Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

cdc.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 133 posts

Re: A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

#71

Post by oblib »

erisinger wrote: post #65
radicaldreamer wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ticks in california don't carry lyme typically. I'd be a lot more worried if you were on Long Island or on the east coast generally. If you do get bit though, the bite is very obvious and you'd know. If you catch the tick, you can send it in for testing, although it might be easier just to take the doxy.

Almost nothing stated here is accurate…

It may have changed since I lived there but that was certainly true when I did. And I spent a lot of time rambling around the mountains, creeks, and NFs and NPs there and most all of it bushwhacking off trail.

Re: A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

#72

Post by jaegerpicker »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #55
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As further reference your insurance won't cover your treatment once it gets bad Wait, what? Based on what reasoning? Was this before or after the Affordable Care Act?

My understanding is that Lyme disease treatment is basically not covered by anything, beyond initial treatment. The suggestion of the possibility for Lyme to have long-term effects that need a much longer course of treatment is not scientifically accepted, but lots of people have reported symptoms of Lyme disease long after an initial infection.

My wife has long term Lyme and in fact very little is covered by insurance. Our experience has been that the majority of Dr's throw up their hands and say they don't know how to treat it so it's either not real or it must be something else causing it. Once you find a Dr to treat it insurance rarely covers much of it. All of this despite many many cases existing.

Re: A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

#73

Post by mauvehaus »

Brave Little State from Vermont Public Radio did an episode on when we'll have a Lyme disease vaccine (again...) that's worth a listen[0].

New Hampshire Public Radio did an entire podcast series about Lyme disease [1].

Both are worth a listen. Patient Zero from NHPR was absolutely eye-opening about the medical system and Lyme

[0] https://www.vpr.org/podcast/brave-little-state/2021-10-07/wh...

[1] https://www.patientzeropodcast.com/

Re: A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

#74

Post by jmt_ »

orangepurple wrote: post #63
jmt_ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe. But severe/cystic acne and the like are rarely solved so simply by dietary intervention. If the acne was so bad as to warrant an Accutane prescription, then my guess is that diet would not have helped much. Accutane can take a large toll on the body but is often one of the most effective tools in eradicating acne long term for those so strongly impacted.

Cystic acne is often, but not always, caused by a reaction to a dietary ingredient. Fasting a full day between meals can also often resolve cases. I will not reach for drugs until I have done everything I can in good faith with food and meal timing (24 hours between meals).

> I will not reach for drugs until I have done everything I can in good faith with food and meal timing

This is a great approach and I don't want to discourage it, but there's a spectrum of cystic acne. Honestly, I'm basing my comments more off personal experience (different people close to me have used Accutane), but I'm not sure how often diet is the cause of (non-simple) cystic acne, although, granted, I'm by default thinking of the more extreme cases. I had a single cyst under my cheek for a semester that dissolved on it's own - never considered Accutane for such a mild cyst. On the other hand, a close associate of mine developed severe cystic acne after being prescribed and using different birth control medicines. The symptoms not only continued, but got worse, well after ceasing these medications. No diet change was going to fix this - Accutane changed this persons life. After going to a few doctors seeking treatment, they were hesitant to prescribe Accutane to this person unless there were no other options. From what I've read online and stories I've heard from this person, this seems to be the norm - if you get prescribed Accutane (withholding doctors who jump straight to medication), you likely have a non-trivial case of acne that won't be reduced by say eating less chocolate. It's like treating depression - some people are able to solve other issues in their life that improve the depression tremendously, and other people have certain brain chemistry imbalances that make this process impossible _until_ they're treated with anti-depressants.

Re: A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

#75

Post by jaegerpicker »

russiasux wrote: post #40
Alex3917 wrote: post #23

Not accurate. If you read the original research study this recommendation is based on, it prevents the bullseye rash, which they used as a proxy measure. It's unclear whether or not it actually prevents lyme. I personally got bitten by a tick, did the prophylaxis dose, and then developed joint pain which continued until I did a full 21 day course. Yeah it sucks not being able to go in the sun for an entire month and…

I am right there with you. Took one week Doxy after being bit and got a rash anyway. About two years later mental fog and all our hell took over, tested positive but doc wouldn't give me antibiotics because I took the initial one week "and it's not possible that I have Lyme". Years later I have lost a business I founded and countless months where I couldn't even think let alone function. One day IS ABSOLUTELY not eno…

My Wife has long term Lyme and the cost for us aren't quite that much but close and can also confirm that insurance will cover very little of it.

Re: A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

#76

Post by xhkkffbf »

Alex3917 wrote: post #23

Not accurate. If you read the original research study this recommendation is based on, it prevents the bullseye rash, which they used as a proxy measure. It's unclear whether or not it actually prevents lyme. I personally got bitten by a tick, did the prophylaxis dose, and then developed joint pain which continued until I did a full 21 day course. Yeah it sucks not being able to go in the sun for an entire month and…

It didn't work for one woman I know. She took the single dose and still ended up getting a fever and Lyme several weeks later.

Re: A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

#78

Post by nerdponx »

jrumbut wrote: post #70
nerdponx wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, anywhere in New Jersey, southern New York, or Connecticut. I'm not sure about prevalence further north into upstate New York or New England, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was bad there too. Checking for ticks isn't that hard, and bring sharp tweezers if you go out for a day hike or a camping trip. Just make sure you grab it from the head/mouth and don't squeeze the body. I was always told that if you…

It is very prevalent in New England. This map shows at least one case in every state in the continental US: https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/datasurveillance/maps-recent.html Anecdotally, at least half the people on the street I grew up on in Massachusetts had it (and this was before the idea of long term Lyme became widely known, these were acute infections).

Makes sense, and sounds about like how things are in southern New York and Connecticut.

Re: A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

#79

Post by treeman79 »

Have a severe autoimmune condition. Tons of weird issues. But didn’t know it.

Would occasionally take doxycycline. My issues would clear up for a few weeks.

Mentioned this once to a doctor neuro-ophthalmologist).

He grew interested and started asking about how dry my eyes and mouth were. I said they were fine. He insisted on testing. I failed. I was just used to them being dry

Declared I had had Sjogrens. An autoimmune condition. That he had seen many people in his decades that doxy helped with Sjogrens. Later this was confirmed.

Said I shouldn’t listen to any doctor that ignored the antibiotic link. Every single doctor I’ve talked to thought I was crazy for suggesting their was a relationship.

I then discovered the Marshall plan which is super controversial. Basically that some auto immune‘s are caused by a very low level infection. Maybe in the mitochondria. Doctors mostly consider that a quack theory.

I was tested for Lyme. (Negative) As symptoms are very similar.

No idea. A course of doxy will give me about a month of feeling great. But doctors just say I’m lying.

Would love to be able to figure a way to test the theory.

Re: A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

#80

Post by treeman79 »

russiasux wrote: post #40
Alex3917 wrote: post #23

Not accurate. If you read the original research study this recommendation is based on, it prevents the bullseye rash, which they used as a proxy measure. It's unclear whether or not it actually prevents lyme. I personally got bitten by a tick, did the prophylaxis dose, and then developed joint pain which continued until I did a full 21 day course. Yeah it sucks not being able to go in the sun for an entire month and…

I am right there with you. Took one week Doxy after being bit and got a rash anyway. About two years later mental fog and all our hell took over, tested positive but doc wouldn't give me antibiotics because I took the initial one week "and it's not possible that I have Lyme". Years later I have lost a business I founded and countless months where I couldn't even think let alone function. One day IS ABSOLUTELY not eno…

Do you still test positive?
Post reply on HN