12/07/2023
Rowyn's Roots Tick and Insect Bite Treatment 2023
High tick area? Please see the comment below about staying on basic Buhner herbals ALL SUMMER long
General Notes: The dosages below for herbals are adult dosing. To get to the fraction of the dose to use for children, divide their weight by 120 (for less aggressive dosing, use 160). A 40 lb child then, would be dosed at 40/120=1/3 the adult dose. Herbal tinctures do contain alcohol, you can place the doses in a shallow dish altogether and allow some of the alcohol to evaporate off before adding a swallow of juice and stevia. Get these herbals and clay etc ordered NOW! Don't wait for an unexpected tick bite. I put together small tick kits to keep in my purse and car.
Where to purchase
· Herbal Tinctures: Woodland Essence or Sage Woman Herbs
· Homeopathics: Ollois lactose free or Boiron
· Clay: Any highly rated bentonite clay like this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XTPZNB2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
· Thiamine: Objective Nutrients
Prevention (to use during the entire high tick season to boost immune function. If autoimmune symptoms get worse for those with autoimmunity, astragalus is not a good idea)
Immune system health: Astragalus tincture, start at a higher dose for 30 days to boost immune system, then 1/3 of that dose for the summer. Tincture higher dose: 1/2-1/3 tsp, approx 45 drops, 3 X day for 30 days, drop to 1/4-1/3 tsp (1 dropperful = 1/4 tsp, approx 30 drops)
Astragalus is food grade and will not harm at higher doses. It can be beneficial for some PANS kids, others may react. The only way to tell is to try it.
Use tick tubes (can make these easily or buy on Amazon, Home Depot) around the yard for any mice carrying ticks close to the home
Ticks are most active when it is moist outside, avoid walking near higher grass, bushes etc right after rain
Clear yard of debris, keep grass short
When hiking, tuck pants into socks, check for ticks on clothes when you get home
It is very difficult to repel ticks in general, that is why I do not recommend Deet because it actually doesn’t work that well, and it is neurotoxic. Woodland Essence makes a Buhner tick spray repellent, but generally, avoiding high tick areas and checking for them immediately after coming in is the best prevention
Higher doses of thiamine internally can deter some biting insects like mosquitos (Objective Nutrients makes some of the most potent thiamine, like ThiaMax.)
For the summer in high tick areas, it may be wise to keep dogs/kids on an herbal blend for general protection, Green Dragon has dried Buhner herbals already blended and encapsulated, you may want to use their 'prevention' blend.
If Bitten (do the tincture/clay and ledum for mosquitos, too!)
Remove tick at the head immediately, not body, with a pair of tweezers and keep it in a plastic bag with a bit of moist cotton ball, you can send to test them for infections for free in many cases, Tick Report, for example. Do NOT twist the tick! Aggravating or squeezing it will increase the likelihood that it empties it’s stomach contents into the person it has bitten.
Apply Andrographis or cryptolepis tincture (or some other similar antimicrobial, like oregano oil, silver) immediately to the bite, leave it there for 10-15 mins. Or soak a small bit of paper towel and apply with bandaid to hold in place. This immediate application will help kill bacteria that are still near the skin’s surface. Note: sometimes Andrographis can cause an allergic rash, but it is the most lyme-specific herbal
Apply clay/tincture mix: After 10-15 minutes, remove paper towel and mix andrographis directly into bentonite clay and apply to area. Reapply 3 or so hours later.
Give the following homeopathics (taken from this site https://joettecalabrese.com/blog/protocol-lyme-disease-using-homeopathy/)
Ledum 200c, 3-5 pellets, every 3 hours for the first 24 hours, then by twice daily for a week. This is then used twice weekly for a month and then once per week for another month. For older bites that weren't discovered immediately, go to the below Aurum. Boiron is a company that provides 200c
Aurum aresenicosum 200c, twice daily for one week and in the same manner as Ledum. Aurum arsenicum is used for poisonous infection, and may be used for an older tick bite (more than a few hours old).
If a rash occurs, switch to homeopathic Apis 30 C three times daily for 3 days, then begin core protocol for Lyme (Knotweed, Cat’s Claw, Chinese Skullcap, Red Sage, Andrographis)
Start an antimicrobial (or antibiotics): Can use any of the below, Andrographis is the most specific for Lyme. CSA is the best all around antimicrobial if other pathogens were present in the tick.
Andrographis, ½ tsp four times daily
Biocidin, 1-2 drop up to 9-10 drops three times a day for antimicrobial protection (this may cause stomach upset or diarrhea). You can use 1-2 tsp activated charcoal on empty stomach to help with side effects.
