Monday, January 25, 2016

Month 12- Focusing on Bartonella

I'm a couple of weeks into month 12 on the Restore Program. The weeks since I wrote my month 11 update didn't seem to bring any progress. Dizziness was pretty common and brain fog was popping up many days. It was a little disheartening.

At this  point, I'm willing to try different herbs/oils, etc that may or may not help as long as they seem reasonable and can't hurt you. Why not?

With this in mind, a couple of weeks ago I mixed a couple of drops of each oil and added coconut oil, so the mixture was 50/50. The mixture was applied via a bottle with a roll on top and applied topically.


Two problems I really wanted to work on are bladder issues, which wake me up at night several times and partially numb feet. I did some reading and mixed up some oils and applied them topically to the areas. I took them for about 4 days, but was feeling so bad I stopped taking them. Oils will definitely make you herx. Even with extra detox (liposomal glutathione & sauna), the herx was pretty bad.
I REALLY didn't like going back to feeling bad after a couple of feeling good.
So, I stopped.



We are trying to get our house ready to sell (we're downsizing) and I really need to feel well enough to do some of the projects, since my husband works full time and can't do it all.
This was my dilemma...do I treat more and feel bad or keep on the same dose of Restore?

January is when I had planned to do Buhner's protocol  for Bartonella, but was hesitant because I didn't want to feel bad. I decided to go ahead and try since I ordered the herbs last month. I am continuing to take the full Restore herbs. I started taking Japanese Knotweed - 1 cap 2x a day, then bumped it up to 2  caps 2 x a day, then 2 caps - 3x a day, which is the full dose Buhner recommends.
I expected to herx, but actually started feeling pretty good, even really good - and I had energy!
The past week + has been great and I've been able to get a lot done. Evidently, Japanese Knotweed stops the cytokine cascade, which causes inflammation and makes you feel bad. (I don't understand how that a cytokine cascade is different from a herx.)
I haven't added everything in the full Bartonella protocol yet, so there's no telling how I'll feel once I have.


So far I'm taking the full dose of Japanese Knotweed, Sida Acuta, EGCG(green tea) &Hawthorn.
I also added the Arginine and Milk Thistle a few days ago and maybe starting the Houttuynia tomorrow. I'm a little afraid of taking the Houttuynia and herxing, but we'll see. I can always back off.






As for changes to diet...still aiming for 50% vegetables, gluten, dairy and sugar free. I do eat organic butter (cow) and Romano cheese (made from grass fed sheep's milk).
I've added a tablespoon of Collagen from Dr. Axe, which is made from grass fed cows. I've recently read that Buhner recommends collagen for muscle wasting. I definitely should have started adding that to my smoothies 
sooner because my muscles are pretty atrophied. I've also lost my previously latina behind and now it's flatter than flat. I've been taking the collagen every day since January 9th and already the skin on my face feels smoother. I had to exfoliate several times a week before because it felt scaly. 


The Website says the collagen helps this way


  • Healthy gut repair and brain function*
  • Greater mobility and flexibility. Strong, healthy muscles. Healthier, stronger bones and joints*
  • Vibrant, firmer, glowing skin and fight back against the effects of normal aging*
  • Easier weight management and/or weight loss, due to its satiating effect on hunger*
  • Deeper and more restful sleep*
You can purchase the collagen directly from Dr. Axe's website HERE.



As for the symptoms/areas I need to resolve(in this order please):



bladder
eyes
balance issues/intermittant brain fog
sound sensitivity - loud rooms cause tremors
numbness in feet
tinnitus



 I keep treating and reading and looking for information that might help. I hope you will do the same. Treating lyme and co-infections is a marathon, no a sprint. It's easy to get discouraged when you aren't feeling good or don't have any energy. Keep trying.


Hope today is a good day for you.

