Andrographis - seems to be very good for my immune system, have increased energy (today at least!)

Mary

Mary

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Several weeks ago one of my sisters had a severe sinus infection (which turned out to be viral). They had given her 2 courses of ABX which didn’t do much. She did get better and then relapsed pretty badly. Her doctor then gave her a Standard Process andrographis complex product (https://www.standardprocess.com/Med...ct-Detail-Sheets/andrographiscomplexM1110.pdf
), which contains andrographis, echinacea and holy basil. Within 2 days she was amazingly better. Which spurred me to try andrographis.

I’m sick generally 80% to 90% of the time with a sinus problem, as I get sick each time I crash, and then it takes days to recover from being sick (though I recover from the crash in one day thanks to BCAAs), by which time I usually crash again and thus get sick again. It’s never ending, literally. (FWIW, I don’t have any in-home help, have to do everything (grocery shopping is the worst!) So I usually crash at least once a week just trying to do the bare necessities of every day living no matter how much I pace myself.)

But back to andrographis - it really seems to help with this chronic sinus issue. And I muscle test very strong for it. Initially I did get quite tired on it, but I believe that was a herx or immune reaction of some sort, I stuck it out, and the worst of the fatigue gradually lifted. One other good thing is that it doesn’t require a large dose and it’s very affordable! (I’d already been taking echinacea with goldenseal which helped some; the Standard Product is quite pricey so I decided to just get plain andrographis - actually the product I got also had elderberry but I am going to try plain andrographis after it runs out)

After a few weeks, with taking a break here and there from the andrographis, I was doing fairly well, though I had an underlying extra layer of fatigue, which I figured was still a herx or immune reaction of some kind. It wasn’t severe, but it was enough to curtail my already limited activities.

So I stopped the andrographis altogether 2 days ago, and today I feel amazingly well, I feel "normal", I feel as though I could do a normal day’s activities - I can’t remember the last time I felt this way. But I’m well aware that I need to be very careful and pace myself anyways.

Andrographis has several different mechanisms of action, one of which is modulating the immune system. If the central problem of ME/CFS is an immune system gone amok - autoimmune - I’m just wondering if the andrographis could help to remedy this core issue. Of course it’s way too soon to tell.

See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4032030/

Different types of formulations, extracts and pure compounds obtained from this plant have been shown to possess biological activities including anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, cytotoxicity, immune modulatory, sex hormone modulatory, liver enzyme modulatory, anti-malaria, anti-angiogenic and hepato-renal protective activity.
Click to expand...

Very interestingly, there is a study which shows andrographis being effective in relieving rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19408036

A different sister (I have 7 of them! and 2 brothers) has RA and she is going to try the andrographis. So if it can help with RA, perhaps it can help with ME/CFS beyond just trying to get over the latest bug.

I’m restarting the andrographis today at one-half the dose I was doing. I had originally started with 3 caps a day when I was sickest, then got better and went done to 2, and then finally to 1 a day. Now I’m going to try one every other day and see how I do. (Another DIY lab experiment! :sluggish::nerd:;))
 
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Mary

Mary

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ebethc said:
@Mary - what dosage of andrographis do you take per day?
Click to expand...

This is what I have been taking: https://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Herbs-Andrographis-Elderberry-Vegetarian/dp/B00064X2F0 You can see that one capsule has andrographis extract 12:1 - 400 mg., plus 100 mg of other herbs. I don't know what the "12:1" means. When I was sickest, I took one capsules 3 x a day, then gradually went down to 2 a day, and then 1 a day for a week or so, and now am trying 1 every other day.

When this bottle runs out, I'm going to try this product, it got good reviews and is just plain andrographis, 400 mg. (400 mg. seems to be a standard dose): https://www.amazon.com/Planetary-He...ncoding=UTF8&refRID=61R3MZS3016QP76AN7PJ&th=1

My energy was pretty good all day yesterday, I cannot remember the last time that happened. I didn't do much physically though (and it was raining all day!) I still had energy this morning, which is unheard of. So I went out and did a couple of errands and then by noon was starting to droop so now am resting, and will see what happens. I think it's helping my thyroid - just a guess, will see!
 
Mary

Mary

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Well, I did indeed crash. It was a little unusual because ordinarily when I crash, I can directly link it to overexertion, either physical or mental, or both. This time I don't think I over did anything; however, I had been feeling revved up - it started last Friday when I did the first post here, and lasted all day, and was still there Saturday morning

And then mid-day Saturday was when the crash started. I think the crash was a direct response to the feeling of being revved up, and not to overexertion, because I was still very careful about what I did.

And I'm pretty sure that it was my thyroid, that the andrographis somehow stimulated it or caused it to work better and actually I think I was a bit hyperthyroid. My body temp and BP were both up a bit. I actually cut back on my thyroid med (Naturethroid, 2 grains) because I was having trouble sleeping too!

Today I'm recovered from the crash and only a tiny bit sick; usually I feel rather worse, getting sicker after crashing, so I think the andrographis is helping in this regard. I'm down to 1/2 a cap a day, that's what I muscle test for. And, I still feel a little revved up, though not as much. But I have cut back on my thyroid med.

So I'm going to continue with the andrographis as needed. But I've never had anything do that to me before, help my thyroid functioning in that way. So we'll see - one day at a time --:whistle::sluggish:
 
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