I'm wondering what Cat's Claw actually does for lyme?
I appreciate people posting links to LLMD (and lay-person) blogs... However, is there any scientific literature on what Cat's Claw actually does?
It seems some chronic lyme folks take that alone long-term... so, if it does do anything, who's to say it's not creating more problems like more cysts or biofilms or whatever?
Posted by Jordana (Member # 45305) on :
It increases the CD 57 count -- the natural killer cells that kill Lyme.
Posted by SickSam (Member # 45330) on :
When you check Cat's Claw against hydrocortisone in the drugs.com drug interaction checker, you get:
"Theoretically, agents that are thought to have immunostimulant properties such as echinacea, vitamin E, cat's claw, and zinc may antagonize the pharmacologic effects of immunosuppressants."
So I'm guessing it is widely accepted that's it's a potential immunostimulant, since even drugs.com reports the possibility. I haven't googled for any studies though.
Posted by bluelyme (Member # 47170) on :
I have seen it come out of wbc.I dont think nk cells can kill spirochettes. Why would we be so sick if immune sx could..ask lymedin2010... chinese cats claw has helped with twitch btw...samento did not do much
Posted by Jordana (Member # 45305) on :
blue, eventually NK cells do kill spirochetes but not when the immune system is overwhelmed. Lyme is faster and stronger than our white blood cells, that's why it takes out the NKs. They're working hard but eventually they lose the fight without help.
So the naturopathic way to deal with these infections is to turn the immune system around like a big creaky ship. First stop Lyme from being able to evade the immune system by stopping it from tricking and manipulating it with things like JK. Then build up NK cells with Peruvian Cat's Claw. Once the NK cells can see the Lyme, they'll kill it. The reason NK 57 is so low in Lyme is because the ones we've got are busy or overwhelmed. NK comes up when spiros are handled, then they can kill them on their own.
Once you get your bacterial load down that's the point of herbal therapy.