What Are the Symptoms?

Lyme disease symptoms generally fall into three camps: neurological, arthritic, and cardiac. Patients’ most common symptoms are fatigue, headache, joint pain, and heart palpitations. Many people have different variations of neurological Lyme disease, so they can’t think straight, experience memory loss, or even [have] psychological issues like depression and anxiety. The symptoms vary a lot from person to person, though. One person may be tired and have headaches, while someone else might have it and feel great except for a swollen knee. There are a lot of different strains, so symptoms depend on what the tick was carrying when it bit you. This is what makes living with Lyme so difficult. It is not cut and dried, and my husband’s story is typical of so many I had to share this with you. 

The time has come to bring my husband’s herbal medicine, specifically his Teasel tincture, into the Sunshine Botanicals family of products so this great little herb can continue to help as many people as possible. (He would be pleased about this.) He will forever be my soulmate and muse, and we’re continuing his work. I will honor him and share his amazing work for the rest of my life.

I want to introduce you to his Teasel tincture, and we continue to make this healing formula precisely as he did, and you can now find this on the Sunshine Botanicals website. Below is an article Dr. Phil wrote discussing his experience with Lyme Disease and how powerful Tease was on his healing journey through Lyme Disease. Yet another reminder that nature is a gift to each of us. Here in his own words, is Dr. Phil’s story.

I have tried almost every rational protocol that I could find. Despite occasional temporary reprieves, the bug took such hold of me through the Spring and Summer of last year that I truly felt that the fatigue and mental “fog” would force me to stop teaching and writing. I stopped seeing clients personally and could barely muster the energy to keep our skincare business going. The joint and muscle pain was so intense that gardening, field forays, and exercise in general seemed impossible, and, as a result, I put on nearly 30 pounds. It was not a pretty sight.

I had discussed the situation with some students from one of my Herbology classes in Tulsa last Spring, and in September, I received a letter from one of them. He had run across a section in Matthew Wood’s really excellent book, “The Book of Herbal Wisdom.” Wood recorded his limited but positive experience with Lyme, using the root of Teasel (Dipsacus spp.), an herb completely unfamiliar to me. A little internet research showed he was not alone, so I tracked down some of the tinctures. (It is not easy to find. One species of the plant is used in Chinese medicine, but traditional Western herbal history is virtually silent on its use.) Whether from hope or desperation, Wood’s short discourse on it was sufficient to get me to try it. 

At the risk of melodrama, I can only say that, so far at least, the result has been nothing short of miraculous. Within three days of starting with the very small dosage recommended by Wood (1 – 5 drops, 3 times daily), the fog lifted, the fatigue melted away, and though it took longer, the joint and muscle pain subsided and has continued to improve since. I feel like my life has been given back to me. 

The only negative experience with my treatment came through an enthusiastically reasoned but ill-advised short experiment with higher doses. That quickly promoted a massive intensification of the symptoms – called the “Herxheimer effect” by Lyme sufferers – that just as quickly went away when the dose was reduced again. (Some long-term sufferers even take a peculiar pleasure from that effect – kind of a “getting even” satisfaction from thinking that the bug is suffering for a change. I, for one, take greater pleasure from symptom-free days, and from the conviction that I am winning the long-term battle. For that, I am convinced that only patience and persistence will suffice.) 

This is a largely undocumented herb, and there is much to learn about it. Subsequent research shows that the herb’s range in the U.S. almost exactly parallels the range of the Lyme carrying deer tick – an observation that quite comfortably fits my notion of natural cures. (God provides the solution to all our trials, and it is always close at hand – if we only learn what to look for.)  I converted my harvest into tincture, and over the winter, I have made it available to students and practitioners working with Lyme and related, often misdiagnosed conditions – chronic fatigue, Epstein Barr, fibromyalgia, ALS, etc. So far, the feedback has been very positive, often equally dramatic. It my sense that the herb may also be well-suited for age-related dementia and memory issues. Please note that the recommended dosage is low – outside the norm – and while I detect no toxicity from it, I would advise following that recommendation.

I have not been able to find out much about this plant’s chemistry – something that doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it does some. (The active constituent is Teasel… works for me.) I’m sure all that will make itself known over time, just as I am certain that the herb and its usable forms will become more generally available as others discover its benefits. With a little diligent searching, it can be found on the Internet – produced by a hand full of individual herbalists around the country. I have also committed to producing as much as we can until more traditional suppliers catch on and catch up. 

