By Dr. Kyle Warren
Edited by Meghan Feir Walker
Chronic Lyme disease antibiotics: Why aren’t they working?
There is a common, modern-day misconception that antibiotics can fix every ailment known to man.
While many patients with Lyme and co-infections, such as Bartonella, Babesia, and others, may find some temporary relief from antibiotics, they are often revisited with harsh symptoms as soon as they discontinue their drug regimen.
In today’s article, we want to address a few reasons why antibiotics might not be working well in your battle against Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. We will be mentioning two studies conducted by Johns Hopkins research teams: “Botanical Medicines with Activity Against Stationary Phase of Bartonella henselae” and “Evaluation of Natural and Botanical Medicines for Activity Against Growing and Non-growing Forms of B. burgdorferi.”
“Why aren’t I getting better on antibiotics?”
One of the most common questions I get asked by new patients is why they weren’t able to effectively put their chronic-stage tickborne illnesses into remission while taking antibiotics; and why the symptoms came back to bite them after they stopped antibiotic treatment.
A common misconception is that the same drugs used to help acute-stage Lyme disease will work at any stage. This assumption isn’t accurate. The thought behind this is, “If doxycycline works well for acute Lyme, why isn’t it working for my chronic Lyme?”
During the acute stage of Lyme disease, antibiotics (typically doxycycline) can work wonderfully to eradicate the burgeoning bacteria. However, after you enter the chronic stage, which occurs between three-to-six months after receiving the infected bite, the bacteria have morphed into a stationary form.
In this state, the effectiveness of many antibiotics plummets. This is because the bugs have entered their persister form and have become more resistant to many antibiotics. In other words, once these acute infections morph into another form, entering into a chronic state, it will take much longer than a quick, two-week course of antibiotics to solve the problem.
This should change the approach
The morphing of the bacteria should drastically change the approach doctors and patients take to combat these illnesses because it makes antibiotics a difficult and less effective choice.
On a more encouraging note, the efficacy of certain herbals has proven to be promising. Once you’ve entered that chronic state, herbals are an excellent choice to help your body heal. I’ve seen how effective they can be firsthand in our clinic.
Herbs, while powerful, are generally much gentler on the body, and each herb often offers multiple types of body support in addition to their effective killing properties.
Growing vs. Non-growing Forms of Bacteria Can Lessen Antibiotics’ Effectiveness
Before we dive any deeper, it’s important to highlight what the term “stationary phase” means, along with deciphering what I mean when I mention “growing” and “non-growing” forms.
In the initial, acute stage, right after you’ve been infected, bacteria grow and replicate. This period generally lasts between three-to-six months. Antibiotics can work fantastically during this phase.
When the cells are growing and metabolically active, they’re very vulnerable. During this stage, certain herbs and antibiotics can enter and interrupt the ability of the bacteria to replicate. It’s imperative to treat the infection as quickly as possible after being bitten by an insect carrying these pathogens.
As mentioned, this stage only lasts a short, variable period of three-to-six months before it becomes chronic and enters a non-growing form.
Illustrating how antibiotics lose effectiveness
At a recent Lyme conference I attended, I was able to meet with Dr. Jacob Leone. Dr. Leone is one of the doctors teaming up with Johns Hopkins researchers that have been conducting recent studies on Bartonella.
During his presentation, he displayed this excellent graphic of persister cells. A persister cell (aka, cell wall deficient cells, cyst cells, stationary phase, or non-growing phase) describes one of the forms bacteria can take.
In this illustration, we have a green and a yellow bacteria. These colors represent two different forms of the same bacteria. The green is the initial form it takes when you get infected. Antibiotics are useful in killing the bacteria in this form. Once again, this is during the initial three-to-six-month window.
Once you’ve had this bacteria in your body for a period of time, it can move to the stationary form (shown in yellow). This morphing usually occurs three to six months after you’ve been bitten.
If you are past that three-to-six-month window, the bug is more in this persister form, stationary form, and non-growing form, which makes it much less vulnerable to antibiotics.
What does kill persister cells?
At this point, it might be tempting to feel discouraged, but there are several things that have shown promise in killing persister cells. So what does work to kill persisters?
Several studies have come out from Johns Hopkins to help us identify what drugs and herbs work. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it’s helpful to know how these tested subjects worked in combatting these cells.
Johns Hopkins has tested around 100 different herbs for Lyme as well as a few for Bartonella. From the results of these studies, we know the following herbs have been shown to be effective against Lyme: Oregano, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, skullcap, Japanese knotweed, cryptolepis, Artemisia, and myrrh. We use many of these herbs in our protocols to help patients who have been dealing with these chronic bugs.
