No Herx yet - Treatment efficiency?

Hey,
I got slightly positive Bartonella in test a while back, so I got on Buhner's Bartonella protocol + Cat's Claw for first aid. Taking it slow and adding new stuff once a week, I'm now on 4 caps Cat's Claw 3x a day and Sida Acuta tincture 1/4 teaspoons 3x a day. So far not really feelin much difference for better or worse, maybe bit more tinnitus and pins and needles but hard to say.

I've read some people get crazy herx and know right away that the treatment is effective. Should I just wait till I'm on the full protocol or change something?

Thanks

Not everyone herxes strongly. I assume you started treatment because you had symptoms. What symptoms do you have?

How long ago did you start treatment? It can take months to really notice a difference. For some, the improvements are so gradual they are almost imperceptible.

How long have you been sick?

Nevermind, I just reread your first post. This started 2 years ago and you still have a bunch of symptoms.

Post Edited (WalkingbyFaith) : 7/3/2020 12:45:52 PM (GMT-6)

I've never been a huge proponent of 'herxing' --- not for the length of time people do it for (a few days makes sense if you are killing off a lot of infection at once and need to clear it from your lymphatic system). The herbs your are taking are good for your lymph glands as well.

If you feel absolutely NO difference, change something. If you start to feel GREAT then that could be a sign of progress as much as (or more than) if you started to feel like poo (aka herx).

Whatever you decide, consider pulsing between 2 protocols - 2 weeks on 2 weeks off

You have a positive test plus symptoms. You have bartonella.

A week and a half is a very short time. When I started treating with Buhner’s, I started low and slow and gradually increased doses thinking I was tolerating it well. Then, around 3 weeks, the herx would hit. This happened repeatedly with new herbs and supplements.

Buhner does NOT advise pulsing herbs. Pulsing can be done with some antibiotics.

Herx like effects seem highly individual - so not everyone gets the same effects from any herb or Antibiotic.

Definitive Herx was described originally in syphilis infections and was documented as short-lived. typically a few days at most.

No one really knows with any certainty what causes weeks-long herx like symptoms in Lyme patients.
it's a common phenomenon with Lyme group infections but certainly not universal and many medical doctors debate whether it can really be due to bacterial die-off toxins in sufficient quantity weeks into treatment - so this just goes into another grey area still to be researched.

there are many potential mechanisms that could explain it - including some that are not really anything to do with the infection itself.

another variable is the strength of the herbs themselves. this may vary considerably depending on the season of harvest, freshness, storage, extraction mechanisms etc etc and the recommended doses are just that - ie start points - and herbalists such as Buhner recommend titrating the dose of each to suit each patient.

I tend to get much stronger herx like reactions from anti-microbial herbs rather than antibiotics. especially
sida, houttynia, cryptolepis etc

for these reasons i wouldn't be too concerned about its significance if you are not getting it - however, if it's extreme it's probably best to reduce dose rather than push on as these reactions are known to be potentially dangerous.

Post Edited (Garzie) : 7/10/2020 7:42:28 AM (GMT-6)