Are there any areas in the US...particularly the N.E. and states bordering Canada....that use single 200mg does of Doxycycline following a tick bite ?
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Yes. A number of years ago, that became the IDSA guideline that U.S. doctors were told to follow. So, my husband's doctor prescribed just that for him following a tick bite.
This happened in Maryland.
I complained that I wanted him to have more and his doc then gave more. But, he was a very accommodating doctor who did not take insurance.
A run of the mill doctor would not have accommodated us. It would have been just the one pill and that was it.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by Annelet: Are there any areas in the US...particularly the N.E. and states bordering Canada....that use single 200mg does of Doxycycline following a tick bite ?
- Sadly yes... dooming many to pain and misery for many years to come.
Posted by Alisandne (Member # 27304) on :
That was my experience last year (in the northeast) when I got a tick bite on the back of my neck. My doctor was on vacation, and the physician taking his calls would prescribe only two pills.
I told her I'd been through this before, and wanted more, but she refused. I now know I could have gotten more just by going to an urgent-care center, but I let the matter drop, possibly because I was tired of dealing with so many tick bites.
Anyway, I'm still paying price because neuro Lyme symptoms came from that tick bite, I'm pretty certain, and they're still hanging on.
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
Sadly, I have heard of it. They wouldn't think of prescribing one day of meds for strep throat or any other bacterial infection, I don't know why they think it's a good idea for Lyme.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Yes. In my state, the state medical board's motto and directive to MDs is "no lyme here" [and you will loose your license if you question that]
yet, once in a while if a brand new bulls eye is presented, I have heard of patients getting just one pill of doxycycline.
More often, though, even with a glaring CDC positive, the state has asked doctors to take back a lyme diagnosis, just saying they were wrong and drop it.
Spring boarding from Six Goofy Kids' comment above about strep treatment (and they always say "finish all this Rx" with strep):
Controversy continues to fuel the "Lyme War" - Clinical Advisor, 2007
[section] Treatment dilemmas . . .
. . . Borrelia burgdorferi has an in vitro replication cycle of about seven days, one of the longest of any known bacteria.
Antibiotics are most effective during bacterial replication, so the more cycles during a treatment, the better.
Since the life cycle of Streptococcus pyogenes (the bacterium that causes strep throat) is about eight hours, antibiotic treatment for a standard 10 days would cover 30 life cycles.
To treat Lyme disease for a comparable number of life cycles, treatment would need to last 30 weeks. . . . -
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- And then there is the ridiculous mono-therapy that can create the foundation for chronic lyme. Multiple Rx of different classifications are required to help address the different forms of borrelia.
Such combinations often also require rotating depended upon the individual patient and the mix of vector borne infections they are managing. Because lyme nearly never travels alone.
I think it's also essential to add protective measures such as probiotics (to help prevent fungal overgrowth) . . . liver support, etc. -
Posted by groovy2 (Member # 6304) on :
One doxy pill and You are Doomed to being sick because this is Serious illness and not a joke -
Knowing what I know now I would rob a pharmacy to get medicine needed to stop from being sick- Seriously-
Posted by unsure445 (Member # 15962) on :
Its sort of standard procedure where I live but many PCP's won't even prescribe the two pills; just say to keep an eye out for flu-like symptoms. Its crazy!
My first llmd, many years ago, said he thought the two pills probably did something for some people otherwise the number of sick people would be much higher than it already is.
Who knows...
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- unsure,
the "number of sick people" is higher than they admit since they just diagnose other things instead and don't see those as lyme. The other things are also not thought so highly of (i.e. "fibromyalgia" "CFS" etc.)
or the seriousness of their varied symptoms are disregarded and they are told "just the aches and pains of daily living" or to go out and "just get a life". Many just don't report pain to a doctor for fear of being belittled.
I learned that "well, aren't all blondes dizzy?" back in college when lyme likely started for me.
So, it would be decades before a serious inner ear assessment, even then, my symptoms were so bad - the "worse we've every seen"
so they first though somehow I tampered with their machines, faked it, or "only tipped over when someone was watching me" as one tech wrote in the report
(they never considered that it was the MOVEMENT of the other person and that if nothing moved in my field of vision, I did not tip). I was discredited for many more years in that regard.
I suspect there are many who suffer in silence and shame. -
[ 08-12-2016, 02:58 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posted by Robin123 (Member # 9197) on :
Are you asking this for yourself or anyone you know who's just had a recent tick bite?
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
It's so ridiculous. I was just offered 10 days of amoxicillin for a stye!