Minocycline Side Effects

[enzed]

I stopped taking my daily 100mg dose of minocycline yesterday because of some vomiting and diarrhea over the past 2 weeks. I put up with that but yesterday I came out in an itchy rash that progressed to raised welts on the top half of my body. I’ve been taking daily probiotics so the cause must be the minocycline. I’ll reintroduce minocycline in January, after a 3 week ‘washout’ and detox but when I restart I will halve the dose to 50mg daily, or just take 50mg 3 times a week as others do and then wait and see what happens.

My doctor did say when he prescribed minocycline, that if I had any of the above symptoms, to stop taking it as it does cause those side effects in some people as a mild form of allergic reaction. I will see him again in January after my detox and discuss it with him then.

I have good flexibility on my left side now, the right side of my body is still quite stiff although that knee has freed up a bit. I can now raise it higher than before.

I’ve also had pain in my jaw that I thought was toothache but went to the dentist and he said it was a blocked sinus issue. I’m taking a product called ‘Xergic’ for that. Each daily tablet has 180 mg of fexofenadine hydrochloride.

Any information or advice on the best way to progress is welcome.

[PhilC]

What kind (brand) of minocycline have you been taking, and what form (capsules or tablets)?

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[June3443]

I tried to switch from the generic Ranbaxy minocycline to Teva brand. The Teva brand made my ears roar. I started the Ranbaxy and have done okay on it. I do have a slight ringing in my ears, but not very noticeable.

[enzed]

@PhilC wrote:

What kind (brand) of minocycline have you been taking, and what form (capsules or tablets)?

Phil

Thanks Phil. The prescription bottle says ‘AKAMIN 50, each tablet containing minocycline hydrochloride equivalent to 50 mg minocycline’ then there’s most of a trademark, 2 letters I can’t read, then ‘alphapharm pty ltd’. Aust R 70852 expiry 6/14

When I showed my doctor a printout of Alan Cantwell’s research article into this AP treatment, he read it, was persuaded the treatment was correct. and was willing to prescribe.I just asked him for ‘minocycline’. I didn’t ask for any particular brand. I expect AKAMIN is the brand on the Australian Medicare subsidized list, so that was the one he prescribed. Each month’s supply which is 60 tabs of 50mg only costs me $5.80. If there’s another brand I could try I can pay more for it, but I still need the scrip from the doctor to get it. I expect he would be willing to prescribe another brand if I can give him enough information about it.

Australian Customs are dumping drugs that need a script in Australia but are bought from overseas without a script and imported so no good buying on line now. We will lose the drugs at the border.

[PhilC]

@enzed wrote:

Thanks Phil. The prescription bottle says ‘AKAMIN 50, each tablet containing minocycline hydrochloride equivalent to 50 mg minocycline’ then there’s most of a trademark, 2 letters I can’t read, then ‘alphapharm pty ltd’. Aust R 70852 expiry 6/14

I looked at the ingredients list for those tablets and there are several components that you could be reacting to besides minocycline. Unfortunately, I can’t suggest an alternative to try because I am not familiar with the brands of generic minocycline available in Australia. If I were you, I would call all the local chemists, as well as any online or mail-order pharmacies that do business within Australia, and ask them if there are other generics (or brand-name drugs) available besides Akamin. Keep detailed notes. Then report back here with your findings.

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[enzed]

@PhilC wrote:

@enzed wrote:

Thanks Phil. The prescription bottle says ‘AKAMIN 50, each tablet containing minocycline hydrochloride equivalent to 50 mg minocycline’ then there’s most of a trademark, 2 letters I can’t read, then ‘alphapharm pty ltd’. Aust R 70852 expiry 6/14

I looked at the ingredients list for those tablets and there are several components that you could be reacting to besides minocycline. Unfortunately, I can’t suggest an alternative to try because I am not familiar with the brands of generic minocycline available in Australia. If I were you, I would call all the local chemists, as well as any online or mail-order pharmacies that do business within Australia, and ask them if there are other generics (or brand-name drugs) available besides Akamin. Keep detailed notes. Then report back here with your findings.

Phil

OK thanks Phil, will do.

