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where to begin with herbs/natural remedies, and Oil of Oregano


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I would like to start going to more natural ways of handling illnesses, and health in general, but am not sure where to safely begin.

 

What would you recommend for a beginner, completely new to herbs?

 

Also, Arby suggested asking about Oil of Oregano because of it's properties. Any info on that would also be appreciated.

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To start, just buy the oils or ingredients specifically needed for a recipe you want to make. In my case it was a Healing Salve that used Lavender, Lemon, and Melaleuca Oils, along with Beeswax, Coconut Oil and Vegetable Oil. Some things you have to order off the Internet but I did some searching (and driving) and found local sources and saved a little on shipping costs. Essential oils are not cheap and for me it took awhile to purchase them for different recipes. Just work on one recipe at a time and eventually you will have quite an inventory.

 

I went crazy for awhile looking for Melaleuca Oil until I stumbled upon its other name, Tea Tree Oil.

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Luma - with all of your current issues, I would proceed very slowly and cautiously. Since you're having allergic reactions to your antibiotics, get that stuff all the way out of your system before trying anything else. I went through something similar to this 18 months ago, where I was having allergic reactions to almost everything I ate. It was horrible and I went through tons of testing that didn't work. I finally took matters into my own hands. I did an elimination diet. I cut everything out of my diet except for sweet potatoes, rice, and bananas. I still had some mild reactions, but it wasn't to the foods, it was my body reacting to the toxins/allergens that were still floating around. After my body was "clean", I slowly introduced different foods again. Here's a few links if you're interested:

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/elimination-diet

http://www.cfids.org/about-cfids/elimination-diet.asp

 

Ideally, you want to get to the point where everything you eat fulfills all of your nutritional and medicinal needs. Most of the chronic conditions that people suffer from today (high blood pressure, diabetes, heart problems, skin conditions,arthritis, digestive health, etc) can be greatly improved or even completely cured by following a diet of whole foods, rich in nutrients. Lyme disease has some of the same symptoms as arthritis doesn't it? I would research anti-inflammatory foods before jumping on the herbal supplements bandwagon. Don't get me wrong. Herbals can play an important part in overall health but except in extreme circumstances, I think they are more beneficial if used as flavorings and enhancements to the foods you already eat.

 

If you'd like more info, check out these sites:

http://www.drfuhrman.com/

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=2039319

 

Hang in there! (((Luma)))

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thanks :bouquet:

 

 

I was surprised to learn how long it takes for medicines to get out of the system - the ER dr. said to give it a couple days to let the dust settle before starting a new one .. being curious, I googled, and came across info that says it can take 5+ days for doxycycline to completely be out of your system. For another med it was saying 11-12 days! The formula used was the half life of the medication times 5.5 (I had no clue about half life either :blush: )

 

The elimination diet sounds interesting, I am going to look more in to that as well.

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http://restormedicine.com/natural-lyme-disease-treatment/

Natural Treatment for Lyme Disease: are antibiotics really necessary?

I am asked frequently whether it is possible to recover from Lyme disease without the use of antibiotics. It’s a great question, but unfortunately not one for which I have a definitive answer. Rather, my answer is “sometimes”. I wish I could tell people that of course they can treat their Lyme disease 100% naturally and have great outcomes every time, but that is just not realistic.

I definitely have patients who I work with without the use of antibiotics, where herbal antimicrobials and immune support, coupled with dietary changes and other supportive nutritional supplements have recovered them to the point where they are back out in their lives, either completely symptom free or at 90-95% of their normal (pre-Lyme) level of functioning. I love these cases as they really reinforce the power of natural medicine, and show us that God has instilled healing properties in the plants He has given us.

More often than not, when patients opt for all-natural treatment, I select a variety of modalities to cover as many bases as possible. An example is to combine the immune-supportive properties of transfer factors (both general and Lyme-specific), with herbal antimicrobials (teasel, cats claw, olive leaf, etc), with Lyme-specific homeopathic remedies, and as I said, base all of that on a solid foundation of good nutrition. We want to address the infection from several directions at once to maximize the impact and our success. Supporting detoxification and digestive support are important here.

If we need to step it up another notch, then I start considering other therapies such as hyperbaric oxygen (HBOT). HBOT is a great way to improve oxygen flow to the cells, accelerating the cellular healing and regeneration. It also has antimicrobial action as the bugs do not survive well in that high saturation of oxygen. It helps regenerate neurological function, and sweeps the body of other microbes such as viruses and mycoplasma. I love HBOT, and I wish it wasn’t so time and money intensive so that more patients could access it.

If HBOT is not an option, another approach is to engage some kind of Rife or frequency based therapy. This is not something I can specifically offer or prescribe, however patients seek out information through other Lyme sufferers and internet forums, and can make their own decisions about the different machines that are available.

Then, alas, there are cases where quite simply antibiotics are necessary. I wish it wasn’t so, but it is. Some people just can’t get sufficient recovery without these medications, and antibiotics offer relief that other more natural therapies can’t give. I honestly think that the majority of Lyme patients require antibiotic treatment somewhere along the way in their treatment path. Of course, I always vote for naturopathic support in conjunction with the meds, and nutrition is equally if not even more important here. But the bottom line is that in many cases, the medications are a necessary part of treatment.

There are a number of factors that determine whether a patient might respond well only to natural treatments. Duration of illness is one as well as severity of symptoms. Obviously a more recent case that hasn’t gone as “deep” into the body will likely respond better. Also, I have had better success treating naturally in cases where there is less neurological involvement. Arthritic-type Lyme seems to respond better to herbs and nutrient therapy, in part I believe because there are several great natural remedies for calming inflammation, which causes a lot of the pain, and minerals such as magnesium can offset a lot of muscle aching, cramping and twitching.

So can Lyme disease be treated naturally? Sometimes. My general philosophy is to start out with natural agents, building up to meds if the patient is not responding adequately. At least then we’ve laid a solid foundation of support and started doing some bug-killing before the medications come along, and have set up detox pathways to function better and handle medications and die-off better. In medicine this is called the “therapeutic order” – start with the least invasive therapy and work up in strength and invasiveness as needed.

Another important part of this puzzle is making sure other issues are being adequately addressed such as hormone imbalance, heavy metal toxicity, thyroid issues and food intolerances. Sometimes if Lyme symptoms are not resolving there is a tendency to get more and more aggressive with medications, adding new ones and increasing doses, when the problem may not be coming from the Lyme disease at all, and may be helped with something completely different such as gluten avoidance or chelation therapy.

Of course, Lyme disease is complicated. There is no answer that is right for everyone, and the thing that might be right for an individual today may not be right for them six months from now. A lot of the answers come from listening carefully to what the body is saying, and not being afraid to make adjustments along the way as needed. Whether natural treatments or antibiotics are used, a multi-system, multi-factorial approach is the key to recovery from Lyme disease. We need to treat the person, not the disease.

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