Re: Herxheimer Reactions/Pulsed Doses of Herbs

June 28, 2010

Hello....I get the sense that you can feel what is right for you when it's time

to take your herbs.

I'm going through something similar, with the whole protocol.

Treating with herbs is such an intuitive art. Many people want everything

spelled out as to exactly how much and when. The reality is that not only are

each of us different in our physiology and how we're going to respond to

treatment....but our bodies shift in the course of a day.

If you aren't sure what's right for you, it would be great if you could get a

friend to muscle test for you. This is what i've been doing, and my protocol

does shift throughout the day and from day to day.

Some days the body is just so weak and ill and i " know " that it is time to

lighten up with the herbs, at least temporarily.

I think Buhner says in an interview that one of the " blessings " of

having lyme disease is that it moves us into becoming more intuitive with what

is needed in each moment (or something along those lines.)

peace and ease,

yarrow

>

> I've spent a few weeks on the Buhner herb protocol and the two times I've

increase my dosage of Japanese Knotweed (right now at 2 tablets of Source

Naturals 3x/day), I get heavy headaches (which, thankfully, are unusual for me)

and a worsening of my symptoms. I'm generally thrilled with that, since I think

that's a herx reaction. However, in order to give my body the ability to

accomdate the reaction, I stop the herbs for one dose that day. I would love

anyone's thoughts on whether skipping a dose to relieve some of the stress on

the body is something others have tried to keep the balance between killing the

disease and managing toxicity.

>

> Also, has anyone tried " pulsing " the doses of herbs, taking more at one

dosage, and then skipping a dose, or taking more on one day and skipping the

next?

>

October 28, 2010

I'm not pulsing my herbs, but I also found that the recommended dose was too

much, and I cut back by 1/3. I was getting low-grade headaches as well as other

symptoms of herxing, and I had the same thought as you: great, but ugh.

My advice is take as much herbs as you can handle without feeling too miserable.

It may take longer to be completely healed that way, but it may also be faster,

since too much herxing could cause you to stop treatment.

Finally, if less herbs helps you heal and have a better quality of life, that

sounds like the way to go.

> >

> > I've spent a few weeks on the Buhner herb protocol and the two times I've

> increase my dosage of Japanese Knotweed (right now at 2 tablets of Source

> Naturals 3x/day), I get heavy headaches (which, thankfully, are unusual for

> me) and a worsening of my symptoms. I'm generally thrilled with that, since

> I think that's a herx reaction. However, in order to give my body the

> ability to accomdate the reaction, I stop the herbs for one dose that day. I

> would love anyone's thoughts on whether skipping a dose to relieve some of

> the stress on the body is something others have tried to keep the balance

> between killing the disease and managing toxicity.

> >

> > Also, has anyone tried " pulsing " the doses of herbs, taking more at one

> dosage, and then skipping a dose, or taking more on one day and skipping the

> next?

> >

October 28, 2010

My doctor continually stresses binders/cleansers when herx's get too much. She

says to drop back on herbs and increase binders to keep symptoms within reason.

So it sounds like you're doing what my doctor would recommend. jo