I just posted an answer to a question from a Member, asking about our new thinking on antibiotics and immunopathology. Here is my answer, as I think it will help clarify some misconceptions:
"It is advantageous to progress to the Mino + Zith + Clindy combination as soon as possible"/ is still a correct statement. What has changed is that we now understand that creating excessive immunopathology by ramping the antibiotics too fast is not especially helpful. So we are really urging people not to push the immunopathology so hard.
Remember that a healthy person gets no immunopathology at all from M+Z+C, and this is also the end-point of recovery.
As people gradually recover they can tolerate the antibiotics without generating so much immunopathology
That is the goal - to maintain tolerable immunopathology, and not to push it too hard...
You still need all the antibiotics - it is just best to take them when they don't "hurt so much". And as time goes by, and their sensitivity drops during recovery, they will be able to add more and more antibiotics.
The key is to maintain a functioning individual, not one disabled by IP.
Once somebody has a functional (even partly functional) immune system, I have seen no indication that reducing the level of immunopathology actually terminates recovery. Whether antibiotics have to be reintroduced early or late depends on the state of the partly-recovered immune system.
Most of our cohort are pushing their antibiotics too hard. But those whose IP drops back to near-zero with Benicar alone will need to add back in some antibiotics. And as time go by, and their sensitivity drops during recovery, they will be able to add more and more antibiotics.
There is little chance of reaching stage 5 until after you have been able to tolerate the phase 2 antibiotics. Further, there is no chance of entering Stage 6 (recovery) until after you have lost all sensitivity from the antibiotics, i.e., you can guzzle them like a healthy person does.
Stage 5 is when the immune system is starting to take over the job of killing bugs from the antibiotics. Unfortunately, it sometimes does this with gusto, leading to unexpected (and largely uncontrolled) immunopathology.
The immune system killing can start to occur very early in the protocol, but when it is really late it comes by surprise, and then it can be dangerous, if it is unexpected.
The key is to only use the MP antibiotics when one's own immune system is not able to keep up a good pace of killing with the aid of Benicar alone. The other half of the puzzle is trying to make sure that the symptoms one is experiencing without antibiotics actually is bug-killing and not hormonal imbalance, etc.
The problem here is whether a Th1 patient can discern the difference between immunopathology and disease symptoms. Because as long as immunopathology is being generated, the body is working to get rid of the pathogens. Some people are unable to properly sense immunopathology, however.
Even intelligent people cannot necessarily trust their own instincts to understand, or deal with, immunopathology.
* We can help you understand chronic disease, but only your physician is licensed to give you medical care * Always consult your physician before commencing or changing any treatment he/she has prescribed for you
