Which comes first: Healing the gut vs treating the Lyme

The gut flora is more important, but if your pathogen loads are high, you may not be able to correct it. In this case, you must reduce pathogen levels before you can fix the GI flora.

People who cant tolerate ABX from gut reaction, have gut issues that should have been treated first.

I think I need to clarify my post...

I have yet to begin Lyme treatment (herbal or abx). I am talking about parasitic cleansing (using ADP oregano).

All of our bodies are different, as is evident in this forum. That said, in my experience only, GI issues have plagued me for decades and nothing helped. I didn't know all these years it was due to extreme, EXTREME parasitic overload. My gut in that debilitated state would not respond to any "gut healing" protocols or supplements. Not even bland diets. Even benign diets with bone broth, collagen powder, MSM, apple pectin...on and on....did nothing but make me inflamed and swell up from a trim figure to a 7 month pregnancy look.

I am nearing the end of my cleansing phase and while I give my body a rest, I will be implementing gut healing before diving in to Lyme treatment. The jury is out as to whether I will respond better now to healing the gut.

I am in agreement with Georgia because of her statement, "but if your pathogen loads are high." This is a very important "but." In my case, she is spot on. Some may be fortunate enough to heal the gut first - which you should do if your body responds well. But I wish I hadn't spent so much time in agony, trying everything to heal and feeling so hopeless...because almost immediately after starting parasitic cleansing, my life changed for the better.

So like Georgia...try to heal the gut....but if you aren't getting anywhere, reduce your pathogen load so your gut CAN heal.

I've had some pretty interesting gut issues all of my life - but I was infected practically all my life too, so take that into consideration while reading this.

I used to have psuedo-blockages in my gut almost constantly. I tried every single pharmaceutical and every fiber known, as well as some cleanses (which always backfired horribly on me!) and nothing helped, not even during my year on abx for Lyme. It wasn't until I started seeing a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner/acupuncture therapist that I began to get some relief - but that wasn't until after I had started my herbal Lyme treatment. I believe I had not only psuedo-blockages, but parasites and a few other issues as well.

This echos GH's comment about "if pathogen levels are high", as by the time I finally started herbal treatments (that's just what worked for me), I had been infected for 40 years - literally.

I say that we shouldn't concentrate on just one thing - why? We have so many issues that are so intertwined, there is no way to completely correct any one without having some of our other systems working better as well. This is why having an experienced LLMD is best, even though we don't all have the opportunity to see one.