Dear Stephen,
I began taking antibiotics for lyme and bartonella 2 1/2 years ago. At times, I have taken breaks from the antibiotics and switched to your herbal protocol, but I always begin to have scary/dangerous symptoms that don’t seem controlled by the herbs and thus go back on the antibiotics. However, I also feel that over time the antibiotics are weakening my immune system and I’m acquiring new secondary infections. I’m not sure what to do as the herbs don’t seem strong enough to carry me through without the antibiotic support. Do you find it effective for people to pulse herbs/antibiotics if they’re not able to wean off of antibiotics? In other words, a week of herbs/a week of antibiotics or some similar protocol (and what would be the best way to do this)? Also, it seems that sometimes people do better on the herbs once the worst stages of lyme and coinfections have passed, several years into antibiotic treatment. At what point is it safe for severe cases to switch to herbs as a maintenance treatment (i.e. should one be symptom free a certain period of time?) Thanks!


Stephen’s response:
I am not a fan of pulsing except in rare instances (with some forms of eleuthero and echinacea). Many people who have used antibiotics for years go directly to the herbal protocol with good results, most experience major relief. Given your responses I would suggest you work with a practitioner, either Julie Mcintyre ([email protected]) or Tim Scott at Watercourse Way in Brattleboro, VT.
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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