For people with stubborn Bartonella
by Greg Lee

Did you ever have a class clown in your school? In my class, I had a kid named Michael that would interrupt the teacher with his silly questions. He also brought in bugs and lizards that he found on his way to school. He was sent almost every week to the principal’s office for his disruptive behavior.

How is a class clown like a Bartonella infection?

Bartonella disrupts your body with its toxins
Just like a class clown, Bartonella symptoms can be annoying to downright disruptive to how you feel. This infection is also called “cat scratch fever,” because you can get it from an infected cat as well as ticks.

Many people report symptoms of burning feet, legs, and arms. Others report pains that feel like electrical zaps. In Chinese medicine, these symptoms are caused by “fire toxins.” When these toxins affect the skin, they produce red rashes that can look like long thin streaks. Patients also report increased bouts of anxiety, irritability, and brain fog. Certain foods trigger a flare-up of these symptoms.

Oils and sweets increase Bartonella brain fog symptoms
Eating foods like greasy meats, ice cream, and sweet fruits have increased symptoms of burning and brain fog in patients. Limiting or eliminating these trigger foods out of your diet helps to reduce Bartonella symptoms. Lyme literate medical practitioners describe challenges with Bartonella persisting despite antibiotic treatment.

Bartonella can be very difficult to get completely out of your body
Patients on months or years of medications can still have symptoms. It hides in your blood cells. It also suppresses your immune system, which makes Bartonella even harder to get out of your body.

When your immune system is suppressed, clearing other infections like Lyme disease becomes much more difficult. This is a reason why some Lyme literate medical practitioners talk about eliminating Bartonella before other co-infections. What else besides drugs can help you eliminate a Bartonella infection?

There are four herbs that help to significantly reduce the prickly, burning symptoms of Bartonella
When these four herbs are added to an anti-Bartonella herb formula, the burning hot symptoms, rashes, and brain fog are significantly reduced and sometimes eliminated completely.

Herb #1: Folium Artemisia Argyi, Chinese name: Ai Ye¹
The properties of this herb are warming, stop bleeding, and treat pain due to cold in the lower abdomen. It is used to treat malaria, so it may also be effective against Babesia.  Research shows that it inhibits the growth of these infections: anthrax, strep, staph, diphtheria, pneumonia, and bacterial dysentery. There are no documented contraindications with existing medications at this time.

It is added to herb formulas to see if it will kill Bartonella. A ground form of this herb, called moxa, is also burned topically over symptomatic areas to expel Bartonella symptoms near the surface of the skin.

Herb #2: Dryopteridis, Chinese name: Guan Zhong²
The properties of this herb are bitter and cool. It is used to kill parasites, clear heat, and eliminate toxins. It also treats and prevents bacterial and viral infections. It was used historically for expelling demons. Research shows that it inhibits dysentery, salmonella, pseudonomas, meningitis, and S. Aureus. It strongly inhibits viruses: influenza, adenovirus, encephalitis B, and herpes simplex. It also inhibits the growth of abnormal masses of tissue. It is added to herb formulas to see if it will kill Bartonella and neutralize its toxins.

Overdosing of this herb can have certain side effects: nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, tremors, or gastrointestinal irritation. It is contraindicated during pregnancy. There are no documented contraindications with existing medications at this time.

Herb #3: Chinese Nut Galls, Chinese name: Wu Bei Zi³
The properties of this herb are salty, sour, and cold. It is used to treat chronic diarrhea, dysentery, and rectal prolapse. It is also used to treat night fevers, irritability, and excess sweating. It also stops bleeding, eliminates toxins, and reduces swelling. It has anti-candida properties. It is added to see if it will neutralize Bartonella toxins.

Use with caution with signs of heat, symptoms of sharp stabbing pain, or patients with palpable masses. Caution: this herb has a strong binding affinity and should be taken 2 hours before or after taking any medication.

Herb #4: Lycopus, bugleweed, Chinese name: Ze Lan⁴
The properties of this herb are bitter, acrid, and slightly warm. It is used to increase blood circulation and to provide internal warmth along acupuncture meridians. It is used to treat chest pain, hypochondriac pain, and back pain due to traumatic injuries. It regulates water circulation, expels parasites, and reduces swelling. It is to be used with caution in patients with anemia.

