Starting Dose Feedback… please & thanks!

[Woods1977]

I

[PhilC]

Here is the approach I would use (for myself). I seem to be more cautious than most people, so maybe reading about how I’d approach a similar situation will be helpful in some way.

Assuming that I have weekends off from work, I’d probably choose to start on a Friday or Saturday. That way, if it turns out that I don’t react well to the doxycycline, I will have a little time to recuperate before returning to work. To minimize GI upset I never take doxy on an empty stomach. I always take it with a small amount of (low mineral content) food. For the same reason, I do not take doxy if my last major meal was more than three or four hours ago. So taking my doxy first thing in the morning, even with a small amount of food, would be out of the question. Since I only take it once a day, the time of the day that works out best for me is about two hours after breakfast.

So on a Friday or Saturday I’d wait until two hours after breakfast and then I’d eat two pieces of whole wheat toast (gluten doesn’t bother me). Then I’d take 30 mg of doxy followed by a 1000 mg capsule of fish oil (regular kind — not enteric coated). Then I’d eat two more pieces of whole wheat toast, and then follow that up with some more water. By the way, I eat the toast plain — I do not put anything on it. Other foods I have used instead of toast are applesauce, Utz pretzel nuggets, and white or (preferably) parboiled rice (rinsed thoroughly before cooking) plus two heaping spoonfuls of oat or wheat bran for some extra fiber. After I take my doxy I would not eat anything or take any supplements (other than fish oil) for at least two hours.

What I’d do next would depend almost totally on how I feel. In other words, I’d use a “wait and see” approach. If I feel fairly well the following day, I would make tentative plans to take another 30 mg dose of doxy the next day. If I am still feeling fairly well the next day, I would go ahead and take the doxy as planned. If not, I would postpone taking the doxy for another day. My preference would be to start out taking 30 mg of doxy every other day, if possible. If that turned out to be too difficult to handle, I would try skipping two or three days between doses. If necessary, I would expand that out to six days between doses (i.e., 30 mg once per week), or even longer.

Anyway, this message has become rather long so I think I’ll just stop there. Hopefully what I’ve written above will be in some way helpful. Keep in mind that none of the above is intended as 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 took doxycycline for over four years, 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

[Woods1977]

@PhilC wrote:

Here is the approach I would use (for myself). I seem to be more cautious than most people, so maybe reading about how I’d approach a similar situation will be helpful in some way.

Assuming that I have weekends off from work, I’d probably choose to start on a Friday or Saturday. That way, if it turns out that I don’t react well to the doxycycline, I will have a little time to recuperate before returning to work. To minimize GI upset I never take doxy on an empty stomach. I always take it with a small amount of (low mineral content) food. For the same reason, I do not take doxy if my last major meal was more than three or four hours ago. So taking my doxy first thing in the morning, even with a small amount of food, would be out of the question. Since I only take it once a day, the time of the day that works out best for me is about two hours after breakfast.

So on a Friday or Saturday I’d wait until two hours after breakfast and then I’d eat two pieces of whole wheat toast (gluten doesn’t bother me). Then I’d take 30 mg of doxy followed by a 1000 mg capsule of fish oil (regular kind — not enteric coated). Then I’d eat two more pieces of whole wheat toast, and then follow that up with some more water. By the way, I eat the toast plain — I do not put anything on it. Other foods I have used instead of toast are applesauce, Utz pretzel nuggets, and white or (preferably) parboiled rice (rinsed thoroughly before cooking) plus two heaping spoonfuls of oat or wheat bran for some extra fiber. After I take my doxy I would not eat anything or take any supplements (other than fish oil) for at least two hours.

What I’d do next would depend almost totally on how I feel. In other words, I’d use a “wait and see” approach. If I feel fairly well the following day, I would make tentative plans to take another 30 mg dose of doxy the next day. If I am still feeling fairly well the next day, I would go ahead and take the doxy as planned. If not, I would postpone taking the doxy for another day. My preference would be to start out taking 30 mg of doxy every other day, if possible. If that turned out to be too difficult to handle, I would try skipping two or three days between doses. If necessary, I would expand that out to six days between doses (i.e., 30 mg once per week), or even longer.

Anyway, this message has become rather long so I think I’ll just stop there. Hopefully what I’ve written above will be in some way helpful. Keep in mind that none of the above is intended as 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 took doxycycline for over four years, so what I’ve told you here is based on my own personal experience.

Phil

Hi Phil,
This does help- thank you. I was actually hoping you

[m.]

I’ll share my experience. I started on 50 mg Doxy MWF shortly after my first arthritic flare.

A few months in, I felt like I was getting worse with pinching in my wrists and burning elbows, so I increased to 100 mg MWF taken in a divided dose (50 & 50).

