Thought on The Cowden Protocol vs oral and PICC line abx

Hello everyone!

I am just completing my Candida treatment (step #1 was Diflucan and Nystatin / step #2 is Biocidin liquid, Glutamine, Berberine, 3 Lac, and Oreganol.....all with Probiotics)

Since tests have returned, my LLMD is giving me the choice of oral abx, PICC line abx or Cowden Protocol. What has been your experience with any of these. He hasn't said which abx (2 -3 ). I do have a hard time GI speaking with abx tolerance (diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting).

Any thoughts on these different ways of Lyme treatment?

Thanks so much!

LOVE your screen name!

I love that you treated candida first. Hope you are also on a good GI binder--helps to remove the debris from the y/f you're killing and reduce the die off sx.

I'm glad you're not going to try oral abx. I think that's an easy 'no' for you.

Unfortunately, for most of us, we often have to give a protocol a try in order to understand exactly how we, personally, might benefit. It's strange and frustrating much of the time but we all react very differently to almost ever treatment protocol.

The first major question most people need to answer is how healthy is your GI? (generally, when you're not on abx?)
- If it's healthy, then you will have fewer challenges with an oral protocol--whatever it is.
- If it's not healthy and you're currently dealing with symptoms (even off the abx), it's best to spend a little more time healing your gut--if you have gut damage, anything you take orally is not going to be well-absorbed, which is a waste of time and money and could also exacerbate any damage you have.

If your gut health is OK, then the next question to ask is:

How effective has your yeast/fungal treatment been? Are your associated symptoms completely gone? How is your diet?

So, given your poor response to oral abx, you might still struggle with IV abx--it's hard to know. You might also need to consider:
- If your current yeast/fungal issues might have been caused by prior abx use, then you might want to wait a little longer to start on the IV abx or consider avoiding the abx altogether. Even with IV abx, the abx will enter your GI through the bloodstream. It is far less risk than oral abx but the abx will enter your GI.

So then we go back to the previous questions - how well have you rebalanced yeast/fungal overgrowth and how solid is your gut health? Generally, once a yeast/fungal overgrowth gets started, you can reduce it with the right protocol and maybe even keep it under control with the right protocol, but you will likely continue to be VERY susceptible to recurring yeast/fungal overgrowth, specifically with continued abx use. It will be less w/ IV abx but you're not entirely in the clear.

So, if neither y/f tx or gut health is really solid, you will continue to have a lot of challenges with yeast/fungal overgrowth with abx use, which would contribute to poor gut health and possibly increased damage. Increased damage means you'll have increased problems appropriately and effectively absorbing nutrition and your treatment and anything you take orally to support it. Again, you'll have fewer GI problems w/ IV abx than you'd have with oral abx use but you're not in the clear entirely.

And sometimes all it takes to position yourself with a better chance at tx success is a few more months of healing gut and reducing yeast/fungal overgrowth. All this to say--don't underestimate the value of a healthy GI. 70% of your immune function IS your GI and there is no treatment that can heal you without the support of your own immune system. Gut health is KEY for many of us. It was for me.

So, as you can see, a big part of the question is answered with how healthy your gut is now and can stay. And that has everything to do with how well your yeast/fungal overgrowth has been eliminated and how well it can be managed moving forward.

In your case, it seems much, much simpler to try herbs first, right? That's what I did. I didn't use Cowden (although I am using some components) but I did try several different herbs for Lyme. I continued to lose ground very quickly and ended up on IV abx (due to GI problems I was not able to take oral abx). And I continued taking herbs for bart and babs. Then we realized that I was having these severe GI attacks due to the bart herbs and my LLMD put me on a 2nd IV abx for bart. I continued to treat babs w/ herbs. Eventually I went off IV abx and went back to herbs for Lyme, too.

Overall, I've done well on IV but it has NOT been easy and would have preferred herbal if I could have found something that worked for me as quickly as I needed it to at the time.

Regardless of which you choose, the detoxing and nutritional support and GI health ----all will be required in order to support any treatment protocol.

Hope that's helpful!

-p

Pirouette said...
LOVE your screen name!

I love that you treated candida first. Hope you are also on a good GI binder--helps to remove the debris from the y/f you're killing and reduce the die off sx.

