Muscle Weakness – Sign to Up or Dial Back AP?

[hopefulmama]

Hi all!

Been back on Doxycycline for about 4 weeks, at 50mg BID every day. This was not per doctor’s orders. Due to the former headaches he had asked me to go back to 100mg BID MWF, not long after he’d put me on 100mg BID daily. The 100mg dose seemed too much for my body at the time and so I dropped back to 50 BID… maybe a mistake but it felt better at the time.

My arthritic symptoms have been much improved but the herxing came at 12 days and I have cycled through a variety of more intense herx symptoms than I had had the prior 2 times taking Doxy. First there was intense itching, which I rode through and it went away. Then exhaustion, falling asleep mid-day again (once mid-drive… not good when ferrying little children!!!). Something else, too – but I can’t remember what right now and I guess that is the brain fog LOL! More recently my blood pressure has been very low and I’ve felt a sense of extreme muscle weakness all over my body. Oh, and I notice that when I take the doxycycline right now it makes me really cold and my hands turn white… whereas it used to warm them up. So maybe the dose is too low?

I’m wondering if my fellow patients can tell me if from your experience the muscle weakness is just one more transient herx symptom or if it is a sign that my body needs me to dial back either the number of days I week or adjust the dosage. I am thinking of either going to 50mgBID every other day, or maybe going up to the doctor recommended dose of 100mg BID MWF.

My AP doc has been out of the country these past few weeks but soon he will be back and I can also get his opinion.

Thanks so much. Happy holidays to you all! You are all in my prayers and most hopeful thoughts for 2012.

A

[PhilC]

Hi Andrea,

I think your body is telling you that you are pushing it too hard, so increasing the dose would likely make things worse. I’ve noticed that a number of people are on antibiotic protocols that give them a 1-day break per week– typically, no antibiotics are taken on Sunday. You may want to consider incorporating that into your regimen. If that turns out to be insufficient, then you may need to reduce the dose to 50 mg BID on MWF, or 50 mg once per day on Monday through Saturday. I’ve seen both approaches being used, but I am not sure which one is better.

Of course, this is not medical advice; I am just telling you what I would do if I found myself in a similar situation. I should also add that I have been taking doxycycline for nearly three years, and I am quite familiar with the headaches, itching, fatigue, brain fog, etc., so what I’ve told you here is based on my own personal experience.

Phil

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

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