Posted by Hillary Thing
on October 27, 2026
Lily, a 41-year-old artist battling Lyme disease, Babesia, Bartonella, and Stage 4 endometriosis, after 2 years of natural healing, confirmed a healthy pregnancy this month, and is feeling great.
Lily discontinued antibiotics entirely 2 years ago and, guided by Hillary Thing LAc. of the Nourishing Life Health Center, transitioned to a fully botanical protocol built around Bloom & Reveal Botanicals' Spiro Upward and other Liposomal Essential Oil Remedies, Chinese herbal medicine, and integrative fertility support.
Most healing stories in the complex chronic illness space are not a straight line, and this was certainly true for Lily.
Her path wound through six years of antibiotic treatment, fertility obstacles, and a decision that many patients navigating chronic Lyme disease are scared to make - stopping antibiotics for good.
This case study follows Lily's full healing arc, from her initial consultation in September 2024 through her confirmed pregnancy in October 2026 and documents how Hillary Thing combined botanical antimicrobials, Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, and fertility care to support both infection recovery and conception simultaneously.
We share this story because Lily's resilience deserves to be told, and because her clinical timeline offers real, actionable insight for anyone navigating tick-borne illness alongside reproductive health challenges.
What Were Lily’s Health Challenges?
Lily is an inspired, multi-talented artist with a complicated health history. As a teenager, she was exposed to toxic dust during the September 11th attacks - an exposure now linked to long-term respiratory and inflammatory consequences for many survivors.
Her history also included a traumatic brain injury and suspected endometriosis, both of which compounded her baseline inflammatory burden going into treatment.
By the time she arrived for her initial consultation in September 2024, Lily was living with a demanding constellation of symptoms:
- nerve pain and twitching sensations in her arms and legs
- persistent brain fog and word-finding difficulty
- disrupted sleep
- fatigue
- low back and hip pain
- anxiety
- poor circulation with cold hands and feet
She had already spent six years managing Lyme disease with Doxycycline and pulsed antibiotic courses and had just finished an intensive round of Rifabutin and nystatin from February through June of that year.
On top of all that, she was also hoping to conceive - and the tick of the biological clock was growing louder.
What Did Lab Work Reveal?
A Complex Multi-Infection Picture
Lily's case was not a simple Lyme diagnosis. IGeneX laboratory testing combined with clinical evaluation confirmed a layered infectious picture, even after the long-term antibiotic regimens:
- Lyme disease (Borreliosis) - confirmed through IGeneX ImmunoBlot IgM testing, meeting IGX diagnostic criteria for B. burgdorferi.
- Babesia duncani - confirmed through positive IgG ImmunoBlot results.
- Bartonella, including B. quintana - confirmed through positive Bartonella genus and B. quintana-specific IgG antibodies.
- Brucellosis - identified through earlier clinical testing, contributing to elevated inflammatory markers.
- Rickettsia/Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) - established through clinical history and evaluation.
This is precisely the kind of multi-infection presentation that makes chronic Lyme disease so difficult to treat with antibiotic protocols.
Each pathogen - Borrelia, Babesia, and Bartonella - behaves differently in the body, and research increasingly supports targeting them individually. Yet herbs and essential oils have much greater broad spectrum effectiveness compared with pharmaceutical antibiotics.
A 2020 study published in Pathogens found that essential oils including garlic oil achieved up to 87% inhibitory activity against Babesia duncani in laboratory models (Zhang et al., 2020). Research in Antibiotics identified oregano, cinnamon bark, and clove bud as showing stronger anti-persister activity against stationary-phase Borrelia burgdorferi than the antibiotic daptomycin (Feng et al., 2018).
Lily's protocol would eventually draw on these botanical compounds, and more.
How did Stage 4 Endometriosis Complicate the Recovery Picture?
Chronic infection was only part of Lily's burden. In February 2025, she underwent laparoscopic surgery that removed nine sections of endometrial tissue, including involvement near the colon and rectum, confirming a diagnosis of Stage 4 endometriosis.
The same surgery corrected kinked and blocked fallopian tubes that had been obstructing conception.
Despite the surgical correction, Lily's reproductive endocrinology team estimated only a 5% likelihood of natural pregnancy.
She had already been trying to conceive for more than a year and a half, responding well to fertility acupuncture and herbs along the way but facing a reproductive system still compromised by years of inflammation and infection.
Why Decide to Stop Antibiotics for Good?
By 2024, Lily had been on and off antibiotics for six years. Her inflammatory markers had improved somewhat but Lily was concerned about the negative effects on gut health, liver function, and overall resilience.
She still had many persistent symptoms and required 100 mg Gabapentin each night to get to sleep.
Lily hoped that a less toxic, more sustainable approach would serve her health goals best - so long as it was strong enough to continue to clear her multi-layered infections.
From that point forward, every phase of Lily's treatment was antibiotic-free.
What Did the Botanical Protocol Look Like, Season to Season?
