Doxycycline Hyclate and good luck

I've now taken 12 days of 21 day course of treatment. After struggling with acid reflux, nausea, etc., I thought I'd share some things that I found that helped me tolerate it better in hopes it may help others.

I take a pill as soon as I get up and then another as soon as I get home from work - 5:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. I drink a good 4-6 oz. before I take the pill and another 8-10 after swallowing the pill. I try not to eat any later than 2 hours before going to bed, which has dramatically reduced and mostly eliminated the acid reflux.

I've been following the instructions to the letter - not eating 2 hours before or 1 hour after taking the pill and no dairy for 2 hours in hopes it would give maximum absorption to get rid of the Lyme Disease. However, I've found that by keeping something on my stomach during the times I can eat, my nausea has also been lessened. I was really struggling with nausea about 45 minutes after taking the pill, but have found increasing the water to the levels indicated above helped reduce the nausea.

All that said, I'm feeling some fatigue, am a bit lightheaded and my stomach is bloated and a bit tender. Still, it's not nearly as bad as some of you are reporting and while I wondered at Day 4 if I could complete all 21, I'm now hopeful I'll be able to make it. I will, however, be doing a happy dance when I take the last of the pills next Friday. Good luck to all - hope maybe something I've suggested may help someone!

The weight gain is horrible and the headaches are happening daily. I feel really tired and achy all day and restless during sleep. I have Lyme disease and not sure if these symptoms are from the drug or from the disease itself but I'm pretty sure the weight gain is from water retention caused by the Doxycycline. I hope this will go away after my 21 days is up.

Started on Doxy 200mg every 12 hours for Lyme Disease about 7 days ago and have had painful pins and needles sensation in my hands - on and off since about day 4. The top of the hands seem most affected and any exposure to water (and the resulting evaporative cooling) causes elevated sensation for about 1-2 hours. Any exposure to sun causes a painful sunburn-like sensation. I will be staying out of the sun and hope the pins and needles will go away soon.

I want to know if anyone has experienced severe joint pain while on Doxy. I was prescribed this med on a Monday. I (like an idiot) doubled up on my first dose Monday evening because I know you can do that with other antibiotics to jump start the process. What can I say? I don't like being sick. Well....Tuesday morning, I took my 2nd dose and went to work. Very soon after taking the second dose, I broke out into a very itchy rash all over my back that soon spread to other parts of my body. I called my doctor and was immediately taken off the Doxy and prescribed Augmentin. Later that night, I began aching all over. I woke up in severe pain throughout all of my joints, and was in a terrible mood.....obviously. As the day progressed, the pain continued, but seemed to be moving randomly about my joints. My ankles would hurt for a while, then my arms, the my shoulders, etc. That night, I took a Benadryl (still itching from the rash a little), some ibuprofen, and went to bed. I woke up feeling a lot better. A lot less pain in most of my joints. It was a good day. However, today, Friday, I am still in some pretty bad pain in my hands. Anyone else have a similar experience??????

Hello, PLEASE HELP

I've recently taken doxycycline for about a week. I have suffered anxiety,depression off this medication. I'm taking paxil also right now. Can someone PLEASE tell me how long before this stuff is out of my system?

Thank You!!

when I was in my early 20's i got a sever case of bad acne! I was prescribed 100mg of Doxy 2 times a day. Of course I learned very quickly to eat before having it. Other than that no side effects. I had flawless skin for about 2 years, at which point i had built up a tolerance to it. When I noticed a few pimples I went straight to my derm before it got out of hand. My derm switched me to minocycline and after about another year of perfect skin I got off of meds all together. I have great skin now, just use proactive and nothing else.

Well now my 14yr old has started breaking out..nothing topical worked, I want to protect her from all of the emotional damage that acne caused for me. Put her on doxy 100mg 2x a day. Shes been on it for about 2 weeks and it seems like the big ones went away but there is an over abundance of small ones now and they are flaring up. Is that normal..I don't remember this happening to me but it was so long ago. Does it get worse before it gets better? Anyone experience this?

