Dear Stephen,
My 12-yr old tested positive for lyme on Igenex, IgM: 31+, 41+; IgG 41+. His symptoms are mild and the only ones we can note are: mild fatigue, mild insomnia, is colder than others, motion sickness in cars. There is no recent tick bite. I don’t want to start antibiotics when his symptoms seem so mild. I would like to do the Buhner herbal protocol and I have your book. My question is: has anyone with “mild” symptoms of lyme STARTED with the herbs, without ever doing antiobiotics, and experienced success? (I am concerned that the herbal success stories I have read have occured with people who first have taken antibiotics long-term). Also, do you think this is a reasonable approach to take? Thank you.
Stephen’s response:
Yes, of course, a lot of people have just used the herbs and not used antibiotics. They have been very successful. If the symptoms are extremely mild, there is no reason not to use herbs as a first approach.
Stephen
-
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.
View all posts
I did not realize that the intermittent symptoms I was having were lyme related until my 10 yo daughter contracted lyme/bartonella and I did more researching. My symptoms were relatively mild and although they caused some discomfort, they did not really effect my quality of life, I had attributed them to aging. I have been using a low dose version of Buhner’s protocol for a year now and feel so much better, brain fog is even starting to clear up. One thing I did have was a herx reaction for about 2 months after I started the protocol. New symptoms that I had not had before – skin sensitivity, eye pain, hair loss – as well as an increase of my existing symptoms – muscle and joint pain, brain fog, depression. Even at a low dose and without antibiotics, Stephen’s protocol has helped me enormously. My daughter is using this protocol along with antibiotics.