I've been on Doxy 100mg x 2/day for 3 months. Have been improving and overall doing better. I'm was mostly neuro symptoms with numbness, vibrations and ear noise the main stuff.
After 3 months I'm better BUT I still get occasional numbness and twitching. Could live with these things however I am on abx when having them so who knows what would happen if I went off abx.
In researching, etc, I see many feel 400mg x 2/day of Doxy is better. So I tried this on my own last Thursday - how bad could it be, right?
Yes, well not good at all!! I came down with a terrible headache within hours that won't go away. Base of my skull, mostly on the right -kinda feels like a nail has been shoved in my head at my neck.
Kinda feel like swollen glands on both sides of my neck, too. Nausea.
Twitching came back in my legs and I had 2 fingers feel numb again. All within hours of taking a double dose.
I only lasted 3 days on the 400mg/day. Kinda scared me and like I said, I did it on my own, not on my doc's suggestion. Yesterday I went back to 200mg. Seeing my doc on Wednesday to discuss.
Twitching is subsiding but the headache!!
I'm discouraged. I thought I was doing so well.
Do you think I would get cured on 200mg Doxy even thought it maybe would take longer? At least I'm not so sick on 200.
Or is 400mg required to really get rid of this bacteria?
My head is killing me, literally and figuratively.
Thanks.
~webmeg
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
webmeg, maybe you can discuss with your doctor doing a pulse schedule of 200 mg a day one week, next week slamming it with 400 mg a day.
Even 200 doxy a day, with amox 3000mg, ampicillian and zpack thrown in the first several weeks was not enough to nip it in the bud for me. I was at my PCP office 10 days after the flu-like illness from hell started. He suspected lyme and tried.
Come to find out 5 years later when I remembered I had been having knee pain and corpral tunnel issues off and on for 6-12 mths prior to flu-like illness from hell. I was chronic by then.
Pam
Posted by yanivnaced (Member # 13212) on :
quote: 400 mg a day is the recommended dose for adults with no extenuating circumstances.
Anything less is thought to just drive Bb into hiding to come out and play another day.
Are you saying that low dose Doxy drives spirochetes into cyst form? I heard somewhere that low dose Doxy would alter the spirochete's genetic makeup or something and not necessarily drive them into cysts. I'm not sure though ... anybody?
Posted by webmeg (Member # 13647) on :
Since I have been improving on 200mg/day I thought that was a good thing? Most of my symptoms were gone or much less.
But since I still had little things I thought I would try 400mg not expecting such a strong reaction.
Does my improvement on 200mg/day mean anything?
Or the fact that I got so sick so fast on 400mg means I've actually made no progress at all?
Thanks for any input ~webmeg
Posted by onthemend (Member # 13454) on :
Meg, we've talked before. We must have met the same tick. I have the same pain - just on right side, back of neck coming around to glands - it is so painful - really bad. It can go on and on. Just like a nail, as you said. I have been told it's the lymph system back there. So then I'd say - you must be killing a lot of Lyme which your lymphs then need to clear out. So it's a good (bad?) thing? But I understand what you're saying. Check it out with your LLMD.
I think with 200 mgs you kind of 'halt' the process - that's how it felt to me - but 400 mgs got me a lot closer to my 'old' self.
Before I went up to 400, my LLMD asked me to try 300 first. The pulsing idea is a good one too.
Good Luck -
otm
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
Sounds like you Herxed big time and backed off. I think both ways sounds good.
Posted by bestblondemom (Member # 14103) on :
My doctor has me going up slowly. It has made a big difference. I can tolerate the herxing easier. When I was at high levels I thought I would die. The LD told me that I don't have to be so miserable. I still have to live a life and take care of my kids. Before I was in bed for 6 months. It was awful. I like going slower personally.
Posted by webmeg (Member # 13647) on :
Any thoughts on how long a Herx headache like this might last, especially since I backed off the Doxy yesterday?
I've not had a headache like this before. It's making me feel a bit nervous. I hope it's just a herx.
Thank you all for the support on this rather rough day.
Posted by lymebytes (Member # 11830) on :
Make sure to drink a lot of water and hopefully it will wash the excess out of your system faster. Doxy has a fairly long half life up to 22 hours - that means 44 hours and it should be out of your system.
I just did the same thing you did...I was doing fairly well on Amoxi/Biaxin - tolerable pain, but one of my LLMD's felt the need to amp things up and I did 7 weeks of Bicillin IM, I have never herxed so hard and Bicillin lasts for 28 days in the body! I stopped nearly 2 months ago and am just now getting back to where I was, but I know in my heart with a herx that severe that orals have likely pushed the LD deep into my body and the injections really surprised them and nearly put me into shock...no more of that. I would like to go back to Bicillin, but at half the dose.
I am from the old school of LD - hit it hard, hit with high doses and herx like hell. But no more of that, I literally feel injured herxing like that, slow and steady from now on - or forget it!
Hope you feel better soon.
Posted by sparkle7 (Member # 10397) on :
I tried doxy for I think it was 4 months at 400mg a day.
My doc said it wasn't good to force yourself to bear bad herxes. It didn't help matters.
I switched to another group of abx (twice) & that didn't help much either.
I had pretty bad herxes on & off, throughout.
I'm going to try another approach with the Cowden protocol.
The abx just didn't do it for me.
I do notice that I have the same kind of pain - on the right side of my lower back, shoulders, neck, lymph glands.
Now, it's my scalp! It's driving me nuts.
It's weird how it seems to stay on one side...
Posted by Michelle M (Member # 7200) on :
200 mg = bacteriostatic...inhibits them, makes em in a bad mood.
400mg = bacterioCIDAL.... = KILLS them.
Big difference, as you've noticed.
I think a lot of people continue infected because of ducks' habit of underdosing them. Though sometimes LLMD's have a good reason (ducks NEVER do).
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