Since this herb has diuretic properties, is to be used with caution with diuretic medications. There are no documented contraindications with existing medications at this time. It is added to herb formulas to see if it will expel or kill Bartonella hiding in blood cells.

How do you know that these herbs are working to kill off your Bartonella infection?

Patients report a significant reduction of Bartonella symptoms
After taking these and other anti-Bartonella, anti-toxin, and immune enhancing herbs, patients have reported that their brain fog has been eliminated completely and burning symptoms have been reduced to a minor prickly feeling in as little as four months. Patients then test themselves to see if Bartonella is hiding out somewhere in their body.

Patients eat trigger foods to test if Bartonella has gone away
In the beginning of treatment, patients are observing the foods that increase their symptoms. When they are symptom free, they go back and eat the foods that triggered their symptoms. Patients feel that their infection is nearly gone when they are able to eat foods like sweet fruits, greasy meats, and ice cream without a flare up of symptoms.

The right herb combination can help you to bust up a Bartonella infection
Just like sending the class clown to the principal’s office, the proper combination of herbs helps you to eliminate a disruptive Bartonella infection. Since some of these herbs come with cautions on their use, work with a Lyme literate herbalist to develop a proper, safe, and effective herbal strategy for your condition. Once you are clear of your infection, you can go back to enjoying your yummy foods without fear of recurring Bartonella symptoms.

1. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., p. 600-602

2. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., p.554 -555

3. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., p. 990-992

4. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., p. 647

Next Step: Come our free film showing of Under Our Skin on Wednesday July 21st at 6pm at Two Frogs. Click here to find out more details about this controversial film on Lyme disease.

For people with chronic bowel problems
By Greg Lee

Over dinner, a highly respected Lyme literate physician looked at me across the table and asked me, “Do you know what the biggest concern in my practice is?” I had no idea what his biggest concern was. I racked my brain for the right answer and I said, “Patients with multiple co-infections?” He said, “No, C. Diff.”

Unfortunately, people with C. Diff are also racking their brain for a right answer
C. Diff stands for “Clostridium difficile” which is a bacterium that infects the colon and can create symptoms of diarrhea, cramping, and inflammation. In extreme cases, it can be life threatening. Unfortunately, people who are on antibiotics are susceptible to getting this infection.

How antibiotics make you more vulnerable to getting C. Diff
People who are on antibiotics can have their healthy gut bacteria wiped out by their medications. This enables C. Diff bacteria to grow in the places where your healthy gut bacteria used to be. C. Diff is able to grow because it can resist many different kinds of antibiotics.

Why don’t antibiotics kill C. Diff also?
There are drug resistant strains of C. Diff which can thrive while you are on antibiotics. Most people get a C. Diff infection while they are on or just after finishing a round of antibiotics. Here are the signs and symptoms of a C. Diff infection.

Signs and symptoms of C. Diff
If you are on or have just finished taking antibiotics, the signs of C. Diff are: watery stools for two or more days and mild cramping and/or bloating. Signs of a severe infection are watery stools more than 10 times a day, blood or pus in the stool, severe abdominal cramping and pain, fever, nausea, dehydration, loss of appetite, and weight loss¹. How can you know the difference between diarrhea and a C. Diff infection?

How to find out if you have C. Diff
Your doctor can test a sample of your stool for the bacteria. Other tests can look at the lining of your colon with a small camera to check for inflammation or damage from C. Diff toxins. CT (Computerized Tomography) scans determine if there is a thickening of the colon which can indicate an infection.

If you have C. Diff, you often get prescribed more powerful antibiotics and probiotics. However, many people with this infection get recurring bouts because they never cleared their original infection. Or they get infected with a new strain. Unfortunately, a new strain of C. Diff can wreak havoc in your colon.

A new strain of C. Diff produces highly damaging toxins
This new strain produces two kinds of toxins: an enterotoxin (toxin A) and a cytotoxin (toxin B)². These toxins attack and destroy the lining of your colon. This can lead to bleeding and inflammation of the colon which leads to blood or pus in the stool. This new strain has also infected healthy people who have not been on antibiotics. What else beside drugs can help you heal from a C. Diff infection?

Chinese herbs give you an alternative way to recover from C. Diff
Here is an ancient formula of Chinese herbs that can help you to recover from a C. Diff infection. This herbal formula helps you to stop diarrhea, replenish fluids, alleviate cramping and pain, neutralize toxins, and stop bleeding in the colon.

