Abx vs. Herbs vs ???

Hi - this is my first post on this forum.

I'm dealing with LLMD and the guy is a believer of prolonged ABX treatment.

I'm on doxy (400mg/day), Rifampin (200mg/day) & Tidamax (1000mg/day - only few days in a week).
Needless to say my digestive system hates it (even though I'm countering it with good probiotics & supplements). This is supposed to go on for 2 months (I'm starting 2nd month today).

While I appear to have more energy - my other Lyme symptoms are there (joint pain, numbness in left cheek, spine pain are not going away...).

What are you thoughts/experience with ABX treatment vs. anything else you have tried?

My journey began this year around July 1st (the moment I found engorged deer tick on my leg).

Please share your thoughts, ideas..

Thanks!!!

Thank you for reply.

I have not done any detoxing although I heard it's done quite frequently alongside any treatment protocol
for lyme. I heard ppl are doing coffee enemas (this sounds kinda drastic to me...) - pls share your thoughts if you think it helps.

As far as supplements go - the answer is definitive yes - I'm taking few together with my abx, based on my LLMD protocol.

Lastly - I'm somewhat ashamed about my diet - I fee I could improve a lot in this area (especially eliminating tons of bread I'm eating every week).

Hi Mountain_trail!
Welcome to our community! I'm so glad you found us.

If you haven't ​yet​, it would be helpful for you to start with reading through the thread at the top of the forum titled,"New to Lyme?...Start here!!", as it is packed full of important information, symptom lists, helpful links and pdf's, how to detox when one has these infections, information on probiotics and much more. And this is another good list of possible detoxing routines: www.tiredoflyme.com/detox-methods.html

I did use abx first, but they failed me. I turned to herbs and healed fast and well the first time, but I got reinfected after my adrenals crashed, so I'm back in treatments again.

I agree with Huddie's suggestion about detoxing. It's an important part of our healing. Gene mutations, mold exposure and multiple tick-borne infections can all prevent us from detoxing well, but we must be able to get those toxins out of our bodies. We need to detox by several means daily, as detoxing has a cumulative effect - the more you do, the better your body is at keeping those toxins flowing.

And just so you know, coffee enemas increase glutithione - the "master" detoxing agent in the body that is produced by the liver. It's not really drastic considering the severity of these infections. But, not everyone "has to" do them.

Also, have you been evaluated for other infections?

You need to work on your diet most likely. The more processed foods, fast foods, convenience foods are not good for us. We need to eat at least lower carb, and lots of vegetables, and good quality protein.

I'd also like to welcome you here, Mountain_Trail!


I noticed your Rifampin dose is quite low at 200 mg/day.

Rifampin is usually used to treat Bartonella - but the dose is 600 mg daily - either 300 mg twice daily, or 600 mg once daily.

Do you know if it will be increased...and was Bartonella discussed?

Welcome -- t

To help an ailing gut probiotics are essential and bone broth is super healing also.

I buy mine but you can make your own. We go through about a quart a day, so buying it is much more feasible at our house.

He are my thoguhts after doing chronic tonic.

Lyme treatment requires duration + effective treatment. I have been doing a long duration of chronic tonic herbs but I need to increase the effectiveness by increasing the vastness of the number of herbs I am using and it seems to be working.

I am now doing a mix of two different herbal mixes.

One is chronic tonic.

Another is a bunch of calming herbs.

It seems to be hitting another realm of detox..of course too early to tell but I'm sure it is because I've had strange symptoms from pre lyme come up again after adding more herb variety. So now im taking more than 13 herbs....more like a tea of 21 different herbs..and making tea out of them.

if i add green tea that's like 22 herbal treatment.

JoanJet, this article will likely explain the benefits for you:
nourishedkitchen.com/the-benefits-of-bone-broth/

Ha ha ha - I've lived with these infections for so long, I have a habit of looking into many things. And having 'lived' on this forum for going on 10 years now, I should have learned a lot!

I don't tolerate bone broth very well, but I still have it a few times a year because I've got hubby hooked!!

Usedtogarden - that's gotta be so frustrating!

Did you wait until you were symptom free before stopping the antibiotics?

Are you able to have a good life?

Thank you CD3764, I just googled it and found a store nearby that sells Pacific. I'm heading there today.

Recent vid by gfields says that the osp shed from borrelia is actually a mycotoxin .. (probably from engineering )...it probably why cholestramyne and clorella are so good for some ..bvt kills virus ,bacteria and fungus ...

Thank you all for your responses-

I'll look into bone broth but I'm also thinking about Buhner protocol. Did anyone here have experience with it and what are your thoughts of its effectiveness?

Europeans think highly of this herb called Cistus Creticus - has anyone here tried it?
Why is it effective?
Supposedly it works miracles as far as fighting Bb infection (not sure why...).

I did antibiotics for about 6 weeks. Then my llmd started me on Beyond Balance herbs because I was not happy how I was on antibiotics. Tummy troubles and no change in my symptoms. I loved the Beyond Balance and noticed some differences happening, but being an inpatient patient, I wanted to heal faster.

I then bought all the Buhner books and dove into his protocol with a lot of help from Moderator CD of this forum.

I did Beyond Balance and Buhner at the same time and I healed. It did not happen fast. It was a long drawn out consistent process with a whole lot of detoxing. I ate super good and got enough sleep and my stress was a minimum. I also had an awesome helpmate/nurse/comedian in my husband.