Minocine (Minocycline)

Hello! I have been on minocycline for pretty much over a year now. From what I learned and experienced, it's a pretty good one! Especially for Lyme. It is the most lipid soluble of all the tetracyclines, crosses into the brain really well, is good for skin infection, and also works inside of our cells so it gets intracellular bacteria too. This is obviously quite important when treating lyme.

I think the side effects for me are more prominent when I first started taking the medication including dizziness and headache but now my body tolerates it very well. It does have the potential to stain your teeth as it also gets into our saliva pretty well. But a good polish at the dentist should resolve mino staining of the teeth. Also when I first started using it I had diarrhea... But that was when I first got sick, and I was still on my old diet and wasn't taking much probiotics at that time. Probably the worst side effect of all that minocycline has is it could potentially damage the thyroid, and that occurs more so with higher doses. I have felt a feeling in my thyroid at times so I do notice that effect.

For neuro lyme... Minocycline alone won't do the trick. This antibiotic works like the other tetracyclines in that it binds to the 30s ribosome. This generally only kills lyme when it is in the process of cell division and stops it from building it's cell membrane which causes the germ to kind of bleed. It also doesn't effectively treat the cystic or round body forms of lyme. The tetracycline class does have the potential to push lyme into round body cystic forms. So you may need another medication for that or the lyme could soon relapse when you discontinue the medication.

But tinidazole really helps with the cyst form of lyme.

Also mino has some anti-inflammatory properties which some say might help a bit with herxing... I'm not so sure I experienced that myself but that maybe another benefit.

I'm on Minocycline 100 bid /Omnicef 300mg bid, and making forward progress by leaps and bounds.

Response to abx is a very individual thing, so asking "Is Mino good? Does Mino work?" really might not be the right thing to ask. Best to ensure you and your doc are 100% on the same page, and then roll with his/her suggestions.

Are you still seeing Dr. M in Keego Harbor? Can you share your thoughts of him as a Lyme doctor?

Buttercup... The LLMD that has helped my treatment is Dr.MR from Seattle Washington. I think he is pretty decent but his treatments are similar to what the other ILADs doctors use, and he has a good integrative approach.

Kyo07... Yes absolutely you can pulse biaxin/tinidazole. And if you have neuro symptoms you can throw in minocycline as well.

The latest research is solid for Lyme, pulsing abx works far better than continuous treatment and pulse treatment can actually help people get well faster for Lyme alone. Pulse treatment is for Lyme though, it is believed that bartonella needs continuous treatment.

Before there was a standard, hit Lyme hard for 4 days, and by 72 hours most of the Lyme dies. But the rest of the bugs freeze their metabolism. So you can immediately give a 3-4 days off and hammer again. It's actually now believed to be far more effective to pulse for Lyme. Some people claim pulsing 1 day on and 1 day off alone is enough. But keep in mind that this is not advice from a Doctor.