posted
Hi folks, first post here. I'm newly diagnosed waiting to get in to see Dr J in Charlotte.
I have a question re the choice of either tetracyclin, minocin or doxycycline. I see that a lot of people here are on doxy. Then I read Dr.D's opinion in his 2002 paper and he says this about his preference for tetracycline:
"Tetracycline may be more effective than doxycycline simply because of the greater dose, i.e., 100mg of doxycycline twice daily is not equivalent to 500mg of tetracycline three times daily; also, doxycycline is highly protein-bound, compared to tetracycline, which could limit the availability of free drug to diffuse into tissues and cells. Some physicians use doxycycline at doses of 300-400mg daily to try to achieve a successful result.
A strict comparison between doxycycline and tetracycline has not yet been made. Minocycline has also been used by some physicians, with varying success, but faces the same issues of dosage and protein binding."
I know (most of) you are not medical people, but a lot of you have read a lot and gone to conferences. Does anyone care to comment on choosing tetracycline vs doxy vs minocin.
thanks!
Posts: 211 | From NC | Registered: Dec 2005
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mlkeen
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1260
posted
Welcome-
Our llmd is a tetra fan for the reasons you mentioned. It is the first drug he tries, if not allergy exists. Not everyone can tolerate it. I find it easier on my stomach than doxy and with A LOT less sun sensitivity. My personal preference is tetra, having done both. I take biaxin when I'm going to be out in the sun, like the week-ends.
You don't say what types of infections you have. Do you have coinfections? How were you diagnosed?
In general, doxy has been the standard first line "cycline" since it also works against Ehrlichia (another tick-born disease).
That doesn't mean that tetracycline or minocycline don't.
From personal experience, doxycyline was too harsh on my stomach and made my neck break out and scar.
Tetracycline helped for about 6 months maybe working against my ehrlichia and mycoplasma.
Minocycline floored me and still does from time to time. It's been seen to cause severe herxing.
After I've said all of that, you may be rx'd a completely different drug by Dr. J. I'm not sure what protocols he prefers. Once you've seen him, you'll know better what meds you need.
All the best,
Corgilla
-------------------- "I'll never forget good old Whatsisname." Posts: 694 | From PA | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
My daughter and I went to J Clinic for almost 2 years. They LOVE minocin (and Ketek)which gave both of us horrible herxes.
We ended up moving to a new llmd in the fall.
Doesn't happen to everyone; my husband can take it just fine. Maybe something to do with coinfections?
I'm on malarone (for babesia) and bactrim now and am feeling better than I have in years. My night sweats are almost gone. I had previously had two rounds (2 months) of Mepron & Zith and Mepron and Ketek. I had to stop the second round with Ketek because I started to lose the vision in one eye.
My daughter has been changed from IV primaxen to IM bicillin and will start rifampin next month for bartonella. She also cannot take zithromax (anaphylactic allergy), ketek (horrible herx) or biaxin (paralysis).
She also is much beter than she has been in years. (Had a bout of paralysis last spring).
Posts: 132 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
Doxy was very hard on my stomach. My dose was too low and I was getting sicker. I'm not sure my stomach could have handled a higher dose. I was extremely sun sensitive.
Tetra is much easier on the stomach and as soon as I switched from low dose doxy to high dose tetra, my brain fog cleared and I started getting better.
I just went back on tetra after 6 months on Plaquenil/Biaxin. The first few weeks were rough and I felt awful for hours after taking it. Now I'm on my 4th week and feeling good.
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