Alternative treatments

What is his protocol listed in his book? I have not read his book, but I am very interested in alternative items.

Also interest in this book.

Hi @siliai, @poppins, @kjellis, my name is Nan and I read Stephen Buhner's book and tried his liquid tincture herbs about a year or so ago. He doesn't address MAC in particular but he did talk about mycobacterium a little so I tried the two herbs that were the closest I could find. Shari, @pfists also used these herbal antibiotics and she would probably be a little better at explaining. The two used were bidens and cryptolepis and I purchased them from a good website called Woodland Essence which is one of the websites that Stephen Buhner recommends. I mixed mine with juice and as I remember I did them two to three times a day. I don't have the book with me at the moment but maybe Shari could remember what pages he talks about these two. I think they're used for lots of different ailments. I am free of MAC now (just went to my pulmonologist and infectious disease doctor today actually) but I can't really say what worked and what didn't. I did the big three for one year from 2016-2017 and then after that I did the herbal antibiotics for a few months but that was it and for the past year and a half I have been doing the 7% saline solution. I'm a big believer in that saline solution. I'm also willing to try just about anything alternative. So that's been my experience. Hope that helps. Nan

@nannette Thanks so much for this information.

@siliai Hello. I had pseudomonas in 2016. I was put on inhaled tobramycin for 30 days. That got rid of it as well as the persistent cough I had for ten yrs. I was lucky; some people battle this infection for years, and some even die from it. It is not an infection to play with or take chances on herbs that 'might' work. You can try alternative, but I wouldn't go too long without conventional antibiotics if your symptoms persist or sputem cultures still come back positive after 3 months. You wouldn't want that bug to get too tight of a grip on you. Once knocked out, maybe go on the alternative as a maintenance regimen. Just my thoughts on the matter.

I would use alternative items with the traditional meds and antibiotics as long as there are no problems with interactions. The antibiotics are too important in most cases.

@nannette , I am new to all of this. Can you tell me about the 7% saline solution? Thank you
Glenda
@glendamoseley

@glendamoseley You have to get a prescription from your pulmonologist and when I first started out with all of this three years ago, this wonderful forum is where I learned about it and I had to actually ask my pulmonologist about it because he didn't prescribe it very often. I think it's great to keep your lungs clean and the MAC also doesn't like the 7% solution. There is a link to an article somewhere in these vast number of pages of this forum about a study that was done that watched how mycobacterium behaved in different levels of saline solution. In a 3-5% saline, the MAC hung out but when 7% was introduced the MAC didn't like it. There are others on this site that know more about it than myself....@windwalker is great at explaining things along with so many others. Hope this helps a little. The prescription that I get comes in a box with probably 60 little plastic vials that are sterile and you just open one up and put it in the nebulizer cup and depending on the nebulizer it can take anywhere from 15-20 minutes maybe to nebulize it. Nan

@glendamoseley This is how the inhaled saline can be beneficial. The saline is 7% sodium chloride. It is inhaled as a mist by using a nebulizer. The benefits are that it adds moisture to the phlegm making it thinner and easier to cough up. Phlegm is often very sticky and clings to the insides of your lungs and bronchial tube. Thick phlegm is attractive to mac and pseudomonas. They look for goo to colonize in. It also causes a mild irritation which sometimes will induce coughing. You want that. You want to cough up as much gunk as you can. Did your mom ever tell you to gargle with warm salt water for a sore throat? Well, it is kind of the same concept. You are putting a salt mist into the lungs. The salt kills bacteria or at leadt makes it inhospitable to bacteria. It is good lung hygiene to nebulize saline twice a day. I will pull the saline chart next for you to look at. Back in a minute.....

Still trying to import that chart.