Dear Stephen,
After three weeks of taking the increasing dose of the core protocol, the collagen support, and arthritis protocols I have experienced a very marked decrease in taste. If taste were in color I am tasting in black and white; no salt, sweet or yummy (umami) flavors. It has not effected my sense of smell, I can still taste a little way back in my throat, which I attribute to the olfactory receptors. I have stopped the andrographis and resveratrol for now, the andrographis because of its bitter taste and the resveratrol because of the side effect you list as bitter taste in mouth even though this is way beyond a bitter taste. Can you help me pinpoint which herb(s) may be causing this and offer any advice? Before that I was responding very well to the herbs, my joints were feeling much better, which I understand may be from the anti-inflammatory properties of the arthritis protocol. I have not been tested for lyme, but have a long standing history of so many of the symptoms I wanted to give the herbs a try. Thank you for your good work.


Stephen’s response:
About one percent (as far as I can tell) of people who use the protocol experience loss of taste or odd taste and so on. I don’t know why and there is nothing in the literature that has so far explained it for me. I, too, tend to think it the andrographis or the knotweed. In this instance I would substitute stephania for the knotweed and continue on with the protocol minus the andrographis.
Stephen

Author

  • Stephen Harrod Buhner

    Stephen Harrod Buhner was an Earth poet and an award-winning author of twenty-four books on nature, indigenous cultures, the environment, and herbal medicine including the acclaimed book Healing Lyme: Natural Healing & Prevention of Lyme Borreliosis & Its Co-infections.

    Stephen came from a long line of healers including Leroy Burney, Surgeon General of the United States under Eisenhower and Kennedy, and Elizabeth Lusterheide, a midwife and herbalist who worked in rural Indiana in the early nineteenth century. The greatest influence on his work, however, was his great-grandfather C.G. Harrod who primarily used botanical medicines, also in rural Indiana, when he began his work as a physician in 1911.

    Stephen’s work has appeared or been profiled in publications throughout North America and Europe including Common Boundary, Apotheosis, Shaman’s Drum, The New York Times, CNN, and Good Morning America. Stephen lectured yearly throughout the United States on herbal medicine, the sacredness of plants, the intelligence of Nature, and the states of mind necessary for successful habitation of Earth.

    He was a tireless advocate for the reincorporation of the exploratory artist, independent scholar, amateur naturalist, and citizen scientist in American society – especially as a counterweight to the influence of corporate science and technology.

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This protocol was incredible. After only a few weeks most of my symptoms were gone. After six months all my symptoms were gone… it has given me my life back.

– Amazon review by Joseph

Please note:

Stephen Buhner is no longer living and this Q + A column on Planet Thrive is closed to new questions. It will be kept on our website so readers can access vital information in the archives, communicate with each other in the comments section, and find herbs, books + lyme adjuncts in our directory. If you want to read more of Stephen’s writings, please see his website at: stephenharrodbuhner.com.



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