@Aspie Lymie - I have not yet posted on my tea experiment because I needed to interrupt the experiment to go back on some medication for severe GERD symptoms that I could not get under control. I did not want to be on the medication at the same time as I was taking the tea to keep my experiment with as few variables as possible.
I have started back up with tea today because I am done with a two week course of medication. I plan to post the details of my experiment by this weekend that should include about two weeks of data being on this protocol.
So far no negative side effects from the tea and I was able to get up to 6 to 8 cups of tea per day. Definitely helped me to stay hydrated. The tea is also suppose to work to break up biofilm in the mouth and help to whiten your teeth (teeth whitening is the opposite of what you would expect from drinking tea).
My tea experiment is planned for a 60 day period. I am very interested to see if drinking this tea for a significant period of time will have any effect on the sore throat and neck lymph nodes that I regularly experience.
To anyone who may have followed this thread when I first started posting on it last Spring (post/reply #4) and continued with a number of posts thru July (last post/reply #28), I am sorry that my second trial run on my tea experiment discussion ended so abruptly and I have been M.I.A. on this thread since last summer.. I become quite ill with all my ME symptoms flaring with a vengeance and I was not able to continue my tea experiment or interact on the Forum.
The cause of the flare up of ME symptoms does not appear to have been related in anyway to drinking this tea, rather it is something that tracks with changes to the type and dose of thyroid medication that I am prescribed. This is something that I have experienced in the past, it is just unfortunate that these medication changes coincided with starting of my tea experiment.
So here goes attempt number three (3) to provide some information about how drinking Cistus Tea has worked for me. I re-started my tea experiment on 4/3/2019 and here is where things stand at 7 days into this tea experiment/trial.
1) I started back up full force with this experiment by drinking 32 ounces (1 liter) of tea per day. The 32 ounces of tea that I am drinking is based off a protocol that Dr. Kkinghardt* discussed online that he has used for some of his patients who have Lyme disease. I am using this quantity of tea for my own experiment for no other reason than it seemed to track with an amount used by Dr. Klinghardt and this is an amount that people who are serious tea drinkers might consume in a day.. It is also recommended that when trying this tea that you begin very slowly because some people (especially someone who is ill) may not be able to tolerate the tea without starting at a very low amount (for some a start pointing may be as low as 1 tablespoon a day).
Since, I eventually handled a dose of up to 32 ounces of tea per day in both my previous trial attempts, I decided it would be worth seeing if I could tolerate this amount of tea without going through a gradual increase in the volume of tea that I would use during the trial.. As referenced in earlier posts on this thread, Dr. Klinghardt’s Lyme Treatment Protocol used up to 32 ounces of tea per day.
*(Note - Dr. Kkinghardt is not my doctor, I do not have any information regarding Dr. Klinghardt’s current recommendations to his patients re drinking this type of tea and I have never tested positive for Lyme disease. So basically my Cistus Tea trial is of my own design and it is not being overseen by any medical professional).
2) I divided 32 ounces of tea into 4 servings a day (8 ounces per serving). I (or more accurately my caregiver) brewed up enough tea to make five (5), one (1) litter bottles that I store in the refrigerator and then reheat in the microwave as needed for each serving. Not sure if re-heating the tea in a microwave makes a difference in its strength/efficacy, but my dislike of hot liquids means that my microwaved tea is never re-boiled and is only re-heated to a warm temperature. I also have not yet added any Stevia to the tea I am currently drinking due to having a new aversion to any sweetness being added to the tea. Hoping that I will overcome this aversion, so I will be able to add this ingredient back into my tea experiment, since it was one of the ingredients that seemed to be a key part of Klinghardts lyme treatment tea protocol.
3) One week into this re-newed tea trial, I have developed a new pleasure of drinking tea, at least Cistus tea. (It should be noted that prior to this trial, I was not a tea drinker because I did not like the taste of tea regardless of the flavor. I also do not like the taste of coffee, so apparently I am a bit of an oddity when it comes to my dislikevof these two beverages. My dislike of tea and coffee and my aversion to most other liquids served hot has been with me since childhood, so no apparent correlation to my adult onset of ME. 🤔
4) One week into my current experiment, I have not noticed any negative side effects from drinking this tea. On possible positive side effects of drinking this tea - I can report the following: a) I really, really enjoy the taste of this tea (unsweetened), I enjoy drinking large quantities of this tea,and I just possibly may have become a lover of tea, b) the sore throat that has been plaguing me everyday for the last 10 months has gone from a 4 to 6 in pain to a 0 to 2 in pain without taking any pain medication. (Note - My intake of water on a daily basis has remained the same before and after starting this experiment in that I regularly try to consume 32 ounces or more of water per day. and this amount has been easily incorporated into my daily servings of tea.)
Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 that I will be able to continue on with this ☕️ tea trial for a consecutive 60 day period or I would even settle for a reduced 30 day trial, if I can just stay drinking this tea over a consecutive period of more than a couple of weeks. If I continue on with this trial and I have more information than would fit into one or two additional posts, I will set up a separate blog for my tea experiment and link it to this thread,
Wally 😎☕️🍃
