Dear Stephen,
I have lyme and babesia and have been on a pretty extensive regimen of both doxycycline and antibiotic herbs for over a month now, and I plan on continuing both at least for another month and a half, after which I might switch to just the antibiotic herbs, depending on how things are going. My main question is about antibiotic herbs and their range of antibiotic qualities—are they as hard on the good bacteria as the doxycycline is? I’ve been taking L. Acidophilus for a few weeks now and I’m wondering if I need to space my doses of Andrographis paniculata, Uncaria tomentosa, Polygonum cupsidatum, Smilax glabra, Eleuthero senticosus or Cryptolepis sanguinolenta—or any combination of those by more than an hour or so from the L. Acidophilus, or if spacing is necessary at all?

Also, I’ve been eating a lot of garlic (including raw, cooked and encapsulated) and thyme and and other such herbs that happen to have antibiotic qualities but might not do much for a broadly systemic infection like mine. Is it a good idea to discontinue the use of those herbs at least while I’m taking so many other antibiotics, or is acidophilus safe from garlic and thyme? I don’t think there’s much left of the lyme in my GI tract, and babesia is a protozoa, safe from direct harm from garlic and thyme. I don’t want to overwhelm what is probably mostly good bacteria in my GI tract with herbs that aren’t really going to make a significant impact on what’s really left of my infections. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!