Lily's transition to herbal antimicrobials was a carefully titrated, multi-month progression.
Fall 2024: Building the Antimicrobial Foundation
Lily started off with the wide-spectrum Lyme and co-infection Core Protocol:
Spiro Upward Essential Oil Liposomal Remedy & Exterminator Herbal Formula (taken as a brew tea).
Given the long history of infection, Biofilm Disrupt by Researched Nutritionals was also added.
Over the next several months, the antimicrobial regimen was bolstered by adding certain single herb tinctures such as Black walnut hull, Cryptolepis, and Sweet Annie (Artemisia/Wormwood) in a rotation.
Her symptoms diminished steadily, though exacerbations of symptoms often occurred pre-menstrually.
She also began therapeutic cannabis oil for sleep support.
Feeling encouraged by the positive improvements, Lily began charting her Basal Body Temperature daily to observe her hormonal patterns.
Early Spring 2025: Titrating Through Herxheimer Reactions
As doses increased, at times Lily experienced herx reactions, the temporary worsening of symptoms that occurs when microbes die off faster than the body can clear the resulting toxins.
This is a well-documented and expected part of botanical antimicrobial treatment, and Hillary adjusted the titration pace accordingly, allowing her body to clear toxins without becoming overwhelmed.
Lily added far-infrared sauna to her weekly routine for added detox support, as well as milk thistle tincture and liposomal glutathione.
During this time period, Lily pursued a deeper understanding of the infertilty issue, pursued specialized gynecological evaluation and underwent surgery for the endometriosis and to unblock her fallopian tubes.
Meanwhile, she began to experience more depression, night sweats, and a UTI.
On the positive side, by this time she had successfully weaned off the Gabapentin for sleep, and relied solely on the cannabis oil as a sleep aid.
Summer 2025: Targeting Babesia and Bartonella
By June, it was time to address deeper layers of microbial infection. Lily's protocol shifted more towards treatment of the Babesia and Bartonella, utilizing the Robust and Lucid Essential Oil Remedies to address those infections respectively. Customization was achieved by taking Robust in the morning, and Lucid in the evening, each at the full dose of 2 Tablespoons.
Similarly, the herbal formula rotated monthly between Liberate for Babesia clearance and Bart None to further address the Bartonella. These formulas were customized to support treatment of the blood stasis, inflammation and pain issues compounded by the endometriosis.
By the end of the summer Lily had reached a new level of strength, reduced pain, and overall health. She could run up a set of stairs, sleep through the night, and was working full time on her art projects.
Her cycle was now 28 days and she could see an LH surge indicating ovulation - but still no pregnancy. She decided in the autumn of 2025 to seek assistance from an infertility clinic.
How Do You Support Fertility While Actively Treating Chronic Infection?
Supporting Lily's fertility required thoughtful coordination between her infectious disease protocol and her fertiltiy plan. Following her March 2026 egg retrieval, she underwent hormonal suppression and ongoing uterine lining tracking to prepare her body for embryo transfer.
In September 2026, as implantation approached, Lily's Lyme botanicals were intentionally paused to reduce any variable that might interfere with the delicate implantation window.
On the day of implantation itself, she received acupuncture, a therapy she had consistently responded well to throughout her treatment journey, alongside a custom-formulated Calm Uterus Brew Tea, built from mugwort, Chinese angelica (dang gui), astragalus, Japanese teasel, and several additional herbs selected to support uterine stability and hormonal balance during this critical phase.
What Was the Outcome? Pregnant and Thriving
Embryo implantation occurred successfully in late August 2026. By mid-October, 2026, Lily's healthy pregnancy was confirmed.
She resumed her Lyme botanical protocol at half dose during pregnancy, reporting that she felt well with no active symptoms, but wanted to be proactive in avoiding recurrence.
What This Case Teaches Us About Integrative Healing
Lily's story demonstrates something that siloed medical care rarely allows patients to experience: that chronic infection treatment and fertility medicine are not mutually exclusive pursuits.
They can be sequenced, titrated, and adjusted together through the help of a knowledgeable practitioner who is willing to track the whole picture - lab results, symptom patterns, hormonal cycles, and reproductive timelines - rather than treating each piece in isolation.
Her case also reinforces a clinical reality worth repeating: antibiotics are not the only path forward for complex, multi-infection Lyme disease.
A well-structured botanical protocol, built around liposomal delivery and layered antimicrobial targeting, can carry a person through infection recovery and support hormonal balance at the same time.
Lily's healing is ongoing, and her pregnancy marks a milestone rather than an endpoint. Her health recovery journey stands as a powerful example of what plant-based healing can accomplish, because it is so supportive of the body’s capacity to heal on every level, when used properly.
Need Guidance?
At our sister clinic, the Nourishing Life Health Center, we offer expert guidance to help you gain diagnostic clarity and a clear holistic treatment plan based on many years of clinical success.
To learn more, reach out and speak with our Patient Care Team at 845.687.6211 or info@uprootinglyme.com.
