Smell of japanese knotweed

I use the tincture and I guess I don't smell it since I take it with all my other tinctures.

I am of no help on this.

Bit by tick at age 10, started getting sick at age 20. Diagnosed at age 26. I'm 28 now. 6 months antibiotics, one year Cowden, now I'm starting Buhner and also taking antibiotics (Xifaxan) for strep overgrowth in gut.
No noteworthy improvements so far. I probably also have co-infections even though my llmd says I don't.. so I'm going to try the Buhner protocols.

The paradise herbs was recommended for capsules in Buhners book. But the smell is really off putting + the fact that it didn't smell like that when I first started taking them.. Maybe they got bad? Fortunately I also have knotweed tincture so I'm going to switch.

Also, when my hands are cold they turn purple(ish). A common side-effect?

Thanks for the help :)

So sorry to hear of the tough time you've had with these infections!!

I prefer tinctures because I take a large number of supplements and was happy to not have to take any more capsules. Therefore, I'm not familiar with Buhner's recommendations for herbal capsule sources.

Herbs are heat-sensitive so it's entirely possible that your capsules went bad.

Tinctures are the most potent form of plant medicine - maybe you'd consider buying more of what you have.

I found it relatively easy to incorporate Buhner's Babesia, Bartonella and Lyme protocols. There are overlaps among the herb recommendations (Japanese Knotweed is common to all protocols....Hawthorne as well as Red Root are common to the Babs/Bart protocols, etc.).

By the time I started Buhner's protocols, my history was similar to yours: 6 months on abx but just shy of 6 months on the full Cowden protocol.

I titrated Buhner's Lyme protocol rather quickly but it took 4.5 months to get up to the full doses of the Babs/Bart herbs....I couldn't get past 8 drops each for the first 4 months because I was limiting herxing as much as I could.... and then, I was surprisingly able to titrate to full doses over the course of 2 wks.

An easy way to see if you have a particular coinfection is to trial one of the coinfection specific herbs - such as Cryptolepis for Babesia and Houttuynia for Bartonella. Herx or improvement is a sign you have that particular coinfection.

Even though my LLMD insists I'm only dealing with Lyme, it's been treating for Babesia and Bartonella as well that is bringing me to full healing.

Please know that healthy people are walking around with asymptomatic Babesia and Bartonella infections. Even the CDC acknowledges this on their website:

www.cdc.gov/parasites/babesiosis/

"Although many people who are infected with Babesia do not have symptoms, for those who do effective treatment is available."

www.cdc.gov/bartonella/clinicians/index.html

"Most cases of cat scratch disease (CSD) resolve without treatment", although some patients may develop complications from disseminated disease.

Cat scratch disease is the henselae strain of Bartonella which is a common coinfection to Lyme. Actually, researchers and savvy doctors are now saying that Bartonella is so prevalent that Lyme should be considered the coinfection.

If healthy people can have no symptoms of Babesia or Bartonella and still be infected, it's entirely possible that those of us dealing with any of these infections could also be infected with Babesia and/or Bartonella....and not necessarily have any symptoms...or have mild symptoms...or just one symptom (mild or not).

I had a bunch of overlapping symptoms and, after reading what I just shared, decided to be a guinea pig.

Not sure if you have what I have but I have developed Raynaud's. My hands and feet turn colors in the cold and I cannot hold anything cold or stand on a cold floor with extreme pain.

I notice that you are taking Xifaxan. Please, please if you aren't doing so....tale probiotics. I took 2 rounds of 14-day probiotics for SIBO and it I totally destroyed my Lacto bacteria. They will tell you that it doesn't harm the good bacteria but it does.