posted
My LLMD just put me on Minocycline a week ago and I just read somewhere on the forum that NAC and B-6 is really important to take if you're on it? Why? AND, what's the deal with Minocycline and the ears? Am I supposed to be protecting my ears or something while on Mino? Does Mino cause long-term ear damage or something? Please fill me in. I am getting ringing in my ears from Mino.
Thanks, Carolyn
Posts: 41 | From New Jersey | Registered: May 2009
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posted
NAC helps your body create glutathione, which supports immune system. You should be taking all the B vitamins while in antibiotics; B6 may have been mentioned because it is formed in the gut and antibiotics interfere with that.
Also vit. C heas been mentioned to prevent teeth from turning black - my son has that problem with Mino.
Report ringing in the ears to your LLMD and they will ask you to keep track of it; other ABX also cause ringing in the ears and LLMDs want to know if it happens - you may be switched to another ABX. Yet ringing in the ears is also a Lyme symptom for me, so you could be herxing!
Some people have vertigo on Mino. Maybe the ringing in your ears is all you will get.
ESG
Posts: 424 | From Connecticut, USA | Registered: Nov 2003
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
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posted
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Yes, if you are getting tinnitus, you should call your LLMD on Monday.
About B-6 and NAC, you ask: Why? To help prevent vertigo, nausea and tinnitus that often comes with minocycline.
Yes, it is important to be protecting your ears while on mino. Some people do fine but others don't. In one study with patients given B-6 and mino, the B-6 relieved the vertigo. The study did not state the dose, however.
NAC, as a detox aid to you liver, helps lower the toxins (from spirochete die-off and meds) so that your ears don't get quite the hit. Toxins can go right to the ears, so liver support is absolutely vital. NAC has special characteristics in protecting the liver during abx use.
If NAC doesn't work for you, milk thistle may work (but NAC is what is cited in the literature) but you must have some specific liver protection and support. It is important to the future of your ears.
My energy is way down now and vertigo is way up so I'll leave you to see the info collected in this thread - it's all here:
posted
I did get really bad vertigo for the first few days on Mino, then thankfully it left. Now I just get some ringing in the ears.
I do feel like I should be on some sort of liver support for all the toxins BUT here's the deal...
I used to take NAC and tolerated it but the last time I took it, I totally crashed!! It was scary. I'm sure that means I'm super-toxic so I feel like I should do something about it but I'm scared! Any advice? I was wondering about starting chlorella at a low dose but I don't want to move any metals around. (I was tested for metals and am only slightly elevated on my mercury.) Would chlorella be just as good as the NAC? I have to go super-slow because of the awful reactions I get! I wish I could take NAC but I'm just too scared because of what happened last time. I was seeing a naturopath last year and he gave me a "push" of l-glutathione...I completely crashed!! I really need some guidance on how to handle this detoxing thing...especially when I react so terribly.
Thanks.
Posts: 41 | From New Jersey | Registered: May 2009
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posted
I have done very well on just Milk Thistle for all my many years on ABX, includint the 2 yrs. I was seeing an LLMD and was on high doses of multiple ABX. All liver tests come back clean.
LLMD also recommends drinking lemon or lime juice - I squeeze a lime into a liter bottle, fill it with water, and pour some into my glasses of water throughout the day. My LLMD said to drink lemon juice straight, but this dilution has worked for me & no worries about ruining the enamel on my teeth.
Posts: 424 | From Connecticut, USA | Registered: Nov 2003
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I thought about Milk Thistle and have taken it in the past. I guess I get concerned whether I have an allergy or sensitivity to it...isn't milk thistle from dandelions or something?
Yep, I already do the lemon water all day long. :-)
Posts: 41 | From New Jersey | Registered: May 2009
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posted
what does NAC stand for?
Posts: 226 | From earth | Registered: Sep 2007
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seekhelp
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 15067
posted
N-Aceyl Cysteine (NAC)
Posts: 7545 | From The 5th Dimension - The Twilight Zone | Registered: Mar 2008
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
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Would chlorella be just as good as the NAC?
No. It is not liver protective in that way.
Milk Thistle is not Dandelion. It is it's own plant.
Lemon water will not offer the kind of liver protection you need, either, in the way that milk thistle or NAC does. Lemon can be helpful, but it does not work the same was as liver-protective supplements.
posted
So Keebler... taking Milk Thistle for us is more about protecting our liver from all the antibiotics we're on than about detoxing the die-off? OR, does it do both of these things equally?
I guess I'm just wondering if Milk Thistle would be "enough"...enough to cover all my bases as far as liver health and detoxing go.
Thanks!
Posts: 41 | From New Jersey | Registered: May 2009
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Keebler
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more about protecting our liver from all the antibiotics we're on and helping support the liver, including how it metabolizes toxins.
But, as with drugs that are ototoxic, there have been a couple very specific things that have been reported to help. If you can't take one (NAC), perhaps another (milk thistle) might work.
If tinnitus increases too much, that is a sign that you may need to change meds if you are on the best liver support plan but still get tinnitus. It can vary and, again, more is at the Tinnitus thread. And - no one has a sure fire plan to say, for sure, what happens with ears. For some, after treatment, tinnitus often goes away. The study I've done with this is just a tiny amount.
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Back to your questions about the liver: I am not a fan of the term "detox" as it seems to be used more as an event that can be pushed - rather than in supporting the liver to metablize toxins, regardless of the source.
You can't really separate out the protection part as that comes from the support part that allows the liver to do its best work.
However, I would use the term "detox" as what can happen with a low heat (low heat, FAR infrared) sauna or with attention to heavy metal detox, too, I would use the term. Chlorella is good for that but, again, it is complex with one one easy solution.
Pushing the liver too hard is not a good thing so that is why I tend to focus on the idea of support.
============
This is included in Burrascano's Guidelines, but you may want to be able to refer to it separately, too:
. . . Individual variations in our cytochrome P40 enzymes help to demystify why there are so many variations in how we respond to drugs and herbs. . . .
The important thing to remember is that the liver is a hot (metabolically active) organ, and so tends to get congested and inflamed.
. . .
Protection
Turmeric root, wheat sprouts, schisandra berries, amla fruit, beet root and milk thistle seed are among the major sources of protective anti-oxidants for the liver cells, as are fruits that contain flavonoids, especially citrus fruits.
These should be used to prevent development of inflammatory disease, or for damage protection as in the case of persons taking strong chemical drugs or undergoing chemotherapy.
Deficiency
The liver can become weakened and deficient. If this is not corrected, it can lead to liver atrophy and depletion of glycogen stores, even hepatitis. Signs include fatigue, low blood pressure, hypoglycemia, dry eyes, headache, heat symptoms and irritability . . . .
Heat and Inflammation
To remove excess liver inflammation with heat signs or toxins . . . .
. . .
Pain
If there is liver inflammation with signs of pain and tension, use herbs that calm the liver and move the blood . . . .
If milk thistle is not on your plan, NAC might be considered:
This, from a protocol for Chlamydia Pneumonia (Cpn) which is a similar chronic stealth infection. This treatment protocol is also similar to that of chronic lyme.
This is what one of the protocol authors says about the power of NAC to help protet the liver:
. . . "Surprisingly, the only anti-chlamydial agent that did not cause hepatitis in some patients was NAC. In fact, NAC is recognized as being protective.
See attached references.
My conclusion is that NAC should be the first agent in an anti-chlamydial regimen and should be a constant part of the therapy for this protective effect, not to mention it's effect against elementary bodies.
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