anybody else get nausea after taking doxycycline?

[CTyankee]

Calling my eye doc tomorrow. He prescribed it for my eye infection with blepharaitis. It says on the label not to take it with dairy so I try to be careful. And it says if it upsets the stomach to eat some crackers. Which I do but it keeps on making me nauseous anyway later in the day. I don't eat between meals and am usually busy and no thinking about eating.

[Gin]

1. I take it...no issues

Same eye issues.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Some info from the CDC on doxycycline...

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/resources/pdf/fsp/drugs/doxycycline.pdf

The most common side effects of doxycycline are
sun sensitivity (a person can get a sun burn more
easily than normal). To prevent sun burn, avoid
midday sun, and wear a high SPF sunblock.
Doxycycline may also cause nausea and stomach
pain. These side effects can often be lessened
by taking doxycycline with food. Doxycycline
monohydrate, the more expensive type of the
drug, is less likely to upset the stomach than
doxycycline hyclate. Your pharmacist may be able
to dispense one type or the other if you prefer.

[still_one]

3. Any antibiotic can cause nausea. doxycycline belongs to the class of antibiotics known as

tetracyclines. That is correct you should not take them with dairy, but you should be able to take them with food without any problems, and probably should. How long are you supposed to be on the doxycycline? If it is for a long time you should have your blood chemistries monitored. I assume your kidney and liver function tests a within normal limits.

If the side effects are too bad you made need to change to a different antibiotic. Regardless, you are correct to call your doctor

[Warpy]

4. Doxycycline is well known to cause nausea

If the directions on the bottle allow it, eat something with it. In any case, wash it down with a full glass of water, sometimes dilution can prevent GI upset.

If the water doesn't help and it's the form that must be taken on an empty stomach, clear taking it with food with your doctor or have him write a different prescription.

Antibiotics only work if we can keep them down.

[CTyankee]

6. Here's my issue: I am on a strictly sodium reduced diet due to my high blood pressure.

Just eating a few crackers when I take the doxy isn't that simple for me. Usually, I take antibiotics with some milk and that works great, but I am forbidden to have the dairy with this med. So I have to carefully time it around a meal that doesn't include any dairy...I cook with unsalted butter a lot so I need to ask if a meal cooked like that is OK. I can probably take it with oatmeal (mine is unsalted) as long as I don't have the milk I usually have with it. Getting the right foods in me is a balancing act, even if I go to much simply prepared fresh foods!

[Warpy]

7. Go to the store and get yourself some non dairy milk

for that oatmeal, just read the label to make sure they didn't add calcium to it. Get a bottle of olive oil for other cooking.

If they did add calcium to all of it, then get some raw, unsalted cashews at a health food store and make your own:

1c raw cashews
1 qt water
2 tbs sweetener
1tbs light vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt--yes salt and 1/4 t per quart is less than dairy has

Whiz it in the blender (in batches if yours is small) and strain through cheesecloth in a strainer.

This makes a very acceptable milk sub, it's the one I use when I need milk in something.

The reason you can't take any of the tetracycline drugs with milk is because it binds firmly to the calcium and becomes inactive. The same is true of iron (so bag that multi with iron), aluminum and magnesium, so if you've got heartburn, take Pepcid, not an antacid pill.

Butter is kind of a grey area. It's mostly fat but it does contain some milk solids. You can either clarify it by heating it and pouring the fat off the solids that collect in the bottom, or you can swap over to olive oil. While you can use vegan margarines made without milk solids, I don't recommend it if you've already got hypertension as a general rule but for the course of the drug, it would be OK. Freeze the leftovers and use them to make pastry for somebody you don't like very much.

However, where there is a will, there is a way and even if you need to make your own cashew milk, you've got a way. Just read those labels. Health food stores are great sources for people with legitimate health issues that have dietary restrictions.

[CTyankee]

8. I'm going tomorrow. Will soy milk work?

[Warpy]

9. Yes, just read that label for added calcium

A lot of them do that so people will feel better about drinking the stuff.

The cashew milk is really quite nice, very mild and not at all nutty or beany. Then again, I like the raw, unsalted cashews just as they are. If you have to make a quart to put in your coffee and on your cereal, it's not the end of the world.

Drug interactions are fun when your diet is already restricted.

[CTyankee]

11. thanks, warpy. this helps.

[kickysnana]

5. Everybody that I know and that is a lot of Lyme patients.

[Warpy]

10. I was lucky when I had Lyme

Good old cheap generic antibiotics for three weeks killed it off. I was "lucky" to get really sick with it with a temp over 103 so I got quick treatment.

Even penicillin will kill it, you just have to take it long enough.

[MH1]

12. Yes

and I totally had to change my diet, because normally I eat a lot of dairy (yogurt, kefir) and nuts, which are high in minerals like magnesium. I read package inserts on meds and this one said basically, don't eat anything really nutritious within 3-4 hours of taking the doxycycline.

I felt awful by the time I finished the course of doxy but it apparently did kill the nasty little lyme critters. Eventually I got my diet mostly back on track and then I started to feel better.

But hey, if it's the indicated antibiotic for your infection, best go with it, take it carefully for full effect so you can get the hell off of it as soon as possible.

(and if you have any problem with yeast infection, which often happens with antibiotics, get to the natural food store and get the best kefir they have and chug that stuff, once you can. Good kefir will send a yeast infection packing, quick.)

[CTyankee]

13. I'm sending you a pm about my experience...and thanks for sharing what you know

about this drug...