Allergic reactions to herbs/abx?

Hi BJD -

Awesome that you're making progress. Some of us "power through" the herxing, some of us are more sensitive to it - there are so many variables in the illness and the treatment!

One reason you're having better success on Beyond Balance is that it's less concentrated. So I would continue down that road.

Anxiety and agitation are pretty classic herxes - certainly for bart and babs. Although I am not real familiar with isatis - houttuynia - alchornia tincture. I've reacted with anxiety and agitation and several other sx with every bart or babs herbs I've ever tried. For some reason, I react less to Lyme herbs. But anxiety and agitation were a few of the herxing I developed after starting on IV abx for Lyme.

You can test for histamine intolerance, if that sounds like a fit. I was advised to take antihistamines with my reactions to infusing abx too quickly but that seemed ridiculous when I could just slow down the infusion, which did work. I'm not certain if it's advisable to take antihistamines with your herbs - that's a good question. Mayne others will have more info.

What are you doing for detox?

-p

Yes - that sounds like "brain fog". That's pretty common herx with Lyme and bart, babs. The die off produces endotoxins and neurotoxins.

You can try a few things -

First, I would stop the chlorella. Some people swear by it - but there is good reason to believe that it doesn't bind well with heavy metals and can even redistribute them.

Next I would start on a better binder. Chlorella is best used with a chelator and is not as good of a GI binder as activated charcoal, bentonite clay, psyllium husk, modified citrus pectin---all OTC.

Also Add in some brain detoxing with Nutramedix Pinella and burbur for the brain fog. And of course the GI binder is also pretty helpful.

And you might just need to take a few weeks' vacation time, if you can, to get past the initial hump of herxing in order to make more progress with Jernigan 's borrelogen, which seems a little more tolerable right now. It is SO VERY difficult to manage this treatment while continuing a typical lifestyle and many people can't do it. I certainly couldn't.

CSM
The cholestyramine is Rx. I like the PURE stuff. Here is some good info on CSM - probably more than you want to know but it's easier for me to copy+paste than to edit it down:

Cholestyramine is generally known as a bile sequestrant—it prevents bile from being produced and increases the removal of bile acids from the body (this is the binding function we’re interested in) and it is also known to lower cholesterol.

I learned that it is a very strong binder and used for mold detoxing and so I knew it would be a step up from the other binders I was using. I started it up again but this time with the PURE form, which I think was also more helpful for me. I also started at very, very small doses but was able to work up to an optimal dose fairly easily.

The benefits I have realized are as follows:

My favorite binder and one of the most impactful components of my entire treatment is PURE cholestyramine. It's expensive but I can't live without it. It has so many other benefits (at least that I've experienced - it's different for everyone) AND is also an expert binder.

I had a lot of GI issues and given the cost, it might not be necessary for those who just need a general binder but wanted to throw info about it into the mix - here are the other benefits I've experienced:

- A whole other "level" of detoxing, particularly when I chase the CSM w/ a bentonite clay--always at night after my meals/last supps/last abx dose and then I wait for a couple hrs, take my probiotics and head to bed to "heal".

- Once I started the CSM at high doses I had a downtick of symptoms, less GI cramping/distended belly/inflammation/diarrhea/constipation.

- I became super regular (like small BMs a couple hrs after each meal kind of regular... I've never experienced that in my life. I think keeping things moving can solve a lot of problems, since the longer fecal matter remains in our intestines, the more toxins are leached from them and the longer leaky gut has an opportunity to let toxins enter the bloodstream, etc...

- The BMs were also well-formed and "normal" - I had no idea they could be like that. And no longer had a lot of odor (although regular odor is not a bad thing--just that I was going so regularly that things were really moving, which is also much a critical way to detox.) LOL TMI, I know - sorry.

- I'm also a believer in the gut-brain connection and have experienced fewer psycho-neuro herxing that skyrocketed as I started treating bart again, and the CSM has helped me hold on to what little sanity I have left. I think this can be the binding action --or can be due from simply keeping things moving.

- I also experimented to see if the CSM could be effective with clearing yeast/fungal overgrowth and/or keep it in balance. I don't think it it has any anti fungal properties but it has allowed me to go off all antifungal Rx - for now, at least. Maybe it's preventing anything new from growing and/or settling in the gut maybe because it quickly removes it before it can get established.

I was Y/FO-free when I started it, then I went off all antifungals a couple wks later. Then right at the beginning of the year I had a huge flare up when I started busting biofilms and sure enough, the yeast/fungal issues cambe back. I went back on Ketoconazole and Nystatin, which helped, but it was the CSM that got be back in balance within days. I'm off the antifungals again with the help of CSM.

- I've had an uptick in energy, which could be due to a couple of things but noticed it around the time I started the CSM.

- I have also started sleeping better and more soundly since starting the high doses of CSM I dare say I might have even had a couple of dreams--I stopped dreaming when lyme & co entered my life.

- Also, when I get a head-ache or feel brain fog or "neurotransmittery" or "crazy" tick up I take the CSM - that plus Pinella/Burbur can sometimes kill the headache and I know it helps with the crazies.

Only busting biofilms brought back my appetite yet---nothing has been touched that but it has helped in every other aspect of GI suffering.

Other info:
If you can't get your hands on the PURE cholestyramine I would skip it altogether and stick with the OTC binders. The lesser cholestyramine products like Welchol or Questran are manufactured versions of the raw cholestyramine and contain unnecessary and sometimes disruptive fillers and sugars or sugar substitutes and very little quantity of the cholestyramine, in fact, you probably have to take so much of the manufactured version to get the full benefit you’re getting too much of the fillers and sugars and might as well use the other OTC binders.

PURE CSM is just that—the raw ingredient and nothing else (although you can also get it with stevia for improved taste). It can be expensive (appx $185 for 60-day supply obtained via Rx through a compounding pharmacist--let me know if you need contact info). But I would go w/out other components of my protocol before I'd stop the CSM.

I started very slow but worked up to my optimal dose of 6 grams at night.

Again, not everyone has GI issues like I do, so that is certainly a personal thing and the important info here is that binders are a really great way to detox.

-p