Pam


Here are the status of my symptoms:
Numbness, tingling in feet remain the same
swollen pads on bottom of feet near toes-a little better
dizziness/off balance- comes and goes.
difficulty finding words  about a 2 when really tired
blurry eyes - a few days clear, then a few days blurry
urgency  (3) - still a problem
light sensitivity (negligible)
noise sensitivity (3)
startles easily (2)
muscle pain -2 some days more
muscle weakness (3)
tremors - only when exposed to constant loud noises, but it's minor
high pitch ringing in the ears/low pitch ringing - high pitch is more present,
not being able to follow directions (2-3) -comes and goes
98 +   temp


Weight- I think I've lost another pound. It fluctuates up or down 2 pounds.

Most symptoms are the same, some days are worse, because I've added the Bart protocol.
Some days I have a lot of energy and get a lot done and some days I just want to sleep for half of the day- I just go with it!


13 comments:

  1. Hi, Pam. Yesterday a friend posted a linked article on Facebook about preclinical studies in Europe looking at Stevia as a Lyme treatment. While I certainly am no physician to judge this, I did think of you and wondered if you have ever heard of this. I'm including the link to the article. I think of you each time I read or hear about someone with Lyme.

    http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/stevia-kills-lyme-disease-pathogen-better-antibiotics-preclinical-study

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    1. Hey Dee, thanks for stopping by. I've seen that post floating around for awhile. It's pretty popular on all the lyme Facebook groups. The study was done in a petri dish and not in vivo (in humans or animals). The doctor who put together the program I'm on says that because Stevia is not absorbed in the intesting, that most likely it's not going to have the same effect in humans. Even if it worked, the dose would be pretty high and a lot more than the few drops of Stevia one adds to a beverage. There are already herbs such as Cat's Claw which do a good job of killing borrelia (and other microbes). Unfortunately, getting rid of lyme is more complicated than just killing the microbes. We're all so used to taking antibiotics for 5 -10 days for a uti or strep throat or other infection and that's the end of that, but unfortunately, it doesn't work that way with lyme.

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    2. how do U know stevia is not absorbed ?

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    3. Dr. Rawls (MD), who put together the Restore Program from Vital Plan has said this on several occasions. Here's a link that explains it "...It is a result of this essentially poor absorption in the digestive tract which ultimately contributes to the fact that stevia has zero calories and does not raise blood glucose or insulin levels when digested...." http://globalsteviainstitute.com/health-professionals/nutrition-health-hp/metabolism/

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    4. WRotek, here's a better explanation in the same article "...Steviol glycosides are poorly absorbed in the body and pass through the upper gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach and small intestines, fully intact. ..."

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    5. IF You read paper of Eva Sapi on Stevia and various lyme forms supression, You will know it is not steviol glycoside that has antimicrobial properties...

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    6. We're getting into semantics here, but stevioside, which produces the sweet taste of the plant is the largest part of the steviol glycoside in the stevia plant. My main point above was that it was an in vitro study and not a study of how it works in the human body.

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  2. This is quote from Eva Sapi paper "These antimicrobial studies used a high concentration of purified stevioside, and in our study, we achieved similar antimicrobial effect against Borrelia by using a lower concentration of the whole leaf extract. Our data with purified Stevioside did not show any significant antimicrobial effect on Borrelia spirochetes and persisters compared to the whole leaf extracts of Stevia (Fig. 1). This finding suggests that other components within the Stevia whole leaf extract could have antimicrobial activity against B. burgdorferi, which are yet to be identified in future studies. In a good agreement with our findings, "

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  3. 17:41
    Well better in vitro then nothing...btw can you please explain me the meaning of word semantics ?

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  4. I have systemic whipple's disease or infection and our symptoms and issues are exactly the same every one of them. Has the Japanese knotweed helped you at all. Also have you tried black seed oil or black walnut wormwood? I'm guessing you have pretty bad sleep disturbances too am I right? Email me hardtwizzler33@gmail.com

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    1. I didn't have problems with sleep at the point of this writing. I believe I'm finished with lyme and am now going to be chelating. My current symptoms include brain fog, tight muscles, fatigue.

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    2. I have tried wormwood for a month. It was awful.

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