A tug-of-war exists when it comes to deciding upon a regimen for herbal antibiotics. On one end of the rope are proponents for long, uninterrupted courses of herbs, while on the other, are patients and health care providers who advocate rotating short courses of different herbal remedies. Lately, I have joined the rotational team.
Consider that Lyme graduates at the top of the bacterial class when it comes to Immune Evasion and Adaptability. It can morph, chameleon and play hide-and-seek with whatever herbal or other antibiotic that is thrown at it. But, Borrelia doesn’t like surprises, and short, unexpected courses of new herbal antibiotics are effective at throwing it off-guard so that is has no time to employ its tactics.
Proponents of long-term therapy with the same herbs generally don’t believe that Bb develops fast resistance to these. Their evidence for the effectiveness of long-term therapy with the same herbs may be just as valid as evidence found for those who pulse and rotate; which means that ultimately, every Lyme sufferer has to go with his/her gut when it comes to approaching Bb with herbs.
Consider that if you pulse, that this can be done by weeks or months. Take H. Buhner’s herbs, for instance. Buhner probably wouldn’t advocate pulsing his anti-spirochetal herbs, which include andrographis, cat’s claw and artemisinin, to name a few. I have found, however, that taking short breaks from these–every other month for a week or so–has on occasion, perpetuated a herx reaction for me.
Lately, I’ve added cumanda, quina and cryptoleptis to my herbal army and these are taken (according to Dr. Cowden’s principles of rotation) for only twelve days at a time each, with a three day break before starting the next one.
Finally, the full moon gets its own special regimen. The cumanda-quina-cryptoleptis are set aside to make room for a quick round of BioPure’s rizol oils, which contain powerful bug killers such as walnut, clove, artemisia and garlic.
I can’t tell you which team to join in the tug-of-war. My regimen is only one of a thousand possibilities, but perhaps it will provide you with some food for thought as you build your own arsenal against Borrelia.