Help Doxycycline

Hi guys my name is Ian Im 17 years old and have a couple ?s about This antibiotic.
My doc put me on this Antibiotic or Sis acne for 1 month. 100mg pills twice aday. I was fine for the first month and i went back for a regular monthly check. She said that the infection was still present and i needed to go for another month so I did. But on the 6th week on the antibiotic i started to get a little werid like i was being watched or like i was in danger. It was not that big of a deal the first couple days till i started getting really bad anxiety then panic attacks. I would lay in bed just shaking and not being able 2 sleep. Now i have stopped the antibiotic for around 8 days. My anxiety and panic attacks are gone but now i have restlessness. When ever i try 2 close my eyes it feels like my eyes are moving and they want 2 keep opening. Is this a side effect of the antibiotic restlessness?? And how long do u think this will last. Because i am never depressed and i have never had anxiety before so i know it was the pill. Ty for your time.

Hi Ian,

I was taking Doxycycline for 5 weeks (100mg/day) as an anti-malarial drug while I travelled through Cambodia.

The first night I took it I spent the entire night vomiting... that should have been the first sign my body wasn't going to handle those pills.

On my fourth day... I started crying for no reason. Literally, just turned to my boyfriend and said "I don't know why... but I feel like crying". And so I did. For about a half an hour. Weirdest thing.

Then in my third week of taking it... I woke up from a dead sleep with my heart racing and telling my boyfriend that we were in serious danger and had to go back home. I couldn't explain to him what the danger was but I felt as though there was impending doom waiting around the corner. This feeling was so intense that we decided to start looking for tickets home to Canada but I eventually calmed down and we continued traveling. Over the next couple weeks I would experience unusual anxiety whenever it rained (when I used to find rain quite calming).

Then the really, REALLY horrible stuff started about two weeks later. I woke up from a dead sleep with a bizarre fixation on self harm. And let's put it this way... this  is a topic/notion I have never spent a millisecond of thought on. I woke my boyfriend up and he just said "it's those stupid pills" and I decided to stop taking them right then and there.

Ever since that night I've experienced a serious OCD problem with  morbid thoughts. I know that these thoughts are not mine and are fleeting and that they will eventually subside once this poison is out of my system. I also find that it comes in waves - days where I'm pretty good and then others where I feel consumed by the thoughts. I also have not been able to sleep for 4+ weeks because I wake up every 1-2 hours with moderate panic attacks. I have also experienced what you say about the eyes moving and restlessness but certain nights are better than others.

I am home now and recovering with my boyfriend and family. We have run some tests to check on my heart, urine, stool, blood, hormones, etc. but I know (like you) that it is this toxic drug. I am feeling more and more optimistic that I will get better.

I am doing my best to stay away from any anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, etc. because I fear that it will just temporarily mask what's going on in my body. Instead I've been focusing on eating well, drinking a TON of water, taking multivitamins (incl. b12), long walks, and talking about what's going on. I feel this stuff slowly leaving my system and my good days are starting to outnumber my bad days :)

I hope that you had a speedy recovery, and feel free to e-mail me at with any tips/advice on how to get through this, or just for more support.

Edit:  I am sorry we are not allowed to talk about suicide in the forums. 

Thank you for your understanding. 

Post Edited By Moderator (stkitt) : 6/23/2011 8:39:04 AM (GMT-6)

Hi again,

Glad to hear that some of your symptoms have subsided - my heart palpitations at night are gone too! I do still have some nights of restlessness and constant eye moving, but they, too, are not as frequent. But I do know how you feel about just wanting to "go back" to normal. I've been struggling a lot with this as well and I am learning that the only way to move forward through these hard times is to focus on the small, positive steps. For example, I've developed an irrational fear of driving by myself or being alone at home, and at first I kept beating myself up for this. Saying things like: "You used to be so independent and could do anything you wanted... what's happening? Life's not worth living anymore, etc. etc." But I'm starting to change my view, and instead I'm looking at each day as an opportunity to take small steps to boost my confidence. Just because I was once able to drive 5 hours straight on a freeway by myself doesn't mean that I'll automatically be able to do it now - sort of like re-training a dog. Sounds silly... but hey... I'm going across town now by myself when weeks ago just the thought of getting into the car would start giving me anxiety. As for the antibiotic rumours - I think you may be right. They can mess with you for a while, but in the interim you can start looking into some multivitamins and supplements to bring your body (and gut) back into balance. My naturopath prescribed me probiotics (25 billion), magnesium (600 mg), omega 3's, and B-complex. Since I've started these I have definitely noticed an improvement in my mood - and I have to say - don't want to jinx it though - that I'm actually starting to feel more like myself..... I've also been looking into Inositol and GABA to help with the anxiety but I'm waiting to talk to my naturopath before I start anything else. Stay positive! Things WILL get better. Don't beat yourself up on days where you don't feel "good" - just tell yourself it's your body reacting to a poison and it will eventually re-align itself. I know it's hard to have faith - but try it! Talk soon :)