iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 28/03/2026

I'd have to look it up! I'm sure my CYP3A4 is generally working pretty hard these days even besides the pomegranate though :/ It's something I generally try to keep an eye out for, but I'm on a lot of things.

000

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 28/03/2026

it seems important for me to be taking!, when you say "help a little"--is there a specific symptom you're asking about?

000

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

This has been a long thread so I'll end it here! I'll try to not let it be 3.5 weeks before the next time I post here :) (I'm idly considering starting a pinned thread of weekly wins and changes or something) Anyway as always please don't hesitate to ask questions if any of this is of interest

020

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

(so it's more difficult for them to find nutrients to live), and - when the bart are left now more free-roaming in your blood *and* your cytokines are being expressed more normally (bart changes them in order to "hide"), your immune system starts better "seeing" them and destroying them itself

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

now that I've put together a full suite of things that hit all the cytokines the book says you need to hit (there's a dozen or so), the bartonella may die off for two reasons: - w/o certain cytokines it is difficult or impossible for them to continue to gain entry to new RBCs or endothelial cells

120

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

even though I've been off the houttuynia for 2-3 weeks now, in the past few days I've been having the same weird smelling armpits like I've had when I'm on an obvious antimicrobial cycle (like the alinia for babesia or houttuynia for bart). My guess is perhaps the book is right--

130

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

One of the things the Buhner book on bartonella talks about is that a lot of bart infections can be cleared simply with an appropriate anti cytokine blockade, and you only sometimes need explicit antimicrobials (like houttuynia, or rx antibiotics). What I've noticed is--

120

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

Other than all those things, I think the only other change I've made in the past few weeks since I've posted here is pausing the houttuynia. My body was *not* handling it well. I hope to go back on it sometime soon, but we're gonna focus on treating a couple intestinal parasites first.

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

- I've also recently swapped out my ursodiol (UDCA) for TUDCA bc of pharmacy fuckery and me being so damn tired of going without prescriptions bc pharmacies can't keep it together (TUDCA is readily available as a dietary supplement) - and I've added hawthorn for my heart :) aka Lil Pumpy

210

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

- EGCG (anti cytokines that are relevant to bartonella) - pomegranate powder (same reason as previous; the juice is too sweet for my current gut situation so I found some de-sugared powder) - beet powder (to help w/ healthy NO production and downregulate iNOS), as well as other high nitrate foods

220

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

I am ecstatic!, I've been wanting to kick it to the curb for months. Even though it was a small dose and it was necessary, I worried about long-term use implications. Again, who knows if it was the skullcap or if it was a combination of the things I've added recently, which includes:

120

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

And skipping that one dose of ativan went so well I just decided to stop it altogether (for those unfamiliar, 0.25mg is a comically small dose; I knew I would probs be able to hop off it fine when my body didn't need it anymore)

120

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

I was taking 0.25 mg BID and we figured it must be helping stabilize my mast cells and somehow reducing inflammatory mediators in my lungs, but we were mostly just rolling with it bc it worked (mostly ish). But I didn't want to take ativan with skullcap so I decided to skip a dose and see

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

The other absolutely wild thing that's either due to the skullcap or a variety of changes I've made recently is I've been able to stop the low-dose ativan I've been on for over a year, since my serious worsening in Sept 2024 It was the only thing that managed my then-onset shortness of breath

120

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

I started the Chinese skullcap last week bc I needed something to manage the *severe* MCAS doom I was being woken up with nightly and was even experiencing throughout the day, too. It helped right away at 1/5th the usual dosing and I'm slowly increasing the dose.

130

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

I didn't find any drugs that I take around the same time as the skullcap that will be a major issue; the ones that use CYP34A at all don't use it primarily anyway (except for amlexanox, which I wasn't able to find CYP info for; please chime in if you happen to know!)

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

I was googling CYP substrates bc a recent addition (Chinese skullcap) is an inhibitor of a specific CYP enzyme, and I wanted to check for interactions with rx drugs that may be problematic if metabolized more slowly The good news is --

160

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 13/01/2026

Hey! I'm sorry for my slow reply, I sometimes go several days between posting/checking on this account. :) I'll DM ya!

010

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 18/12/2025

Previously my physical health/capacity was much too fragile for sauna-ing; I tried it once back in 2024 and my body wasn't having it then. But I've also heard from a number of recovered Lyme patients, plus doctors who know what they're talking about, that once you can tolerate it, sweating helps

040

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 18/12/2025

One symptom that I've come to suspect is "we're killing the bad guys off sir!" 🫡 is my armpits smell very weird, akin to overused/old fryer oil. (🤢) (sorry if TMI but this is a health log account, so I'm logging the health data) I'm wondering if maybe I'm nearing "time to give sauna a try" time 🤔

140

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 18/12/2025

This actually worked pretty well! I was able to stay at 3 total daily drops, then increased to 4 for a few days, and today I'm cranking it up to 5 😎 (As: 2 drops in the morning, 1 drop mid-day, 2 drops in the evening)

150

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

Gonna have to start doing a gentle nightly massage on these puppies or something, owie

020

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

So, perhaps a coincidence but also perhaps not a coincidence that my knees and especially my feet are killing me rn 😅

230

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

When I had the residential mold exposure that probably released these assholes from the cage my immune system had previously been keeping them in (via dysregulation of my immune system--mold is some nasty stuff y'all), I was training for and running a half marathon lol

140

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

to gain entry into cells/tissues and set up residence there. So whatever parts of your body were most experiencing inflammation when you were first infected (or when the latent infections were revived) are going to be the most impacted.

