Brain inflammation

-herx

-increased immune reaction ( normal during treatment - but will typically be upregulated even in off periods when pulsing)

-auto-immunity - closely related to the above

the herb that i think has helped me most with this is Gou Teng - Uncaria Rhynchophillia ( hook and stem - its a thorny vine )

but i have taken it as part of a comprehensive program of herbs
- along the lines of Buhner's 2nd edition healing lyme book - eg Cats Claw, knotweed, Chinese skullcap, Salvia etc - so its hard to say if this herb on its own did most of the work - or the combination - but Buhner says its specific for the above issue

there are a few other suggestions in the book also

i have also had some - what feel like herx symptoms - flare in between pulses of antibiotics

similar symptoms and strength as when on the antibiotics - often in the middle of the week off

i found this confusing at first - but Dr J talks about part of the reason for the time off abx in pulsing if for what he calls immune recapitulation ( recovery of immune function)
so i think this was the explanation

for me if was a flare of the symptoms i would tend to get during herx - which included brain inflammation - (which for me was mainly associated with disturbed sleep - irritability etc) - but also fatigue - night sweats - pain in my body

so this could be a possibility in your case also

overall i would try not to be too concerned - perhaps re-initiate some of the CNS calming herbs
L theanine is also quite effective for a lot of people on calming down the excitotoxicity in the CNS that drives things like: disturbing thoughts - rumination - anger - irritability

overall i would just see it as a inevitable part of treatment
the immune system in general gets somewhat upset during treatment - not only while actually taking abx if pulsing - but all of the time over a period of months - as the body is forced to deal with immune activating components of the infections stirred up by the treatments.

its also OK to take breaks from - or downgrade treatment for a while if you feel its unmanageable

in the meantime calming right brain activities - like
-time in nature
-drawing / imagery
-creativity
-metaphors
-imagination
-humour
-music
-poetry
-art
-compassion
-spirituality
-love
can help more than you might imagine

of course not all of these will fit every person well - and some may be difficult if the brain is unsettled / ruminating or anxious - but hopefully some ideas at least

all the best !



i hope its of some help

Hi,
Garzie, thanks for your encouragement and explanation, especially the "immune recapitulation" in the off period of abx, is insightful.
Today I actually feel better in terms of having less intense, overwhelming pain in my brain, that gave almost cogintive latency, eg. took few seconds to to process and response to a stimuli. Its probably because I re-started taking abx. Honestly with that condition it would not be possible for me to work in a normal way, or function in the world.
Other suspition is for herpetic encephalitis, or meningoencephalitis, because I m having reccurent shingles, for that I have to go to HSV-1 testing and I ordered acyclovir tablets and probably L-lysin can also help.
Yes, mental relaxation is so very important, and some enjoyment too.

Rampage - Yes, set backs are scary. Some friends, after 4 years of abx and various treatments feel worse than in the beginning. Not so easy not to be depressed and discouraged, but I hope we are lyme warriors so we have to be strong, and never give up...

Good luck and best wishes to all
B

trkane said...
Have you had your ammonia levels checked? A couple times when I would complain about "brain problems", Dr. J would check my ammonia levels.

Treatment was with L-ornithine-l-aspartate (LOLA)

Hi trkane, how quickly did you see results from LOLA? I’ve never been tested for ammonia levels but wonder if I would benefit from this. I don’t have brain pain but an altered sense…kind of like I’ve had a beer but without euphoria. Thanks.

bartonella and other tick born illnesses do posses enzymes that break down proteins and produce ammonia as a by product (borrelia also do this i believe). and the brain is sensitive to ammonia levels - so high ammonia is one potential cause

when i sweat i often smell strongly of ammonia - which may be a sign of this

the other very common one is inflammation from infections upsetting the balance in tryptophan metabolism pathway in neurons inside the brain.

when this happens the protective down stream metabolite of tryptophan is reduced and the neurotoxic metabolite, called quinolinic acid, is increased.
this causes a "double whammy" effect - reduced protection, increased neurotoxicity - making the brain super sensitive to this pathway imbalance.

infection and the inflammation it causes are the usual driver - sometimes vitamin deficiencies or even medications can compound the issue

buhner writes about this in lyme patients in his books - you can also read about it in the great plains OAT test guide

eg here https://www.gdx.net/core/support-guides/organic-acids-support-guide.pdf

"Kynurenic/Quinolinic Acid Ratio
Because of the specific inflammatory component
of quinolinic acid, as well as the potentially
protective role of kynurenic acid peripherally (as
outlined above), laboratories measure the ratio
of kynurenic acid to quinolinic acid. This ratio
can act as a measure of disturbed kynurenine
pathway metabolism. It suggests that tryptophan is
catabolized via the kynurenine pathway, rather than
the serotonin pathway. There is literature regarding
a low kynurenic/quinolinic ratio association with
neurotoxicity and major depressive disorder."

typical effects of high quinolinic acid are things like excitotoxicity - which is often characterised by a person getting run away thoughts - paranoia, out of control rages - or just cannot stop ruminating.

combinations of approaches may be needed to help calm the excitotoxicity
eg
- behavioural stuff as discussed above to increase calming and regulation of the CNS
- calming agents that increase inhibitory neurotransmitters like gabba - for instance l-theanine can help here
- coping strategies to minimise the instances of flare ups - eg recognising triggers and developing strategies to avoid
- anti-inflammatory herbs - eg gou teng as discussed - but tends to be a long term project
- and of course treating the root cause infections over the longer term - often it may be a case of using the above to get to the point where treatment of the infections, since they are the root cause and therefore the main target, can continue

i hope its of some help

Chinese skullcap and kudzu root helped with my brain inflammation.

Garzie said...
-herx

-increased immune reaction ( normal during treatment - but will typically be upregulated even in off periods when pulsing)

-auto-immunity - closely related to the above

the herb that i think has helped me most with this is Gou Teng - Uncaria Rhynchophillia ( hook and stem - its a thorny vine )

but i have taken it as part of a comprehensive program of herbs
- along the lines of Buhner's 2nd edition healing lyme book - eg Cats Claw, knotweed, Chinese skullcap, Salvia etc - so its hard to say if this herb on its own did most of the work - or the combination - but Buhner says its specific for the above issue

there are a few other suggestions in the book also

I've never really seen anyone mention gou teng before so i wanted to ask if you know of a reason why it would make me feel very energetic, talkative, almost manic feeling? Even at an extremely low dose. Have lyme/bart/MCAS/etc etc. I haven't touched it in years because it made me worried I would act strangely.

i have not heard of anyone having that reaction to gou teng before

its usually expected to have the opposite effect - by calming inflammation - making the brain less reactive, reducing excitotoxicity etc - but we are all different so some kind of unusual contra reaction is possible.

however, i wonder if it's possible the brand or batch you had might have had something in it that you reacted to - rather than the herb itself. unfortunately herbs are not exempt from the use of pesticides, herbicides or other contaminants - even molds - and people with conditions like lyme, bart etc often become super sensitive to such things - so this seems perhaps more likely to me.

for me its effects were not perceptible in the short term - but i very gradually improved after adding it and other herbs in buhners extended protocol over a few months after starting it - there were no off target effects or downsides that i could detect and no change in state or symptoms immediately after taking it. in fact i am still taking it as i think it helped to some degree.

Buhner also says it's a kind of slow burn treatment and that it takes months for lyme induced brain inflammation to gradually calm down - so that was all consistent.

i hope its of some help