A few months ago I had an annual physical. I had a urine
test done and was told I had an infection. I’ll note that this was not an
immediately life-threatening infection, as I’d had symptoms for 13 months
before I did anything effective about it.
By “anything effective” I mean that when I started detoxification protocols about 6 months after the symptoms started, I was hoping that the protocols would collectively resolve whatever was wrong with my body, which I was not certain of at that time. When I first learned about detox, several of the resources I read put an emphasis on parasites, particularly worms, so I got on a kick about those for a while and suspected I had them (which turned out to be false). I was right that I had some kind of parasite, but I had the wrong kind in mind. Looking back I find it disappointing and a bit confusing that the multitude of anti-parasitic suppositories I’ve taken- including a few masochistic garlic suppositories- did not defeat the infection, as these are supposed to be generally hostile towards opportunistic organisms (i.e. fungus, worms, bacteria, viruses. Note that I am using the terms “parasite” and “opportunistic organisms” interchangeably). They indeed did provide temporary relief, but that was it. It may very well be due to the suppositories and to detox in general that I was able to last so long with the infection without it becoming serious. Still, the measures I took were not enough to actually defeat the infection.
The Solution
What did end up defeating it was a combination of probiotics and an antibiotic remedy. When I went in for my physical, I tested positive for the infection. When I went back to the doctor’s office two weeks later, I tested negative.
What I did in those two weeks was take probiotics in the morning, and the antibiotic remedy in the evening. The probiotics I took were GENESIStoday’s plant-based probiotics. The suggested dosage is three capsules per day: I worked my way up to 8-10 per day. The reason for the probiotic is to ensure that your body has enough beneficial bacteria, since a lack thereof is a general drag on your health and will make it harder for you to fight disease. Plus, the more room good bacteria take up, the less room there is for the bad. This particular antibiotic remedy shouldn’t be terribly harmful to good gut bacteria, but I still like the insurance that comes with taking probiotics.
The key ingredient in the antibiotic remedy is garlic. The garlic and some kind of grain to make the garlic edible without burning yourself is all that is essential: I used both brown rice and steel-cut oats.
To make the remedy, I’d blend together a bulb of raw, peeled garlic and enough cooked rice or soaked oats to fill a soup bowl (think of the restaurant sizes: not a cup of soup, but a bowl). I prefer a smoothie-like consistency: drinkable, but thicker than water (if you add water, use only a little). I would also cook a bowl of rice which I’d keep unblended, and to eat/drink the smoothie I’d pour it over the rice, in increments, and eat the rice covered in this savory garlic-sauce. This did burn a little bit, so the more grains you blend into the remedy, the better.
I’ll note that what I listed above is what I recently did to stop a cold in its tracks, meaning I had symptoms for only a week and never reached the point of having congestion (I never got past the initial sore throat stage). When I had the infection a few months ago I tried a number of variations of the above, but they’re superfluous. Basically, don’t use more than two bulbs of garlic per “smoothie” unless you’re masochistic, and if you want to minimize the number of grains you eat you can try eating your antibiotic remedy with fatty foods like avocado and peanut butter instead. Additionally, for extra spice you can add more ingredients to your antibiotic remedy such as apple cider vinegar, onion, and ginger. If you want some sweetness in your garlic sauce, you can blend in dates.
Also, I got this garlic from the organic vegetable farm I worked on at the time. This garlic was far more potent than the sad, tasteless specimens found at the grocery store.
Where did the Infection Come From?
Looking back on the circumstances of my life, I’m still not certain how I got the infection. I’d had symptoms for about a year at that point, and there was no possibility of it coming from another person via intimate contact (which this particular infection can be spread by, though not necessarily so. The infection I had was Group-B Streptococcus, which many people supposedly carry but not in a way that is harmful to them at all. It was a problem for me, however, since I had symptoms).
The most likely cause I could think of was that, right around the time I started having symptoms a year before, I drank a substantial amount of water from a questionable-looking lake deep in the woods (because I, in a rush, left my water in the car, and I had nothing to boil the lake water in). While I was sleeping later that night, I woke up feeling very hot (not in the good way), even though I was camping and it was maybe 50 degrees F outside. I did a few minutes of deep breathing and I soon felt well enough to fall back asleep. I’ve considered that that was the infection coming on. I suspected that at the time, which is why I did the deep breathing: the Wim Hof method has been shown to kill infections within a short span of time (i.e. minutes). Perhaps I beat the acute infection, which could have been ugly, but I was left with something low-level and chronic.
Of course, I might have just come across a malicious toilet seat somewhere around that time. Curse you, public restrooms…
In either case, the whole thing seemed rather bizarre to my mind- particularly that I had an infection for a whole year- but I couldn’t deny the discomfort I’d had for that span of time, which started around that day I went camping. I also couldn’t deny that the discomfort disappeared after using the remedy that I did and finally testing negative for the infection. My doctor told me it was indeed possible to have the infection that long, and without anything serious to my health happening; but, if I continued to neglect it, it could eventually become a danger to my life. I can accept that explanation.
Anyway, there’s a prescription of antibiotics sitting on my dresser, unopened. I think it will stay that way.