Rough month. Advice?

Hi all,

Its been a while since I have visited the board.  I hope all are well and healing.

This past month was rough.  I was on Biaxin from August through November.  My doctor wanted me to switch to Doxy as it is preferred and she doesn't want me to develop resistance to Biaxin.

Additionally, I was showing signs of yeast and she put me on oral Nystatin.

I began my new regimen post-appointment by addition Nystatin.  2 pills 3x a day.  Well.  My stomach hated it so I had to stretch them out to 1 pill 6x a day.  I felt so so crummy that I missed a number of doses of both Nystatin and my Biaxin.  When I ran out of Biaxin, I began Doxy.  Again my stomach was very upset so I had to organize my morning around when to take it--far enough away from my probitic but after a meal so I wouldn't be so sick and early enough in the evening that I would digest it before laying down.

Now, I have frequent headaches and terrible indegestion all the time.  I'm reading its a common Doxy side effect.  Now my lips are cracking and my mouth is dry.

I'm just feeling overwhelmed with my over flowing pill boxes, timing my meals, reducing carbs to reduce yeast, timing the antibiotics and probiotics, feeling anxious over the side effects of the pills, etc.  It upsets me so that there are times I simply don't take them.Ive read that doxy cant be taken with calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron. Um...so doesn't that leave out the milk they say you can drink with it?

If anyone has advice on dealing with the side effects, it would be appreciated.  I take one (supposed to, that is) hefty probitic a day, 6 doses of Nystatin, two doses of Doxy, and a couple supplements.  Anyone have any ideas on how to time them just so?  How do I reduce the indigestion?  It now lingers even if I skip a dose :(.  Lastly, how do I draw a line between Lyme symptoms and medicine side effects?

Thanks for reading :) Best wishes.

HI Worried,
I am so sorry to hear of the issues you have been having! I had hoped that because we hadn't seen you on the forum lately that it was because you were doing so well!

Are you eating anything just before you take your abx? Most who take Doxy have found that they must take it with, at minimum, a substantial snack if not a full meal. When I was on it, I never ate less than 1/2 of a peanut butter sandwich to help protect my stomach.

As for the yeast issue, have you been taking probiotics, or have you only just started? You need to at least take the good stuff that Health food stores keep in their refrigerated section, or something like Kefir. If you don't know anything about Kefir, please look it up online as it's packed with many good strain of bacteria(12 or more when homemade) that our intestines need. Kefir can be bought in certain large grocery stores or in most Health Food stores. This will also help your stomach some too.

If you are dealing with a lot of nausea, there are things you can do about that as well. Your doc can write you a script for anti-nausea meds, or (my favored thing, as the script wasn't strong enough for me) you can use ginger root. You can sip on ginger tea, nibble on candied ginger or take ginger root capsules.

With your lips cracking it sounds like you aren't getting enough fluids down you! You really need to get more liquid in you. To a point it almost doesn't matter how you get started with this. Of course water (with a little lemon) is the best thing to be drinking, but if you can't drink that much water for some reason, then try some decaf tea or even flavored water if you must.

Your headaches could be related to not getting enough fluids through out the day. Of course I could be way off base about you not drinking enough, so I have to wait until you respond to know. giggle!

Since I deal with herbs not abx and pharma meds, I'll let others with experience answer those other questions. I'm sure someone will be along shortly!!

I sure hope that you can get this all straightened out quickly!!

Thank you both for your replies. I'm going to research an indigestion med I can take.

I am taking a probiotic-25 billion organisms, 10+ types.

Its just a bummer; I was feeling great (relative to now, that is) on Biaxin; wish I could have stayed on it!

Thanks for thinking of me and noticing I hadn't been around. Thats sweet :)

LLmd appt on Friday. I'll let you know how it goes!