Dear Stephen,
I haven’t been here in awhile, but wanted to give an update. I’ve been taking cryptolepis for just over a year now. If I stop, babesia symptoms return. I’ve been taking 30 drops once or twice a day. Once a day suffices during the waning lunar phase, but more is needed when lyme flares occur with the waxing phase. It seems like it suppresses the infection, but does not eliminate it since symptoms return if I stop using it altogether. Unlike artemisinin which ravaged my liver (have Hep C), cryptolepsis does not cause any noticeable distress. I know you have said that long term use of cryptolepsis is uncharted territory, but I feel I have no choice but to continue.
Lyme treatment has been more complicated and difficult. I’ve gone through protocols of many of the herbs which helped at first, then were not effective, so I’ve had to keep moving on—samento, cumanda, neem, quina, burbur, carnivora. My current plan is to use teasel root. I’m also contemplating a rainforest herbal blend, but want to go one step at a time as herxing can be overwhelming with my liver issues. Also, I want to know how I react to each thing separately. I continue to take Nutrasilver daily to mitigate the “Morgellon” type skin lesion eruptions…30 drops/2x/day. This also cycles with the moon — eruptions/extrusions occur at new and full moon.
Been on the lyme/co-infection warpath since fall of ’06. It seems like forever—so much endurance and cost needed to keep things from getting out of control. Very wearing, especially the fatigue. I live in Sacramento, CA and we have a new lyme support group that meets once a month in Rancho Cordova. It’s good to come together and share. We need more input from alternative practitioners—many patients have been on long term antibiotics and now have liver issues. It would be great if you or someone like you could be a guest speaker. We had a local LLMD come speak, but he said he would not treat without using antibiotics. I know that is not for me.


Stephen’s response:
Your dosage is a good one for long term cryptolepis use. If it is working for you I see nothing wrong with long term use. My concern was that at the initial dosage level I recommend, I would not want to see long term use for it. It is just too strong an herb. This dosage however seems fine to me. Teasel should help for a while as well and the rainforest herbs blend should help as well.
You might try Steven Harris as a doctor who uses herbs who can talk on the issue to your group. He is very good; I like him and his work immensely. Be well. . . and don’t give up. You sound like you are doing very well with your journey.
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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