Dear Stephen,
I was wondering if you have heard of other folks having extreme joint pain when taking cat’s claw. I have been taking it for 4 months but everytime I increase my dosage after seven days, I have joint pain. I stop for a day or two and then resume with 1 pill twice a day. My LLMD recommends that I stop taking it. Any thoughts? My doctor is thinking that I have bartonella with lyme.
I was wondering if you have heard of other folks having extreme joint pain when taking cat’s claw. I have been taking it for 4 months but everytime I increase my dosage after seven days, I have joint pain. I stop for a day or two and then resume with 1 pill twice a day. My LLMD recommends that I stop taking it. Any thoughts? My doctor is thinking that I have bartonella with lyme.
Stephen’s response:
I haven’t heard of joint pain from cat’s claw though a few people have reported leg pain. If you have bartonella, you really need to be taking some other herbs: sida acuta, red root, l-arginine, EGCG. I would, myself, substitute rhodiola and eleuthero and teasel root for the cat’s claw and stop the cat’s claw.
I haven’t heard of joint pain from cat’s claw though a few people have reported leg pain. If you have bartonella, you really need to be taking some other herbs: sida acuta, red root, l-arginine, EGCG. I would, myself, substitute rhodiola and eleuthero and teasel root for the cat’s claw and stop the cat’s claw.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have active herpes, chicken pox, or shingles DO NOT USE L-arginine.
Stephen
Could the joint pain be a herx reaction? I developed joint pain, skin sensitivity, muscle pain and hair loss when I started taking cat’s claw. I assumed it was a herxeimer reaction. These symptoms resolved after a month or so and I felt much better after that.
Wanted to follow up on this thread as I also had excrugating joint pain after taking Cat’s Claw for about a week. Also had one of my finger joints inflammed. I stopped taking it over the weekend (4 days ago) and my joints appeared to be getting better slowly but would like to know if others have experienced the same.
I had been taking Lomatrium fresh powder which really seemed to help my eyes, then I added resveratrol and adrographis. Today I took the resveratrol and andro plus Cats Claw for the first time ever and wow my shoulders at the tops of the joints were almost too sore to touch and I can hardly lift my arms as myshoulder joints are so weak.. Never had that before and I am used to doing lots of phyical work so in basically good shape. So I think I am going to be trying just 1 herb at a time each week to test out my reactions to them. Mybe its just the Cats Claw which I presume it is, but also maybe I am taking too much at once for my system to deal with!! I never realized I had Lyme for many years,even tho I had got bitten by thousands of seed ticks and quite a few with big red spots around them, and had a fever and loss of energy and brain fog and low adrenal and thyroid.. But since the local Doctor who had dealt with alot of cases locally said you only had Lyme if you had one sided arthritic symptoms …. I just presumed the weird floaters in my eyes that grew and changed with more segments.. were from some fungus ..as I had worked with moldy hay on my farm. Now after just by chance reading Healing Lyme, everything fits. I think my body after a few years sort of adjusted to living with the Lyme as I never had arthritic symptoms. But after trying the Lomatrium my eyes got sort of red and burned and I could see better without glasses, and Ifigure it was somehow killing some of the sphirochetes and I looked up more about Lyme. and your book and other herbs. But anyway I dont think I am going to take Cats Claw for awhile as I need my arm shoulder joint strength right now…
PS, I only took 1 Capsule ! Is there any problem with this herb being notl what it says it is?? is that why you recommended Raintree?
Oops you got my PS but not the original reply, that just taking 1 Catsclaw capsule for the first time caused extremely sore shoulder joints especially at the very top of shoulder joint …sore to just touch it.. and lack of strength in muscles around joints, shoulders only. Very strange.
i have totally the same reation from cats claw /i took at he very beginning of my buhner try – stopped takin it after 4 days due to joint reaction – but i still developed some etreme joint painz/infalmmation unable to walk – even if i dont take it/ and im wondering if it was herx reaction that i should just get over after a while or it may be a danger of wrosening that already totally awful joint situation, – i have one hint –> im 0 Rh- -regarding the blood type and positiv HLA B 27 and ive heard it calls for autoimmune joint direction if inflamed dute to the fact that autoimmune system attacks not only the bacterias cells /who carry some really similar to HLAB27 gen or something/ but also thos helathy joint cells who carry that HLA B27 thing. can it be some connection and maybe HLAB27 ppl cant take cats claw since its autoimmune booster – so it may worsen joint state – or is it just herx. its sooo complicated…. i wish someone could answer to this qestion. i have nobody sepcializing in curing via buhner protocol in Poland. so its the only platfrom where i may ask. my joint issue is worse day by day. so time is crucial for me since i dont know what to use insetad of cats claw or strctly for that joint state – im using lots of vit C in natural forms plus some capsules and neetle teas followed by teasel root tincture /maybe its the tincture cosing joint pain – i just cant walk recently at all/ and im waiting for my MSM+glucosamine capsule and pregnelonon. can i buy something else instead of BIoSil? some collagen /by Doctore’s Best brand for instance/ such a pity i cant add that question fo FAQ since stephen doesnt answer them :/ please maybe smeone else or stephen by some miracle will bump into this crucial questions someday, :)
I have bartonella. I also respond negatively to the fluoriquinolone class of antibiotics which were also very effective against the Bart. I did not however develop fluoriquinolone toxicity syndrome until I took a product called Abart from Byron white which contains among other things cats claw. I have had sever tendonitis in Achilles with damage as well as delayed neuro effects. A year after taking Abart and feeling better in that regard I attempted to treat Bart with cumanda but I re-initiated the fts. I seem to recover from the fts though it does take time. If cumanda is not a quinolone than what caused the fts? I suspect that fts may stick around and can be re- initiated possibly with an immune response or die off. I would very much like to solve this puzzle and am afraid to begin the buhner protocol for Bart for fear of re-starting this syndrome.
