Intro + Questions- Doxy, Augmentin

Hi new friends! I just started reading this board about a week ago and have already gained lots and lots of incredible knowledge- so thank you all for the time and energy you've used to make all of this info accessible. It's truly appreciated.

Just quickly about me- I'm 33 and have suffered with about 25 years worth of chronic fatigue/FM symptoms that have rendered me bed ridden at least 50% of the time. Doctors have no idea what to do with me- all drugs I've tried have been unsuccessful and in many cases have made me worse. I'm now experiencing increased neuro symptoms (memory lapses, muscle twitches, crazy insomnia, anxiety, etc.). An acquaintance put me on to the possibility of a lyme/co-infection diagnosis, and from what i've read so far, I'm really starting to believe its a hit. Not to mention the fact that I grew up in a lyme infested area of northern NJ (MANY from my town have been infected...) on 2 acres of grassy/weedy/wooded land where I hiked, climbed and picked berries pretty much daily throughout the spring, summer and fall from age 7 through my teen years. I still regularly hike when I'm healthy enough (though honestly, i'm pretty debilitated these days so it's been a while...) and love the outdoors so reinfection with lyme or a coinfection at some point could definitely have been possible.

I, like most had a negative ELISA and Western Blot from the standard lab. I have an appointment with a llmd on August 1st (thanks acheivinggrace for the recommendation!) who will probably order an Igenex test, but in the meantime I was able to convince my PCP for a 2 week supply of doxy (100mg 2x/day) so i could just "try it" and see if it helps at all. He was in the "I really doubt you have lyme or bartonella... but we've tried everything else so since it's you I'll let you try it. If it doesn't work in 2 weeks it's not going to work" spot. Keep in mind I have just about EVERY symptom on the bartonella list... even the obscure ones like skin spots and bumps on your shins..... but at least he gave me the doxy to try.

So a few questions for you all:

1. How did you feel after starting doxy? what were your first symptom changes? I understand this would be totally different for each person, but i just wanted to get a general idea.

2. My husband was on a few different antibiotics for a nasty throat infection recently. We have about 5 days of augmentin (875-125 2x/day) left over. I know this is occasionally used for lyme/coinfections. Has anyone ever been on this or had any luck with it? Once I run out of the doxy i may try to augmentin until i get to the llmd if it makes sense to try.

That's all for now... I'll definitely have more to come.

Thanks!

Hi again, Frolicker,

So glad you were able to get an appointment with the llmd relatively quickly.

This is a quote on dosages from the ILADS site.

Increasingly, clinicians recommend that certain drugs used for Lyme disease be given at higher daily doses: for example, 3,000–6,000 mg of amoxicillin, 300–400 mg doxycycline, and 500–600 mg of azithromycin. Some clinicians prescribe antibiotics using blood levels to guide higher doses. Close monitoring of complete blood counts and chemistries are also required with this approach.

So according to that, your dose of doxy is comparatively low, but maybe that is not such a bad thing given how sick you are.

When I started on doxy I began to feel a wee bit better and then I must have been hit by a very large truck moving at high speed, 'cos that how I felt. That came on about the time I was reading about herx reactions, so I was encouraged by it. BTW, I had co-infections, as well.

Sorry, I have no experience with Augmentin.

Good luck!

Ok, so I had actually popped a few of the Augmentin the 2 days before I posted (before I saw the doc) just to get started on something, so I've opted to finish off the 5 days of that that we have, and then start the doxy. Interestingly, I've been more tired and possibly more achy/hot flashy, but I've slept better and haven't had palpitations after the first day on it which leaves me scratching my head a bit... I also had what I think was a herx after day 2 of detox baths (I wrote a second post on that).

I'm thinking that maybe once I finish the Augmentin, I'll start with 200mg/day of the doxy then up it to 300mg depending on how i feel untill i run out. Aug 1st is my appt with the llmd, so between now and then it's pretty much just a crap shoot anyways- and I only have 2 weeks of doxy (at 200mg/day) available to play with... (doubting my pcp will give me more...).

When taking 300-400mg of doxy per day, is it 2x per day at 150-200mg each time? or 3x at lower doses? Just curious how this is usually prescribed.

Hi Woodland!
You should read Dr. Joseph Burrascano's "Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease" as it goes into detail about the abx choices and suggested treatments for not only Lyme but for other tick-borne infections as well. Here is a link, but it can also be found in the "New to Lyme?...Start here!" thread at the top of the forum.

betterhealthguy.com/joomla/images/stories/PDF/lymdxrx2008-october.pdf

I actually think you should be very, very careful in doing this though. You sound as if you are quite ill and you could create a pretty bad herx reaction. Please be sure you are dry skin brushing, using detox baths, and are drinking plenty of lemon water, and watch yourself closely for any possible serious issues that might require a doctors care.

 

Hi Shannon,

I responded to your post on the allergy forum re: candida.  We should probably keep our discussion on the Lyme forum so no one gets upset, though.  I looked up Dr. Miller's Holy Tea, and it is herbal--sounds good for detoxing.  I don't know enough about herbs to tell you if it will interact with your antibiotic regimen.  (Some detox agents will pull antibiotics out of cells).  I would really like to get a crash-course in herbology, but all I've found are multi-year programs. 

A "herx" is a herxheimer reaction, which is an intensification of symptoms that occurs before the person gets better.  This is common with Lyme.  Do you know if you have any co-infections?  Co-infections may require more than Doxy, and two weeks of Doxy is not enough.  Your doc may switch your antibiotic if the Doxy isn't helping, but there are also good herbals available if you don't tolerate antibiotics well.  I'm going to be doing the Cowden protocol, because I have bad candida and do not tolerate antibiotics well.  I will not go on long-term antibiotics.  Cowden protocol covers the microbial and neurotoxic aspects of Lyme, so I should be okay.  Everyone is different, do you would need to determine your course of action with your doc.  Since your Lyme infection is recent, you should treat it first, then go after the candida.  Are you seeing a Lyme Literate doc?