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A single prophylactic 200mg dose of Doxycyline prevents Lyme disease

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

#91
post #10

Had to take doxycycline for 2 weeks after a tick bite. Man does that stuff destroy your digestive system. 7 years ago was on a date, just casually walking down the street. Coughed a couple times for no particular reason but my doxycycline lined stomach didn’t like that and boom projectile vomiting. Luckily he thought it was funny/ felt bad for me.

Before any round of antibiotics, healthcare ought to collect a fecal sample for subsequent fecal transplantation. The carpet bombing of the GI with antibotics and reestablishment shouldn't be left to chance since something bad might develop or lack beneficial strains.

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

#92
post #10

Had to take doxycycline for 2 weeks after a tick bite. Man does that stuff destroy your digestive system. 7 years ago was on a date, just casually walking down the street. Coughed a couple times for no particular reason but my doxycycline lined stomach didn’t like that and boom projectile vomiting. Luckily he thought it was funny/ felt bad for me.

I feel you man. I took it for acne for like 3 or so months, and every morning it was a daily battle not to puke my guts out. It didn’t work btw, and I ended up needing accutane, which left my lips ravaged and bleeding for a year.

Ginger and delta 9 THC are antiemetics that work well.

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

#93
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).

Ah, no. It's typically a hormone-mediated process. Accutane works but it's also not without side-effects.

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

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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?

This is a touchy subject, but the gist of it is that nearly all evidence points to post-Lyme complications being due to something other than ongoing Lyme infection. However, there are a lot of alternative medicine doctors who try to treat post-Lyme complications as ongoing infections that they claim are too hidden to be measured or detected. They want to treat the "hidden infection" with extremely long courses of very powerful (and expensive) antibiotics.

The problem with this theory is that when studied under double-blind conditions, the post-Lyme patients who receive high dose antibiotics don't actually do much better than those who receive placebo. Similar numbers of patients in both placebo and antibiotic groups have recoveries, but the antibiotic cohort has higher rates of adverse effects. Any time you have evidence like this, insurance companies will refuse to cover these treatments.

It's a touchy subject because post-Lyme symptoms are very real, but the cause of those symptoms isn't really understood. Patients who are desperate for answers are drawn to the high-dose, long-term antibiotic treatments because it gives a convenient explanation and a convenient treatment option, but the real-world results don't really support it. There are a few researchers out there who are still trying to prove otherwise, so it's possible that we'll get some different information later.

Sadly, there isn't much in the way of treatment knowledge for how to actually deal with post-Lyme complications, other than going for large batteries of neurological and immunological testing and hoping that something turns up. Beyond that it's largely palliative care and rest while the patient hopefully gradually recovers.

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

#95

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…

This is one of my biggest gripes with the American medical system. Every physician is entitled to act like it's his duty to play global health director rather than attending physician.

Pro-tip: take a trip to central or south America, and buy over-the-counter antibiotics from a farmacia for pennies on the dollar.

Source: I inherited this wisdom from Kari Mullis, Nobel prize winning inventor of PCR.

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

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

That sounds like what Steve Jobs said about his cancer. As another anecdote - I got rid of my acne when I discovered benzoyl peroxide creams via an XKCD comic.

Mine cured up with: Glycerine soap 2x daily, benzoyl peroxide 2x daily, and sometimes erythromycin 300 mg daily, along with erythromycin alcohol wash, and sometime nitrogen facial sprays.

I didn't have severe cystic acne though. Diet has nothing to do with acne.

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

#97

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…

Once I was actively taking doxycycline when I went for a walk through the woods with some friends. After the walk I took a shower and made sure a tick didn’t catch a ride. Put my clothes back on and flew home the next day. Fast forward a week, I’m hanging at my in-laws house when I scratch my leg and feel something off. Pull my pants up and there’s a tick, but it looks flat. My nurse sister jumps into action and tweezes it’s off but she comments it’s dead.

I figured either I became The Tick (TM) or the doxy in my bloodstream killed the tick. It’s been over 7 years and no signs of Lyme nor desire to latch onto someone’s blood stream so im going with the doxycycline killed the tick.

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

#98
post #10

Had to take doxycycline for 2 weeks after a tick bite. Man does that stuff destroy your digestive system. 7 years ago was on a date, just casually walking down the street. Coughed a couple times for no particular reason but my doxycycline lined stomach didn’t like that and boom projectile vomiting. Luckily he thought it was funny/ felt bad for me.

Interesting! Took doxy for months at a time, with a year being the longest ever taken it. The US military uses it as Malaria prophylaxis, so can end up taking it for a pretty significant amount of time. Never really had an side effects I can recall, but was in my early 20s at the time as well.

Do you recall the doseage?

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

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> doc wouldn't give me antibiotics because I took the initial one week "and it's not possible that I have Lyme" Why would you accept that response from a doc if you were confident you had symptoms of lyme? Get a second opinion, or straight up fire your doctor.

Correct. That is what happened.

The issue is that bullshit as listed in the title of this thread makes it that much more difficult for actual patients, who are going through their life collapsing, to do that.

Yes second opinions. Yes get more than one day of doxy. Yes antibiotics are not enough (but we're a requisite for me getting better).

Lyme is more expensive so much worse than anything you have read once you have made the wrong call and accepted too little doxy after being bit. Do not accept one day, don't accept one week, and demand one month of doxy which will cost you maybe $40 out of pocket but may save you the $200k (and counting) it cost me.

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

#100

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?

This is a touchy subject, but the gist of it is that nearly all evidence points to post-Lyme complications being due to something other than ongoing Lyme infection. However, there are a lot of alternative medicine doctors who try to treat post-Lyme complications as ongoing infections that they claim are too hidden to be measured or detected. They want to treat the "hidden infection" with extremely long courses of ver…

Dude this is industry swill. There is absolutely no evidence for "post Lyme syndrome" done by any legitimate (read: non insurance backed) research team.

Proof?

Check the study where ticks are introduced into a room with post Lyme patients. Spoiler: ticks bite post Lyme patients and end testing positive with Lyme disease.

Conclusion? Post Lyme is Lyme, insurance companies are on the hook for billions if they gave to cover that... So. Yeah. There is incentive to not do that.

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