Chinese herbal medicine support for MAC treatment

Posted by winema @winema, Jun 17 4:07pm

Has anyone tried herbal support for immune system and lung health? Traditional Chinese medicine apparently includes several herbs which have been researched and found helpful as adjuncts to the typical NTM meds. Here's an article from NIH (link below). I don't have the expertise or patience to wade through all the technicalities of the studies, but found the results interesting, and wonder if anyone has tried any. The one I'm looking into is Astragalus membranaceus. I'm not interested in high dosages sold in capsules by various companies which may or may not be reliable; Astragalus can be consumed as a tea. Would love to know what others might have learned or tried.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6630501/

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@kathyjjb

I found this study very interesting. It looks at the use of the herb Coptis Chinensis in increasing the susceptibility of certain antibiotics (or decreased MIC's) for Mycobacterium Abscessus.

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Thanks Kathy. Coptis is in the berberine family, which might be easier to find in the west. The study authors concluded that coptis or berberine should be equally effective when paired with antibiotics. Peace and best wishes.

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@kathyjjb

I found this study very interesting. It looks at the use of the herb Coptis Chinensis in increasing the susceptibility of certain antibiotics (or decreased MIC's) for Mycobacterium Abscessus.

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Thanks Kathy - this is a preliminary study - outside the body. I have been searching for any more recent that show effects within the body.
The bad news is - nothing new that I can access.

The good news is that this herb, also known as berberine, seems to have good effects at enhancing the effects of several antibiotics against a number of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

The even better news is - this appears to be a safe herb, probably worth trying as an adjunct therapy with the consent of your doctor.

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@wolfplanetzero

Thanks Kathy. Coptis is in the berberine family, which might be easier to find in the west. The study authors concluded that coptis or berberine should be equally effective when paired with antibiotics. Peace and best wishes.

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Thanks wolf planet, good to know! The next time I replenish my Chinese herbal supplements; I will talk to the herbalist about it.

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@sueinmn

Thanks Kathy - this is a preliminary study - outside the body. I have been searching for any more recent that show effects within the body.
The bad news is - nothing new that I can access.

The good news is that this herb, also known as berberine, seems to have good effects at enhancing the effects of several antibiotics against a number of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

The even better news is - this appears to be a safe herb, probably worth trying as an adjunct therapy with the consent of your doctor.

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I certainly plan on trying it (if and when I need to go back on antibiotics) and I will also send a copy of the study to my NJH doctor. Yes, human studies would be ideal. A side note: before I went to NJH, I was thinking that Imipenem is the drug that I wanted in my drug choice. My local ID doctor told me that my MABs was resistant based on S/R/I testing in the lab. Since talking to the NJH doctor, she would have put me on Imipenem. I learned that Imipenem does not stay active long enough in any lab testing medium, to determine its efficacy. So, if and when I need the horrible 3, I will take imipenem and hopefully c. chinensis or maybe berberine. From what I read, berberine is the main alkaloid compound of c. chinensis, at least that is how it was described in other studies. My Chinese herbalist will definitely know or his partner (who has 2 PhD's in eastern medicine and an MD).

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