Oh the stormish fields of antibiotic treatment

Where you think apheresis may have improved you 10%, are you considering another session?

Also I was going to say that Buhner's herbals seem much more gentle than antibiotics. Dr Marty Ross has a treatment plan on his website.

https://www.treatlyme.net/lyme-disease-treatment-guidelines

https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/best-herbal-antibiotics-for-lyme-bartonella-babesia

currently the approach of apheresis doesnt sound like another option for me. from what i've heard with others that - for those who apheresis works - the first one is always the most noticable. because my effect from the first was so small i kinda doubt i will do much with another one.

also the dirt in the filter was quite small compared to other patients that had an more noticable effect. so i'm currently not seeking a second one, mostly because its not worth the price (for me).

I do view the herbal regimens as a good starting point atm yes. I'm neither a big fan of antibiotics nor a enemy, but I would say if you take em for more then 2 months you should be sure its pushing you in the right direction and actually helping you. If not I would look for another options. I am fully convinced lyme and co can be really dibilitating. I just doubt that lengthy antibiotic regimens are always the right answer for everyone and more over, not every ME/CFS patient is being confronted with chronic infections.

Either way its good to remain critical but optimistic and willing to try things out - I would say.

For the moment: I will do a herbal regiment consisting of:
1. Houttuynia
2. Cryptolepis
3. Lactoferrin
4. Mushroom Complex

The synergy should do me a favour. Houttuynia is said to be active for bartonella, cryptolepis (according to your website) is active for babesia, lyme and bartonella and lactoferrin and mushroom complex top it off with a decent immune support.

I also take NAC since ages wich is said to allow antimicrobial agents to penetrate biofilms better. so we'll see.

I am 100% convinced i do have something chronic infectious because a round of thymosin alpha 1 made me herx incredibily with a period of feeling very much better after. I am just not sure yet WHAT the hell it is. I guess we have to find out.


Thanks for your thoughts @Judee

So you are doing some things I am already on, so I thought I'd comment. I take Holtraceuticals Virunex, which contains both NAC and Reishi, plus more. But it's combined and doesn't actually give me the break down per ingredient. I'm just adding a reminder that NAC should be taken on an empty stomach, which somebody else told me on here, even though it didn't say it on the bottle. When it comes to viruses, sometimes kinesiology indicates I should take it, sometimes not. But I always take it for viruses, and during colder weather, when I am more susceptible to viruses.

I am up to 500 mg of lactoferrin now, where I take 250 with breakfast, and 250 with lunch. I started out with 250 for the first week and am on the third week now. At first I thought it might be clearing my mind a bit, but it hasn't been helping my memory that much. I will try this for 3 months to check it out thoroughly, then go off it, to decide if it is worth it at all. Sometimes I can't tell if something has helped me sufficiently until I go off of it. I added lactoferrin since I got COVID-19 for the second time in February, which I'm never able to fully bounce back from. Lactoferrin, besides being good for the immune system, is also supposed to help with the uptake of iron, so I've been using Ferrous-Fumuro Chelate from Nutri-West, with a mix of ingredients combined with iron as ferrous fumurate 25 mg every day or every other day, which kinesiology shows I can do. I will have kinesiology redone on me this month to see if I need to change the dose, etc.

Best wishes on your new treatment.

Edit: I think where you are experiencing a herx reaction/issues may be an indicator of where things have gone wrong, including the panic attack. My herx reactions look completely different from yours, and they are antibiotic related.

Thanks for Sharing your experience. So you do think its a herx or no? Sorry i got a Little confused on the Last sentence

So after reading this, which discusses which conditions you should warn your doctor if you have in advance, including supplements you are taking, etc., how to take it, and side effects: https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a682101.html it could be side effects, though exacerbated by ME/CFS. The panic attack wouldn't be typical. It's interesting that it says you should tell your doctor if you have intracranial hypertension as well.

I believe that I have already posted this link in your thread on the forum but I cannot remember whether it was before or after the date of this blog entry.
Here it is again:
Bartonella treatment ideas - I have some doubts that his ideas on treating Bartonella inflammation will be sufficient for everyone, especially ME sufferers.
Bartonella cause calcification to protect themselves and that must be removed to get to them. The recommendation is MSM (sulphur) which has been shown to raise Glutathione levels in research. He also recommends NAC and Alpha Lipoic Acid to help remove the calcification.

I DON'T recommend antibiotics because the cause of ME will adapt to them rendering them useless in future. Keep a record of ALL antimicrobials, including herbs, which you have used because they will not be able to be used when the cause of ME is proven. It could potentially leave you with nothing to destroy the infection(s). Both gram +ve and -ve are needed.

Bartonella inhibit cell apoptosis to prevent them from being destroyed and that can also raise cancer risk on top of the dramatically raised heart disease risk.
Stephen Harrod Buhner in his books, thinks in a different way and his first treatment recommendation is treating the inflammation which is the opposite to what the guy on that forum recommends. The guy on that forum does confuse the different Lyme bacteria as he gives links to research on Borrelia as well as Bartonella. He doesn't seem to understand that it is the level of inflammation which is essential, not too much or too little. Inflammation is usually far too much in ME/Fibro therefore reducing it shouldn't pose a problem IMO. Using herbs which boost NK cells should be very helpful and there are a number to do that including Eleutherococcus Senticosus. Astragalus is also meant to be very good but SHB doesn't recommend using that in more advanced cases of Lyme disease because it can promote autoimmunity. I have used it and want to get back onto it when I can find my mislaid Siberian Ginseng which is proving very elusive. My memory can be terrible and I put things in places and don't form a memory of where I put them.

Look for herbs with immune boosting effects, particularly Natural Killer Cells and ALSO have anti-inflammatory effects.