I am copy and pasting this paragraph from a response on a blogsite :
I've had Lyme and two other co-infections (Babs and Bart -- sounds like a cartoon doesn't it?)for over 15 years, but wasn't diagnosed for 5 years. My doctor is a former president of ILADS and does Lyme research, so I am in good hands. My difficulties in being healed result from the long time before diagnosis and the complexities of the co-infections.
I know what "aggressive" treatment is, having done abundant research, also reading and "talking" with others in several good online support groups, and ruthlessly questioning my doctor. Plus, I've experienced many oral and IV drugs in my search for a cure. I really want to feel better! And I want you and your readers to get the best help and feel better, too.
Taking doxy isn't aggressive. Doxy is known to cause the Lyme spirochetes to go into the cyst (round-body) phase in which they aren't killed by any antibiotics. So by taking only doxy you are creating a population of armored spirochetes that won't be available to treatment. As you probably know, antibiotics can only kill those "bugs" when they are actively growing.
What is most disturbing is that this could lead you to experience what seems like a "cure" because the spirochetes are hiding and not causing infection after awhile. But then, in the absence of threats, the cysts again transform into the active spirochete phase and you experience a relapse.
For me, I don't want to go thru the antibiotic hell without continuing it until I have some major benefit. Sometimes I was more sick from the drugs, especially the GI problems with flagyl.
Please check into this for yourself and talk to you doctor about what drugs you will be given next, and how soon. To jump-start online research into this subject, I am pasting the URL to a Townsend Letter of 2010 that discusses research on doxy and two anti-microbial herbs and how they affect the spirochetes.
One of the authors of this study is Eva Sapi, who has done much research with Lyme and also is responsible for learning about the biofilms that spirochetes form. Another way these bugs hide out from treatment.
http://www.townsendletter.com/July2010/sapi0710.html
Scroll down past the graphs to the second paragraph below them to find the specific statement about doxy not being effective against this phase of the spirochetes.
There is alot of other information that supports this but I don't have the links handy.
Best wishes for successful treatment! Love this blog except for those darned dots in the background.