For those who used antibiotics then switched to herbs....

My head's been spinning lately trying to figure out all sorts of things relating to my illness - been out of funds for treatment for about a year now so I've been trying to navigate my way through healing without so much as an updated CD57 test to guide me...needless to say it's VERY CONFUSING to do on your own without a medical degree!

I'm preparing to see my next doctor (Dr B in moorestown, NJ) and trying to find a concise way to sum up my experience with lyme and treatment and all the new extra issues I've developed since I was last in treatment (pretty much have a whole new entire syndrome on top of the lyme with this awful mix of back, GI, and pelvic pain/infection that I still can't figure out is related to the lyme and co-infections or related to structural problems, but anyway...)

I'm still not sure how I got better when I got better (before a surgery threw me for a loop that I haven't recovered from)...what I know is that I took combinations of 3 different oral antibiotics for the better part of 18 months (after a 10+ year, very severe infection), had mixed results, plenty of herxing, then toward the end of my treatment with that doctor I took minocycline, it made me sicker than ever before, then I stopped shortly after starting it because it made me too sick to even walk, then somehow I made the transition to just herbs and was improving tremendously...

...I'm just trying to figure out if it's likely that the antibiotics killed off a huge load of bugs and then the herbs I was taking were enough to keep the improvement going (and give my body the break it needed after over a year of antibiotics!) or if in my case the antibiotics weren't the thing that helped me turn the corner, and it was the herbs alone. This is coming from a place of worrying that the reason my health is declining again is because I no longer have a steady dose of antibiotics in my body at all times and am only doing herbs (although in their defense, I haven't been able to consistently take everything in the protocol I'm following, nor am I even able to figure out which infections I have/which ones are causing the most problems so it's hard to know whether I'm even taking the right herbs...

...sorry for the rambling, but basically after all that my question is for those of you who did just antibiotics for a while, then switched over to natural treatments, do you think the antibiotics were a necessary part of your treatment?

Our daughter weaned from abx for lyme/bart in April 2013. We used Buhner's FULL bartonella protocol until Nov 2013. At that time she was holding her own, with no relapses, but no real improvement either since quitting abx.

It wasn't until we added cryptolepis (which would be part of the babesia protocol) and now organic cilantro tinctures, that we had seen IMPRESSIVE improvement. No pain, no ticcing, no headache, wonderful cognative/executive function.

So by adding herbs that addressed different infections (infections that she wasn't symptomatic for and had tested negative for), or that addressed infection via a different route, we have seen further healing.

Before adding CSA (cryptolepis/sida/alchornea) in Nov to the protocol that was already in place (houttuynia, sida acuta, japanese knotweed, black walnut hull, raw garlic, garlicin, hawthorne, ginger, american ginseng, low dose astragalus, oil of oregano, curcumin, olive leaf extract, extra virgin olive oil, vit D, liposomal glutathione, phosphatidyl choline, methyl B vits, NAC, l-glutamine, vit C, vit D, probiotics, fermented veg, cod liver oil), and now cilantro in the last couple of weeks, I would have said that perhaps the herbs were just holding her at the point where she had been when abx were withdrawn. They were only keeping her from relapsing.

But now I can say she is truely healing. I see improvment daily. Her teacher has called to say that he notices how well she is functioning lately - a joy to have in the classroom.

For us, one or two herbs wouldn't have cut it. Hitting the infections from many different directions and supporting the immune system at the same time have been crucial.

No problem.

However, be aware that high doses of herbs (even the recommended doses) can cause herxing. For us (both our daughter and myself), high doses of sida resulted in hair loss, high doses of houttuynia resulted in anxiety attacks, and high doses of CSA (for our daughter only) resulted in air hunger/chest pressure/dry cough. Higher doses of Green Black Walnut Hull (ie 500 mg BID) resulted in a babs herx as well; we had to decrease to QD.

The only herb that didn't cause us herx difficulties was Japanese knotweed, but apparently this can have a side effect of lowering blood pressure. If that is a problem for you, be careful with it as well.

If I was starting any of these protocols I would suggest starting at 1/4 dosage and staying there for a couple of months before increasing SLOWLY.

I did better on Cowden than on anything else, though I modified it, and did mostly Samento, Banderol, (and then Houttuynia tea). I also used a lot of Burbur.

I know the website is slick, and there are some very weird religious things on parts of the website, but I think the stuff works, as long as you don't do all of it.

But for goodness sake, don't order the whole package. You don't need chamomile tinctures and things of that sort.

The guy's wacky, but he seems to know what he's doing.

Margaret

Holoholo-Rowing mom isn't as active as she used to be but she still does respond so give her a few days. Her account says she was on earlier this month.

Actually, I do believe that she and her daughter are healed now - not 100% sure though - LOL! I'm still trying to wake up, so forgive me. Fortunately, Rowingmom (a very wonderful lady!!) will be along soon I'm sure to help where she can.

LOL! Yeah, I've learned to check the dates...... I'm sure that Rowingmom will be along soon to straighten me out if I got it wrong! LOL! Just kidding, she's a very, very kind soul that still comes on here to help those that she can.