Six months after starting with the herb, I feel better than I have in a very long time, and, despite the anxieties that stem from my previous experiences with treatment, I have no sense of temporality. I’ve even gotten to where I forget to take it for a day, sometimes two, and have not experienced any regression. I’m not sure yet whether I’m confident that it is a “cure”, but, at the very least, it makes living with the condition gloriously possible.— 

Yes, I have been Lyme-free going on 8 years now, and yes, that re-markable herb Teasel was a major factor in that process. 

Over the years, I have had many students and users tell me that Teasel was all that was necessary for them to “cure” Lyme. I tend to think that appraisal has, in most cases, been a bit optimistic – not necessarily a bad thing – and misses the mark on Teasel’s actual role in Lyme control and elimination. 

Like most chronic and degenerative diseases, Lyme is a very complex disorder. The allopathic approach of “this cures that” is seldom successful, whether “this” is pharmaceutical or herbal. It is, in the end, a matter of whether or not the body’s own defenses can identify and destroy the invader, and rebalance and reinforce against future at-tacks. A weakened immune system invites all manner of opportunistic assaults, including Lyme, while Lyme and its co-infectors set up shop and create all sorts of transient and intransigent manifestations ac-cording to the individual’s ability to resist. Lyme’s spirochete is immensely more talented and adaptive than most common pathogens, and can be a challenge for even the strongest immune system. When Lyme finds a home in a person with generally compromised defenses, the results can become utterly devastating. 

We are still not sure exactly how Teasel does what it does, but after more than a decade of observations and conversations, the list of what it does is pretty impressive. 

Teasel does have a “kill-off” effect on Borrellia. Evidence for this lies in its ability to provoke a Herxheimer reaction in Lyme sufferers. If it caused a complete die-off, then it would be “’nuff said.” Suck it up and deal with the Herx for a while and move on. Sadly, that’s not the case. In several of its cyst and hidden forms, Borrellia retreats and hangs out to attack another day. While herxing in itself is not harmful, it can be very uncomfortable, especially when the daily rigors of Lyme are already so debilitating. That’s why therapeutic doses of Lyme are best kept at a small, sub-herx level. 

Teasel does seem to help repair the physical/neurological destruction done by Lyme infection, and “rewire” damaged connections in the nervous system. Borrelia feeds on collagen in muscles and its close cousin myelin—the insulation that protects nerve fibers and communication. That accounts for Teasel’s often dramatic affect on the joint and muscle pain, fatigue, and mental “fog” that are so characteristic of chronic Lyme. While Teasel does relieve many Lyme symptoms, improving internal communication and generally enhancing energy levels, more importantly, it also gets the immune system back in the fight. 

Teasel does seem to make the bug in all its forms more vulnerable to other assaults, whether they be from the body’s own defense tools or from outside aids like immune stimulating herbs and therapies, colloidal silver, and even antibiotics. It is my personal belief and experience that patience, persistence, consistent support of a healthy immune system via diet and lifestyle choices, and, when the

“house is in order,” a selective but overwhelming attack on the entrenched remainders is the most assured path to the ultimate elimination of the Lyme pathogen. The specifics of that path will differ with an individual’s circumstances and choices, and there is no one-size-fits-all protocol, but Teasel’s ability to relieve symptoms, clarify thinking, and improve energy makes walking the path possible.

As for my own case – I took Teasel for nearly three years with almost complete symptom relief, and I would have been gratefully content taking it for the rest of my life if that was what it took to get my life back. There were some swings and setbacks in there that had as much to do with experimentation and occasional complacency as anything. I was always able to get back on track, but I never felt completely free of the bug. My dose was 5 drops taken 3 times daily. That worked for me, but it can vary for others. Typically, the dose range is from 1 to 5 drops 3 times a day. More will usually provoke a herx response.

In that period, my enthusiasm for the herb led me to meet and work with a lot of fellow Lymies, and I got a lot of input about the trials, successes, and frustrations that, in one way or another, affected us all. Ultimately I decided to try one more all out effort to eliminate the bug. Let me be clear – the approach I chose seemed right for me at that point in my quest, and it has helped others, but it is not necessarily ideal for everyone at every stage of Lyme infection.