bertiedog
Senior Member
- Messages
- 1,746
- Location
- South East England, UK
I wanted to post a really positive experience of doing the Cowden Protocol since last September having had a positive Infectolab Elispot +5, +4 and +3 last July, positive Western Blot band 41 only and probable Ehirlichia Ellispot at +2.
Have had 15 days in a row of feeling very well, just a few blips with things like mild headaches and one minor migraine which I managed to get rid of with meds.
To my amazement I have really good energy in my legs virtually all the time, they are so much lighter than they used to be. They used to feel so heavy and like lead and that has gone completely. I have worn a Garmin Viofit since last September when I used to do around 5200 steps daily, sometimes it was more around 3000. Now my average is up to 8990 with several days up to 9500 without any ill effects. Two days ago I even swum 10 lengths of the local pool without any ill effects after, the first time since getting sick this has happened. Everytime I have attempted a short gentle swim my legs have ended up like lead and I have had very bad POTS after so I gave up.
I don't take Samento because it is a potent vasodilator and because of the POTS in the past it isn't good for me. It also gave me very bad migraines so I have used mainly Banderol or Cumanda. I also take 4 Andrographis daily and did do about 3 months of Japanese Knotweed at 12 daily till I found out that was also a vasodilator. It also gave me migraines so I stopped it last December.
I have just ordered teasel root to add in just in case there are still bugs lurking and I am going to continue with the protocol till I have been on it a year and then will take some sort of maintenance dose but will check with Dr Cowden first. (Nutramedix are very good at answering any questions).
With regard to the protocol I have never taken the night time dose and often didn't do the lunchtime one either but I have been more careful about that this year. I think I got up to the maximum doses quite quickly I haven't actually checked my notes.
I am pretty sure I was bitten in October 1996 in the New Forest, England, UK because only 10 days later I had an inflammatory illness that affected my knees, wrists and other muscles and I felt very ill. After a couple of weeks I thought I had RA but my GP said it was a virus that mimicked RA. If only I had known about Lyme disease then! I would then pick up a bit and then out of the blue I would go down with this "virus" again and then the next year I got bouts where I could hardly walk my dog and would get panic attacks when out walking as I ran out of energy. My blood sugar became impossible to regulate, always going too low both day and night.
These attacks became more and more frequent and by 2000 I was so bad I had to give up teaching but thinking it was only a temporary thing. It wasn't it was permanent, I was never well enough to teach again though I did do a bit of private tuition the following year. What finished me off was the menopause, in 2001 I was just about coping by not working but the severe running out of energy was always just around the corner. Looking back at my diary the following year was horrendous. Everything was so much worse, it was like my endocrine system was out of control and my adrenals and thyroid were hit the most. Lucky for me I saw a private Endo in Nov 2002 and after tests (not NHS ones) he said I needed hydrocortisone and dessicated thyroid. Both these helped a lot of my symptoms but not the ability to do physical stuff, I could never walk for longer than 20 minutes and sometimes only 10. I still suffered with frequent viruses/infections that especially hit my throat and make me feel very ill.
In 2003 a doctor here in the UK looked at my blood through a microscope and told me I had borrelia and also co-infections and gave me various antibiotics especially Doxycycline. To be honest I was sceptical but I did do well on the Doxy but after 6 months the doctor changed me on to different abx plus Tinidazole which always made me ill. After about 10 months my gut was so bad I didn't want to continue and I lost faith and gave up until last year when I decided I would pay to have proper testing and find out for once and for all if I did have Lyme. And the rest is history as they say!
I am now 67 and feel a new person and cannot quite believe it. I did have one very mild throat infection in December and one very bad one in March which went on way too long because my GP only gave me Penicillin which doesn't do anything for me. Luckily I had some Azithromycin which I had ordered online from a reputable pharmacy and started on that for 5 days as I was feeling desperate to feel better. I responded within hours to it and once I finished the course 15 days ago, everyday I have felt well with my energy getting better and better.
I have also tested positive for many Herpes type viruses and very high to Coxackie too but it would seem the herbs can deal with this too.
