Doxycycline Hyclate and liver

I started taking Doxycycline Hyclate for an infection....i had been taking it for about 4 days.....one night i take the medicine and i go to sleep.....i wake up the following day with the painful and disturbing sensation that something was stuck in my throat.....and drinking a lot of water to make it go away was in vain......in a couple of days i had trouble eating and drinking and also breathing - i felt burns in the upper back...constant pain.....so I just stopped taking them.....After a couple of days i go back to my doctor and try to explain all the symptoms and try to tell him that i think that it has to do with the medicine that he prescribed....he cuts me off "No, that,s not possible, the medicine I prescribed was for something else!" .....ok ....so I'm thinking "he's the doctor, he knows better, after all he went to school for that!!!!" ....so instead of actually listening to all my symptoms he takes blood test to see what is the cause of my pain; an infection? the liver? etc. etc..........and then at night I come home, I google the side effect of Doxycycline Hyclate and see that I am not crazy...that this happened to a lot of people and that I NEED TO CHANGE MY DOCTOR!!!! Oh, by the way, the doctor prescribed me Propoxyphene-N 100W/APAP (some pain relievers) and told me to take them 10 days without stopping even if the pain goes away!!!!!??????!!!!!!?????!!!!........................L.

Here's my horrible experience w/ Doxycycline Hyclate (100mg prescribed 2x day)
I only took 3 doses of this and vomited one of those.(there appeared to be blood in vomit) I was taking this for pelvic infection. I had severe nausea that came in waves. I also had severe drowsiness to the point that I could not lift my head up. I felt a sense of being "out of body" and extreme dizziness that almost made me feel like I was falling. I had confusion, disorientation, forgetfulness, and an inability to concentrate. I felt bone chilling cold, that alternated with sweating and hot flashes. My face, hands, and arms became puffy. I was very drowsy but could only sleep a couple hours due to insomnia. When I did sleep I had very weird and vivid dreams. I also felt a general sense of panic the day after I stopped taking it. This stuff was nasty and I will never take it again.

It is wonderful to have a forum like this to share stories and complaints but NOTHING WILL ACTUALLY BE DONE UNTIL REPORTED TO FDA. It takes many people reporting symptoms for Fda to even care or take notice. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP YOURSELF AND OTHERS BY REPORTING TO FDA. Go to www.fda.gov/medwatch. It is really simple to do and this is the first time I have ever reported anything. (and first time I had any major drug reaction). It is also confidential.

My experience on this drug after only 3 doses was very scary. I hope I will feel better soon. It is 1 1/2 days now after last dose. I will try to report back on here when I am feeling better. The half life for the med is about 18 hours, which means by tomorrow I will still have 25% left in my system. I am hoping after 2 more days I will feel back to normal. I have had as much water as I can tolerate and took dandelion root to help cleanse my liver. Take care everyone and remember to report any symptoms you had to the FDA at www.fda.gov/medwatch

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!!

DO NOT TAKE DOXYCYCLINE IF YOU HAVE ANY HISTORY OF DEPRESSION!!!

I do and doxy has sent me over the edge for about a month AFTER i stopped taking it.

I was given doxy by my doctor for a sinus infection for a week and stopped taking it just under a month ago. This past month has been absolute hell for me.

The day I stopped taking it I went from feeling fine into a 5 hour crying fit with suicidal thoughts in less than 30 minutes. During the fit I became convinced that this was how my life always is, that I was depressed, that I had always been depressed and that I needed anti depressant as I spend all my time crying. That was on 2nd Feb.

The next day I was shaky and felt very up and downy but went back to feeling normal pretty quickly and after I did some internet research on Doxycycline (the only change in my diet/lifestyle) assumed it was that. I read some pretty bad stuff on the internet about other people’s experiences which were very similar to the one I had had and I thought that must be it.

So I decided to drink lots of water and have been taking Milk Thistle to cleanse my liver.

Then this Saturday past I had exactly the same thing. I had another one of these 5 hour crying fits and more suicidal thoughts and I became convinced I was bipolar. This time was much worse in a lot of ways.

I felt it again felt like a panic attack and to me the change in my physiology was really noticeable. The noticeable dip in my mood – very sudden from feeling fine to feeling a little bit irritable and then withdrawn with some anxiety – and wanting to be reassured but also being a little aggressive in communication almost like trying to find a fight, then a change in breathing and heart rate and then plunge into dark thoughts and sobbing.

