I hope I'm not upsetting anyone by saying this but how do you know if herbs are doing anything?
I took cat's claw, astralagus, tumeric and some others and have taken them for yeast but I have no idea if it was them working or the antibiotics or what?
Herbs could cost you a ton of money and how can you even gauge their effectiveness exclusive of other factors?
I can tell you that without abx, I was not doing well and with them I continue to improve.
I can't say that about the herbs.
I welcome feedback.
Thanks!
Posted by Carmen (Member # 42391) on :
Well if you have yeast you continue to be at risk if you are on antibiotics for more of the same... although I dont know if any of the herbs you are taking will help with yeast.
Perhaps your herbs are preventing yeast from exploding. Tumeric doent treat yeast. Astralagus is mostly to boost immune system function. Cats claw boosts wbc's which is needed to attack yeast.
I use dark field live blood analyis to see yeast. Will have a check on it tomorrow. I feel so much better that i expect to see some changes.
Antibiotics never improve yeast infection. Sometimes antifungals can like ketoconazole or diflucan. Yeast is a big issue with lyme for lyme will biofilm right in there with yeast fungus in the blood making it harder to treat.
Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :
I take things one at a time so I can gauge what's doing what.
This goes for herbs, I try to stay away from complex formulas and try 1 herb at a time.
Herbs can be unpredictable. The questions is, is it relieving your symptoms?
I remember awhile back doing a trial of high doses turmeric for several months. It gave me no relief and no change when I stopped or started it.
As for astragalus, that actually caused me to have an auto-immune type reaction (it was given to me by an LLMD). According to my ND, she's seen this happen before and I stopped it.
Other herbs have been a miracle for me for relief.
To be honest, I tried to the herbal route originally with my reinfection, but I spiraled down quickly. I didn't start improving until I saw an LLND who prescribed antibiotics.
We went through my herbals and changed/discarded some of them that she though weren't useful considering my symptoms.
Posted by GretaM (Member # 40917) on :
I have had great experiences with tinctures.
Cryptolepsis is my favorite tincture of all time, works like a charm, tastes horrendous.
Herbs in capsules and herbs as teas do absolutely nothing for me.
What a waste of money all these years. If I knew then what I know now, I would have just purchased tinctures.
If anyone knows if milk thistle comes in a tincture-please PM me as I haven't run across any.
The capsules I continue to take are milk thistle, as I am hoping and praying they protect my liver.
Posted by rowingmom (Member # 41213) on :
Their hawthorne tincture works better than capsules as well.
Posted by mlg (Member # 35383) on :
The herbs that have made a different first with antibiotics and now even by themselves. (I took antibiotics and anti-parasitcs, cycled the last 2 years) Cryptolepsis Artemisinin BLT tincture
Pekana detox (Homeopathic)
Posted by surprise (Member # 34987) on :
I also think the QUALITY of herbs can make a huge difference.
And yes, that typically means it costs more money.
Posted by Brussels (Member # 13480) on :
If you buy them in bulk in some Chinese shops, their price was unbeatable. Buhner recommended in the past 1st chinese (http://www.1stchineseherbs.com/)
today I am sure he's got more companies to recommend.
Not only tinctures work for me as not all substances are soluble in alcohol.
Capsules cost a lot, I rarely took these in capsules, unless I had no other choice. You got to get used to the taste though.