The only downside to the Cowden stuff is the price but I am very thankful that I can order it at trade price because of my diploma in nutrition and if I can help anybody else in the UK regarding the Cowden herbs, I would be happy to do so.
Pam
Have had 15 days in a row of feeling very well, just a few blips with things like mild headaches and one minor migraine which I managed to get rid of with meds.
To my amazement I have really good energy in my legs virtually all the time, they are so much lighter than they used to be. They used to feel so heavy and like lead and that has gone completely. I have worn a Garmin Viofit since last September when I used to do around 5200 steps daily, sometimes it was more around 3000. Now my average is up to 8990 with several days up to 9500 without any ill effects. Two days ago I even swum 10 lengths of the local pool without any ill effects after, the first time since getting sick this has happened. Everytime I have attempted a short gentle swim my legs have ended up like lead and I have had very bad POTS after so I gave up.
I don't take Samento because it is a potent vasodilator and because of the POTS in the past it isn't good for me. It also gave me very bad migraines so I have used mainly Banderol or Cumanda. I also take 4 Andrographis daily and did do about 3 months of Japanese Knotweed at 12 daily till I found out that was also a vasodilator. It also gave me migraines so I stopped it last December.
I have just ordered teasel root to add in just in case there are still bugs lurking and I am going to continue with the protocol till I have been on it a year and then will take some sort of maintenance dose but will check with Dr Cowden first. (Nutramedix are very good at answering any questions).
With regard to the protocol I have never taken the night time dose and often didn't do the lunchtime one either but I have been more careful about that this year. I think I got up to the maximum doses quite quickly I haven't actually checked my notes.
I am pretty sure I was bitten in October 1996 in the New Forest, England, UK because only 10 days later I had an inflammatory illness that affected my knees, wrists and other muscles and I felt very ill. After a couple of weeks I thought I had RA but my GP said it was a virus that mimicked RA. If only I had known about Lyme disease then! I would then pick up a bit and then out of the blue I would go down with this "virus" again and then the next year I got bouts where I could hardly walk my dog and would get panic attacks when out walking as I ran out of energy. My blood sugar became impossible to regulate, always going too low both day and night.
These attacks became more and more frequent and by 2000 I was so bad I had to give up teaching but thinking it was only a temporary thing. It wasn't it was permanent, I was never well enough to teach again though I did do a bit of private tuition the following year. What finished me off was the menopause, in 2001 I was just about coping by not working but the severe running out of energy was always just around the corner. Looking back at my diary the following year was horrendous. Everything was so much worse, it was like my endocrine system was out of control and my adrenals and thyroid were hit the most. Lucky for me I saw a private Endo in Nov 2002 and after tests (not NHS ones) he said I needed hydrocortisone and dessicated thyroid. Both these helped a lot of my symptoms but not the ability to do physical stuff, I could never walk for longer than 20 minutes and sometimes only 10. I still suffered with frequent viruses/infections that especially hit my throat and make me feel very ill.
In 2003 a doctor here in the UK looked at my blood through a microscope and told me I had borrelia and also co-infections and gave me various antibiotics especially Doxycycline. To be honest I was sceptical but I did do well on the Doxy but after 6 months the doctor changed me on to different abx plus Tinidazole which always made me ill. After about 10 months my gut was so bad I didn't want to continue and I lost faith and gave up until last year when I decided I would pay to have proper testing and find out for once and for all if I did have Lyme. And the rest is history as they say!
I am now 67 and feel a new person and cannot quite believe it. I did have one very mild throat infection in December and one very bad one in March which went on way too long because my GP only gave me Penicillin which doesn't do anything for me. Luckily I had some Azithromycin which I had ordered online from a reputable pharmacy and started on that for 5 days as I was feeling desperate to feel better. I responded within hours to it and once I finished the course 15 days ago, everyday I have felt well with my energy getting better and better.
I have also tested positive for many Herpes type viruses and very high to Coxackie too but it would seem the herbs can deal with this too.
The only downside to the Cowden stuff is the price but I am very thankful that I can order it at trade price because of my diploma in nutrition and if I can help anybody else in the UK regarding the Cowden herbs, I would be happy to do so.
Pam
