Unable to handle antimicrobial herbs

You might be onto something with the fungi.

Can you tolerate it if you reduce the dosage?

I have gradually added one at a time and then v gradually increased dosage and found it tolerable that way - whereas before taking any at near the dosage I am not now would have put me in bed feeling super rough.

has taken around 1 year so far - but seems to be helping.

also only ever had mild herx like reactions from abx but huge ones from herbs

I have issues with berberine too. My limbs go numb when I sleep. I thought it was affecting circulation or something. I had looked into candida at one point and did a 30 days of diflucan as a test.

I also have the same issue with LDN. If I recall right, you’ve tried it, right? Any issues?

Prescription abx do flare me - but not neuropathy. They flare my bladder and cause insomnia. The ONLY time i tolerated was when Dr H loaded me up on detox for 2 wks prior to starting rif/mino/bactrim/plaq. That was the only time I ever took rifampin - had taken all other abx before and caused issues. So it was either the detox or rif that helped.

Have you had OAT test or GI map? They have candida markers (arabinose, etc).

Post Edited (k07) : 10/26/2020 9:12:22 AM (GMT-6)

dcd2103 said...
I've had my GI-Maps done. Not much showed up except for prevotella being super high, and b-Glucuronidase being high, which is a marker for dysbiosis.

I hadnt looked through this in a while, the prevotella number is 15x higher than normal. My fucntional med dr and my GP ignored it when i mentioned it. Maybe thats my issue. IN adiddion, my b-glucuronidase is super high, which is a stomach inflammatory marker

yep - similar here - some dysbiosis markers like glucuronidase, v high gut inflammation markers - but nothing in the microbiome results that really accounted for the number or severity of symptoms i was getting.

did 12 weeks of dysbiosis herbs supplements and meds in a super thorough protocol - any way to try and rule out some kind of gut dysbiosis as the root cause of my illness - felt v ill throughout - then waited a few weeks and then retested - GI markers just about all normalized or came down from 10x to 1.5x - except inflammation markers which were still there and most systemic symptoms remained.

did feel better for a couple of weeks after - but later found that was due to the elimination diet we followed for the first 2 weeks after completing the protocol, before re-introducing foods. later got the same benefits from the Keto diet alone without the 12weeks of antimicrobials

in my view, this gut dysfunction is driven by the infection process ( in my case Lyme and Bart) messing with the innate and adaptive immune responses and causing your body to be unable to any longer manage its own microbiome the way it needs to for homeostasis - resulting in inflammation, motility issues, leaky gut, dysbiosis, SIBo etc.

I don't know of a way to resolve it while the infection is present - but can and must be managed in order to aid recovery. the key to managing it for me has been the whole food ketogenic diet
that's the single biggest thing that has made life livable again - to a point where I can at least function for most of the day.

i would suggest trying that if nothing else has so far worked and you cannot take herbs for SIBO

just trying to share my experiences really.

ref - not sticking = not sure - there is a lot of individual variability due to lots of factors feeding in - our immune systems, microbiome, genetics, environmental factors, stress levels, subjective experience/stress, etc are all quite different - and probably the combinations of co-infections.

my partner for instance
took adaptogenic herbs ( ashwagandha, eleuthero, Rhodiola ) and knotweed
changed her diet to extreme keto
did a few short courses of ABX ( mostly Clarithromycin for 2 weeks )
and got better over a period of around 1-2 years from starting keto.

I don't think she is 100% cured as seems to have mental health issues - but physically she is able to work 10hrs days, exercise, etc and function pretty much as well as she did before getting ill.

i have been doing all of the above and plenty more - and improving but i have only come back 50% so far in the same time frame

the good thing is every improvement so far has stuck for me - as long as I keep to the regime that seems to work - so that is no sacrifice to me - I enjoy this way of living way more than the last 4years!!