Doing a Trial of Doxycycline

So I was able to convince my doctor that there is definitely something going on with me and I wasn't making up everything. I talked him into prescribing doxycycline as a trial. However, Razzle mentioned on another one of my posts that when doing a trial that the Doxy needs to be at least 400mg per day. Well I wasn't about to tell my doctor what to prescribe me so he only prescribed me 100mg every 12 hours.

Will this dosage be enough to judge whether I am having any response to it at all or not? I have a 3 week supply... should I take it as prescribed or perhaps double up and only have enough for a week and a half?

Also, should I do the Igenex test all over again while taking the antibiotics? I only have band 41 show as IND everything else was negative. I don't really want to spend the money but I also want to get better so I will do what I need to.

Lastly, I didn't have my CD57 checked. Is this a pointless test to do since I was negative or will it still provide some clues?

Your thoughts are appreciated.

thanks!

I was on a low dose of Doxy for 6 weeks-- 100mgs. 2 X day. This was a 'trial' as far as my doctor (at the time) was concerned because I tested IND too with only band 41 showing positive.

He really didn't believe I had Lyme. Well......turns out he was WRONG....but the Doxy did help. I felt pretty good after a couple of weeks and did have a substantial herx reaction right away.

Unfortunately this doctor advised me to stop taking it--- even though I was getting better !!! --- and as a result I relapsed badly. I needed much longer treatment and for Babs as well.

I knew I was in the wrong hands with this doc, and went to an LLMD.

IMO, if you have a Lyme infection that's more than a few months old, a short, low dose course of antibiotics will only stirr the intrenched Lyme buggers up.

Yes....you can feel better but it might only be temporary. Therefore, I personally, can't recommend doing an antibiotic 'trial' unless your doc will let you continue treatment once he sees that it's working.

A good reaction to antibiotics--- herxing and then feeling better-- does reinforce the idea that a Lyme infection is present. But not going after it agressively, could set you back in the long run.

400 mgs. is a much better amount. Raz is correct.

You might want to send your doctor to the ILADs site when you are trying to get more doxy:

ILADS.org said...
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.

With higher doses, there may be an increase in adverse events in general and gastrointestinal problems in particular. Acidophilus has reportedly reduced the incidence of Clostridium difficile colitis and non-C. difficile antibiotic-related diarrhea.

Serious adverse effects of antibiotics, however, were less common than previous estimates. In a recent clinical trial of chronic Lyme disease, the overall serious adverse event rate was 3% after three months of antibiotics, including 1 month of intravenous antibiotics. Clinicians who have experience with higher dose antibiotic therapy must balance the benefit of higher drug levels achieved with this therapy against the modest risk of gastrointestinal and other side effects.
Here is the link. Read this page because it gives a lot of helpful information.

http://www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/treatment_guidelines_clearing_ilads.html

I agree, no need for needless tests. I had to pay for the CD57 panel, and all it said was I'm inflamed. Like I didn't know that already!

So I finished my 3 week trial of Doxy 100mg 2x a day about 2 weeks ago.  I can't say that if any difference it made was anything to jump up and down about but I did notice some things.  After a couple of weeks I notice that I started taking on some projects around the house that have been sitting threre for awhile, so I gained a little more energy and desire to do things.  My all over body aches which aren't terrible pains to begin with but just enough to notice them and wonder what they are... well they weren't as bad either, and my constant eye pain wasn't constant anymore... I had days where I didn't notice it.  I also had blood work done 3 times in the past 4 months.  The first 2 times were before going on the doxy which showed I had inflammation ESR was 14 and CRP was 6.9.  The numbers aren't significantly high but they are high.  I re-did my blood work 1 week after having finished the doxy and my ESR and CRP levels were down to 1.  Well now I'm starting to feel more like I was before I started the doxy trial.  My all over body achey-ness is returning and I'm not feeling motivated to do anything.  I'm also suspicious to thing that it was the anti-biotic that brought down my inflammation and if I were to re-do the tests again in a few weeks they would be back up.  Also, I've notice over the last 3 blood tests my WBC has gone from 7.0 to 6.9 to 4.1.  They seem to be on a decline.  4.1 is still within normal but barely.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether this trial has told me anything?  I don't know what to make of it all.  I feel like if I were on the anti-biotics longer that maybe I would slowly get better... very slowly.

I also started my doxy (200 mg/day) about 3 days ago.

I had Igm band 23 show on a Western Blot which my llmd said was not enough by itself for a dx.

We are waiting for blood test results (co-infections,w-b,cd57) and will meet again in 2 weeks.

Some have said here that the doxy will stir up the bugs. Is there a chance that more bands might show on another Western Blot?


If so, shouldn't jr991 get another WB done?


This is why I originally thought the lower dose was prescribed. Just wondering!


(Good thread!)