List continues from Part 1 LINK. Read all the disclaimers and introduction in Part 1.
Second part of the list of all the remedies and alternative treatments that I have tried to control a fungal infection in the bronchia and sphenoid sinus.
In random order. Let’s begin with a winner:
26 – Boron pills. Boron is large spectrum anti fungal LINK – I believe this could have worked, but sadly it gave me too many side effects, hair analysis months later showed that I had way too much boron in my system, probably from all the borax I used trying to remediate my previous apartment from mold, This may explain why I couldn’t take it, but it seemed to work quite well, and it can probably work for other people. Be careful because it accumulates in the body. In any case, I recommend looking into it, with the proper precautions.
27 – Oregano Oil Pills. Now this was a random experiment. Oregano oil is said to be mostly antibacterial, but articles like this one, evaluating the anti fungal effects of oregano, thyme and clove essential oils, gave me some hope. It didn’t work and made it worse.
28 – Serrapeptase, biofilm buster. I was taking Serrapeptase for Lyme as part of the Cowden protocol, it is supposed to bust biofilms, and it has been shown to be effective against various bacteria do fungi create biofilms? I haven’t found any research on this, and the whole research scene about biofilms is quite recent LINK and there isn’t a lot of material. It didn’t work, made it worse.
29 – Garlic and Garlic pills. Now this did show some potential. I , who could never digest raw garlic, built up a tolerance to half a head of garlic per day. Symptoms definitely reduce for some hours, and it holds the double benefit to work as prevention for parasites. LINK Down sides: it is a bit hard on digestion, and well, socially speaking it’s not a hit. I tried different brands of garlic pills, butthe effect was negligible. I want to share some articles I found about using garlic against Aspergillus and against other fungi. Other, less enthusiastic, sources about garlic as an anti fungal here.
30 – Olive Leaf Extract. Inhibiting 10 molds out of 30 is not a bad result, but for my specific fungus it didn’t work, it made it worse. This article confirms its effectiveness against some Aspergillus species, in vitro at least, Study about olive leaf extract and various bacteria.
31 – Reishi or Maiitake mushrooms. Here is a nice article about the effects of these mushrooms (the study includes Cordyceps which I have never tried ) on cytokine levels, in relation to cancer. My results were mixed. In the beginning I tries pills, and it is possible that the level of mycotoxins (which are in a lot of perfectly edible foods and go undetected by everyone who doesn’t react to mycotoxins) were just too high for me, I had bad reactions, and the fungus got worse. Also making a tea from the dried mushrooms (also Shiitake, a favorite of macrobiotics) had the same effect. Years later I tried different brands and the tea of Shiitake mushrooms helped reduce toxicity symptoms, but didn’t affect the fungus in any way.
32 – Salt. Saline inhalations, made it worse (when they shouldn’t have). One possible reason was because my main symptom (and very unusual with fungal infections apparently) was an extreme dryness in the airways, and salt exacerbated the situation. Saline nasal solution though (the sensitive version, the normal one was too irritating for me) seemed to help soothe the part, but no other benefits.
Still, I was so convinced of the utility of salt inhalations (this is one little article about treating with sale solutions), that I packed up my things and I went to live in front of the ocean for a year.
I understand that is a bit of an extreme solution and not everyone can do it.I forced myself to sleep with the window open to get the maximum benefits. It seemed to work (together with one year of Itraconazole), at least for the lungs, the sinus infection wasn’t affected.
33 – Noni juice. in the first year of nightmare it worked quite well, for a month, sadly once again I had to stop it because of side effects on my liver. A few weeks after stopping it, the fungus came back (at the time it was only in the bronchia).
Fast forward to 2022, when the lungs bronchia seemed clear, I used Noni effectively for a nasty Gram negative bacterial throat infection. and I discovered that holding the juice in my mouth made the fungus in the sinus go silent for a while. Sadly it also darkens the teeth, I suspect permanently, so I am still looking for other solutions.
Taken orally, it had some effect but limited. To follow, some research articles on Moringa Citrifolia, the botanical name for Noni: it is one of the few supplements around that can actually make real damage because of its potential liver toxicity, so it’s to be taken cautiously. About the plant, its uses as an antifungal and antibacterial, as an anti fungal and in cancer research.