When I went to see the doctor on Monday my mood was still swinging up and down and I just felt crazy so I mentioend to him the doxy and he dismissed this without even asking a question about when or how much I'd taken.

I ask to be referred to a psychiatrist as I do get that I may have underlying issues and these mood swings were so bad and so strong and so by the time Wednesday came with my in and out moods I had convinced myself it was probably to do with my childhood and the difficult heart stuff and repressing how I really feel

Whilst I do have my fair share of childhood stuff and issues of the heart I think I’ve become so self aware and so careful with myself and I think I talk to my inner child so much and check that I am okay with things and I deal with things really well. so this has all come as a bit of nasty shock as I thought I was okay with everything. In fact I know I’m okay with everything as I write this.

But during these mood swings I am definitely not okay. I do not feel like myself. I become convinced that I have been lying to myself about being okay, that I have never been okay that I am mentally ill and that is why I am having mood swings and I start really analyzing everything and linking everything back to the past and trying to make links with things that are happening today and things that happened in the past. I haven’t had any change in my heart situation that this could be a reaction to, its remained the same for a number of months and I don’t have a problem with it but when I have this mood swing I blame that situation and my childhood together. I start wanting to blame people. I start thinking I have two personalities and I just start trying to find reasons and I have no idea what I feel, who I am or what I want, if I’m telling the truth of if I’ve ever told the truth. I start doubting everything and everyone. My head hurts, I get in a state of confusion and I become a little mean to people. I start trying to blame events and situations, anything I can find. It’s an absolute nightmare. Then I get confused about what I have and haven’t said and agitated that I need to say more to make myself understood. I might be stable for hours or even a day but it happens very suddenly and it’s a really physical sensation, first the dip in mood, the irritability, the breathing will change, I will feel anxious and can really feel my heart beating, like when you are really scared about something – that fight or flight feelings. I then get a really strong sense of insecurity and nervousness and will become really awkward at communication and almost aggressive and rude in my communications and then rueful.

The crazy thing is my mood is just absolutely all over the place in a way it has never ever been before, even in my days of deepest darkest moments when everything in life sucked and people were horrid to me. I don’t understand why I would, after all my years of learning how to deal with this and cope with this be even worse when my situation is so much better. It just doesn’t feel like its actually real. I don’t feel like anything I’ve said when I’ve been in these moods is actually a true reflection of how I feel when I am out of the swing.

Then I come back to feeling more like a version of myself but not quite and then I swing again very quickly and go from very hyper and laughing to almost the polar opposite in a very short space of time.

This is the first time in a week that I’ve felt like I am completely normal again. Right now I feel very calm and grounded and rational like I have been feeling for a very long time and I feel very clear in my head that I am completely fine and this is a reaction to some chemicals in my body affecting my mood rather than a psychological issue.

I am fully prepared for another full scale attack of mood swings and totally losing the plot again though.

I am lucky in that I have a good friend who called a doctor friend of his in the US and the first thing the doctor friend said when asked about Doxycline was 'don't tell me, you know someone who's had anxiety attacks and suicidal reactions'. According to this doctor this is VERY common and very well documented. There should be no lasting effects or permanent damage and now the doxy is out of my system I should not be experiencing these moods swings.

HOWEVER - he thins that because I have a history of depression due to my childhood issues the doxy has basically destabilised me and driven me to the edge again.

I did some really lengthy research because I really feel like this is a brain chemistry issue rather than a psychology issue and knowing I've dealt with everything and I just don't get why these issues would re-arise. I'm going to go get some therapy no matter what but I just wanted to know the brain chemistry.

Obviously if my GP doesnt even recognise that doxy can have this affect there is going to be no interest in helping me figure this out so I will figure it out myself.

From what I can understand Doxy decreases some amino acids in the brain which is important as simply put, amino acids get converted into neurotransmitters which play a critical role in your brain. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals which help your brain cells 'talk' to each other. Low levels of certain neurotransmitters have been associated with depression and anxiety.

I feel like I am 'back' from the Doxy but to be honest, I have no idea what it has done to my brain and I doubt there has been that much research into it...if so why on earth would they prescribe a drug that does this to people?
Particularly people who have a history of depression.

I am going to try taking amino acids to see if that helps - it can't hurt.