CSA (combination of cryptolepis, sida, and alchornea). Can be purchased at either Woodland Essence or Sage Woman Apothecary. ½ tsp 3-4 times daily
Core Herbal Lyme Protocol
The most important singular herbal for lyme itself is Japanese Knotweed. While andrographis is most potent for actually killing lyme bacteria, knotweed prevents lyme from utilizing particular inflammatory pathways it needs to upregulate to feed and hide from the immune system. Buhner lists a combination of herbals as his own formulation of a lyme protocol: Specifically, knotweed, red sage (salvia miltorhizza), and Chinese skullcap for the inflammatory piece. He adds Cat’s Claw, cordyceps, ashwaganda, and eleuthero for immunomodulation. Andrographis is optional, in his view, because it may be more important to quiet lyme’s ability to feed and hide, thus ‘starving’ it out, than directly killing it. His book, Healing Lyme, second edition, offers many herbals to choose from that may work as well. It may be confusing then, if you Google Buhner’s lyme protocol and see differing results. Some use a couple of basics only, like cat’s claw and knotweed.
Combined Herbal Protocol
Because ticks also carry a wide variety of other pathogens, including viruses, that one antibiotic may not eradicate, adding an anti viral herbal blend may be a smart idea. Woodland Essence and Sage Apothecary carry some anti viral blends that may include combinations of: Houttuynia (fresh tinctured), Chinese skullcap, Isatis, Lomatium and licorice (combine and use 1/2 tsp 4 times per day for adults). Confused about what herbals to use? Below is a combined protocol that should be effective for a number of tick-borne pathogens.
All given at ½ tsp, 3-4 times per day (adult dosing). Licorice is a potent anti-viral for acute conditions, but it can be quite influential on potassium and the adrenals, and is not included here.
Japanese Knotweed
Chinese Skullcap
Cat’s Claw
CSA
Houttuynia
Isatis
Dormancy
Direct antimicrobials (and antibiotics) can cause lyme to go on the defensive to protect itself. When the bacteria senses danger, it signals others to replicate immediately and go into the round body, dormant phase. While some of them are killed, many will survive and wait it out until danger passes to become active again. This is why some people with a high lyme burden feel better a few weeks into antibiotic treatment---it is not just that they have killed bacteria, but the rest have become inactive and dormant. This also explains why relapse is not uncommon about 2 weeks after cessation of antibiotics. Some speculate that over time with on and off again antibiotic use, it is possible to INCREASE the total lyme bacteria load as it doubles it’s dormant form every time it feels threatened. An alternative strategy to direct killing, especially for chronic lyme, is to quiet all the inflammatory processes lyme utilizes to survive. This is a key point in Stephen Buhner's lyme protocol---starving lyme out.
Some Notes about Transmission
Time to infection it was thought that a tick must be embedded for 36-48 hours to transmit lyme. We now know that the Powassan virus can be transmitted in minutes. Do not assume that you have not been exposed to pathogens because the tick bite is very fresh---treat it seriously. Also, you cannot know when the tick had a meal last---the testing for time of transmission in studies is done on UNFED ticks. There are some pathogens that require a blood meal to activate and reproduce. This is the time factor difference. BUT many ticks will partially feed, detach, re-attach. That re-attach mean s there could be infective bacteria already ready to go, and will be injected immediately.
Type of Tick Species It has long been speculated that only particular ticks carry lyme disease. This has since been disproven---in fact, many biting insects carry lyme.
Tick has to have fed or be engorged: while some pathogens do need to be activated by a blood meal, that doesn't mean the tick has to be engorged or to have taken in a significant amount of blood, it doesn't take much.
But my country doesn't have lyme disease! Let's use a bit of common sense here. If birds can carry lyme, and they fly, that means they can carry lyme elsewhere. Humans, who travel all over the world, can transmit lyme sexually.
Location of Bite is important. The closer it is to the head, the more quickly the bacteria may spread into the brain and spinal cord.
Stages of Lyme Infection
Acute, or new, infections with a tick bite can become chronic within a very short time in a person whose immune system is unwell, though there is much controversy surrounding the timeline. Some may say a few weeks post-new infection to 3-6 months. It is also possible to be infected with a different form of lyme with a new tick bite (there are 18 know species of just B. burgdorferi, and that doesn’t include similar bacteria like ehrlichia and TBRF or tick-borne relapsing fever). Ticks may also carry a number of OTHER pathogens aside from lyme like babesia, anaplasma, ehrlichia, bartonella, and rickettsia; and viruses like Powassan virus.
Skin rash, which may or may not look like a bull’s eye (only presents in about 30% of positive cases)
flu-like illness, including chills and fever
fatigue
headache and stiff neck
muscle soreness and joint pain
swollen lymph nodes
sore throat
What are the ‘stages’ of lyme? Some lyme resources ‘stage’ the levels of lyme infection, and acute infection is thought to be early, localized disease, Stage 1. Stage 1 (early localized disease or acute) includes possible rash of some kind (not always bullseye), flu-like illness, fatigue, headache, stiff neck, swollen lymph nodes, muscle soreness and joint pain.
Stage 2 is called early disseminated lyme disease. Disseminated means the bacteria are now spreading throughout the body. Symptoms are similar to stage 1 but may be more pronounced and worsening. These may include neurological issues like vision changes and Bell’s palsy; heart problems (pain, palpitations); body rash; numbness or weakness in arms and legs. This is the beginning of chronic infection.