34 – Sauna and Infrared Sauna. I had excellent results with one kind of infrared sauna, then I tried other ones and it is possible that the technology / wavelength of the light? sorry this is not my area – was different because it made the infection much much worse. Also the red light lamps that you can buy everywhere to treat pain and mild infections made it worse. I understand that there are different kinds of infrared sauna, but i ignore which kind was the sauna that helped me, or the sauna that made the sinus infection go wild.
Normal sauna (50C-60C) helped me with toxicity symptoms, but didn’t do much with the fungus per se. That was until I tried Finnish sauna of around 100C degrees. That definitely seemed to have an effect on the fungal infection, but again only in conjunction with other treatments not by itself, unlike the first infrared sauna.
35 – Thermal baths. had no effect on the fungus itself, but made me tolerate the supplements and feel better overall because of its intense detoxification effects. Very popular therapy in most European countries since the Ancient Romans, the use of healing waters is also found among Native Americans (hot springs) and many traditional cultures. See my full article on thermal baths here LINK.
36 – Coffee enemas. Coffee enemas are an important pant of Gerson Therapy, a detoxification protocol for cancer LINK. They are supposed to help the liver filter out toxins and increase the production of glutathione. lI didn’t do them for long enough to evaluate their effect. I did them in a period when the fungus was particularly subdued. I will try again and report. Full article here LINK
37 – Ozone therapy and Ozonised oil. I am always very enthusiastic about ozone therapy, even if I am one of the precious few persons that report major side effects (in 8 years I have spoken with only another one). For more detailed information about ozone, I wrote a more in-depth article here LINK.
When ozone hemotherapy turned out to NOT be an option for me, even if it was clearly working against the fungus, I tried ozonised oil, both as a chest plaster for several hours each day, or the dental version to keep in the mouth. I believe these applications of ozonised oil are one of the things that helped me keep the fungus on check for so long . I believe just these applications could have freed me of the fungal infection, except that after a month or so I would get side effects just like from the ozone hemotherapy (too much ozone in my blood?), so I had to stop. There are several reputable brands, but I have been using these ones for external use, this LINK and this LINK. For oral use, this “dental oil” here LINK.
38 – Essiac tea. The almost mythical herbal remedy by Canadian nurse Renee’ Cassie (who admittedly borrowed it by some local native shaman) I started taking it as a detoxifying, but for some reason it kept the fungus quiet for around 8 months (2 of which I spent with Covid). After that, for some reason it stopped working, I still take it regularly to counteract all the toxins created by the fungus. Full article here LINK.
39 – High dosage Vitamin C. Core therapy in the Orthomolecular medicine toolbox, I spent 3 months doing IVs 4 times a week and integrating with liposomal vitamin C every day, to reach around 10 grams per day (more or less the equivalent of 60 grams of powder), I felt much better, possibly because vitamin C binds some mycotoxins like Ochratoxin, but no effect on the fungus. Full article about high dosage Vitamin C and how to make liposomal Vitamin C at home here LINK. Find here an article about orthomolecular medicine here LINK.
40 – high dosage Vitamin D. I started reading about high dosage Vitamin D during the first months of Covid, when various hospitals reported great results LINK, Orthomolecular medicine says LINK haven’t researched it enough to try it, and it has way less margin for error than Vitamin C because of possibly toxic side effects. It is on my list though, because of THIS ARTICLE LINK.
41 – Takuna. Botanical name Cecropia sp, is an antiviral herb in the Cowden protocol, I had to take it for Covid and other viral infections that came up during the fungal infection, it did not affect the fungus either way.
42 – Houyttunia. Well known in Traditional Chinese medicine as Houyttunia Cordata, it s used mostly as an antiviral, but articles such as this made me try it as I already had a bottle at home (again, from the Cowden protocol). No effect either way.
43 – Cistus Incanus. another antiviral with apparently some antifungal properties – no effect and on top of that I seem to be allergic to even a small amount.
44 – Echinacea. I tried to take it for another infection – made the fungus worse. When I researched it, Echinacea seems to have some effects against resistant Candida but as it[s commonly known it is mostly an antiviral and immune modulator.
45 – Grapefruit Seed Extract, I wanted to end this second part of the list with another winner. A relative winner, to be fair, because GSE worked well for some months, but at some point it stopped working.
The list continues in PART 3 here. Find the first part of this list here in PART 1.