I'm glad you're not going to try oral abx. I think that's an easy 'no' for you.

Unfortunately, for most of us, we often have to give a protocol a try in order to understand exactly how we, personally, might benefit. It's strange and frustrating much of the time but we all react very differently to almost ever treatment protocol.

The first major question most people need to answer is how healthy is your GI? (generally, when you're not on abx?)
- If it's healthy, then you will have fewer challenges with an oral protocol--whatever it is.
- If it's not healthy and you're currently dealing with symptoms (even off the abx), it's best to spend a little more time healing your gut--if you have gut damage, anything you take orally is not going to be well-absorbed, which is a waste of time and money and could also exacerbate any damage you have.

If your gut health is OK, then the next question to ask is:

How effective has your yeast/fungal treatment been? Are your associated symptoms completely gone? How is your diet?

So, given your poor response to oral abx, you might still struggle with IV abx--it's hard to know. You might also need to consider:
- If your current yeast/fungal issues might have been caused by prior abx use, then you might want to wait a little longer to start on the IV abx or consider avoiding the abx altogether. Even with IV abx, the abx will enter your GI through the bloodstream. It is far less risk than oral abx but the abx will enter your GI.

So then we go back to the previous questions - how well have you rebalanced yeast/fungal overgrowth and how solid is your gut health? Generally, once a yeast/fungal overgrowth gets started, you can reduce it with the right protocol and maybe even keep it under control with the right protocol, but you will likely continue to be VERY susceptible to recurring yeast/fungal overgrowth, specifically with continued abx use. It will be less w/ IV abx but you're not entirely in the clear.

So, if neither y/f tx or gut health is really solid, you will continue to have a lot of challenges with yeast/fungal overgrowth with abx use, which would contribute to poor gut health and possibly increased damage. Increased damage means you'll have increased problems appropriately and effectively absorbing nutrition and your treatment and anything you take orally to support it. Again, you'll have fewer GI problems w/ IV abx than you'd have with oral abx use but you're not in the clear entirely.

And sometimes all it takes to position yourself with a better chance at tx success is a few more months of healing gut and reducing yeast/fungal overgrowth. All this to say--don't underestimate the value of a healthy GI. 70% of your immune function IS your GI and there is no treatment that can heal you without the support of your own immune system. Gut health is KEY for many of us. It was for me.

So, as you can see, a big part of the question is answered with how healthy your gut is now and can stay. And that has everything to do with how well your yeast/fungal overgrowth has been eliminated and how well it can be managed moving forward.

In your case, it seems much, much simpler to try herbs first, right? That's what I did. I didn't use Cowden (although I am using some components) but I did try several different herbs for Lyme. I continued to lose ground very quickly and ended up on IV abx (due to GI problems I was not able to take oral abx). And I continued taking herbs for bart and babs. Then we realized that I was having these severe GI attacks due to the bart herbs and my LLMD put me on a 2nd IV abx for bart. I continued to treat babs w/ herbs. Eventually I went off IV abx and went back to herbs for Lyme, too.

Overall, I've done well on IV but it has NOT been easy and would have preferred herbal if I could have found something that worked for me as quickly as I needed it to at the time.

Regardless of which you choose, the detoxing and nutritional support and GI health ----all will be required in order to support any treatment protocol.

Hope that's helpful!

-p

Excellent post P!

This has me thinking. I am currently on an antibiotic regimen. It is a pulsing regimen where I take them Mon, Wed, Fri for 3 weeks and take the 4th week off. I am thinking I'm having some gut issues as most mornings I am visiting the commode 3 times before I'm out the door for work (1.5 hour time span). And the consistency of the actual duty can vary.

So.... I have found a bundle from Dr Axe for gut health..

https://store.draxe.com/products/leaky-gut-support-kit?variant=25327681989&gclid=CjwKCAjw_8jNBRB-EiwA96Yp1kzESVayjyFz8XsyDJj19LB0z9IUEiM5_bFrG4MdcXq6eSr7j6bb7xoCdoQQAvD_BwE

Can I take this at the same time as antibiotic treatment? Or would the abx negate the positive affects of the formula?