[lynnie_sydney]

enzed – is there any reason you are on the generic? The brand of minocycline in Australia is Minomycin now distributed by Sigma Pharmaceuticals. This is the only version of the drug that my AP doc says is okay to use. I have done a quick search and it appears available – Chemist Warehouse for instance, from whom you can buy online with a prescription.

I took Minomycin for 5 years with very good results.

Be well! Lynnie

Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)

[enzed]

@lynnie_sydney wrote:

enzed – is there any reason you are on the generic? The brand of minocycline in Australia is Minomycin now distributed by Sigma Pharmaceuticals. This is the only version of the drug that my AP doc says is okay to use. I have done a quick search and it appears available – Chemist Warehouse for instance, from whom you can buy online with a prescription.

I took Minomycin for 5 years with very good results.

Thanks for that information Lyn. I will see the pharmacist who filled my script on Monday, and ask him to change it to the Minomycin from Sigma. I still have 4 months of repeats on my script. I expect all he will have to do is check with my doctor by phone, or maybe he’ll just give it to me if I explain the side effects I have been having. He might insist I go back to my doctor which I can do if my doctor is available and hasn’t left for his Xmas holiday.

After 2 days without Minocycline the red lumps have gone down and faded but left behind tiny raised ‘heads’ that itch like crazy. I am slathering Calamine lotion on them several times a day and that is helping me not to scratch. I will wait until that has cleared up before I start Minomycine though.

[PhilC]

@enzed wrote:

Thanks for that information Lyn. I will see the pharmacist who filled my script on Monday, and ask him to change it to the Minomycin from Sigma.

Minomycin is what I originally had in mind, but then I looked at the ingredients and saw that it has many of the same “inert” ingredients in it as Akamin. They are not identical, though, so it’s worth a try.

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[enzed]

@PhilC wrote:

@enzed wrote:

Thanks for that information Lyn. I will see the pharmacist who filled my script on Monday, and ask him to change it to the Minomycin from Sigma.

Minomycin is what I originally had in mind, but then I looked at the ingredients and saw that it has many of the same “inert” ingredients in it as Akamin. They are not identical, though, so it’s worth a try.

Phil

I think I’ll go with your first suggestion Phil, and I’ll ask the pharmacist to print me a list of all the Minocycline products available in Australia, and their ingredients, and then post them here. One ingredient might show up as the likely culprit. I don’t want to stop AP treatment altogether because I’ve already had significant improvements on AP, the latest being a reduction in panadol doses. I was taking 6 Panadol Osteo a day, but lately I’ve been able to cut that down to 4. So the pain is less.

My medication now comprises:
Brufin 800 mg daily – when I stop this anti-inflamatory I seize up very fast. Been taking this for 30 years.
Quinapril for BP, 1 x 20 mg daily
Xergic 1 x 180 mg daily, for sinus / hayfever allergy.
Panadol Osteo x 4 daily

Improvements on Minocycline:
SD ‘Dry eyes’ no longer dry. Eyelids no longer burn. Vision better.
No reflux, it wasn’t bad before but now it’s gone.
Toes have straightened from being buckled, so walking much improved, can walk barefooted for a few minutes each day now.Tendons under my feet much looser / less painful.
Skin sores on my head quickly disappeared on Monocycline. I’d had those for 30 years on and off.
Skin thickening around my mouth appears to have reversed, and I can now smile widely without my mouth hurting.
All blood tests now normal, although the white blood cell readings used to fluctuate a bit before AP.
Great flexibility on left hand side of my body now, some improvement in my right knee but right side remains stiff & achy.
The Raynauds ulcer on my finger has finally healed- still has a tiny crust but I can use that hand again.That was a horrible ulcer I had for 4 months. fingers much better, more pink than white now, blood flow looking good, left hand pinker than right hand though and fingers not as puffy.

