Reddit mentions: The best licorice root herbal supplements

Arbutin is still around, although for brightening ingredients, there's other ingredients that are much more common and potent. Here's what I can remember at the moment!

Vitamin C is going to be the number one recommendation from most people, including myself. Ideally, you'll find a vitamin C serum with vitamin C concentration at 20%, formulated with the inclusion of vitamin E and ferulic acid to make the product have optimal efficiency and shelf life, all at a pH of less than 3.5. The Timeless vitamin C fulfills all of these and is commonly viewed as the best dupe for the reigning, patented formula kind Skinceuticals. Use a vitamin C serum during the day; it has photoprotective effects. By no means does it replace sunscreen though of course.

Niacinamide is next. You'll want to find something that has 4%-5% concentration. People talk a lot about The Ordinary's 10% niacinamide, but there's a reason that product is marked for clogged pores and excessively oily skin. The ideal concentration is still 4%-5%. Stratia Liquid Gold has 4% and Holy Snails Shark Sauce has 5% niacinamide, the former of which is more famed for moisture barrier repair and maintenance and the latter of which is more commonly recognized for its brightening effects.

Arbutin is an ingredient I know is well reputed for its brightening effects, but I'm not familiar with effective concentrations or even the concentrations of the ingredient in any product apart from The Ordinary. The three most common products with arbutin in it are undoubtedly The Ordinary Alpha Arbutin 2%, Kikumasamune High Moist Toner, and Hada Labo Shirojyun Toner.

Lastly, there's licorice root extract. Licorice root extract is interesting because it's effective at a 5% concentration but it seems to not have complicated pH formulation concerns. So I've seen quite a few times that people recommend for each other to just buy licorice root extract off of Amazon and put it in their favorite toner, making sure that they use the licorice root extract such that there's 5% extract and 95% toner. This is what people have recommended to use for the curious. I haven't dabbled in this myself yet, so I can't speak to effectiveness or safety with this option. Merely passing on the knowledge after reading so much on this subreddit. For those like me who are iffy about DIY projects, Holy Snails Shark Sauce has licorice root extract.

Cabbage is actually a trigger for me, everything from the cabbage family including broccoli and cauliflower have bothered me.

Your case is the worst I've personally heard of, so maybe my triggers might work for you. Are you taking meds? IANAD, by my doc had me taking prilosec 2x a day when I first started and that helped, until it didn't anymore. Now I take protonix 2x/day before food, and 300mg zantac at night.

Maybe try ensure? I recommend butter pecan original, it's the tastiest flavor and the original didn't bother me like the plus did. Another thing to try is DGL, I mentioned it in someone elses' post but not here. This is the one I use and it's SUPER helpful, chew two half an hour before food and it helps coat your stomach so that food isn't so painful. Also try chamomile tea, it's supposed to help stomach mucus. Also, take super papaya with food once you can manage, it helps with digestion. But that DGL makes a HUGE difference.

Also try extra-watery rice, make it 3c water to 1c rice, it'll make it softer and easier to digest. Rice was the one food i could eat when I couldn't eat any other foods.

Good luck!

I'm no doctor, but I've had ulcers. Here's how I healed my ulcers (also, this regimen is safe even if you don't have ulcers, it can only help, IMO).

1. Kick the Prilosec -- OTC medicines ultimately did not work to heal my stomach. They just treated the symptoms. Instead of Prilosec, Take some Deglycerized licorice (DGL) 20 minutes prior to every meal. I like these.. These should sooth your stomach, and stop the burning.
   
   
2. You need to follow a lower-fat, lower-protein diet, until your stomach heals (and possibly, indefinitely, depending on what your body is capable of handling). Lean meats, complex carbs, veggies, and select fruits (i.e. bananas and apples). This diet will allow your stomach to recover quickly. For the first week, you could try a really bland diet to speed healing, such as the BRAT diet. Bananas, white rice, applesauce, and toast. That will take a lot of the strain off of your stomach, pancreas, and liver. DO NOT eat this diet for longer than a week, it is not nourishing enough. Just until your stomach begins to feel better, then ease back in some root vegetables, and lean meats. Be sure to cook your veggies thoroughly, to make it easier to digest. Also, make sure to eat more frequently -- do not fast or take long breaks between meals. If this means eating smaller meals, then so be it.
   
   
3. Zinc Carnosine has helped me and others heal from ulcers completely. It takes several weeks to begin working, but it helps the stomach repair. You can get some here. Read up about it, too -- it is used commonly in Japan for ulcers.
   