With time, I continued to improve, thankfully, and eventually raised to 200 mg MWF which I still take in a divided dose (100 & 100).

I had a significant setback when I switched to minocycline in response to the price increase in Doxy. I posted here about it and although the consensus here seemed to be “stick with the Mino, you’re herxing, and that’s a good thing”, I emailed Dr. S. & he was fine with my switching back to Doxy.

It’s been almost one month since switching back to Doxy and my joint pain has dropped significantly. I’ve been forgetting to take an Advil. I’m very grateful & relieved to be feeling so much better again so soon. This disease is scary.

My preference is to keep Mino in the reserves for if & when the day comes that Doxy does not work for me.

If your MD is monitoring your bloodwork regularly you should have a better idea of what is worsening vs. what is herxing.

Good luck!

[A Friend]

@Woods1977 wrote:

I

[Woods1977]

[

[Woods1977]

@m. wrote:

I’ll share my experience. I started on 50 mg Doxy MWF shortly after my first arthritic flare.

A few months in, I felt like I was getting worse with pinching in my wrists and burning elbows, so I increased to 100 mg MWF taken in a divided dose (50 & 50).

With time, I continued to improve, thankfully, and eventually raised to 200 mg MWF which I still take in a divided dose (100 & 100).

I had a significant setback when I switched to minocycline in response to the price increase in Doxy. I posted here about it and although the consensus here seemed to be “stick with the Mino, you’re herxing, and that’s a good thing”, I emailed Dr. S. & he was fine with my switching back to Doxy.

It’s been almost one month since switching back to Doxy and my joint pain has dropped significantly. I’ve been forgetting to take an Advil. I’m very grateful & relieved to be feeling so much better again so soon. This disease is scary.

My preference is to keep Mino in the reserves for if & when the day comes that Doxy does not work for me.

If your MD is monitoring your bloodwork regularly you should have a better idea of what is worsening vs. what is herxing.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your feedback! It’s so difficult to determine if what I’m going through is a flare, or sliding backwards. I can’t help feeling like something is being overlooked, as I should be further along by now, but regardless, I’m not ready to throw the towel in the bag just yet. Glad to hear you’re doing well on your protocol. 🙂 Take care!

[Woods1977]

@A Friend wrote:

@Woods1977 wrote:

I

[A Friend]

@Woods1977 wrote:

Hi A Friend!
Thanks for sharing your story… Like I keep saying- it’s so difficult to determine if I’m herxing, developed a sensitivity to Minocin, or what! I’m very appreciative of everyone’s feedback- it’s honestly the only thing that keeps me going. I SO hope to feel better soon, and help other on this site with my crazy experience. 🙂 PS- I’ve heard of the Immune-Pro line… I heard it’s very good. The probiotic I get is from my AP doctor’s office, so I’m assuing it’s good. 🙂

Woods,
I just knew it! — that whoever suggested the probiotic for you had to be someone pretty knowledgeable, or knew someone who was. The information I read about it on the link in your post really was impressive. Right now, I’m going to try to find it again, and save the verbage in my files.
Good luck to you!
AF

PS Ther-Biotic Detoxification Support (Vegan) 50 Billion CFUs (1 cap, 1x daily)
[This was copied from your Signature list]
Using the product name, a search found this link

[PhilC]

@A Friend wrote:

PS Ther-Biotic Detoxification Support (Vegan) 50 Billion CFUs (1 cap, 1x daily)
[This was copied from your Signature list]
Using the product name, a search found this link

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

[Woods1977]

@PhilC wrote:

@A Friend wrote:

PS Ther-Biotic Detoxification Support (Vegan) 50 Billion CFUs (1 cap, 1x daily)
[This was copied from your Signature list]
Using the product name, a search found this link

[Woods1977]

@A Friend wrote:

@Woods1977 wrote:

Hi A Friend!
Thanks for sharing your story… Like I keep saying- it’s so difficult to determine if I’m herxing, developed a sensitivity to Minocin, or what! I’m very appreciative of everyone’s feedback- it’s honestly the only thing that keeps me going. I SO hope to feel better soon, and help other on this site with my crazy experience. 🙂 PS- I’ve heard of the Immune-Pro line… I heard it’s very good. The probiotic I get is from my AP doctor’s office, so I’m assuing it’s good. 🙂

Woods,
I just knew it! — that whoever suggested the probiotic for you had to be someone pretty knowledgeable, or knew someone who was. The information I read about it on the link in your post really was impressive. Right now, I’m going to try to find it again, and save the verbage in my files.
Good luck to you!
AF

PS Ther-Biotic Detoxification Support (Vegan) 50 Billion CFUs (1 cap, 1x daily)
[This was copied from your Signature list]
Using the product name, a search found this link

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