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Doxycycline Hyclate 100 mg twice a day sufficient?
Hi everyone :),
I first wanted to say thank you all for your helpful advice and tips in my last post, I read them all and chose a best answer even though I wanted to choose them all :). I wanted to start a new post cause this is a completely different topic.
I finally met with the infectious disease specialist today and he wants to start me out on some treatment for Lyme disease. He ended up prescribing me 100mg of Doxycycline oral two times a day for two months and wants to see how I'm doing in a month.
I've also had another doctor, kind of a Lyme literate doctor I guess, who I thought was really not ever going to treat me but it turns out he also wants me on 100mg of Doxycycline two times a day.
So it seems that all the doctors I've seen who believe I have Lyme disease prefer to start off with Doxycycline. All my symptoms started in late September of 2012. It amazingly took me almost half a year to get diagnosed and treated so I guess I can assume I have chronic Lyme?
So what I was wondering is Doxycycline 100mg oral twice a day a powerful enough antibiotic to treat chronic Lyme Disease? It seems kind of low to me especially after doing some research? It also seems that Doxycycline at this dose is strictly bacteriostatic (stops bacteria from reproducing but doesn't kill them)? It may be that the Lyme literate doctor is just starting me off on a more tolerable low dose and might increase or change antibiotics later on but that's still unclear.
What do you guys think? Is this the right direction?
Thank you all :D
I first wanted to say thank you all for your helpful advice and tips in my last post, I read them all and chose a best answer even though I wanted to choose them all :). I wanted to start a new post cause this is a completely different topic.
I finally met with the infectious disease specialist today and he wants to start me out on some treatment for Lyme disease. He ended up prescribing me 100mg of Doxycycline oral two times a day for two months and wants to see how I'm doing in a month.
I've also had another doctor, kind of a Lyme literate doctor I guess, who I thought was really not ever going to treat me but it turns out he also wants me on 100mg of Doxycycline two times a day.
So it seems that all the doctors I've seen who believe I have Lyme disease prefer to start off with Doxycycline. All my symptoms started in late September of 2012. It amazingly took me almost half a year to get diagnosed and treated so I guess I can assume I have chronic Lyme?
So what I was wondering is Doxycycline 100mg oral twice a day a powerful enough antibiotic to treat chronic Lyme Disease? It seems kind of low to me especially after doing some research? It also seems that Doxycycline at this dose is strictly bacteriostatic (stops bacteria from reproducing but doesn't kill them)? It may be that the Lyme literate doctor is just starting me off on a more tolerable low dose and might increase or change antibiotics later on but that's still unclear.
What do you guys think? Is this the right direction?
Thank you all :D
Sorry to hear about your daughter's ailment, and good for you for plowing ahead to be the right things are done.
There is no absolute way to know whether a particular MD is following the most up-to-date approaches to testing and treatment Lyme and any co-infections the 'Lyme' ticks may have, so it is good that you are continuing to 'work the problem', as an engineering once explained to me: keep asking questions and thinking over all that has gone on and is going on, and modify your approach as more data comes in.
Doxycycline is said to be effective, but only almost immediately after the infection ... and so many of us never know when we were infected. This knee-jerk response by too many MDs is a problem. That your daughter is also having GI problems is something one would hope the MD would take into account and not just let it go on. There are other (and in some significant ways) better antibiotics against Lyme that might be easier on your daughter's system.
You are right that only some antibiotics are not effective in Lyme, so the trick is finding one that understands Lyme, Lyme meds, and your daughter's sensitivity to particular meds.
Whether in May was the first bite you daughter had is ultimately unknown: many of us (including me and a family member) never saw a tick, never had a rash, just started feeling lousy ... and after seeing 30 MDs, we were finally diagnosed with Lyme and a common co-infection, babesiosis. So one never knows exactly when the Lyme arrived, which changes the medication that is needed: unless treated very very soon after the initial bite, other meds besides doxy are absolutely necessary, but docs who practice 'old think' about Lyme disregard that.
