Has anyone used the Tic X products from Hilton Herbs? If so, what was your experience?
What is in the supplement?
There are two Tic X options, one for when first diagnosed/infected and one for after they have been treated:
Ingredients (First Response):
Pure tinctures of :
- Indian Echinacea
- Sarsaparilla
- Turmeric
- Black Pepper
- Bilberry
- Milk Thistle
- Meadowsweet
- St John’s Wort
- Pau d’arco
- Garlic
Ingredients (AfterCare):
Pure tinctures of :
- Milk Thistle
- Echinacea purpurea
- Thuja
- Siberian Ginseng
- Golden Rod
- Nettle
- Ashwagandha
- Burdock
- Ginger
That’s not quite right…
According to: https://shop.harmanyequine.com/shop/herbs/tic-x-first-response-hilton-herbs/
“Use Tic X First Response as soon as any infection is suspected”
and
“We recommend alternating between the two Tic X tinctures for long term use, switching every 1-2 months in order to ensure the horse’s system is presented with a regularly changing herb profile.”
What’s interesting to me is that there IS some evidence that botanicals/herbals can have action against Lyme, but none of those things are found in these very costly “treatments.”
So, have you used it?
No, I treat my horses with antibiotics when we have a lyme diagnosis. If I did want to use something botanical/herbal, I’d go with something that’s actually had some sort of research to back it up…there is some stuff out there.
Figured more info here would be helpful, though 
Surprised they’re not using Japanese knotweed. That’s got some pretty decent in vitro evidence of efficacy.
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It’s listed as a “related product” at the bottom of the Tic X page! And so cheap! 
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I’m not trying to replace antibiotic treatment, FYI. Just looking into options for trying to reduce the number of flares in a horse with chronic lyme. Do you have suggestions for other products that do have research backing them up?
Sure, check that link above that lists seven things that are effective on Lyme. It’s just test tube work, but it’s a place to start. It sounds like the knotweed is useful; it’s on that list.
Edited to add…
I’ve also heard good things about the Cowden Program. Info here: https://www.faim.org/cowden-support-program
Obviously it’s people data, but that’s probably all you’re really going to get. I’d spend the $$$ on that instead of the Hilton Herbs stuff, even though there’s still an awful lot of eyerolly “are you serious” that goes with it. At least there’s some data out there that shows it works…
How interesting, this popped up today:
I wonder how a horse would do on that, and how much it would cost to compound? Hey @Ghazzu any thoughts on that?
What an incredibly novel treatment!
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Disulfiram is “Antabuse”.
It interferes with a liver enzyme which metabolizes alcohol, amongst other actions.
I just spent a few minutes poking around pharmacology references and I wouldn’t want to try it particularly.
For one thing, the frequency of Herxheimer reactions in people taking the stuff make me more leery of experimenting with horses. I know it is the pathogen and not the drug, but even so…
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So I ran the disulfiram thing past my SO this morning, when we were feeding.
He’s a semi-retired biochemist, and he used to work in a lab where they were investigating various metabolic pathways for ethanol.
He was horrified.
His exact words were, “the stuff is a poison”.
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That’s really interesting, thank you for looking at it and asking your SO!
It’s just amazing to me the various therapies we find in unexpected places. It sounds like disulfiram has definitely helped some people with their Lyme disease, but in the end, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and it’s always that risk/reward balance!
