Questions about herxing - herbs

I've been taking the Buhner herbs for almost two months. I initially had some herxing on these but have adjusted and gotten used to the dose I'm on.

My LLMD added a Beyond Balance Formula called IMN-B to my protocol to address some of my other infections: mycoplasma, chlamydia pneumoniae, etc. I was to start with 3-5 drops a day. This was about three weeks ago. Holy cow did I ever herx on this stuff!! At first I thought I must have the flu because I was shaking and sweating and had the chills and horrible aches and pains, palpitations, etc. But when I eased off the IMN-B these symptoms lessened. Three weeks later I've gone through three rounds of trying to introduce this stuff into my daily protocol (with smaller doses) and each time I've had these horrible herx-like reactions which eased off when I stopped taking the IMN-B.

Can I assume this is a herx? And if so, being that it's so strong, does this mean it's killing a lot more things than my regular Buhner protocol? Also, do other bacteria cause as much herxing as borellia? I'm wondering if mycoplasma or chlamydia die-off could cause such a strong herxing reaction. My doc also suspects I may have bartonella, which leads me to my next question: Do the herx symptoms correlate with the pathogen being killed? For example, if bartonella is giving me sore feet and they get horribly sore during a herx (which they did), could this mean I'm killing off bartonella? Likewise, if I have drenching night sweats during a herx, could it be I'm killing off babesia? Or is it too simplistic to think it could work that way?

Also, I noticed one of the ingredients in the IMN-B is lomatium. I googled lomatium and found there is a treatment for Lyme called LDM-100 made with Lomatium that's a Lyme treatment. Some people were swearing by it. Could the lomatium in the formula have killed a lot of borrelia and caused my super-herx?

Has anyone here used lomatium or LDM-100?

Oh, I almost forgot to ask, can the herbs Hawthorne and/or Red Root cause herxing? I added them in a few weeks ago but I didn't think they had anti-pathogenic properties, or do they?

I'm just kind of stunned that I'm having such a strong reaction and would love some input. Thanks!

Post Edited (Manzanita2) : 8/27/2017 11:39:42 AM (GMT-6)

I would agree with Decarte - you are herxing and the things you are taking are affect the 'terrain' of the body - helping to support and heal. Even with the detoxing (red root), you can do too much detoxing too fast and leave the blood stream overwhelmed with toxins. I have that issue a lot if I'm not careful.

You may need to start on an even lower dose (I've talked with some that have to start off with as little as 1/4 drop of an herb or herbal formula) - it's all about how your body handles it.

And, while I do agree that we need to stick with treatments and detoxing - if we can't get the herxing under control in a reasonable amount of time (dependent on how severe it is), then we must reduce our doses, or even stop treatment temporarily to gain control over the herxing. Herxing is hard on the body, and we should never allow it to continue on for long periods of time.

Hi Traveler, yes I did have to stop all treatment for several days. I'm only now back to my initial doses of the Buhner herbs. I'll try adding in the IMN-B with minute amounts. (Which is actually good because that stuff was pretty expensive. At those doses the bottle should last me a lifetime. )

Maybe I should pay more attention to detox. I do a LOT of it, maybe too much. How do I know how much is enough? Sigh. It all seems so confusing.

I have been taking Nature's Way standardized Hawthorn capsules 1 capsule 1x day for about 2 weeks. I have had no herxing from it, and I am very sensitive and herx from lots of other things, including japanese knotweed.

I did use Red Root tincture from Mountain Rose Herbs in the beginning and took it for 7 weeks. I had gotten up to 30 drops of the red root. I don't believe the red root caused any hexing. I did worry some about the coagulation effects of red root, especially when I had bad migraines in the 7th week and had to take migraine pills.

I've never used any Beyond Balance formulas. I'm leary of using any kind of pre-mixed formulas because I'm very sensitive. If you have a problem with a formula, you don't know which herb you're reacting to, and you can't tweak the dosages within the formula. Sometimes you may need more or less of a particular herb in a formula and the ratios among the herbs may not be right for your particular case. That's why I was drawn to Buhner's protocol. It gives you full range of control.

WalkingbyFaith, I wasn't aware red root had coagulation effects! I'd better read more about it since I do have chronic migraine and often take meds for it.

You're right about the formulas. iMN-B contains "proprietary" amounts of several things aside from Lomatium; eucalyptus, usnea, bayberry, garlic, ginger, echinacea, red clover and fennel. I googled them all and from what I read, Lomatium seemed to be the most potent of them. But I don't know. Usnea and bayberry also sounded like they could put a hurt on some bacteria.

I can't really go Rambo although I can see the appeal in that approach. I'd love to just fight this stuff head on with everything I had if I could have it over with sooner. I'm guessing that might work better for someone younger and stronger though. I'm 58 and this illness has been dragging me down for six years now. I think at this point I need to take the slow but steady approach.