May be off-topic but I’d like to reach out for some guidance. Fifty-five-year-old recovering alcoholic. The survivor of serious MVA that resulted in the above-the-knee amputation of her right leg. Spent years bedridden, but about three years ago after getting sober able to obtain a prosthesis and started walking. Left knee became very painful with arthritis and she opted out a little over a year ago. Never healed properly and we now know is was because of a MRSA infection in that knee. Spent the last nine months in treatment with antibiotics, which are not working. Infectious disease doctor is giving her one last round of penicillin-based antibiotic before recommending amputation of her remaining leg. Unfortunately she’s allergic to penicillin and having a bad reaction to it. Contacted me for help.

Chris Kresser:  Okay, yeah so I would definitely suggest a book, if you’re not familiar with these herbs already, called Herbal Antibiotics by Stephen Buhner, and so Buhner is B-u-h-n-e-r. And he talks about herbal alternatives, specifically for MRSA, that can be quite effective for things like cryptolepis and sida and alchornea, Bidens, they’re not botanicals that are commonly known, but they can be quite effective.

Sylvia, our daughter, a couple years ago, we were out in Point Reyes and staying somewhere out there and she got bit by a mosquito. And she was young enough that she didn’t really have good impulse control and so she was, it was itching, it was on her face, and she was scratching a lot. And she scratched it so much that it created an open wound and that wound got infected with MRSA. And we were able to treat it successfully by making up a salve with the MRSA herbs Buhner recommended in his book. And just applying that salve along with manuka honey, which is great for wound healing, several times a day, which was fantastic. She didn’t have to take any oral antibiotics or any topical antibiotics. So they can be really effective. I’m not sure whether they would be in this situation because that sounds like it’s a pretty intense infection. But it can be worth a try if the the alternative is losing a leg entirely.