Correct dosage for acute infection?

Hi guys,

My partner recently discovered a bull's eye rash. It's not the clearest of rashes we've seen (like the ones you can find on the internet) but the center is definitely lighter than the outer edges.
We went to our doctor and had to beg for antibiotics. He finally gave my partner 14 days of doxycycline, 200 mgs per day.

Now, I know there is much discussion around the correct duration of the antibiotics and I'm hoping to get some input on whether this is enough! We got the antibiotics the same day as we found the EM, but don't know when the tick was there.

My partner was bitten by a tick 3 weeks previously, but in a whole other place, and that one was removed within 2 hours. However, we live in the woods and our dog brings home ticks every week so there could have been a tick bite we missed.

Does anyone have some advice? I'm rather concerned, being a chronic Lyme sufferer myself, that my partner could also become a chronic case for not receiving enough antibiotics!

Lizzy

200 mg twice daily of doxy is recommended.


The EM rash is Lyme disease - I suggest you find a LLMD as 14 days isn’t long enough.

skinny_joe said...

Girlie said...
200 mg twice daily of doxy is recommended.


The EM rash is Lyme disease - I suggest you find a LLMD as 14 days isn’t long enough.

Where does 200mg twice daily come from? Ive only read 100mg twice daily. It seems like its the duration that gets debated.

========================

I don’t know what the ILADS guidelines have for dosage but I still look at LLMD Burrascano lyme treatment guidelines (2008) which say 200 mg (minimum?) twice daily is needed. (These were the guidelines that ILADS followed back then)

The LLND I used to see also says 200 mg twice daily.

And LLMD MR prescribes 200 mg twice daily.

Take a look here:

https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/30/1/237/322583

“....these researchers stressed the use of high dosages of doxycycline (e.g., 400 mg/d) for treatment of Lyme neuroborreliosis.”

Thanks for all your messages! I was aware of the Ilads guidelines, but couldn't convince our GP to give my partner more than 14 days of antibiotics. My question was mostly whether it could be enough for an acute infection , but in any case it's probably better not to take the chance...
I wasn't aware that an even higher dose of doxy is recommended for acute lyme! Have now indeed contacted my own LLMD for my partner who can hopefully supplement with more antibiotics.
Thanks again for the input!
Lizzy