Dear Stephen,
My bartonella infection is a very late chronic stage one, and blood tests show a Th1 towards Th2 shift, which is the other way around than with lyme. You don’t recommend astragalus for late stage lyme as this is a Th1 condition which will be increased by this herb and should be avoided. But in my case, apparently I am in a Th2 dominant situation with a late stage bartonella infection, so what do you think in this case to use astragalus?
My bartonella infection is a very late chronic stage one, and blood tests show a Th1 towards Th2 shift, which is the other way around than with lyme. You don’t recommend astragalus for late stage lyme as this is a Th1 condition which will be increased by this herb and should be avoided. But in my case, apparently I am in a Th2 dominant situation with a late stage bartonella infection, so what do you think in this case to use astragalus?
Stephen’s response:
I would try it.
I would try it.
Stephen
Would you please contact this person and find out for me what test they used to determine they were Th1 or Th2 dominant?
Thanks !
My 11 year old daughter and I both have bartonella/lyme. We find that a low dose of astragalus works well. Nothing more than one capsule every 4 days. More than that and we end up with inflammation due to too large of a Th1 response.
Since the question section is closed right now I will comment and appreciate anyones reply. I see that astragalus is not recommended for chronic Lymes disease because theoretically it would feed a
Th1 responce. Although astragalus does upregulate Th1 in many infections, cancer, etc. It also has been shown, where appropriate, to upregulate Th2. Specifically in Type 1 diabetes. A series of studies from China have consistantly shows this. This is shown to be helpful for Type 1 diabetes.I know astragalus as an alterative. That is it appears to alter immune function in the direction of health. I have read over 1800 studies on this herb as I am writing a book on the astragalus. I have never seen astragalus cause an immune problem. There are many health situations where astragalus does what the body needs, and these are very specific. For example, astragalus increases angiogenesis(the creation of blood cells and blood vessels) to repair damaged tissue but actually turns off angiogenesis to cancer cells. So I am wondering if astragalus would actually downregulate Th1 in chronic Lyme disease. This would be optimal for the patient. I have not seen any research on Astragalus and Lyme disease. I would appreciate anyones comment. Thanks,
Kimball Chatfield
Doctor of Oriental Medicine
Did you ever find out?
This is very interesting. As a type 1 diabetic myself, I know that I am theoretically Th1 dominant. I have been on astragalus with no issues for a few months now.
Thank you for your insight. I have been trying to find ways to address bacterial dental infections and have been wondering about plants like astragulus. I’d be curious to know if others like it from what I’ve heard like olive leaf extract are primarily immunomodulatory rather than stimulatory. Perhaps those with conditions similar to mine could benefit from both of these.