According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, Bitter melon is an extremely cold food, and therefore must be used with caution for certain people. For example, if you are a woman they say you should avoid bitter melon before and during your period to avoid more pain and discomfort. If you have signs of excess fire in your body, such as constipation, insomnia, nervousness, anger, acne, cold sores, etc... Chinese doctors believe bitter melon will help to relieve those problems. I have been told that it is very healthy, for problems ranging from diabetes to pimples to stomach ailments.

The problem with the bitterness can be avoided if you blanch it before frying it, and also it is usually stir fried with eggs which helps to take away some of the bitterness.

I would listen to your body - don't choke down your food. Maybe next time do as Thomas suggests and add the bitter melon to a recipe in a smaller amount - eating a whole bitter melon in one sitting is quite the undertaking!

The current use of Bitter Melon is to lower blood sugar so some people take it as a supplement, but it looks like this effect has not been confirmed.

However if it does do this, it seems like there might possibly have a mechanism for your body to reject it when your blood sugar is already low?

It is widely used in South and south east Asia. According to grandmother's tales, it is eaten because even bland food eaten with it tastes sweet.

Only raw or the juice is used for apparent reduction of Blood sugar, cooked it is used as a regular vegetable.

I've been juicing it (2 oz a day) and have noticed a significant improvement in my night vision, my sinuses are very clear and I could feel it cleaning out my blood, the same way I could when I did a heavy metal cleanse a few years ago. After ten days of continuous juicing, my tongue had a black/purple tinge to it (a sign of detoxification). Two days later the black is almost gone. I also have cataplexy (I go paralysed just for the fun of it every once in a while - it's something many narcoleptics experience), and since I've been taking it, I have not had any symptoms of cataplexy. For the first time in years, I feel like my body is strong and I can do anything I want, like everyone else who doesn't have a physical disability. I just got my period (don't worry, I'm a woman) and my cramps are less than usual, but then so is my flow, which has gotten quite heavy over the years — I didn't know about the menstruation thing mentioned above, so didn't stop, because I read it helps with uterine and menstrual problems.

I was just intuitively drawn to it one day, then started researching it. My Chinese friends all said the same thing..., "Eeewwwww!!!" but I continued to drink it (it's quite refreshing juiced). The things that got me excited about it was when I read it helps auto immune disorders (this is what narcolepsy is), it cleans out the liver, removes heavy metals, from the blood, cleans the colon, helps with fibroids and menstrual problems, and removes parasites. And I'm getting all of this, plus my eyesight, as I mentioned, has improved. Bonus!