How weird, I thought I had something seriously wrong with me or that I’d overdone it swimming but I had the same reaction after just a capsule. I thought that there may be something conflicting with it so adjusted my supplement intake to incorporate more anti inflammatory products but it persisted. I then thought it was the supplier and since switching have not had quite the same issues. It’s not something we stock as we haven’t really had the demand so I can’t oversee production like I can with my other supplements which does concern me. To be honest though, I appreciate I’m one of very few people who can make that claim, lol! I was reading the other day that an investigation by led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was conducted in New York analysing the actual content of what was being sold as Vitamin/nutritional supplements and only 21% had any trace of what they had purported to be. These weren’t any unbranded products either, GNC, Target, Walmart and Walgreen Co were there major players tested. Scary stuff. Really pays to do your homework otherwise you just don’t know what you’re getting!
I started taking Samento a few months ago and felt a reduction in symptoms such as fibromyalgia, tendon and joint pain. After taking the Samento for a month at double the recommended dose I switched to Natures Way cats claw extract in the purple and white bottle. I felt even better with taking this at 6 to 8 capsules a day on an empty stomach. My muscles feel amazing and even though I weight lift weekly with over 300 lbs I have no tendinitis or joint pain.
Hi Tony,
Wonderful news! So glad Cat’s Claw has worked so well for you. Thank you for sharing your positive experience! Julie
If your pockets are deep enough for long term use this works. I too used the natures way a few ounces after the naturopath md sold me Samento (silly expenditure I think) at any rate, the cats claw is one of the easiest to tincture yourself at a fraction of the price. I have to cross state lines to pick up the 190 proof vodka. Tendons, joints, muscles have been my greatest challenge. I’m finding a lot of energy and pain relief in tinctures of reishe, maitaki, shitaki, licorice combined with the cats claw and Polygonum cuspidatum tinctures. The mushrooms are “not” fun to decoct & tincture- lot of work in that. I do it, but not fun. I’m just so grateful to Buhner for giving instructions.
Hi Patti, Thanks for info. I will need to learn how to make tinctures in the future. I just got some various mushroom extracts from Real Mushrooms. Hope they help.
I took cats claw for a week,then developed excruciating throbbing pain in hands & wrist.I was taking it as anti inflammatory for RA.I still have pains,but not throbbing,since stopping cats claw.Not for everyone.
Research iodine if flouride-based medications cause you reactions.
Brandon, who mentioned fluoriquinolone reactions is very likely on the right track. I have been “floxed” and react to any herb with quinolone or quinolone like constituents. The symptoms are the typical neuro, tendon, muscle etc.. that floxed people experience from fluoriquinolones.
I reacted to Japaneese Knotweed which has a high proportion of quinolones, others have reacted similarly.
It’s pretty well known among those with lyme who have also been floxed that Samento is a problem due to it’s quinolone content. I’ve had to work my way around the quinolone laden herbs to find safe herbs, which fortunately, there are a few.
I have the same reaction from Cat’s Claw. I purchased it from the sources Buhner references and used it for about a year in total, thinking I should just “tough it out”. The pain (back, neck, knees, sternum) never subsided until I discontinued the herb. I also experience similar effect though not as extreme from TOA free CC (which Buhner does not recommend). It seems there are enough people experiencing the same symptoms to give it a second thought…
I always did fantastically well on eleuthero. Give that a shot.
From what I’ve read, Cat’s Claw increases the immune system response to infection and likely, the inflammatory response, as well…
Do you have any scientific evidence that herbs including Japanese Knotweed and Cat’s claw contain quinolone? I see some people spreading this information but there is no science to support that either of these herbs contain quinolone. Even Stephen Buhner says they have no similarities.
Refer to Buhner biblio’s. All referenced to verifiable medical papers
Could you please list some of the herbs you found? I’m in the same boat regarding tendon problems to various herbs and don’t know what to take.
Hello. Please could you share which herbs you’ve found that contain quinolones or quinolone-like constituents? I know I have to avoid them too but I don’t know what they are. Thank you.