BABESIA without antimalarials?

Yes, and having good luck too.

After 2 years of bart abx and only getting to 80% improvement our daughter was weaned to Buhner's full bartonella protocol (except for l-arginine). This protocol kept her steady at 80% for 8 months and I figured that perhaps that was as good as she would get.

But on a whim I trialled some WoodLandEssence CSA tincture and she developed significant babesia herx symptoms (air hunger, dry cough, sighing, chest pressure, thigh pain). Before this she had tested negative for microti and duncani through Igenex and was completely asymptomatic for the infection. The LLMD then clinically diagnosed babesia-like-organism. We did not do any more testing. I had no idea that babesia was involved.

By adding CSA and red root to the complete bartonella protocol, our daughter has reached 99% improvement. In my mind, these babesia herbs were essential for her healing.

Buhner's babesia coinfections book is just hitting the shelves now; I would suggest purchasing a copy or consulting with his associate Julie McIntyre if you are interested in the protocol.

rowingmom- How long was your daughter on the CSA herbs before she started herxing? How long on the protocol before she hit 99%?

Thanks!

@springsjean - dry cough was just that. Just a non-productive cough that seemed to get worse at night. She started sleeping with a cup of water beside the bed which seemed to help her sleep. She would cough just once at a time, perhaps every minute or so, which became quite annoying. It was the first of the babesia herx symptoms to show up, and I attributed it to a new vocal tic. Ticcing for K generally means toxin buildup so I assumed CSA was killing something, but until the rest of the babesia herx symptoms showed up, I figured it was bart.

@lymie momx2 - I started K on 1/4 tsp (32 drops - yikes!) CSA 1x daily on Oct 17 and by Nov 9 she was herxing with air hunger, sternum pain/pressure on that dosage. I didn't actually record the coughing as a herx reaction because I thought it was a morphing of her ticcing, but I know the cough started approx., 2 weeks before that, so 1 week after initiating CSA.

She reached 99% in Apr 2014 when on a suggestion from Julie McIntyre, I added low doses (3 drops 3x daily) of cilantro and diatomaceous earth (1/2 tbsp. 2x daily) to the protocol to help detox metals. We had a yeast overgrowth - probably from the body trying to sequester the overload of metals in the intestine - a couple of weeks later when I increased cilantro tincture to 10 drops 3x daily. This yeast flare was pretty immediate, but dissipated when I decreased cilantro back to 3 drops 3x daily.

K's cognitive response to CSA was fairly quick. 5 days after I started her on it her teacher called to ask what I had done. Her teacher was in charge of her IEP and knew about her PANS/PANDAS diagnosis and the treatments she had undergone. He said that she was suddenly grasping math concepts that had previously been out of reach for her, and in fact was grasping things that the rest of the class was still struggling with. Amazing!

Neither of us have been able to tolerate bidens. It is probably a herx, but includes increased brain fog and severe dizziness with 2 drops 1x daily. Julie told me not to bother with it.

@ Utahgal - Buhner recommends red root to decrease rouleaux across endothelial tissues, a problem caused by both babesia and bartonella. But he also says that it can act as a coagulant, which is the reason I put off using it as long as I did.

I am treating myself with the same herbs and dosages as K, and I found red root made a huge improvement in the circulation in my extremities - they were no longer cold and my arms and hands stopped falling asleep at night and waking me with pain. It also made a big difference in cognitive function/brain fog. All of this could be attributed to improved RBC movement through smaller blood vessels that had previously been hindered by rouleaux.

http://www.redrootmountain.com/red-root-balance-the-body-by-way-of-the-spleen/66

http://bearmedicineherbals.com/ceanothus.html

Red root is also good for helping to detoxify the lymph system.

With these herbs, you really have to try them yourself to see if you have any type of response. Our response to red root was pretty immediate and positive. But we are only using 5 drops 3x daily. I haven't tried to increase the dosage. It's 40$ a bottle at WoodLandEssence, so I thought it worth the price to try for a bit. K's response to cilantro was immediate as well, but again works only at low doses.

@Utahgal - Go with low doses. The fact that Buhner says it is a coagulant concerns me, however, we are also taking lots of garlic, Japanese knotweed, fish oil etc., which are all anticoagulants. Hopefully it all evens out in the end.

Right now I am using 7 drops 3x daily. You will know within a couple of days whether or not it is working for you. All of a sudden I could think again.

When we started the bartonella protocol we were using pretty high doses of sida (1/4 tsp or 32 drops 3x daily). It was definitely not as effective as 15 drops of CSA 3x daily. I have stopped dosing sida separately and now only use it as combined in the CSA tincture.

Thanks rowingmom, glad it worked for you guys!