[ 10. October 2005, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: Red Deer ]
Posted by lymster (Member # 5964) on :
Hi RD:
Welcome to this site, it's a great site and literally save my life a year and a half ago.
You need to find an LLMD ASAP, 200 mg of doxy per day it is not enough. I am not a doctor but not everybody gets IV'S- piclines, etc. I have been under treatment for one and a half year and only had done orals with great success. My tx started with doxy but a 300 mg p/day along with 500 mg of zithro; then later on I added mepron, levaquin, bicillin and some other ones. I was taken out of doxy after 6 months on it because of stomache problems, 2 weeks after quiting the doxy my tummy was fine.
My first months on tx were misery, I felt worse than ever.
I will check your post on finding a doctor, if you are on the west coast I can give you the info of my LLMD.
Please read the newbie links by treepatrol (second post on medical questions), they are a fountain of incredible info.
Take care, hang in there. Lymster in WA
Posted by hatsnscarfs (Member # 6562) on :
Yes, you need an LLMD. 100mgs doxy bid is not enough.
I was on the same dose for 4 months. It was very hard on my stomach and made me extraordinarily sun sensitive. It also did not kill enough Lyme.
I got an LLMD twho switched me to tetracycline 1,500 mgs day. This was much stronger but easier on my stomach. By brain fog lifted within days and I started to improve. Horrendous Herxing the 3 & 4th weeks but steady improvement after.
IMO Doxy is hard to tolerate even at the inadequate dose.
Welcome to LymeNet.
hatsnscarfs
Posted by Rubicon (Member # 7919) on :
I had my first appointment with LLMD last Thursday. Prior to that I had been on Doxy (200 mg a day) for 3 weeks without improvement or herx.
My LLMD says it's very difficult to prescribe enough Doxy to effectively kill the bacteria because it's so harsh on the stomach.
He recommended tetracycline (1500 MG or 2000 MG) depending on weight instead of doxy.
I started with 1500 MG on thursday and I'm already herxing just like I did with IV rocephin.
Good luck and I hope this helps.
Posted by lou (Member # 81) on :
What you will find when you ask people about abx, is that the response is quite variable. I did not have any stomach distress with doxy. The sun problem was the worst with this drug, but fall coming on now, so that one will disappear.
Lyme can affect the stomach. What you perceive as plain old stomach aggravation from drug, may instead be doxy working on lyme in the stomach, herx in other words. Maybe this is it, maybe it isn't. Very hard to make definitive statements.
About the lower dose.....if a low dose is intolerable, then increasing it will be worse! Some docs start people out on a lower dose in order to avoid an intolerable herx in patients with no previous treatment and a possible high germ load. So, although higher doses are recommended, it is not unusual to ramp up. Don't know if this is what your doc is doing.
It is also possible that another drug might be worth a try. Very hard for us to make these judgements, and second guessing docs can be iffy. Not a lot of firm ground on tickborne disease treatment. The reason doxy is frequently the first drug of choice is that it hits both lyme and ehrlichia, while other drugs do not. Even if you tested negative to ehrlichia, this is not conclusive, as all these tickborne germs seem to have more varieties than can be tested for.
Good luck. Have you found a support group in your area?
Also, a lot of stuff in the archives, so finding that little search button is a good thing for a newby to do.
Posted by Boomerang (Member # 7979) on :
We just saw Dr. C last week...and he has started my husband on 200 MG of Doxy twice a day.
We are still pending test results. Supposed to have them back in a couple of weeks.
I'm surprised to read some here disputing the Doxy dosage?
Doesn't it start out slowly......?
Thanks.
Posted by Red Deer (Member # 8006) on :
[ 10. October 2005, 10:29 PM: Message edited by: Red Deer ]
Posted by groovy2 (Member # 6304) on :
Low dose of doxi is not very effective-- I was on 200mg for first 4 months I did ramp up-600mg aday-- Much more effective--
If I had it to do over again- I would start with higher dose-- I feel low dose lets germs get used to doxi--