Lots of people with chronic illness and autoimmune disease have to spend more money than they can actually spare on nutritional and herbal supplements for health maintenance and as part of their treatment plan.
That’s what makes it so crucial for people with late stage or chronic Lyme Disease and coinfections to learn how to save money on Lyme Disease treatment.
On top of that, many have spent countless dollars on medical testing and doctor visits.
Treatment for Lyme Disease and coinfections (the late stage, chronic, PTLDS variety) is notoriously expensive.
If you’re working with a Lyme Literal Medical Doctor (LLMD), Naturopathic Doctor, or Functional Medicine Doctor, you have to pay for multiple visits that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars each and aren’t covered by your health insurance.
Add on the cost of routine lab work and a treatment plan (prescription medication, supplements, and/or bodywork), and you can see how quickly a person might end up in a financial bind where they can’t continue to treat their condition.
Even if you decide to treat your Lyme Disease on your own to save money, perhaps with an established treatment regimen you can buy online, the yearly cost is simply too great for some.
To put it in perspective, below is a comparison of the monthly cost for a few of the most well known regimens for Lyme Disease and coinfections:
- The Cowden Protocol – Banderol, Burbur-Pinella, Magnesium Malate, Parsley, Samento, Sealantro, Serrapeptase, Sparga, Stevia, and Takuna – $350 per month.
- The Byron White Protocol – Practitioners typically have their patients on at least 3-4 formulas at a time, and the formulas cost $75-90 per bottle, which equals $225-360 per month minimum.
- Dr. Klinghardt Biological Lyme Protocol – BioPure CockTail, Cistus Tea, Chlorella, Zeolite, Hyaluronic Acid, Cistus Incanus tincture – $338 per month.
- Dr. Rawls’ Restore Kit – Advanced Biotic, Mitochondrial Support, Adaptogen Recovery, Daily Multi Plus – $242.10 per month.
- Green Dragon Botanicals LB Core Protocol – Japanese Knotweed, Cat’s Claw, Andrographis, Sarsaparilla, and Dandelion – $232 per month.
That breaks down to an average price of $291 per month or $3492 per year, and that doesn’t take into account any other medication or supplements outside of the Lyme Disease treatment, either.
It isn’t an option (or at least not a long term, sustainable option) to stop treatment and let your condition grow worse until you lose your ability to work and become bedbound. So what’s a person to do when they can’t afford the cost of treatment?
One of the BEST ways ways to save money treating Lyme Disease and coinfections is to make your own herbal tinctures instead of ordering prepared tinctures.
This is easiest to do with The Buhner Protocols, because Stephen Buhner recommends common botanicals you can order from any herbal company rather than patented supplements from specific brands.
Let’s compare the cost of the Buhner Protocols for Lyme Disease and Bartonella with homemade herbal tinctures versus prepared tinctures.
Note: I realize some people have more money than energy or time, so if that’s the case for you, purchasing prepared tinctures or a patented supplement line might be your best treatment route. This post is for people who are at risk of going untreated long term because they can’t afford to be treated by a Lyme-literate doctor or purchase a patented supplement line.
For those of you who aren’t into the nitty gritty crunching of numbers, here’s the total cost difference up front:
Homemade tinctures cost for 1.4 years – approximately $286.28 (including the cost of dilute alcohol for extraction, excluding shipping)
Prepared tinctures cost for one year- approximately $4728.36 (excluding shipping)
That’s quite the difference, isn’t it?
How difficult is making your own tinctures, to get such a fantastic deal? Not difficult at all.
You simply fill one-quart mason jars 1/4-1/3 full with your dried herbs, fill the rest with dilute alcohol, shake the jars twice a day for at least 10 days, up to 6 weeks, and then strain. My blog post explaining the process can be found here.
If you’re convinced, you can stop reading here. But, if you’d like to see the cost breakdown, read on.
Before I go any further, below are the herbal companies I purchase from and recommend:
Mountain Rose Herbs
Best for bulk dried herbs, powdered herbs, and prepared herbal tinctures. They offer a huge selection of organic and wildcrafted herbs at the best prices I’ve been able to find anywhere.
Starwest Botanicals
Starwest Botanicals offers similar high-quality herbal products to Mountain Rose Herbs, but they cost more most of the time. For that reason, Mountain Rose is my go-to for bulk herbs, but I’ll order from Starwest if the items I need are out of stock at Mountain Rose. If you want to be sure you’re getting the best deal, definitely take a few minutes to price check!