   
   

I hope this isn't too late. I had palpitations as well. I'd have trouble breathing, for like an hour or so, then my heart would start racing all of a sudden and I'd feel my chest open up. I did have low iron and magnesium, though. After repeated visits to the ER the doctors finally caught one episode of my palpitations and they diagnosed me with SVT. I'm not sure that's what you have, if your heartbeat suddenly jumps to 200 bpm like mine did it might be.

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I'm sorry that nothing works, that really sucks. I don't feel the palpitations as much, just junctional escape rhythms (which they say are benign and have nothing to do with the SVT episodes), and my breathing issues are not entirely solved. I can relate to how frustrating and destabilizing it is to have nothing work after trying everything.

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Another thing you mentioned was heartburn, have you been diagnosed with acid reflux?

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And the thing I would recommend to try, when you have the palpitations, is resveratrol. I used to take a rescue inhaler that gave me horrible tachycardia, and resveratrol helped me control my heart rate; it also attenuates tachycardia, so you get them less often over time. You can take it preventatively, I would suggest something from Thorne or Paradise herbs, or Solaray. I also take amla from one of those brands. It has a lot of heart benefits

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To soothe the esophageal lining, you can take DGL chewable tablets, and then take chewable digestive enzymes after you eat for every meal.

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The things I'm taking are pretty safe and don't normally cause complications, but with anything do your own research and see if it's for you.

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I hope you find the cause soon.

Congratulations! I love licorice roots, and sometimes I'll still chew on one when the mood strikes me. It satisfies that hand-to-mouth craving like nothing else, and it's way better than eating. Unless you're eating ginger candy...that got me through some tough times! :)

I just started taking this brand a couple weeks ago, but so far I've been pretty happy with it.

Organic Ashwagandha Root Powder -... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D9OS7MG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

DIY Licorice Mask

So, Shark Sauce seemed to break me out, which made me real sad... especially as I was hoping to up my licorice root game. Enter DIY. I ordered a bunch of those compressed sheet masks off Amazon, along with licorice root tea and alcohol-free licorice root extract. I boiled and steeped the tea, then refrigerated it. After cleansing and toning, I put some of the tea in a dish, added a few drops of tea tree oil, and let the mask do its thang. While it absorbed, I smoothed four drops of the licorice root extract onto my skin. I put the sheet mask on, silicone cover over that, and chilled for a half hour. My skin has seemed more even, and of course, more hydrated. I plan on doing this at least 3x/week, and consider it to be an essence step. I'm so excited to see if it helps ease my redness in the long run!

Hey, this is possibly unpopular advice, but my cysts actually shrunk so it's worth sharing. I live in California where medicinal marijuana is legal. I was diagnosed two years ago, when I was twenty. My doctor put me on birth control and I lost about 10 pounds as my hormones got regular (I'm 5'3" (i like to believe and a half) and was 165 at my heaviest. The biggest thing that helped me lose weight was a semester I spent in Paris---I wasn't actually on any sort of diet, but the French just don't eat that much processed food and I lost about another 10-15 pounds from spending four months walking around everywhere and eating real food. When I returned from Paris back to LA, I went back to my regular college life, which includes quite a bit of smoking. That's actually when I started losing the most weight (this was in January 2015). I lost another 10 pounds just from trying to cook more like my host mom, but was still living a pretty sedentary, unhealthy american life. In fall the biggest change happened when I went vegan and stopped eating out. This actually made me lose like 15 or 20 pounds since November. I'm now about 115 and no one can even believe when I tell them I used to be 50 pounds heavier.

I went back in for an ultrasound a few months ago and my cysts have actually shrunk. The doctor told me that would be the THC. If you live in a state where you can use THC medically, it really helped. And it does wonders for nasty cramps and anxiety often associated with PCOS

If that's not your thing/not a possibility, I would avoid the counting calories and low carb diet-y things. Eating a natural, mostly plant-based diet with minimal animal products (I still sometimes cheat and eat chick-fil-a and pork ramen and definitely ice cream) that will make a huge difference in your overall health.

Lastly, if you are trying to regulate your period, or if you have skin problems, I would recommend using traditional chinese medicine--the herbs white peony root and licorice are wonderful for PCOS and menstrual health in general (actually licorice is good for everything!!) You can actually buy the herbs and make teas or tinctures, or you can just buy capsules online.


