with Stephen Harrod Buhner, master herbalist
I have been bitten a number of times over the last ten years. What usually happens, is I use your protocol and it helps very much, but then I get bitten again and I have to up the dosage and start again. So, I probably have chronic lyme. I’m certainly not new to it. Anyway, you recommend astragalus for prevention. I’d love to take something for prevention, but you say not to take it if one has chronic lyme. Is this still true? And if so, why? What does it do that’s negative? Thanks so very, very much for your protocol, such a big help, Don’t know what I’d do without it.
Stephen’s response:
If you are not currently sick, you can certainly take astragalus. The reason for not recommending it is that astragalus raises the parts of the immune system that are overactivated in chronic lyme. Those parts of the immune system are highly effective against lyme early on and help prevent or reduce the disease but if they are low to begin with and you are infected the infection can spread more easily. After awhile the immune system does ratchet up those parts to attack the lyme bacteria but by then the spirochete has altered itself and is no longer very affected by them, those parts of the immune system then begin to cause some of the lyme symptoms people have making the disease a kind of autoimmune problem. My book Healing Lyme goes into this in a great amount of detail.
posted on March 5, 2011 | 2,540 views | tags: astragalus, autoimmune disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, Healing Lyme, Lyme & Co-Infections, lyme disease, lyme preventative herbs, Stephen Harrod Buhner
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
mary schnaufer
March 10, 2011 at 10:00 am
Lyme disease is such a conundrum. I also use your protocol. I continue to live, hike, garden in a wooded, deer habitat. There are lots of turkey tails which I would like to use for immunity since I cannot use astragalus. So for those who have chronic Lyme are there other herbs or supplements that can also “overactivate” the immune system? In the Winter “Lyme Times”, there is a column “Getting the Full Treatment–Supporting the Immune symstem vital to successful outcomes”. He mentions using mushroom extracts for low CD-57. Many thanks, Mary
earthwalker
March 10, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Hi Mary,
Stephen’s column is closed to new questions until June. Please see the note under his photo in the upper right column, where you’ll find a link to his email address. You are welcome to contact him directly, but please be aware that he receives a high volume of emails and it might take some time to receive a response. Best, Julie
Jessica maskiell
May 25, 2011 at 4:34 am
Thank you for that answer, also what about the use of garlic eating a lot of in ones diet, to prevent Lyme?