Herbie’s Herbs
Best for rare, hard-to-find herbs. They offer bulk dried, powdered, and tincture options for the largest selection of herbs I’ve been able to find anywhere. If you can’t find something anywhere else, Herbie’s Herbs will have it. Herbie’s Herbs costs more than Mountain Rose Herbs and Starwest Botanicals, plus their shipping is expensive, so I only purchase herbs there that I can’t find elsewhere.
Hawaii Pharm
Best for alcohol-free glycerin extracts for people who can’t tolerate the alcohol in herbal tinctures (kid friendly!). Their selection is extensive, so you should be able to find what you need. They offer a wide range of tinctures at a reasonable price, too.
If price isn’t a big factor for you and you’d like to support smaller herbal shops with your business, I recommend Woodland Essence, Sage Woman Herbs, and Etsy.
Protocol with homemade tinctures:
Purchase 1/4 lb of each dried herb.
Each 1/4 lb will make approximately 2 (1-quart) 1:5 ratio tinctures, lasting a total of 1.4 years, at a dosage of 1/4 tsp 3x daily. The total cost of the dried herbs is $166.28, excluding shipping.
One batch of 15 (1-quart) tinctures requires 8 (1.75 L) bottles of dilute alcohol to process. The total cost of the dilute alcohol is $120, approximately (Aristocrat 90-proof vodka).
The cost of the dried herbs plus the dilute alcohol is approximately $286.28, for a 1.4 year supply. Dried herb prices do vary slightly from time to time.
Andrographis $8.55
Ashwagandha $7
Cat’s Claw $4.25
Gou Teng $9.85
Chinese Scullcap $10.43
Cordyceps $12.60
Eleutherococcus $5.75
Greater Celandine (added, for neural pain relief) $7.75
Hawthorn $5.50
Japanese Knotweed $8.93
Licorice Root $7.50
Motherwort (added, for anxiety relief, mitochondrial support, and sleep cycle support) $9.50
Red Sage $9.50
Rhodiola $38.75
Sida Acuta $20.42
Protocol with prepared tinctures:
The largest tincture you can purchase from most companies is 8 oz, which lasts 64 days at a dosage of 1/4 tsp 3x daily. So, you’ll need approximately six (8 oz) tinctures per herb, to last one year. Let’s look at the numbers.
Andrographis $43.51 x 6 = $261.06
Ashwagandha $67.75 x 6 = $406.50
Cat’s Claw $59.25 x 6 = $355.50
Gou Teng $43.51 x 6 = $261.06
Chinese Scullcap $43.51 x 6 = $261.06
Cordyceps $43.51 x 6 = $261.06
Eleutherococcus $67.75 x 6 = $406.50
Greater Celandine (added, for neural pain relief) $43.51 x 6 = 261.06
Hawthorn $67.75 x 6 = $406.50
Japanese Knotweed $43.51 x 6 = 261.06
Licorice Root $59.25 x 6 = $355.50
Motherwort (added, for anxiety relief, mitochondrial support, and sleep cycle support) $43.51 x 6 = 261.06
Red Sage $43.51 x 6 = 261.06
Rhodiola $67.75 x 6 = 406.50
Sida Acuta $50.48 x 6 = 302.88
So, $4728.36 for one year, excluding shipping.
Now, let’s add in the cost of supplements that can’t be tinctured.
Vitamin C, 1000 mg daily, $33.92/yr
L-Arginine, 1000 mg 2x daily, $117.78/yr
Quercetin, 800 mg 2x daily, $287.10/yr
EGCG, 400 mg 2x daily, $72.12/yr
Milk Thistle Seed, standardized, 1260 mg, $287.52/yr
$798.44 total
There you have it.
The final cost of the Buhner protocols for Lyme Disease and Bartonella with homemade tinctures is $1084.72 vs. $5526.80 with prepared tinctures.
Making your own is 80% cheaper.
That kind of savings makes a big difference when dealing with any chronic illness or autoimmune disease.
Making our own herbal products has given us the ability to afford to fully treat Lyme Disease & coinfections. Perhaps give it a try and experience the financial benefits for yourself?
This post contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase a product through one of those links, I will earn a small commission that helps me support my family, at no extra cost to you.
Disclaimer: I am not a licensed doctor and do not diagnose or treat disease. Please do not substitute the information in this educational blog post for the personalized advice of your health practitioner.
