I got hit with MS in 1992, and quickly slid to 3 on the disability scale in the first year. Then I found the Swank diet and stopped the slide. Then I found the BBD and have managed fairly well.

But after about 5 years I experienced a deterioration of cognitive function, as most of us with ms do. Short term memory got worse and worse - a constant embarrassment. A deterioration of long term memory was most noticeable. And my math ability or problem solving ability was terrible - seemed like the approaching end of my being able to keep my job.

I was unwilling to surrender without trying what was available. The pharmaceutical companies had drugs but the studies were not convincing - sounded like minimal help and maximum bother.

Internet research found lots of fantastic claims. But patiently sorting it out and tracking down ingredients and searching whatever discipline or science could be found, two herbs came forward as contenders for trial. Gingko Biloba and Bacopa. The claim is improved blood circulation in the brain. I decided to try Gingko first and it worked. Later In 2006, to finish the thought, I grew some bacopa in the garden and in the fall put the leaves into a bottle of vodka to make an essence. It had no noticeable effect. Very glad the Gingko works. We're all different.

The puzzle that presented itself was - how can you use your broken brain to decide your brain is broken? How can you trust your thinking, your observations? Especially in cases of alternative medicine where claims are so subjective and exaggerated.

Well here's what I did. When I forgot things, or said silly and dyslexic things, I called it a "brain fart" and logged occurrences into my day timer. The first thing I had to do was log a datum period. So for three months I did this, logging a fairly consistent 3 to 6 brain farts a day. Then I took the herb for 3 months. After 2 weeks of no difference, things changed dramatically - no problems. no forgetting. and my thinking got really clear. I had come out of a fog. I was thinking as clearly as before I had MS. I realized I had so slowly entered a fog bank that I hadn't noticed - not until it became an embarrassment. When I first read about cognitive dysfunction in MS patients I thought how lucky I was that I didn't have it. Well I did, but didn't notice the slow slippery slope of deterioration. Gingko gave it all back at once. Continued for 3 months as planned. Just excellent. No brain farts. No fog.

Then came the hard part. I had to prove it to myself - had to prove it was not just my hoping it would work that had made the difference. So I stopped taking Gingko. In only 2 days I was back to stupid - and this time that's how I felt - stupid. Went 2 weeks more. Same old 3-6 brain farts a day. Started the Gingko again. It took 1 week this time before it started to improve, 2 weeks to stop the brain farts and a month to bring back full alertness. It is cause for celebration to have clear thinking again.

I have stopped taking it for a while every once in a while since. And each time reassured myself of its grand utility.

After a couple of years of 2 tabs/day (120 mg) I remembered Dr. Linus Pauling's megavitamin principle that there was a substantial difference between the "minimum" that would prevent sickness and the "optimum" that promoted health. And we each have to sort that out ourselves. So I set out to double the amount on successive months - from 2 to 4/day for a month, then 8/day for a month, the 16/day. WOW. Although the "fog" had gone with the first use in 2001 at 2/day, these increases were amazing. It was directly proportional. Gingko is expensive, so I throttled down to 12/day.

I work in aviation, in avionics. And I was fearing for my ability to continue working because of the cognitive lapses that had built up by 2001. But since taking mega-gingko, I have a reputation at work as having the best memory in the company.

I used puzzles as a measure of problem solving during that experiment. But there is another most curious and useful measure. You know the annoyance of having something you are trying to recall stay just "at the tip of your tongue" - like recalling the author of a favourite book? Well that's another characteristic for me of this weakened brain syndrome or whatever - too much of that "tip of the tongue" feeling, without the memory ever coming back. What I have noticed is that the time of the memory heeding the call and coming from the depth is rather measurable and noticeable.

As everyone knows, the usual cure for this tip of the tongue memory is to distract the forgetful part of mind and let the reliable part of the mind stay in the search-for-that-answer mode. So you kind of relax, walk around the block sort of thing and the memory comes up in a bit. Of course, if when you see the answer coming your way, you foolishly say "aha! that's it, I've got it now!" too early, why the memory runs immediately back into the mist and you have to start over.

Well sometimes remembering the memory takes a few minutes. And sometimes when you're very tired, a few hours. Gingko seems to speed that up to merely seconds. It becomes a feedback thing to help figure out dosage. Be patient, it's rather humourous.

One other piece of good news. These megadoses seem to heal something. I continued to stop from time to time to test matters, and found that it took longer and longer after stopping the 12/day for incompetency to return. It took months, not days to wear down. So I reduced to 6/day and made that the new norm. And then in xmas 2008 I stopped again, and it took a whole year for cognition and memory to slow down. It never wore down to stupid. Surely that indicates some healing process was at work. After no gingko for a year I started again at 10/day (600 mg). It took a few months to get back the edge.

I wrote this in 2002. Added some in 2007 and again in 2010. it is a wonderful thing that my thinking and my memory continues to be clear and sharp as ever in my life. And I just had my 67th birthday so should have troubles aside from my ms. When I become very tired and memory again entangles and thinking stalls, I am reminded how lucky I am that this herb helps so. I hope it might help you.