Dear Stephen,
I am just starting to follow your protocol for late stage lyme – thank you very much for that. I had a question please though about your recommendation of DHEA under your “collagenous tissue support” section. I was put on DHEA by a doctor just over 3 years ago and have been taking a tiny dose (2.5mg daily) since that point. It helps immeasurably with most of my lyme-related symptoms, particularly mood, sleep, energy levels, injury healing, general immunity against colds and flu etc. However, what the doctor didn’t tell me when starting to take it is that it seems to me that my body has now stopped making its own DHEA.
I am just starting to follow your protocol for late stage lyme – thank you very much for that. I had a question please though about your recommendation of DHEA under your “collagenous tissue support” section. I was put on DHEA by a doctor just over 3 years ago and have been taking a tiny dose (2.5mg daily) since that point. It helps immeasurably with most of my lyme-related symptoms, particularly mood, sleep, energy levels, injury healing, general immunity against colds and flu etc. However, what the doctor didn’t tell me when starting to take it is that it seems to me that my body has now stopped making its own DHEA.
I feel absolutely terrible if I miss a dose even for a day or two, and literally everything seems to fall apart physically. I can’t focus my right eye because the muscle fatigues so easily, I can’t get rid of a cold or flu, my blood sugar levels go all over the place, I can’t sleep, I have no energy, I can’t concentrate. It is truly frightening. I wondered if you had any advice on how I might be able to stimulate my adrenal glands to produce their own DHEA again please? I am very worried about being completely reliant on a supplement in this way. Thank you so much for any help with this – I really would be tremendously grateful.
Stephen’s response:
This is a complex question. There are a number of herbs that can be used to help, though because of your gender (female), it is important to pay close attention to how your body responds. Licorice, withania, and eleutherococcus can all help (so can aralia and devil’s club). Fresh celery juice is also very helpful, daily. The chronic fatigue formulation in the second edition of the Healing Lyme book can also help (also available in modified form from Dry Creek Herbs in CA). In general many people with the lyme group of infections suffer adrenal fatigue as well as mitochondrial suppression. Building up adrenal function over time does help restore DHEA levels in the body. You can find dosage information on those herbs in the second edition of the Healing Lyme book.
This is a complex question. There are a number of herbs that can be used to help, though because of your gender (female), it is important to pay close attention to how your body responds. Licorice, withania, and eleutherococcus can all help (so can aralia and devil’s club). Fresh celery juice is also very helpful, daily. The chronic fatigue formulation in the second edition of the Healing Lyme book can also help (also available in modified form from Dry Creek Herbs in CA). In general many people with the lyme group of infections suffer adrenal fatigue as well as mitochondrial suppression. Building up adrenal function over time does help restore DHEA levels in the body. You can find dosage information on those herbs in the second edition of the Healing Lyme book.
Stephen
I just got to the maximum doses of Japanese knotweed, cats claw and andrographis. Took me I over a month to get there. I had to stop because my gut was messed up with the parasite cleanse too.
3 days ago I fell 10 feet while painting a vaulted ceiling, broke my heel and had to have surgery. Still on frequent pain meds.
Should I start up on the lymes herbs soon or wait and how long. It has been 2 weeks since I stopped.
Thank you, Sandy
Lowering ACTH by getting rid of stress and inflammation will help the adrenals make DHEA.