Treasured Herbal Resources for Lyme Disease & Other Bacterial Infections
Spring has technically arrived! As soon as warmer weather accompanies this season and winter infections abate, the ticks will be out in abundance...
Stephen Harold Buhner was a skilled herbalist who wrote 23 books. Of the many books on Lyme disease that I have acquired and read, his book Healing Lyme: Natural Healing of Lyme Borreliosis and the =Coinfections Chlamydia & Spotted Fever Rickettsioses has been the most valuable for prevention and supportive treatment of Lyme disease and related coinfections. I encourage you to peruse this gem on Lyme disease for prevention, what to do if you have been bitten, and supportive measures for the treatment of both acute and chronic tickborne infections. Disclaimer: if you have acute symptoms of Lyme disease, please do not attempt to treat this infection on your own; antibiotics are essential for treatment of both Lyme disease and anaplasmosis as these infections can be life-threatening, but there are integrative options out there to aid your immune system recovery during treatment for full eradication.
For this particular column, I chose to finally read another work on my to-read bookcase by Buhner entitled Herbal Antibiotics: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria published in 2012, yet the information is still relevant a decade later. The book is divided into 9 chapters covering 467 pages. In the first chapter, he provides a history on antibiotics and the evolution of bacterial resistance. In chapter 2, he delves into specific drug-resistant microbes (commonly known examples include: C. diff, staph, strep, salmonella, candida, aspergillus) and how to treat them naturally. Chapter 4 addresses how to use a category of herbs he terms systemics, meaning that these herbs can concentrate in the blood and liver and are widely circulated to every bodily cell. In chapter 5, he discusses his favorite top 4 localized non-systemic herbal antibiotics which include honey and berberine; by non-systemic he means herbs that do not easily cross the GI tract membrane so their use is limited to the gut, skin, or other specific organ. In chapter 6, he features licorice (not the candy), ginger, and black pepper which he classifies as synergists. Including these plant synergists when treating an infection can help support the effectiveness of other targeted herbs like those discussed in chapter 4. Buhner discourages the use of monotherapy or using only one herb for one illness, and instead he encourages utilizing multiple herbs for improved outcomes. Chapter 7 is valuable because he addresses how to use herbs like ashwagandha, astragalus, echinacea, eleuthero, reishi, and rhodiola to strengthen the immune system. For those of you crafty do-it-yourselfers, chapter 9 is a handbook on various methods to make your own herbal medicine.
Both books are absolute treasure troves of information on all things herbal and how to use them to fight infection and boost immune health. Some of the content is more sophisticated so they are valuable resources for both the lay-person along with any medical professional interested in botanical medicine.
Rachel Oppitz, ND
