Opinions needed, help me decide my next treatment plan

Hi,
I am not going to recap my previous treatment as I have done so on here a lot already and most of you know it.

I am at a crossroads with a few treatment plans I could do, and am not sure what will be best for me. Please give me your opinion on what seems best.

I am hoping to get and stay off the abx but went back on them today out of desperation from a horrible symptom morning.

Here are some options I could do:

-I could go back on antibiotics, and at the same time add back lower doses of the misty meadows herbal mixture ( minus the eleuthero). I would stay off the houttuynia until I felt more stable, and then add it back in at even lower doses than I used so far. I would also add the supportive TCM formula that I just got from my TCM practicioner today. there are no antimicrobials in that, only gentle supportive herbs to build up my system.

-I could stay off the abx, and just lower the doses of my misty meadows, and add in the gentle supportive mix from my TCM. I would go off the houttuynia for a while again and then add it in very slowly.


-What my TCM says he would have me do is - go off all abx and all misty meadows and all houttynia. For the next three weeks just do his supportive formula plus zhang allicin and zhang artemesia. Every three weeks he will change up my formula and eventually slowly add in small am't of antimicrobials.

Pros and Cons of these various approaches:

- If I just do the TCM approach, I am scared the lyme and bartonella symptoms will come roaring back. I am trying to find the approach that keeps the symptoms at bay as much as possible while I am treating so I can function. The pro of this method is I am guided by someone and doing what he says. I know he healed himself this way. But then agaon his body was not run down by 8 months of abx like mine is, so I think his system was stronger to start with. On the other hand, he did have lyme for many years before treating it.

-If I do the go back on abx approach, I may have the chance at reducing the symptoms the most which would make it tolerable to me. On the down side, I get terrible tingling nerves from the abx. also, it continues to deplete my systems when I want to be building them up.

-If I go back just on the misty meadows at reduced doses, it may be okay. but after the last few days I am scared I will be really symptomatic through it. I know I was most symptomatic the last three days which is likely the houttuynia herx. But also being 5 days off abx it may have also been the factor of the symptoms returning.

-When I was on the misty meadows and low dose abx for 2 weeks or so ( a little less) before the houttuynia, I was the least symptomatic.

-I want to get off the abx but again I am willing to do them for a while if it helps me to be less symptomatic.

Today and last night were very scary for me. I had a lot of die off and my body wasn't able to handle it.

- I am tempted to just try what the TCM guy is saying, ut I fear I will be very symptomatic from that approach. IT feels like a mild approach. I have to be functional while I am treating.

-If I were in a place where Ididn't have responsibilities and people were just taking care of me and supporting me for a f ew months, I think I would do the supportive herbs from the TCM and the low doses of misty meadows- and then eventually add in very low doses of houttuynia.

But just being home with my family it is hard when I have those severe herxes.

Knowing what I know now, if I could do it all over I would have just done the misty meadows and houttuynia from the start. But now that am so depleted from the abx, I agree that I have to rebuild my system.

Today I just did the abx ( back on after off for 6 (?) days) and the supportive tea from the TCM ( first day).

I don't want to be too mild about waiting on the antimicrobials.

What do you guys think seems like the best approach?
I think the misty meadows is very powerful and effective and ( minus the eleithero) this is the one I ultimately want to do. I just need to make sure it doesn't get so out of hand again.


I really want to stay on the misty meadows. I didn't do it today- but I didn't have any of these terrible feelings until I started the houttuynia. I am reluctant to lose all the good ground I gained on the misty meadows.

Please advise!

Post Edited (Katebirch) : 12/24/2014 3:31:40 PM (GMT-7)

sayyadina- what specific detox methods do you use that work for you?

I still just don't know what to do. when I first stated seeing my llmd 8 months ago I felt so glad that I didn't have to go at this alone. I know it is so complex and I was glad to have his guidance.
I am still going to see him in 2 weeks and can ask him all these things I have been asking here. But, I don't know if he has much to offe rme other than abx.

Then when I try these various other protocols at home it can just feel very scary to go at it alone. Things come up and I don't know what is what and there is no one to guide me.

I would love to go to a treatment center where someone could just take really good care of me and help me through this.

I have still been having breathing issues. I had them last night and this morning but thankfully am okay at the moment.

I also today felt like maybe the left side of my face was going numb! holy cow. I don't know if it really was but something felt off.

So due to these scary things and feeling so on my own, I am 2 days back on abx just to keep some of the hellish symptoms at bay. I think for me right now the abx are just a bandaid and eveyrthign comes roaring bck as soon as I stop.

I completely stopped the houttuynia.
But I am on a very low dose of the misty meadows again.

Still feel terrible and wish I could just go to a treatment center or find a great llmd who could just take me by the hand and tell me how to get better :(

Katebirch sorry to hear about this

I have been on houttuynia tea as well for about two weeks and have reacted almost exactly as you have mentioned. I am also been on abx for a while. I have stopped houttuynia to give my body a break to adjust and detox.

The line of what is bearable for each person is different and I have clearly has crossed it. My back of head inflammation was also something from hell. I am pretty sure no one on here would say torturing yourself is the path to healing. My LLMD says this to me all the time when I get so frustrated with being sick and feel as though I just need to push though. I think my anxiety gets the best of me at these times because I want to be well so fast and so badly. I am not a patient person at all.

Of note, I have reached the unbearable point before with some herbal and antibiotic symptoms where it was just too much. I gave them a break for a while, and VERY slowly worked back on them at much lower dose. I am taking some at a dose that I would have never been able to 3 months ago. These have been some of my most effective medications. Maybe this will offer some hope.

I am still researching hansa- just at the beginning of exploring it. All I know is I need to do something different than what I have been doing to get my life back, and I am willing to go all out if I have to- but I need to find someone who knows what they are doing to get me on a better path than I am on now. I am not sure the hansa will actually work- I wonder if it will get me a little better but not all the way? that is my hesitation. But I am searching for something that will heal me.
somehow the herbs have triggered breathing issues for me- or at least breathing issues came up around the same time I started the herbs- so at this point I am nervous about continuing them. I am still a roller coaster but I am seeking the right healing. I am open to new things and exploring everything I can. I need something more than just trying things out at home on my own, though, as that is too scary for me.,