There's some advice! you can message me though if you want to know anything else...I had a very very bad time with birth control (it made me crazy and gave me actual morning sickness) so I spent the past year or so studying alternatives to western medicine). Best of luck with your journey, soul cyster!

These are the herbs I use. Sometimes it's nice to pretend to be an alchemist and make your own tinctures, but this is cheapest and easiest

http://www.amazon.com/Peony-Licorice-Teapills-Plum-Flower/dp/B004ZH5SKQ/ref=sr_1_1_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1464900352&sr=1-1&keywords=gan+cao+shao+yao'

oh and it says to take 8 a day i think...i did not because 1. they look like little lead bullets and thought putting 8 in my mouth at once was silly. But mainly because three is enough and I didn't want to re-purchase so frequently

I would use the CBD along with 1/8th teaspoon DGL powder twice a day. This will heal any stomach with bad reflux in a few days. It tastes like concentrated root beer or licorice but it is the best herbal medicine I ever tried.

https://www.superfoodly.com/dgl-licorice/

https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Nutrients-Nutritional-Intestinal-Vegetarian/dp/B000KYMBT4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?hvadid=177802186501&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9004989&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14268358465386728222&hvtargid=kwd-6852458133&keywords=dgl+powder&qid=1556262055&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

nah.what you want is 'extracts'

i have a bunch of these i take with yogurt and blueberries in the morning, they are great

https://www.amazon.com/Appethyl-Energy-Powder-Spinach-Extract/dp/B013C63INY/ref=sr_1_8_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1518558794&sr=1-8&keywords=spinach+extract

https://www.amazon.com/Puritans-Pride-Extract-500mg-90-Capsules/dp/B00AZ0IYQW/ref=sr_1_7_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1518559137&sr=1-7&keywords=beet+extract


https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Elderberry-500-Veg-Capsules/dp/B000VVA300/ref=sr_1_6_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1518558894&sr=1-6&keywords=elderberry+extract

Licorice root extract in water or (vegan) licorice, fennel seeds or carminative products like DGL can help the symptoms. We always have a supply of these around the house (and in my car!)

That's all excellent advice which I forgot to mention earlier. Licorice root does indeed contain an anti-androgen.

I was lucky enough to have randomly gotten in the habit of chewing on licorice roots during puberty and, maybe it was luck or genetics, but I had very little masculinization.

Here's one example of which kind of root to get.

Don't know if anyone's mentioned this but licorice root is a great way to deal with the "oral" side of things. That's what got me through it. I still use them when I'm nervous.
http://www.amazon.com/African-Chew-Sticks-Licorice-Pound/dp/B001HHFLM2

I would recommend giving Licorice Root a try. You can get it in the vitamin section at most health food stores. Or on Amazon: Licorice Root 450 mg 100 Caps https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00068U73G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_TuNBwbEBNWTT4

It's not instant relief , but it has worked wonders for my own gastritis after taking it 1-2 times a day for a few days.

Currently I'm using this brand at 2100mg, is it too high of a dose in your opinion? https://www.amazon.com/Organic-Ashwagandha-1300mg-Capsules-Enhancer/dp/B06ZYHJYD5/ref=sr_1_18?crid=34752V19F6P7C&keywords=ashwagandha&qid=1556090965&s=hpc&sprefix=ash%2Chpc%2C195&sr=1-18

http://www.amazon.com/African-Chew-Sticks-Licorice-Pound/dp/B001HHFLM2

Do people not know about these things? My mom always used to get them at the health food store.

http://www.anabolicmen.com/licorice-testosterone/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000633BUC

Dilute this in some water, and there you go.

The only ones I can get in my country are these ones:

https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Plus-Actives-Licorice-Capsules/dp/B0019LVBTS

Serving Size: 1 Capsule

Amount: Licorice (DGL) (Glycyrrhiza glabra root) (standardized <2% [<10 mg] glycyrrhizin) 500 mg

Other Ingredients: Vegetable cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate, silica, di-calcium phosphate and purified water.

https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Licorice-450mg-Capsules/dp/B000633BUC/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1473288630&sr=8-2&keywords=licorice+root

7 grams a day for 4 days prior to your test. Dropped my testosterone by 100 ng/dl.

https://www.anabolicmen.com/licorice-testosterone/

If this is against the sub rules someone please let me know. I need you guys too much to get banned.

Based on your post I decided to try this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06ZYHJYD5/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I love kratom but worry about the fact that I use it all day every day. Maybe this will help me cut down a little.