Hello! Linsy here, and I’m back to answer another fantastic LTYG reader question!

This week’s question reads:

“How long should I take an anti-pathogen? What factors aid in determining how long to continue the oregano oil protocol or when to stop it – temporarily or otherwise?”

In short, you will have to listen to your own body wisdom and/or work with a holistic practitioner, as each person has different tolerance thresholds.

That being said, if you are not yet aware of your threshold it is best to either seek professional guidance, or as I always say, start LOW AND SLOW. This means start with a very small amount, or very low dosage, less frequent and slowly work your way up based on your body’s tolerance levels until you find your threshold.

While I am not a doctor, I will share with you my experiences (under the care of my practitioners and coaches) in hopes they provide you with some ideas as to where to start:

From my blog post, Anti-Pathogen Treatment: The Fundamental Way to Heal Your Gut!, I speak about the need to cycle on and off anti-pathogens from Jini’s protocol. If you haven’t read this blog post yet and are interested in incorporating an anti-pathogen into your healing journey, I HIGHLY recommend you check it out!

In this blog, I mention how often you should take anti-pathogens really varies, as it depends on the severity and your stage of healing. If you go by the slow-and-low suggestion I mentioned earlier, it could take you a year to build up to a therapeutic dose… or you could get there in one day with no issues at all. For myself, it took me quite a while to build up to a therapeutic dose. Everyone is SO different, so it’s best to start slow and listen to what your body needs.

What’s most important, however, is the need to cycle on and off anti-pathogens. You won’t be on an anti-pathogen treatment every day for the rest of your life – and in reality, you should only use an anti-pathogen until the infection is gone. It is not intended for long-term, everyday use, but sometimes our gut is so full of toxins that it takes more than just one cycle to sweep out all the “bad guys.” This is where cycling begins.

Per Jini:

“You can cycle on and off as needed because you may have a bacteria/fungal hybrid that has a dormant/active life cycle – this can take up to 3 years to clear completely.”

In addition to the dormant life cycles, I think it’s important that your body gets a break to detox the pathogens. So, taking time off treatments allows this.

Since cycling is important, it’s best to work with your doctor or coach to determine what will work best for you and your situation. Here are a few different ways I approached cycling during my healing.

Cycling On & Off of Anti-Pathogens

#1.) Two days on, one day off

This is a brilliant method my coach taught me that is simple but still gives a break in between for that cycling, as well as a break for your body to process and detox properly. This worked well for me for quite a while!

In this scenario, you would take the anti-pathogens for two days, then stop completely for one day, then repeat. I did this for a month straight sometimes, if I tolerated it.

#2.) Three to four weeks on, then stop completely.

This is basically one month on and one month off. It’s important you stop at a month maximum because your body needs a break – and you don’t want to build up resistance to a certain anti-pathogen.

#3.) Two weeks off, two weeks on.

This breaks up the month nicely, allowing breaks in between for the dormant cycles and our body to process.

The Importance of Dosage Level

How you approach cycling also depends on the dosage you’re taking. If you are taking a high dose – like 15 plus drops multiple times a day, for example – then a month on that dosage is probably overkill. In this situation, I personally would probably do the 15 drops two days on, then two days off for only one to two weeks. Again, just because these are high doses – but these are just suggestions from my journey, so do what you feel is best, or what your practitioner or coach recommends!

If you’re starting low and slow, generally you can be on anti-pathogens for a longer time than those who can tolerate higher doses.

You can see there is a lot of wiggle room depending on your body, so let your body guide you. Based on your symptoms, usually, you will know very quickly how much is too much or when a break is needed.

I always took a break off when my symptoms or HERX got too intense, even when using binders and ensuring my detox pathways were open. It’s a fine line between pushing it a bit and pushing too hard, so don’t go too fast and end up making your symptoms worse!

Taking Breaks With Anti-Pathogens

There is no right or wrong way here – the only important thing is to take breaks. Again, for three reasons:

#1.) To allow your body to properly detox the pathogens out.

#2.) Breaks allow the bacteria/fungus/viruses dormant/active cycles to happen so you can effectively treat them.

#3.) So you don’t build up a tolerance to one anti-pathogen, making it ineffective.

Jini says that many people (especially those with stubborn infections) prefer to alternate between olive leaf and wild oil of oregano. They feel this is a more powerful approach so that the pathogens don’t get used to one substance.

So, this is another great suggestion! Instead of breaking up using just the WOO, you can also try taking those breaks and then switching the anti-pathogen you’re using to keep the bacteria, virus, fungus, etc. “on their toes” so to speak.

Just a reminder, though, that whenever you introduce an anti-pathogen, start slowly to make sure your body is ok with it. Then you can build up your dosage until you eventually have two great forms of treatment – WOO and olive leaf!

You can find both the WOO and Olive leaf in our shoppe:

Wild Oregano Oil
Olive Leaf

Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope that you found this information and my experiences helpful, and that these suggestions can help steer you towards a protocol that’s a great fit for you.

So now I want to ask you, the LTYG community, if there are any specific questions you want to be answered? Is there something you are struggling with? Let me know so we can share our experiences with you, and help support you along the way!

Until next time, happy healing – and remember to always listen to your gut!