In your situation, I would find a Lyme specialist for a second opinion. You don't need to tell the current doc (in fact, I wouldn't, to avoid problems with the doc if you need him later), but I would find a doc through ILADS, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society. They have a website that can give you names of Lyme specialists near you.
Just now, I search on google for -- chicago lyme -- and got a terrific list of possibilities, including local patient groups and others. Sort through at least the first dozen hits on the -- chicago lyme -- search, and I think you'll find some very good leads.
Not all docs who understand Lyme are ILADS members, and it is not required that they be. It is a voluntary group, and there is no test to know if they meet ILADS approaches ... because Lyme is still being figured out. A bit of snooping around some of the Chicago-area Lyme sites will begin to give you some ideas of who you might want to see.
Note however that Lyme docs *often* keep a low profile about their ILADS-like approaches to diagnosis and treatment, because state and local medical boards who think 'Lyme = sniffles' often try to shut the more enlightened docs down. So be discrete.
... but most importantly, keep on what you're doing, which is to plow ahead and find a doc situation that makes more sense to you. Go for it! and let us know how we can help and how it goes. Take care ... !
There is no absolute way to know whether a particular MD is following the most up-to-date approaches to testing and treatment Lyme and any co-infections the 'Lyme' ticks may have, so it is good that you are continuing to 'work the problem', as an engineering once explained to me: keep asking questions and thinking over all that has gone on and is going on, and modify your approach as more data comes in.
Doxycycline is said to be effective, but only almost immediately after the infection ... and so many of us never know when we were infected. This knee-jerk response by too many MDs is a problem. That your daughter is also having GI problems is something one would hope the MD would take into account and not just let it go on. There are other (and in some significant ways) better antibiotics against Lyme that might be easier on your daughter's system.
You are right that only some antibiotics are not effective in Lyme, so the trick is finding one that understands Lyme, Lyme meds, and your daughter's sensitivity to particular meds.
Whether in May was the first bite you daughter had is ultimately unknown: many of us (including me and a family member) never saw a tick, never had a rash, just started feeling lousy ... and after seeing 30 MDs, we were finally diagnosed with Lyme and a common co-infection, babesiosis. So one never knows exactly when the Lyme arrived, which changes the medication that is needed: unless treated very very soon after the initial bite, other meds besides doxy are absolutely necessary, but docs who practice 'old think' about Lyme disregard that.
In your situation, I would find a Lyme specialist for a second opinion. You don't need to tell the current doc (in fact, I wouldn't, to avoid problems with the doc if you need him later), but I would find a doc through ILADS, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society. They have a website that can give you names of Lyme specialists near you.
Just now, I search on google for -- chicago lyme -- and got a terrific list of possibilities, including local patient groups and others. Sort through at least the first dozen hits on the -- chicago lyme -- search, and I think you'll find some very good leads.
Not all docs who understand Lyme are ILADS members, and it is not required that they be. It is a voluntary group, and there is no test to know if they meet ILADS approaches ... because Lyme is still being figured out. A bit of snooping around some of the Chicago-area Lyme sites will begin to give you some ideas of who you might want to see.
Note however that Lyme docs *often* keep a low profile about their ILADS-like approaches to diagnosis and treatment, because state and local medical boards who think 'Lyme = sniffles' often try to shut the more enlightened docs down. So be discrete.
... but most importantly, keep on what you're doing, which is to plow ahead and find a doc situation that makes more sense to you. Go for it! and let us know how we can help and how it goes. Take care ... !
My daughter got diagnosed with Lymes. The doctor put her on 100mg of doxycycline twice a day. She has to take Zantac with each dose because of terrible GI side effects. He has her on this for thirty days. Do you think this is enough. The earliest she could of got bitten was in May of this year. I was thinking of asking the doctor to switch to Doryx because it's easier on the stomach but I don't know if it's good for lyme's. I live near Chicago and if anyone on here knows of a LLMD please respond. We need help I'm a wreck.
My daughter got diagnosed with Lymes. The doctor put her on 100mg of doxycycline twice a day. She has to take Zantac with each dose because of terrible GI side effects. He has her on this for thirty days. Do you think this is enough. The earliest she could of got bitten was in May of this year. I was thinking of asking the doctor to switch to Doryx because it's easier on the stomach but I don't know if it's good for lyme's. I live near Chicago and if anyone on here knows of a LLMD please respond. We need help I'm a wreck.