So even though there’s something in Minocycline that didn’t like me, I still like Minocycline! 😆

[laurawm]

Hi Enzed,

When I first started on minocycline (Watson brand) last winter and then again this fall, I had severe rashes (looked and felt like burns and/or small red bumps with very painful tissue) and recurrent diarrhea. I am almost completely sure that the rashes were herx/detox in origin and I honestly believe some of the diarrhea has been as well (I am still dealing with this off and on). I take loads of probiotics and am on low doses of prescription ABX overall, and the amount of bowel problems I’ve had seem to be too much to attribute to the wiping out of “good” bacteria. Plus, mino kills candida, so the fact that I had recurrent oral, vaginal, and anal candida symptoms for months after beginning mino, but now no more is indicative of a candida herx response to the drug. Plus, the diarrhea issue flared when beginning plaquenil as well as colostrum, monolaurin, and when I take an herb called baicalin. I believe all of these are hitting something in my gut, and diarrhea is the response my body chooses to detox this part of my body. Whenever I start a new detox regimen (detox tea w/lemon and oil, fasting, sea minerals, infrared sauna) my body’s response seems to be the same: diarrhea, pain/swelling in most all joints, fatique, oral thrush, variable itching/rashes & tissue pain followed by relief if I wait long enough before taking more ABX. 🙂 Slowly, of course, I am seeing relief in certain tissues and joints and rashes have subsided for the most part. Sacchromyces boulardi has been the best probiotic I’ve found to stop the diarrhea so I do not get dehydrated. I no longer deal with vaginal/anal candida issues, though I do still have itching on my skin and periodic oral thrush which my doctor says could be from many bacterias, not just candida as I detox. I honestly think that I have pathogenic bacteria throughout my bowels that my body is continually flushing out. I’ve talked with my doctor about all of this and she said she has long believed that many of the “side effects” of antibiotics are actually herxheimer reactions. Of course this is not true for all side effects or every case, and I do not know in your case, but it could be worth keeping in mind if these same symptoms recur when beginning a new brand.

Best wishes,
Laura

[enzed]

@laurawm wrote:

Hi Enzed,

When I first started on minocycline (Watson brand) last winter and then again this fall, I had severe rashes (looked and felt like burns and/or small red bumps with very painful tissue) and recurrent diarrhea. I am almost completely sure that the rashes were herx/detox in origin and I honestly believe some of the diarrhea has been as well (I am still dealing with this off and on). I take loads of probiotics and am on low doses of prescription ABX overall, and the amount of bowel problems I’ve had seem to be too much to attribute to the wiping out of “good” bacteria. Plus, mino kills candida, so the fact that I had recurrent oral, vaginal, and anal candida symptoms for months after beginning mino, but now no more is indicative of a candida herx response to the drug. Plus, the diarrhea issue flared when beginning plaquenil as well as colostrum, monolaurin, and when I take an herb called baicalin. I believe all of these are hitting something in my gut, and diarrhea is the response my body chooses to detox this part of my body. Whenever I start a new detox regimen (detox tea w/lemon and oil, fasting, sea minerals, infrared sauna) my body’s response seems to be the same: diarrhea, pain/swelling in most all joints, fatique, oral thrush, variable itching/rashes & tissue pain followed by relief if I wait long enough before taking more ABX. 🙂 Slowly, of course, I am seeing relief in certain tissues and joints and rashes have subsided for the most part. Sacchromyces boulardi has been the best probiotic I’ve found to stop the diarrhea so I do not get dehydrated. I no longer deal with vaginal/anal candida issues, though I do still have itching on my skin and periodic oral thrush which my doctor says could be from many bacterias, not just candida as I detox. I honestly think that I have pathogenic bacteria throughout my bowels that my body is continually flushing out. I’ve talked with my doctor about all of this and she said she has long believed that many of the “side effects” of antibiotics are actually herxheimer reactions. Of course this is not true for all side effects or every case, and I do not know in your case, but it could be worth keeping in mind if these same symptoms recur when beginning a new brand.

Best wishes,
Laura

Thanks for sharing that story Laura. All this information is very helpful. I do think its possible that my ‘side effects’ could be a herxheimer reaction. I just wish I knew for sure. I am detoxing now with green tea and water and will start back on Flaxseed Oil today as my stomach reacts well to it. The doctor who diagnosed my SD 3 years ago highly recommended Flaxseed Oil for SD patients or anyone with auto immune imbalances. He was proven right about so many things I feel confident in starting Flaxseed Oil again. I also have Emu Oil. the arthritis medication of the indigenous people of Australia, apparently used for thousands of years. I could drink tea witrh lemon and either of those oils. I love tea, any kind, so that’s good. I dare not stay on minocycline though until after another detox. It also makes sense to me that the mino kills bacteria that then needs to get out of the body, so it seems right to stop the mino while I detox (which I have done once before) and then start the mino (or another brand of it) again. I wouldn’t dare take herbal remedies on top of all this other medication though.