140

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

What's particularly interesting is some parts of my body are starting to feel better but my knees and especially feet are still ridiculously achey and sore One of the things that Buhner emphasizes in his books is that lyme and related fuckers like bartonella use the body's inflammatory processes--

150

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

(although, my microbiome consultant says I don't have an overgrowth of histamine-producing species--she thinks my histamine intolerance is more related to general gut inflammation = pissed mast cells. so I wonder if maybe for me it's more about how much exogenous histamine is already in the food 🧐)

060

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

also one of these days I want to test a hypothesis about oysters--since you (ideally) shuck and eat them right away, are they low histamine? like there's not really time for them to start to go bad? or is it like, say, strawberries and they're naturally high in histidine and that's the problem

150

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

the next things I have my eyes on trying to add back in are: - wild-caught and *frozen on the boat* salmon - chickpeas I want more proteins so I can reduce my meat intake bc after almost 5 years of being forced to eat meat I'm really getting tired of it!! (I'm pescatarian :( )

170

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

I've finally got a use for that meloxicam rx a long ago doctor wanted me to have on hand instead of ibuprofen for "Kate's gut is very inflamed and every bit of gentleness we can give it is a win" reasons I've barely used it til now, but now I'm like oh damn, this is gonna be a lifesaver 😅

020

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 14/12/2025

Recent adding food back in wins: - eggs (!!!), I think I talked about this on my main acct a few weeks back bc I was so excited about it and evidently as of yesterday: - avocado oil is actually ok, turns out - wild rice is ok too

270

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 12/12/2025

I expected my body to throw MCAS tantrums when treating bartonella but what I did not expect was how full-body sore and achey I am 😮‍💨 owww

130

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 11/12/2025

The best strategy depends on lots of factors: the herb/drug itself (how fast it's absorbed and metabolized), what it's actually doing in the body (killing stuff off or reducing inflammation or something else), and your personal body's needs/quirks. Just gotta trial and error your way through 💪

010

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 11/12/2025

Anyway I wanted to post about this to remind folks that when building up a dose--you have strategy options! If you'll be taking it more than once daily, you can either build up your one dose tolerance then add other daily doses, or you can start small on all of the daily doses and build from there

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 11/12/2025

me trying to not lose ground on building up my herbal anti-bartonella dose: (I'm feeling very "you shall not pass!" about it, like no, I am not reducing the dose, you motherfuckers are going to die even if you and my body kick and scream about it the whole way.)

media.tenor.com

a wizard is holding a magic wand in front of a fire monster

Alt: The Balrog swinging around its fire whip while Gandalf, very small by comparison, holds his ground with a lighted staff

130

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 11/12/2025

So what I'm trying today is simply splitting the 3 drops of tincture that I was up to, into thrice daily 1 drop doses. I'll see how that goes today--I really hope to be able to hold the line on my daily total dose and wonder if this might be the ticket.

210

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 11/12/2025

Since houttuynia has well-established anti-inflammatory properties beyond killing certain infections, I'm wondering if maybe what I'm experiencing this morning is a sort of interdose withdrawal. I do think last night's hot flash was herx though, so I don't want to increase my dose yet--

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 11/12/2025

I had originally planned to get my once daily dosing built up a little farther, then start building up the other daily doses. But I wonder if part of what I'm experiencing this morning is possibly the unpleasant part of a boom-bust cycle with the once daily dosing of the houttuynia--

100

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 11/12/2025

I've decided what I'm going to try today is the following: I've been working up from a very tiny starter dose to what the "cruising altitude" dose should be. I'm only up to 5-10% of the full dose. I'm also working from once per day to three times per day. (1/few)

130

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 03/12/2025

tl;dr - your best bet is usually to use whatever binder is best for what you're trying to help shuttle out of your system, and make sure to give it a wide berth in your daily meds timing so it's far enough away from other things

010

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 03/12/2025

s. boulardii is a probiotic yeast that doesn't gobble up nutrients or meds and binds to some things chlorella is also a decent alternative, again, depending on what you're trying to target; I think there are some medications it should still be taken away from though

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 03/12/2025

fwiw my personal experience is that 1 hr seems to be sufficient. If you want ideas for binders that *don't* need to be taken away from meds/meals, there are some but they may or may not be tailored to what you are trying to bind specifically. --

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 03/12/2025

Yeah activated charcoal can be a sledgehammer. I like G.I. Detox+ from Biocidin -- it does have some activated charcoal but it's a mix of different things so it's decently broad spectrum. I'd still recommend taking that away from meds, some providers say by 1 hr, others say by 2 hrs --

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 03/12/2025

realizing I haven't explained the whole Phases thing here yet -- I'll do my best to return to do that tomorrow!

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 03/12/2025

this is maybe going to be a lil pause & reset thing I have to do every so often as we're killing my lyme baddies it would be great if I could just get Phase 2 and 3 spinning at perfect cooperative rates but how much I'm processing through Phase 2 is gonna come in waves so that's probs a pipe dream

110

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 03/12/2025

tomorrow's plan: - pause Phase 2 supports (like Glucuronidation Assist), and add milk thistle to slow Phase 2 - psyllium husk to open the lil valve so my bile can go where it's supposed to (to my gallbladder not blood) - binder to help with all the nasty stuff I'm about to dump into my intestines

220

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 01/12/2025

Anyway, that's the latest big catch-up update from me, and hopefully I'll be able to dispatch more frequent, smaller updates in the future. :)

040

Kate's Health Log @healthlog.kateviolette.com · 01/12/2025

I'm pausing the houttuynia for today while I try some things to get my gut moving better, but am already looking forward to restarting it because I think I was getting some nice mast cell control help from it as a pleasant side effect. My muscles were somewhat improved--as evidenced by those walks!

110