Well, I have just started taking Doxy for a couple of days now and so far have noticed a change in bowel movements, appetite, a bit of nausea, my stomach has been feeling a bit bubbly and weird here and there. Also, it makes me feel high after taking it. And i know this sound funny but it makes my bottom itchy. Which is all really weird but over all I don't really care about the side effects as long as they dont become too extreme. I think as long as I take the medicine on terms that are best for me I will be just fine. I am just very glad to be getting rid of an infection that was causing me a lot more pain and discomfort than this med and will be glad when this is over. The biggest issue I have with the pills is getting them down my throat...I'm not a good pill taker and they make me gag. I can't imagine having to take them and deal with side effects for months at a time as some of you are doing so good luck to everyone!! And I also agree that doctors really do need to address the more serious side effects on this med! After coming to this site I will definitely take precautions.

I began Doxy in Sept of 2007. The first week into it I noticed the roof of my mouth felt strange, kind of rough and sore. I attributed it to the drug and figured it would go away once I was off of it. I began to get a very sore tongue which I attributed to candida....it was a little white too. I was on the drug for five weeks and the mouth symptoms never went away, just went on to become a chronic burning tongue and mouth. Scalded feelings in the mouth as though I had slurped boiling hot coffee. Also, noticed I began feeling very tired and melancholy on the drug....those symptoms have never really gone away. It's been nearly a year and I have tried multiple remedies for my mouth and nothing helps. Has anybody else had the burning and inflammation feeling in their oral cavity. It shows no outward signs.

I'm taking Doxycycline 100mg 5x/day. Started a little over 2 weeks ago for Chronic Lyme. I have a 4 month course to complete.
In the past 14 years after that tick got me I was the living dead, those with Chronic Lyme know what I mean. I have virtually the same side effects as everyone else here and wonder if it even matters how much you take a day. A lot of you have the same doses (100mg 2x/day) and the same degree of side effects as I do. My side effects are headaches or a pain in my right temple whenever I cough, severe itching EVERYWHERE, blisters on my hands from itching, burns on my skin wherever the sun shines on me (I live in Florida), vomiting daily some days worse than others, mood swings, crying for nothing, nausea almost constantly, gassy (both ends), I have a bladder infection that started 2 days ago that after reading this can be attributed to the Doxy, asthma symptoms are getting out of hand, I also have this odd swelling/pain over my liver/gall bladder area that's been coming and going, ears ring, noise bothers me and actually starts a headache, diarrhea the first week and constipation the second week, skin feels tight and there's noticeable swelling all over.

With that said I want to say that yes this is not one of the more pleasant drugs to be on however in my case if I don't get these bugs out of me I am going to die so would rather deal with side effects knowing these bugs are being killed and I will be off them someday unlike the Lyme I will have for eternity. Lyme people and other chronically ill people on these meds say this is called "herxing" and this comes and goes also. You feel really bad and then you feel good, then bad and then good again and so on. I started out on this drug keeping in mind that any sikness/side effect was telling me those bugs are dying so in a sense I almost welcome them.

Good luck everyone:)

Neaseau, fatigue, head aches, back and neck pain (neck pain after 5th day), moody, lack of focus, blurred vision, not good with dairy products (milk)...I don't have problem eating and i have not vomit. Still taking just to get rid of my Epididymitis. I still go to work everyday and still trying to focus of what I have to do.

Don't take Dox before going to bed. Take it with food. good luck.

I took Doxy last summer for cystic acne. It worked fine and I didn't have any problems, and my skin cleared up nicely. I had some left over (bad, bad, I know but it hasn't yet expired!) so I started taking it again about 4 days ago. I noticed, almost immediately, severe tingling and burning in my fingers and hands and up into my arms when I am out in the sun and for hours afterwards. Also water (like washing my hands) makes the tingly feeling much worse. Weird, right? My two index fingers are bright red and any touch burns.

It's weird because last summer when I was on it I was out in the sun all the time with no problems at all.

Wow, I thought I was crazy and even thought I was pregnan! The symptoms of this stuff will drive anyone nuts. I have the gas, bloating, dizziness, nausea, lower abdominal cramps, EXTREME exhaustion, difficulty breathing, foggy in the head, pressure in the head/mild, constant headache, lack of interest in anything, loss of appetite, feeling sad and depressed, and an over-all feeling of not knowing myself. All this started on the beginning of the 3rd week of treatment. I really want my Acne to be gone because I am 41 and not loving the pizza face, but this stuff iss making me crazy! I'm drinking alot of herbal teas and juices to try and keep something in my stomach at all times because I don't eat much anymore. I hope that by the end of my 1st bottle, the weirdness, pains, and the feeling of having a vice grip on my head, will go away. If not, I'm calling it quits with this drug! Good luck all.

