Hair Loss and AP

[jaminhealth]

I’ve mentioned my story on Doxy and into taking it 3 months and the clump of hair that came out of my head. My hairdresser said it was the abx, so I stopped.

Now, I’m wondering was it the Doxy? Have others here on AP experienced hair loss on the protocol?

Obviously, I’m re-thinking all this NOW and wondering about this one issue. I know probiotics are important and I am a huge taker of probiotics right now anyway….

I have so many worse issues and all since hip replacement surgery 22 months ago…..

Thanks for any comments on this one….jam

[PhilC]

@jaminhealth wrote:

Obviously, I’m re-thinking all this NOW and wondering about this one issue. I know probiotics are important and I am a huge taker of probiotics right now anyway….

That’s good that you’re now taking probiotics, but were you taking them when you were on the doxycycline?

Phil

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

[jaminhealth]

I’m pretty sure I was taking them, as I know probiotics need to be taken when on an abx….perhaps I wasn’t taking as much as I do now…. I take 8Billion three times per day….pretty high dose in my mind.

I’m more and more thinking my big issue is inflammation and not infection. I’ll mention this again to my rheumy tomorrow, when I get my 4th acupuncture treatment…..if money were not an issue I’d get acupuncture every day, that’s what I hear they do in China to heal what is going on and why acupuncture is used so much in china.

Just talking to a friend who is 85 and she went to a chinese doc for acu for 7 yrs to reduce glaucoma issues, she went 3 times per week….today she told me a friend she knew went 2 times per day, 5 times per week and reversed the glaucoma….

I do believe in it a lot….more and more as I “feel” some shifts…..jam

[clong1057]

I was just the opposite..I was losing hair in handfuls before starting the APx and I am now in my 4th week and have very little hair loss anymore. I do take probiotic10 twice a day but just started that at the same time as the APx. Good luck and hope you get feeling better

Clong

[cavalier]

Many things can cause hair loss & it is not so easy to just point to a abx – I actually got my hair thicker while on AP & how people react can vary but true hair loss in clumps is a bit unusual.
I am hoping i can resume AP again after a 2wk break my doc’s said 2 to 3 wks due to the stomach issue – but with that said – selenium in too high amounts & what is too much for one person varies and other minerals can cause hair loss as well as diseases, hormones and all sort of things, stress etc.

If it were me & I was getting benefits from the Doxy as it is a known anti inflammatory – i would try it again & leave out anything else but probiotics & then see if this happens again – barring any unusual things – anesthesia & so many other things other meds can cause this.

Best – Jill

[jaminhealth]

Jill, Doxy is known as an anti inflammatory? Just looked that up and it does say anti inflammatory properties….

What about taking 50mg MWF…do some do that….go slowly and see.

[JulieKatie]

My daughter loses hair no matter what she is on. She loses so much that after a couple uses, I have to remove hair from the roller on the vacuum. You can see the loss when you look at her hair and she (at only 13 yrs old) is very aware of it. She has no bald spots but hair is thinning and not as healthy. Very dramatically changed. I think that is a lyme symptom not necessarily a medication symptom…but others may know more. Right now, my daughter is on Rocephin in her picc line twice daily on 4, off 3. She is on Malarone also since she had remarkable symptoms (quite severe) of babesia…so didn’t want that progress to back track after having some improvement. ONe month into the rocephin, no change in how she feels yet. I think it makes sense that she would feel worse before better, but she is feeling pretty down and out. Best wishes to you…feel your pain. Not fun at all. 🙁 Julie

[cavalier]

I agree Julie i blame more than disease or other things more so than Doxy – I have dogs thick coated dogs who have taken Doxy for ticks found before proactively – and it has never caused any hair loss for them. Lyme indeed makes the hair fall out and for older folks low thyroid hormone levels etc – am sorry your dau. goes thru this.

Yes Jam – doxy is a known anti inflammatory. Some vets used doxy rather than antiinflammatories that can cause serious issues as Doxy is safer than many of those. It depends on what you are taking it for – as to the dosage – SD & Lyme folks take it daily.

Jill

[Lynne G.SD]

I rather suspect that it is the disease.For sure SD will cause it.Loss of hair and light nausea were my first symptoms years before getting a diagnosis of SD.

[Maz]

@jaminhealth wrote:

Jill, Doxy is known as an anti inflammatory? Just looked that up and it does say anti inflammatory properties….

What about taking 50mg MWF…do some do that….go slowly and see.

Jamin, at the 2009 ACR Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia, a British researcher by the name of Adwan presented on the safety of using tetracyclines for RA. He included a long list of the immune-modulating actions and properties of tetracyclines that help to reduce inflammation in the body. He compiled a list of many of the studies conducted by other researchers in the past looking at RA and the efficacy of tetras (quite apart from their anti-microbial effects):

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/acrmeeting/abstract.asp?MeetingID=761&id=80039

Adwan states:

“Tetracycline antibiotics have been used in Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) since the late 1940s. Animal and in vitro studies have shown them to modify the inflammatory process in various ways unrelated to their antimicrobial activities. These include effects on matrix metalloproteinases, Nitric oxide, phospholipase A2, inflammatory cytokines, immunomodulatory and anti-oxidant effect, as well as effects on angiogenesis, apoptosis, MAP kinases, TGF beta and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1.”

So, for anyone who really doesn’t adhere to infectious causes for RA (or any other rheumatic disease), it really doesn’t matter, because tetras are well-known to help modulate these diseases in the above ways.

None of us are doctors here, so we are unable to prescribe any doses to anyone. However, if you watch the Dr. Brown documentary at the top of the Discussion forum, there is info at the end of the video on the common starting doses that Brown used. There is, however, no one-size-fits-all with AP and Brown was well aware that other anti-microbials might be needed in a person’s mix. As the article link that PhilC posted indicated, for instance, FM and CFS (and hair loss) have been tied to Lyme disease and Lyme often comes with a variety of coinfections all requiring separate treatment and in much different doses and pulses from low dose AP. That said, many people do use monotherapy quite successfully, too, and will often start on this and see how they go. Later, if things need to be tweaked, then seeing a doc who believes in infectious causes can help enormously to figure out the pathogen load puzzle.

[jaminhealth]

Thanks for the info…when I say hair loss, it was a clump…..and my hairdresser blamed it on the doxy as I was taking it then….maybe it was from color I was using at the time from the hairdresser…I do my own color now colorsilk and no hair clumps coming out.

Still thinking on this as I don’t deal with RA, SD, etc….OA mostly. Will mention it again to my rheumy today. jam

[cavalier]

Also adrenals glands imbalances can cause hair loss – as i said alot of things can contribute to this – while not impossible i suppose for a ABX it is not a typical finding but I would want to eliminate in making sure of other possibles.

[Author]

Posts