with Virginia Livingston, M.D., who had an alternative cancer treatment clinic here it San Diego. Mind you my father has never been a particuiarly open-minded person.
Dr. Livingston thought that all cancer was caused by a bacterium.
My father thought the value of what she does was in stimulating the immune system to fight cancer. This research has gone on for 20 to 30 years, and should actually have some practical results in the next 5 to 10 years. So I cannot understand the closed-mindedness of these people on the acor list, who, as far as I know, often do not even have undergraduate science degrees. I have found excellent M.D.s are often much more open-minded than acor list posters. Also, what some of these people say on that list often differs substantially from what they actually practice. Finally, I cannot understand why some people have such a hard time understanding that if lifestyle changes can bring positive effects against other things like heart disease to lung cancer to diabetes, why it is not possible these kind of changes might also help to fight cancer.