[laurawm]

I know, I’m a bit crazy, but I know the supplements I have settled into work on multiple levels, so I’m pretty attached to a few of them. I stay on a pretty low dose of mino because of my supps, and have recently reduced my supps in order to increase my mino as one had to back off for another to increase. It’s all working, but oh so slowly and not without some damage in the wake. No easy road back here, but part of that is my fault (going of ABX last spring trying to do all herbals, getting a tick bite, doing peptide shots – regret). Anyhow, I’d be crazy to give up now as it is so obvious how I respond to meds and because of my labs that I have multiple infections.

Thanks for the info on Emu oil – I will check it out.

Laura

[enzed]

@laurawm wrote:

I know, I’m a bit crazy, but I know the supplements I have settled into work on multiple levels, so I’m pretty attached to a few of them. I stay on a pretty low dose of mino because of my supps, and have recently reduced my supps in order to increase my mino as one had to back off for another to increase. It’s all working, but oh so slowly and not without some damage in the wake. No easy road back here, but part of that is my fault (going of ABX last spring trying to do all herbals, getting a tick bite, doing peptide shots – regret). Anyhow, I’d be crazy to give up now as it is so obvious how I respond to meds and because of my labs that I have multiple infections.

Thanks for the info on Emu oil – I will check it out.

Laura

I’m glad your treatment works for you. For myself, I keep thinking about all the posts on this forum regarding the ‘die off’ of bacteria and the need to stop minocyline and detox to get rid of the toxins before restarting minocycline at a lower dose. To me that theory has a strong logical basis to it. It makes sense to me, that I have to get rid of the toxins already there, before creating more. Otherwise, where do they go???? they must just stay in my body.

Regarding the Emu oil, I buy pure oil for topical application – it deadens arthritis pain quite rapidly, and pure oil capsules for swallowing. It’s supposed to heal tissue from the inside and also transport through the skin. There’s a lot of info on the net you can find by googling ‘Australian emu oil’. I also found the emu oil lip salve helped my mouth that had shrunk from SD. Between the Emu oil and the mino, my mouth opens properly again ie to its normal width, and my lips look fairly normal again. The bottom lip is ‘bumpy’ but at least it’s reestablished itself.

[laurawm]

That’s great to hear how the mino and emu oil have helped your mouth so much – mino and supps have also helped me clear Sjrogens, my jaw, chronic cough, chronic intestinal pain and abdominal swelling, umbilical hernia, headaches, months of ear infection and vertigo, tissue pain throughout my legs and ribcage, several joints, patches of scelerderma, rashes and candida as I mentioned, and I could keep going. It helps me to remember all of this as I am still acutely sick with debilitating joint pain and swelling and a great deal of fatigue. -Which is why I cannot take a long washout break from ABX, as the herx I experience when resuming mino is so great after taking more than a two-three day break that I cannot bear it. I am constantly herxing and it is my understanding that although I am continually filled with toxins being released from die-off, they all eventually get processed through the liver or come out through the skin, hair folicles, urine, and feces. Without a good washout, it is much like being stuck in traffic when a two laned road has had a lane closed – cars (toxins) just sit until all the cars in front of them have moved through – eventually everyone gets through, but it is slow and if you add more traffic (more die-off/toxins), it just takes longer as there is only one lane to get out (one liver, two kidneys, etc.). For this reason I purchased an infrared sauna which helps get toxins out through the skin (opens up an extra lane) to help reduce my pain and swelling. I just got it and the protocol given me by the company is one that begins very low and slow (low temp, low time) and it is drawing toxins to the surface but I am not yet sweating them out so it is frustrating as I am actually in more pain than ever, but apparently this is the right way to build up to being able to tolerate the detox level capable with the sauna over time – if that makes any sense.

Well, I’m rambling. I wish you the best of luck and I do think good wash outs are commonly the best thing for tolerating this treatment, I am just in a difficult spot where I have to keep a steady die-off going in order to not go backwards. My doctor is great and helps me figure out how to slowly stay steady but still increase dosage over time.

Best to you – it sounds like mino is working for you and your washout is likely a smart move.

Laura

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