cats claw

You certainly can herx from cat's claw. For me it brought out symptoms I had never had before. Skin sensitivity and burning. Painful elbow joints. I would not embark on any herbal protocol without Japanese knotweed. I have made myself feel very badly with various herbals while omitting knotweed. Knotweed helps ALOT.

Cat's Claw for me was causing a lot of herxing. I had to start on a low dose and be very careful when increasing it. It took me 2 months to get to 1/2 of the dosage advised by Buhner. Like Rowingmom wrote: be sure to use Japanese Knotweed, I would start it as soon as possible. My dr even prescribes it combination with the abx.

I don't know how long you've been under treatment, but here comes the word... patience. A horrible word, but you will need it. It's so very hard to not have a finishing point in sight, but that it sadly how it is... Just try to go day by day, don't think much about tomorrow, next week or next month, it will only make you more frustrated. Since I stopped doing this (most of the time, I confess ), I feel much more at ease.

Good luck, and hold on

I find it interesting as well. I've been on the same exact Cat's Claw as skBM (Now brand extract caps) and have been having muscle pain in my left arm which is not something I've experienced in the past. I seem to notice every time I initially go on these that it hits my right thigh muscle after first dose with slight pain and tightness but only for a day or two. The arm pain continues though and can get quite painful for short periods of time.

rowingmom said...
skBM said...
A quote: "Because Cats Claw is derived from the same substances that comprise the quinolone class of antibiotics, it shares similar side effects. Most notably, both the quinolone antibiotics and Cats Claw have been associated with tendon damage. This occurrence is quite rare, and new research shows that this side effect may be avoided if intracellular magnesium levels are brought back up to healthy levels. Nonetheless, proceed with caution when using Cats Claw."

I believe I noticed it because I am very physically active, and my magnesium levels are chronically low.

skBM - Interesting, thank you. Do you have a source for the quote? Our ND would probably be interested.



I just assumed that my joint pain was from activation and die-off of lyme in the joints, and that others reporting the joint pain caused by cat's claw perhaps had undiagnosed lyme and didn't understand the concept of a herx reaction.



I must say looking back at all the symptoms my daughter had, while herxing on the various abx used for her lyme/bart treatment, joint pain was not one of them.



I was even thinking about restarting cat's claw for myself. I have been feeling wonderful on the Buhner's protocol and thought maybe I should be pushing myself a little harder. Imagine that, I start to feel great and then feel guilty, like I'm not doing enough to punish the bacteria.

I got that exact quote from this website: http://www.lymebook.com/lyme-grapefruit-lauricidin-colloidal-silver-samento

I simply googled "cat's claw tendon damage" or something like that. This is hardly a scientific source, but I remembered reading it in a few places before, and it was verified by my own experience. I had been using cat's claw for something around a year. It definitely made me feel way better overall (in combination with banderol), but I was having a lot of problems with my legs when I played sports, problems that I never really had before. It is possible that it was herxing, I can't say that I know for sure. What I can say, is that I haven't used cat's claw in a month, and my legs are not cramping up (or in pain) as much as they were when I was using cat's claw. I have a theory that it draws magnesium from the system in some way, or maybe it causes the bugs to draw more magnesium, I honestly don't know for sure. But my legs aren't feeling the pains nearly as much now, and my sports performance/endurance has increased dramatically.

I don't think it would hurt to give cat's claw a try. It may not ever cause problems for most people. As Stephen Buhner says, pay attention to how your body feels. If after starting something new, you are having more problems, discontinue the use of that treatment.

Here are three links on Buhner's site where people reported possible pain or damage from using cat's claw.
http://buhnerhealinglyme.com/herbs/cats-claw-and-tendonitis/
http://buhnerhealinglyme.com/herbs/cats-claw-worsening-tendonitis-pain/
http://buhnerhealinglyme.com/herbs/extreme-joint-pain-from-cats-claw/

But again, it seems to be a rare thing.

If you do try cat's claw and then come to believe it is causing certain pains, Stephen Buhner lists some substitutes. Eleuthero, rhodiola, and ashwagandha all help the immune system, much like cat's claw. Eleuthero is working very well for me in combination with knotweed and teasel.

Post Edited (skBM) : 9/11/2013 1:43:31 PM (GMT-6)