Halfway through Month 4 of Cowden... seeing zero improvement, only worse :(

Hello all,

I am hoping that someone who is doing / has done the Cowden protocol for Lyme treatment will be able to give some guidance or just share their personal experience(s).

A bit of my backstory: I've had Lyme + possible co-infections for 7 years. What began as a headache that would come and go turned into a 24/7 tension-style headache and chronic flu-like symptoms. I do not have "good days", I have been nearly non-functioning for at least 4 years of my illness.

I understand that it will take a lot of time and perseverance to see symptoms improve as my body has been very ill for a long time. However, I've been struggling with doubts that I am doing the right thing. Not only am I feeling worse, but various symptoms have come up that are not my "normal" - i.e., losing awareness of my limbs, lip/tongue numb sensation, etc. My blood sugar (no issues prior to starting treatment) is often feeling very wonky and low.

I figure I should note that I am taking a lot of other supplements alongside Cowden to help with inflammation, histamine, adrenals, thyroid, and liver support / detoxification. Specifics for liver / detox support include NAC, Liquid Oral Glutathione, lemon water, etc. Glutathione (500mg at a time) seems to ease my mental symptoms but causes drowsiness, full body weakness, and crazy chills. I have a binder powder (charcoal, bentonite clay, etc.) that helps during a severe reaction but makes me feel sicker when I try it on a regular day.

Give me a bit of hope to keep sticking with this. Do I just stick it out?? Am I supporting my liver enough? What is your experience with the protocol? I can give a list of all that I'm taking specifically for treatment if that would help anyone.

You got a lot going into your system. Which I’m not saying is bad but you may want to add the non Cowden supplements in slowly to insure there’s no negative reactions.

That all being said I cant recall exactly how long I was Cowden. I think 6-8 months. It’s below in my signature.. Anyways, be sure to get to months 5 and a few beyond before making any changes, that’s the start of the parasite phase. I did get some real gains during that period. So much so I switched strategies and decided to try a Parasite protocol. Not sure how exactly but a reaction to one of the meds led me to heavy metals , which led me to Mercury poisoning and The ACC protocol. Geez the crap roads we travel on.

Good to switch it up but I’d give Cowden a few more months.

I realize this is a Lyme forum but heres my latest theory.

* General mental disorder due to mercury fillings and lead poisoning growing up.. high functioning but ADD
*Have them all removed in my early 40,s improperly and suffered from severe anxiety for years.
* General over health decline in stages over the next 20:years.
* Got a boatload of vaccines 2 months prior to crash. Noticed new bouts of rage,
*Went to India and right after Northern Min and had a little flu type bout after.
* 3 weeks later had my Heath Crash which I realize now was like Encephalitis. Followed by being sick for years.

So in short a compromise immune system and I was unable fight off the virus. Plus I somehow picked up a crapload of parasites. On and I do think I had Lyme in my 20s.

Last year I met with Infectious Disease specialist was was able to finally act like a normal calm human in doc office. He agreed to test me on 5 mosquito vector viruses. He mentored there are at least 80:known and they only have test for like 8. He says he can diagnose 8 out 10 patients.

Anyways didn’t mean to highjack your thread. But bottom line i agree with Byron Rosner, Freedom from Lyme book. Guy. If your not getting gains from a strategy, change it up.. FYI was was on ACC also for a few years and has a chapter in his book on it. Like him I’m pretty much recovered and feel it was like a onion in layers of recovery.

Don’t give up.

i have done some of cowden and can attest it is not that effective or requires a lot to reach mic levels . they make their herb tictures at a 4:1 maybe 10:1 on certain formulations but when i did a half of dropper of byron white a-bart( 90:1) i could tell i had been wasting time dabbling in cowden . some stuff like sparga and quina really helped but i knew i needed the big guns so after a few bottles of bw i moved on to bvt and iv abx . as suggested- a good gp to test peripheral stuff let me know was thrombocytopenic and my rdw was abnormally thick harboring bartonella and babesia all systems seem to get taxed .

carlnpa said...
Hi Al,

You have been sick for awhile.

My best advice to you would be to get to your primary care physician and not say a word about tick borne disease.

Tell the doc you are tired and lethargic. Your goal is to to get a complete blood panel (CBC) with thyroid ordered.

Here is a list of thyroid problems to choose from.

Tell the doc thyroid problems are hereditary in your family.

Fatigue.
Weight gain.
Weight loss.
Slowed heart rate.
Increased heart rate.
Sensitivity to heat.
Sensitivity to cold.

Thanks for the advice. I have had a CBC panel ordered several times throughout my illness, and each time my thyroid numbers were within good range. I do take a bovine sourced thyroid supplement to keep up that well-being. Adrenals are suffering from the chronic stress / pain and I have a very low cortisol level. I take bovine adrenal cortex for that which is helping immensely.

My PCP is in agreement that I have Lyme disease, even though standard testing (WB, ELISA) did not come back positive. I did testing through IGENEX which showed I am positive for Lyme antibodies. Other generic bloodwork does not come back abnormal. I specifically asked for various cytokines to be checked, but those came back normal or only slightly elevated as well.

Because it took many years to discover Lyme, my body is incredibly toxic. I guess it will just take a long time to get everything out.

slow and low can be a good thing . i found subL or b12 injections can help start methylation process some . also the celcore protocol has some good detoxing products. jay davidsons wife was in a real fragile state to start.

our blood can be hypercoagulated due to roulaux and excess fibringen caused by these system infections. i used maritime pine extract , lubrokinase on a empty stomach and loads of fish oil and baby aspirin for a bit with some success but when i tried bee venom cream i just had to have more of that very potent blood thinner so i moved into apitherapy as one of several protocols ....

Bluelyme, thank you.

“ Wait! They have this in a cream now? Wow! I've definitely been out of the loop for too long!“

News to me too, Traveler!