Lyme disease and its companion infections are still being figured out by the medical profession. There is much theory in many directions, but still much to be learned. What works for one person may not work for another, so having a wise and nimble MD is most important imo -- the details will work themselves out.
First, I had EXACTLY what you had in July 2012. I got treatment for LYME at 200mg and it worked over time. The person writing you that 200 mg doesn't work isn't a doctor. I went to Daniel Cameron who works with Evi Saphi and is president of ILLADS (lyme association). Please follow the protocol of 200mg. You will feel worse then so much better. Feeling worse means you are herxing. Stay off all sugar, coffee, flour and pasta. It helped me recover. Others that didn't fed the lyme instead of killing it. check for yeast , parasites and ANY COINFECTIONS. May sure a lyme literate doctor runs coinfection tests. Your doctor who is treating you is on the right track.
TREATMENT
As the symptoms indicate, Borrelia can affect every single system in the body. Treatment should include antibiotics to kill the bacteria and also detoxification.
Borrelia bacteria release toxins from their outer coat and as the bacteria die they also release endotoxins which can make the patient feel worse. This is called a Herxheimer reaction and it is very important that the patient understands this aspect of the treatment. The higher the bacterial kill the worse the Herxheimer reaction.
Everyone has a different way of detoxing and if you do not eliminate the toxins, tissue damage can result and recovery may be retarded.
Antibiotics are usually taken for a long time – possibly 2.5 years, especially in chronic Borreliosis. If the majority of symptoms are neurological then intravenous antibiotics are advocated (Burrascano guidelines, 2008).
Treatment with three different antibiotics is required to address the three different forms: Beta-lactam to kill the spirochete stage; tetracyclines or macrolides to kill the intracellular form and the metronidazole, tinidazole and nitrofurantoin to kill the cyst form. Three-antibiotic treatment can also give rise to multiple side effects, so the dose and the frequency needs to be adjusted to the patient’s tolerance.
Given that the patient is sick and will get Herxheimer reactions, coupled with antibiotic side effects, it is an awful state to be in and the person must be monitored by a lyme-literate medical doctor (LLMD).
As the symptoms indicate, Borrelia can affect every single system in the body. Treatment should include antibiotics to kill the bacteria and also detoxification.
Borrelia bacteria release toxins from their outer coat and as the bacteria die they also release endotoxins which can make the patient feel worse. This is called a Herxheimer reaction and it is very important that the patient understands this aspect of the treatment. The higher the bacterial kill the worse the Herxheimer reaction.
Everyone has a different way of detoxing and if you do not eliminate the toxins, tissue damage can result and recovery may be retarded.
Antibiotics are usually taken for a long time – possibly 2.5 years, especially in chronic Borreliosis. If the majority of symptoms are neurological then intravenous antibiotics are advocated (Burrascano guidelines, 2008).
Treatment with three different antibiotics is required to address the three different forms: Beta-lactam to kill the spirochete stage; tetracyclines or macrolides to kill the intracellular form and the metronidazole, tinidazole and nitrofurantoin to kill the cyst form. Three-antibiotic treatment can also give rise to multiple side effects, so the dose and the frequency needs to be adjusted to the patient’s tolerance.
Given that the patient is sick and will get Herxheimer reactions, coupled with antibiotic side effects, it is an awful state to be in and the person must be monitored by a lyme-literate medical doctor (LLMD).
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Dr. Eva Sapi has done a lot of research on Borrelia spirochetes in the lab, and she showed that Doxy triggered many of them to curl up into cysts and become dormant, waiting for the abx to go away. It can be so tricky, because a patient might feel well, not knowing the spirochetes are hiding. Then, a few weeks or months later, they re-emerge and symptoms return.
That's great progress that you now have 2 docs willing to treat you! A good question for both these docs would be to ask for a ballpark of how long you'll need to take antibiotics and see what they say. If one says "3 weeks," I'd go see the other one. I would guess that you'll need several months worth.