Stage 3, chronic or late disseminated lyme disease, can occur weeks or months post-bite, or may even develop during times of immune stress. Typically, the symptoms can include increased neurological and cardiac symptoms. Patients may now complain of worsened arthritis, severe headache, vertigo, brain fog, sleep issues, depression, depersonalization, heart rhythm changes, and a variety of autoimmune conditions may occur.
Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS)
PTLDS is a term that it sometimes used to mean chronic stage lyme. This stage may be hard to differentiate from other issues, like chronic fatigue syndrome, mold and metal toxicity, and other chronic infections like EBV. It often has an autoimmune and neurological component. It has been hypothesized that as lyme feeds on tissue, it leaves behind small particles of itself, called blebs, that may trigger a protective immune response. The immune system accidentally also targets the tissue the bleb is embedded in, causing autoimmunity. This may also occur with the use of antibiotics and ‘exploding’ the bacteria. Until more recently, the CDC did not recognize chronic lyme at all. The stance of the CDC is that there is no cure for this stage of lyme, and that management of symptoms, versus continued use of antibiotics, is the best treatment. This is one reason doctors who do use longterm interventions are under threat by losing insurance coverage and their licenses.
Congenital Lyme
Because so many people have lyme and are unaware, even before a new tick bite, they may already have the bacteria. Lyme can be transmitted sexually and can cross the placenta and infect a fetus very easily. Therefore, it is likely more are infected from early life than is realized. A healthy person’s immune system can keep many pathogens at a low level of activity, essentially dormant, and are asymptomatic. It can occur, with a new immune system ‘hit’---emotional or bodily stress/illness, that a dormant infection becomes active. This is one reason autistic, PANS/PANDAS kids, and mold-injured people tend to show so many active pathogens on testing---their immune systems are compromised and latent bugs can become active. These people may already be ‘chronic’ with most infections.
In these cases, going directly to an anti-inflammatory and immune modulating protocol is a far better idea than utilizing repeated antibiotics and antimicrobials. Their immune systems cannot keep these pathogens at bay once the antibiotics are stopped, and they will relapse over and over (or never achieve actual remission in which they are asymptomatic).
Other Biting Insects
Another somewhat controversial topic is the idea that many biting/blood sucking insects can carry lyme, like mosquitos. It has been proven in scientific literature that yes, mosquitos have been found to carry lyme bacteria---it has not been definitively proven that a mosquito bite can then transmit lyme, but it seems to be a logical conclusion. Head lice, body lice, bed bugs, fleas, ticks and mosquitos have now all been acknowledged to transmit a wide variety of what may be called ‘tick borne’ pathogens.
Other pathogens that may be more common than lyme
Bartonella may be more common than lyme, actually, since it infects insects like lice and fleas that can then transmit the bacteria to people. Lyme did not evolve specific strategies to infect humans as a primary host—bartonella did. It infects domesticated livestock and pets, and may be present in the f***s of these animals as well as in the fleas that bite them. Cat f***s, for example, can contain bartonella, and the dust in litter boxes may hold bartonella bacteria that can exist, live, for months. Inhaling these dust particles, then, can cause a bartonella infection. Head lice, an extremely common problem in children, also commonly carry bartonella, as do bed bugs.
Bartonella is an extremely common infection in cats (there are many forms of bart, we tend to test for just two), and cats can carry it easily with no illness at all. However, the cats can then infect their human owners via f***s and scratches/bites. Always treat a cat injury seriously, bartonella’s other name, ‘cat scratch fever’, is no coincidence.
Toxoplasmosis is another feline-driven disease that is extremely prevalent all over the world due to the fact that it is so prevalent in soil. Cattle pick it up eating contaminated grass, for example. If you eat rare meat, you may become exposed. Fresh produce can also be a source of infection. Farmers, landscapers, gardeners can contract toxo through handling soil. This is a parasite, rather than a bacteria, and once infected, it is impossible to completely rid yourself of the bug. Rather, it goes into dormant stages in tissue and has periods of activity. It may become active when a woman becomes pregnant and hormone changes trigger it to come out, then infecting the fetus. Most people will be asymptomatic, but it can cause many issues for an immunocompromised individual, including neurological issues like intermittent rage disorder and risky behavior.
A note about cats
Cats, unfortunately, are incredible reservoirs of a variety of pathogens that they can co-exist with quite happily, while infecting their human owners. Kittens are more likely to infect children via scratches and bites in particular. First because they are so playful and may scratch, and second their underdeveloped immune systems may mean the bart is more active. Cats should never be let outside where they may pick up new infections via fleas, contact with other animals, and by eating birds and rodents. Do not foster stray cats. I suggest no new cat pets for any family with immunocompromised individuals.
Resources
Stephen Buhner, Healing Lyme, second edition
Global Lyme Alliance
https://globallymealliance.org/about-lyme/diagnosis/stages/
Igenex
https://igenex.com/
