with Stephen Harrod Buhner, master herbalist
I’ve recently been diagnosed with late stage Babesia. I was on Mepron and Zithromax for two weeks and started having problems. Raised skin on face after two days – went to three doctors and no one has ever seen anything like it, so they told me they can’t help. Two weeks after, I thought I developed a UTI. The stick tests (2 of them) came back positive for infection. The culture came back negative. I have bad kidney pain on the right, but the ultrasound came back clear. I feel constant pressure on my bladder and have to urinate constantly. There is no pain though, and there is a lot of urine each time. No one can tell me what is wrong.
My doctor has put me on 3 different antibiotics for this and none have touched it. Could this be a side effect of the medications (for Babesia), or is the Babesia itself causing this? I can’t take this any more. If I ever do get the urinary problem cleared up, I would like to know if I can take Mahonia/Artemisia Annua WITH the Mepron and Zithromax to speed my recovery. I have heard horror stories of people being on these medications for months, and sometimes years. I refuse to do that to my body. Here is a list of herbs I am taking now…Royal Jelly, Wild Yam, Grapeseed Extract, Calcium/Magnesium, Flaxseed Oil, Dandelion Root. I stopped taking fish oil after the skin raised on my face hoping that was the cause. That was the only new supplement I started. I have been off it for two weeks now, and my skin is still raised. I need some advice…I’m hoping you can help. Thank you for your time.
Stephen’s response:
If I were you I would exhaustively study the side effects from those medications; I often find they are the culprit. Google is invaluable for this. I would recommend only a month of artemisinin, but not when you are having these kinds of reactions. I would recommend you try a UTI herbal formulation, perhaps uva ursi, marshmallow, corn silk, and maybe juniper berries. You should be able to find something like that pretty easily – close is good enough, and see if that helps. If artemisinin doesn’t work, use cryptolepis for the babesia; it should also help with the UTI if you want to begin it immediately.
posted on February 13, 2010 | 4,718 views | tags: artemisinin, Babesia, Borrelia burgdorferi, corn silk, cryptolepis, cryptolepsis, Healing Lyme, juniper berry, lyme disease, marshmallow, mepron, urinary tract infection (UTI), uva ursi, zithromax
Andrographis
400 mg tablets: Nature's Way
<400 mg tablets: Paradise Herbs
400 mg tablets: Planetary Formulas Full Spectrum
Japanese Knotweed (Resveratrol)
Green Dragon Botanicals
100 mg tablets: Paradise Herbs
bulk, wildcrafted: Woodland Essence
bulk and Source Naturals 500 mg tablets: 1st Chinese Herbs [Editor's note: As of September 2011, we have received reports that some people have had bad reactions to Source Naturals brand Resveratrol but have done fine with Paradise herbs. Sometimes the brand makes all the difference.]
Cat's Claw (Uncaria tomentosa)
500 mg capsules: Raintree
bulk, sustainably harvested: Raintree
Cryptolepis
tincture: Woodland Essence
Eleuthero (Siberian Ginseng)
Herb Pharm tincture - alcohol-based
Herb Pharm tincture - glycerite (alcohol-free)
250 mg capsules: Nature's Way
Stephania Root
Caution: New research has shown stephania
unsafe for use in pregnancy.
1st Chinese Herbs
Woodland Essence
ARTICLES BY STEPHEN BUHNER
The Use of Apis and Bi-Edta in the Treatment of Lyme Disease
Some Arguments against the Standardization of Herbalists
Gaian Voices Interview with Stephen Harrod Buhner
Depth Diagnosis in the Practice of Sacred Plant Medicine
The Lost Language of Plants
The Health Benefits of Water Fasting
Herbelegy
The Fall of Gruit and the Rise of Brewer's Droop
Paradise Lost: Of Healing, the Sacred, and Beer
The Yeast of the Ancients
BOOKS BY STEPHEN BUHNER
lee nanney
February 14, 2010 at 10:45 am
I was also recently diagnosed with babesia and put on mepron, z pack and artemisinin(take w/ grapefruit). My llmd told me to eat very fatty foods before taking the mepron. After about two weeks, I also had several clusters of small raised bumps on my thigh and hip. My doctor said it was a herx reaction. The bacteria was trying to run from meds. This infection attacks your red blood cells and has several different life stages in your body. After about a month, the raised bumps are beginning to disappear. My doc recommends at least 3 months of treatment to eradicate this infection. Have you been check for other infections. Most people get babesia from the bite of an infected tick. Your doctor needs to check for bartenella, lyme, ehrlichia,viruses, streptococcus and vitamin deficiencies. The reaction you are having is not a side effect. Please stay on the meds.