C. Diff Herb formula: True Man’s Decoction to Nourish the Organs, Chinese name: zhen ren yang zang tang³
Written around 990 A.D., this formula was used to treat chronic diarrhea, dysentery, and a prolapsed rectum. It was also used to treat diarrhea that contained pus and blood. Other symptoms may include pain that responds favorably to local pressure or warmth, cramping, lethargy, a wan complexion, reduced appetite, soreness of the low back, weak legs, and not feeling fully evacuated. What is in this herb formula?

Ten herbs work together to heal your intestines
This formula was originally used to stop diarrhea in dying patients probably due to cholera and other digestive illnesses. It contains ten herbs with many different properties. These herbs are ginseng, atractylodes, cinnamon bark, nutmeg, terminalia chebula, poppy husks, white peony, angelica, aucklandia, and honey fried licorice. Ginseng is replaced in this formula with acanthopanax root especially for people with Lyme disease. Each herb has a different function.

Several herbs bind up the stool and stop diarrhea. There are also herbs that relieve pain and cramping. Other herbs replenish fluids that are lost through chronic diarrhea. Some herbs help to aid in digestion. Others reduce inflammation and swelling. Some of the herbs in the True Man’s formula have cautions around medications.

Herbs in this formula are to be used with caution around some medications
One of the herbs in this formula, acanthopanax root:

• led to an elevated serum digoxin level in one patient
• increases the effect of hexobarbital, inhibiting its metabolic breakdown
• increases the efficacy of antibiotics, possibly increasing t-lymphocyte activity
• stimulates the production of adrenaline⁴

White peony⁵ reduces blood glucose and its use is cautioned with antidiabetic medications. White peony also has sedative and analgesic effects on the central nervous system. It prolongs the sleeping time induced by barbituates and has a protective effect against seizures induced by cardiazol⁵. Three herbs in this formula: white peony⁵, atractylodes⁶, and angelica⁷ are to be used with caution with anticoagulant or antiplatelet drugs.

Atractylodes also has diuretic effects and may lead to increased elimination of water and electrolytes even though there are no reported cases of drug interaction⁶. Licorice may alter the effects of systemic corticosteroids and is to be used with caution with cardiac glycosides⁸. Always consult with a trained herbalist because they will know about alternative herbs that can be used as safe substitutions should you be taking any of the medications listed above. In addition to possible drug interactions, there are other herbs that can be added to neutralize enterotoxins.

Additional herbs help to neutralize enterotoxins which cause diarrhea
Extracts of the herb andrographis has been useful in stopping diarrhea caused by E. Coli enterotoxins⁹. Phellodendron and coptidis contain significant amounts of berberine¹⁰. Berberine stops diarrhea caused by cholera¹¹. This compound also prevented intestinal damage from E. coli enterotoxins in a study on rabbits¹¹. The right combination of herbs helps your intestines to recover from C. Diff.

A thousand year old combination of herbs can help to relieve the concerns of today’s physicians
A thousand year old herbal recipe can help your intestines to heal the damage done by C. Diff. Always consult with a trained herbalist when dealing with C. Diff, medications, and herbal medicine. The right combination of herbs can stop the chronic symptoms, neutralize damaging toxins, and help your intestines to heal. This helps your doctor to reduce their worries about your health.

1. Mayo Clinic Website: C. Difficile https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/c-difficile/ds00736
2. D. Voth and J. Ballard, Clostridium difficile Toxins: Mechanism of Action and Role in Disease. Clinical Microbiology Reviews, April 2005, p. 247-263, Vol. 18, No. 2
3. D. Bensky and R. Barolet, Chinese Herbal Medicine: Formulas & Strategies, Eastland Press, Seattle (1990), p. 357 – 358.
4. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., p. 865
5. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., p. 934
6. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., p. 858
7. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., p. 923
8. Chen, John K., and Tina T. Chen. 2004. Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. City of Industry CA: Art of Medicine Press, Inc., p. 871
9. S. Meenatchisundaram, G. Parameswari, T. Subbraj, T. Suganya and A. Michael, Medicinal and Pharmacological Activities of Andrographis paniculata – Review, Ethnobotanical Leaflets, January 2009, p. 55-58, Vol. 13

Next Step: Want to learn more about healing Lyme disease? Click here to find out about our evening lecture on Getting Rid of Lyme Disease on Monday July 12th at 6pm in Frederick, MD.