If anyone else is going through the same thing please get in touch and let me know!
This site totally helped me!! Thank you everyone who has posted on it. It really makes a huge difference to know that there are other people out there going through the same thing. I have felt like I am absolutely crazy! Thank you so much :-)

February 22nd
2009
My side effects (Charles Clark)
3:00pm

It started with diarrhea after a couple days treatment. Then my hand muscles starting to contract on there own. Then I started having high blood pressure up to 212/118 and high heart rate and anxiety beginning to set in. My wife wanted to take me to the hospital but I refused to go (I wish I had. They might have taken me off Doxy then, but no, I was still taking it). I then started having problems breathing (like something was stopping me. Not like hyperventilating). My wife called the doctor and she said to stop the Doxy and come in. At the visit, she gave me meds for high blood pressure and ordered a heart monitor and stress test as she believed my problem was more likely with my heart. I didn't start the blood pressure medications as I needed to have the tests done in a week and a half. I had a panic attack before the stress test. There was a patient there who stated her granddaughter had developed panic attacks after she had taken Doxy for Lymes disease. What a coincidence. That weekend my blood pressure and anxiety increased and my wife called the doctor. They convinced me to start the blood pressure medicine as all of this might be caused by High Blood Pressure. I returned to the doctor 4 days later and she took more blood work as well as tested for Lymes disease again. Everything was normal and NO lymes disease. So what was causing all of these problems. That night when I came home from the Doctors I started feeling like someone just sprayed me like you spray a wasp/bee. I started to shake and twitch inside like I was dying I could feel my stomach convulsing and getting cold. Now at this point I had been off Doxycycline for a few days. My wife called the doctors emergency line and they called in a prescription for Xanex. I took it and it put be out. I woke up the next day feeling like I was on a bad rollercoaster ride going over the edge and trying to climbing out of my skin. I was unable to even take care of myself at this point. I started getting muscle twitches all over my body. I could not control my thoughts and had a hard time talking; my skin was so hypersensitive to the touch or movement. The only way I could deal with it was just lay down and not move. I felt like was going to die. More symptoms came: my middle finger on my left hand went numb; I was so nauseated I had a hard time eating; depression set in with sever panic attacks/anxiety, ears ringing, slight pain in my chest like I was having a heart attack and was becoming bed ridden and afraid of everything at this point. That next week I returned to the doctor and she noted how it seemed a struggle for me to walk into the office. She felt that I should begin meds to decrease the anxiety that was paralyzing me. She suggested seeing a psychiatrist and stated that if I got worse my wife should take me to the emergency and be admitted to the mental health program. So I began to take Paxil as well (I hate medications, but I was desperate). I was terrified that I might have side affects from these meds and I couldn't be alone and I was afraid to go anywhere, afraid I would have an attack or worse, stop breathing all together. I was terrified and my family was getting very worried about me and unsure what to do. Thanks to my best friend, my wife, and my family for taking care of me. If it were not for them, I would not know what to do. My dear mom even came in from Virginia to help take care of me. I can not express my thanks enough to my family! I have been off the drug now for almost seven weeks now and all my side effects are slowly, very slowly, dissipating. How come the Doctors don't know about this? Thank GOD for this site and the ones that took the time to post there experience with this drug! THANKS EVERYONE GOD BLESS YOU!

P.S. please reply on what you did to get rid of the side effects, how long did it take for them to go away and did your Doctor believe that the Doxycycline caused them. because I can't find a Doctor that thinks the Doxycycline can have these side effects.

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:)

I have been having Doxy since last June (about 6 mo. ago) and still taking it. Its effects on my acne problem has just gotten apparent about one month ago. (Yep. For 5 months, I kept my faith and it is beginning to pay off.) I was determined to take the stuff as long as I need to. However, I just noticed that my stomach is bloating and I got tired very easily. I could play several games of rigorous racquetball before but no longer. My breathing has gotten harder and felt like something was obstructing my breathe just below the rib cage (in the middle).

I will see my derm to see if there is any long term problem with this side effect. He once told me I have to take this drug at least 2 months after all the major "bums" have disappeared. I hope that is within the next few weeks.

Had the standard nausea, light-headedness, exhaustion, drymouth, sleep disturbance, surnburned skin, but also I had a HUGE inexplicable fit of rage for no reason AT ALL with crying all day. Same day I noticed a tightness in my side (liver area). The sad moods come for the 2-3 hours after each dose. The rage comes mid-day.
Glad I have only 3 days left.
Good luck to you all!
Take something else if you can.
PS Milk thistle extract helps the tight discomfort and anger. Ginger tea helps this and soothes the nausea. Umeboshi pickled plums work magic on the rest of the symptoms.