I am taking Doxycycline for recurrent prostatitis. I have to take 100 mg twice a day for 14 days. It's definitely the worst antibiotic I've ever been on, though it does seem to be generally effective. I'm on day 10 now and I have been on two previous 14 days courses of doxycycline so I have a fair amount of experience with it.

Here are a few things I've learned:
Do NOT lay down after taking Doxy. Don't take it right before bed. You need to be upright for about an hour prior or you will almost certainly get heartburn. Also, take Doxy immediately after eating. When I don't take it with food, I become nauseous and occasionally throw up. So those are the two big ones. Eat before and stay vertical after.

In conclusion, part of the reason why it has such frequent side effects is that it is a very powerful antibiotic. Often, I think, the side effects are worse than what its supposed to be curing. I can't wait to be off it. Good luck to everyone.

Hi neverybody,
I was on day 4 of this antibiotic for sinusitis when I woke with severe neck stiffness, (unable to do chin to chest). This progressed to headache and I remembered then that I had pain in my eye the night before. I also had profound sleepiness on night 4. I work nights and this was affecting my judgement. I felt very low on night four and emotionally labile.crying came easy but for no real reason.
My shoulders are sore and my neck still aches but it is not as bad. i did not contact dr. Should I? I stopped before finishing the course on day 5.

Good luck to everyone and I hope your are all well soon,
Lou ,
Ireland

I have been taking doxycycline for about 4 days now. Last night I took it right before bed, with water, and upon waking at about 1 am I felt that the pill was stuck in my esophagus. And then my stomach starting burning and acid started coming up. I still feel like the pill is lodged in there, and it is very uncomfortable. Along with this issue, I have felt rather depressed, dizzy, yeast infection, and am extremely tired. I don't really know what to do at this point. I was prescribed it for pneumonia and a double ear infection. My chest is still killing me from the pneumonia and still have trouble breathing. My doctors have not been helpful what so ever through this process. I had to actually go to the hospital for the proper diagnosis. I don't even know if it is even working for me, but I don't have health insurance and have been out of work for over a week. Can any one give me ANY advice PLEASE???!!!!!

I was prescribed doxycycline for bronchitis/pneumonia and an ear infection. I've been taking 100mg twice a day for four days now. The heartburn started last night, and though I've had mild cases before, this is unbearable. I cough and feel like I'm going to throw up. I drink water, I feel like I'm going to gag. I can stand, I can sit, I can lay down, doesn't matter... feels like I have a rock lodged at the back of my throat and my throat feels scratchy all the way to my sternum. The headaches come and go all day and I feel like I'm in a constant fog. I was told it was not an allergic reaction, but it is a "normal" reaction. I won't take this med again. It isn't worth it.

hi,
i have been on 100 mgs twice daily for bulls eye rash. i am awaiting initial lab results.
anyhow in the morning or whenever my stomach is empty.(told to take on empty stomach via enclosed pamphlet courtesy of pharmacy) The nausea takes over i try to get a piece of toast down it is agonizing! then when the nausea calms down, i them have burping problems the rest of the day also having slight boughs of dizziness. i want to quit after 9 days. i am really not eating because of the discomfort. these are my synopsis of issues with this med.
cc

I have been on Doxy for about 6 months now to treat adult acne. It works brilliantly for my skin which is why I am hesitant about stopping it, if I do forget to take it for a day or two the oil and spots come back with a vengeance.
I discovered straight away to take it with food, taking it on an empty stomach caused nausea and dizziness, but I don't get this anymore.
The problem now is I find myself feeling more and more depressed, looking back Ive been flat for quite a while now. I seem to pick up every little bug going round and nothing makes me happy anymore.
I thought it was just me, but reading about it here, makes me wonder if its the Doxy??

Been on it for a month for adult acne mild, when took it for first time I felt bad, then researched. you need to EAT EAT EAT and don't take it with milk but have a yogurt in the morning or evening hours after or before the pill
since these meds kill your flora, the probiotic yogurt should help, good luck

I was taking doxycycline for about a month and one night experienced really bad indegestion (or thats what it felt like). After that it got worse. It casued me to have such bad acid reflux that it had begun to destroy my esophogus. I couldn't eat anything with any type of acid or texture and finally had to go to the doctor and get on medication. Now I am having to have an upper GI done to look for ulcers that were created, and I still am not able to eat reguarly.