Take a look at the chart above. The chart shows a few of the drugs and herbs the researchers at Johns Hopkins tested against Lyme disease. These results were taken directly from studies.
As you can see, there is an important term on the top called “residual viability.” When you grow Borrelia burgdorferi, you put it in a stationary phase and try to kill it. From this chart, you can see the antibiotics tested are not very effective at killing the bacteria in a stationary form as a large percentage of them remain “residually viable.”
When tested, the well-known drug doxycycline performed poorly compared to herbals such as garlic. Looking at the doxycycline column, you can see that 73 percent of the Borrelia is still there after they tried to kill it with doxycycline. In other words, the standard antibiotic used for acute and chronic Lyme patients is only killing a quarter of the Lyme.
Dapsone is one drug some doctors are playing around with to hit some of these stationary forms. Unfortunately for many patients, this drug is much too harsh and they are unable to tolerate the side effects.
Once again, when the bacteria enter into a chronic, stationary phase they are less vulnerable to many antibiotics.
It’s important to note how effective natural ingredients like garlic are in fighting these stationary form bacteria. Not only is it clearly effective at killing Borrelia, but it also supports the cardiovascular system, lung health, and more. This is one of the many reasons we love to use herbs in our clinic. Many natural products work gently and cause fewer Herx reactions while still being highly efficacious.
Incorporating a well-balanced protocol for success
No matter which protocol you choose to follow, it’s imperative to incorporate immune and detoxification support. Suppose you’re only addressing the problem with antibiotics. Or perhaps you’re only implementing other types of killers (i.e., types of antimicrobials and antibacterials). In that case, your body will take a massive hit. This is because you’re not providing the support it needs in combination with the heavy hitters.
A killing-only approach is one of the most difficult and ineffective methods of combatting illnesses like Lyme disease, Bartonella, Babesia, or any other tickborne infection. When you take an antibiotics-only or a killers-only approach, a Herxheimer reaction is sure to follow. Your body can’t remove the toxins quickly enough.
By taking that aggressive approach, you could also be making other incorrect assumptions. For example, sometimes more inflammation is caused by the dead bugs in your system. If that is the case and you’re only focusing on killing more bacteria, you aren’t addressing the real issue. You need to remove the toxins from your body effectively.
You need to continually find the balance between providing immune and detox support and killing the bacteria.
The graphic above illustrates phase one of our Lyme disease and tickborne illness protocol for patients. We incorporate immune and detoxification support. We also add in bacteria and parasite killers. One of our methods that we’ve found effective is to rotate the types of killers we incorporate into your protocol. This keeps the bacteria guessing and is a much more effective and efficient strategy than using the same herb or antibiotic constantly.
Immune support
One of the reasons we include immune help in our program is to support your system so it can more effectively fight off these intruders on its own. A few of the products we love using to strengthen your immune system are resveratrol, cat’s claw, reishi/Ganoderma, and Andrographis. There are other herbs to use as well, but those are a few examples of what we like to incorporate at the clinic.
Detoxification support
After and often alongside adding in immune support, you need to add in detoxification support. When hunting down and killing these bugs, you have to effectively clear them out from your body. This process is typically carried out by the lymphatic system and liver.
Some of our favorite detox support products are Pectasol C, Microbe Binder, Glutathione Balance, and NAC/ALA. Keep in mind that there are many other products that can aid your body in removing toxins as well.
In order to avoid the dreaded Herxheimer reaction or die-off symptoms, detox support is crucial. These reactions occur because you’re killing microbes and the body can’t keep up; it gets overwhelmed with the buildup of toxins. By adding in detoxification support, you’ll lessen your chances of experiencing disturbing side effects as you address these infections.
Key takeaways
In this article, we covered a few of the reasons why antibiotics aren’t always effective when dealing with chronic Lyme disease and Bartonella.
- Antibiotics can work wonderfully to eradicate the bacteria in acute-stage Lyme.
- After the bacteria morph into persister form/stationary form/non-growing form, the effectiveness of most antibiotics plummets.
- Many herbals, such as oregano, clove, cinnamon, garlic, skullcap, Japanese knotweed, cryptolepis, Artemisia, and myrrh have shown effectiveness against bacteria in their stationary phase.
- Every protocol needs to incorporate immune and detoxification support.
- Once these acute infections morph into a new form and become chronic, it will take much longer than a two-week course of antibiotics to solve the problem.
I hope this article will be helpful for you in your own healing journey. Understanding how to effectively address persister cells and incorporating immune and detox support is imperative in creating a holistic and helpful protocol for chronic Lyme and Bartonella patients.
Watch:
Watch our accompanying video by clicking here.
References:
https://journals.lww.com/imd/fulltext/2021/09000/botanical_medicines_with_activity_against.7.aspx
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32154254/
