Doxycycline and Nausea

Hi!

New to the Lyme scene here. Recently diagnosed by a LLND and told I have Lyme and Babesia. Advised to take Doxycycline for 3 months, 2x100mg per day. Just started the treatment and am experiencing bad nausea, nothing else. I take it with food and lots of water, doesn't help. Any suggestions? Went to see my GP who wrote the prescription and she said there was nothing she could do except suggest Gravol, which I don't want to take because it makes me sleepy. She also suggested I stop the medication or reduce it. Really need to get through this treatment because after 1+ years of being bounced from Dr to Dr undiagnosed, I finally have an answer.

TIA!

Hi Sunfun123,

Welcome to the forum! I'm sorry you're struggling with nausea. It is really rough. I have dealt a lot with nausea both from Doxy and Lyme and Co.

When I started Doxy, it helped to take it in the middle of a meal (eat half, take Doxy and then finish). It also helped to keep my torso upright for 30-60 minutes afterwards.

Zofran has helped me the most in terms of coping with nausea. There are times when it does not work. However, it has been a life saver for me. Another thing that helps me is detoxing. I use activated charcoal (to bind with the toxins and move them out of my body) and Alka Seltzer Gold (for alkalining-helps the body detox). I use binders at least 2 hours before food / meds or at least 2 hours after. Please check out the New to Lyme thread for tons of great info.

Last, ILADS trained doctors will prescribe 400 mg of Doxy a day to actually kill off the bugs. 200 mg will only keep it at bay -not kill it off. So, you might want to ask your doctor about this.

Welcome. Feel free to ask questions. We're here to help.

Hi,

I am on Doxy hyclate as well, I have to take 200 mg twice a day and I am on it for the past 4 weeks already. I can only tolerate it if I take it with plenty of food, literally while I eat. It has to be solid food, like bread, pasta etc... Some days are worse than others and I have to take Zofran.
I also started taking Probiotics...

Hope you feel better soon

Also for reference, here are my results.

Igenex
IgM
39 kDa +
41 kDa +
45 kDa +

IgG
31 kDa IND
41 kDa +
58 kDa +

Babesia
B. microti IgM and IgG negative
B. ducani IgM negative , IgG undetermined (80)

I hear you on the doctors... Not much help there. Dismissed a clearly positive test? My God! band 39 alone says its Lyme and Lyme only.

Doxy is tough stuff...good drug for Lyme but hard to take.

Do you know how long you've had Lyme (symptoms first appeared/bug bites/etc)? Might give you an idea of how much treatment you'll need///. Older infections=longer recovery or so its been stated around the internets...

Ginger tea is something that I use all the time for nausea - it works great for me.

Thank you all for your suggestions!

daddylonglegs: My symptoms were mild for 7 months until May 2014 when I had almost like an attack and then started to slowly improve but have still not been able to get back to my normal self since. The primary symptom is weakness, which is exacerbated by any type of physical work. I was misdiagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which I think was just a label slapped on me by the ER doc to prevent me from coming back after 5 trips in 3 weeks. This was in May 2014. I don't suffer any cognitive symptoms, mainly weakness. I am fully alert and able to function cognitively, my physical abilities are what limits me and makes it difficult to work or do any type of chore around the house, mainly just don't have the strength. I have mild to moderate headaches that happen in different parts of my head, but mostly on my forehead. No pain other than occasional mild pain limited to my upper left side and it's not a constant pain, it comes and goes on the days when I experience it. No tick bites but I was bitten by mosquitoes when I travelled to Central America in Spring 2013, however I was not ill until winter of that year.

Jessicamommy: That's a great idea and I just found out about it as well. Have you taken ginger Gravol? If so, how did you time it with the abx?

I will try the ginger tea Traveler! And I think I've got some Magnesium Glycinate too jrpsf! Thanks all for the suggestions. Will give it a go with ginger tea first, prefer the natural route first as opposed to another pill. Wish me luck!

Post Edited (sunfun123) : 8/2/2015 1:04:20 PM (GMT-6)

Sunfun - I've taken ginger gravol many times for nausea unrelated to antibiotics. I'm not treating my Lyme with antibiotics but instead a herbal protocol.

One of my symptoms with Lyme is nausea at times but ginger gravol really helps it. I did do 3 weeks of doxy in May when I first found out that I had Lyme Disease, and my doctor prescribed 21 days of doxy. I got horrible nausea as well from the Doxy. Maybe take the ginger gravol half hour before you take the antibiotics?