Report from LLMD visit

I haven't updated much in the last week or two, mostly because I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on with my meds. On October 30, I started doxycycline and switched from one generic brand of ceftriaxone (Rocephin) to another generic brand. Two variables! Pesky.

Headache, nausea, chest pain, stomach pain, vomiting, tight throat, excessive saliva production. It was a regular laugh riot.

So I tried eliminating one of the two suspects for a couple of days to figure out which might be causing my troubles. Unfortunately, my experiments did not produce reliable, repeatable data. Sometimes I'd still feel horrible. Sometimes I'd be just fine. No rhyme or reason.

This was the riddle I presented to my LLMD today. We have a proposed solution. First, I'm going to switch from the new generic ceftriaxone (made by Wockhardt) to the generic ceftriaxone I'd been using previously (made by Sandoz). It's possible that a binder or filler in the powder is giving me grief. I won't get the Sandoz-made kind until next week, and it's going to cost nearly twice as much.

As for the doxycycline, we're looking at a multiphase approach. First, I'm going to start taking sucralfate to protect my stomach and esophagus. One 1 gram pill, four times a day. Fun. But one of it's most common side effects is bezoar formation. And that's just funny.

Then I'm going to try taking all 400 mg of doxy at one time, in the morning. (The doxy never bothered me in the morning, only if I took it after, say, 4 PM.) If this works, great.

It probably won't work. Because 400 mg of oral doxy is a lot at once, and will likely cause vomiting. Still, I'm going to try it. And if it doesn't work, then I'll go back to 200 mg in the morning and 200 mg in the evening. And we'll see if that works. Hopefully the sucralfate will do it's thing and all my troubles will vanish. Ha. Ha. Ha.

The final medication change I'm making is that I'm going to say good-bye to my longtime friend Flagyl. We had some good times, but it's just been a while and I think it's time to move on. It's not you, Flagyl. It's me. I'm sorry. It's been eleven months, and I think I need something new and fresh in my life. The Lyme bacteria aren't afraid of you anymore. (Read: Resistance to Flagyl might be building and it's time to switch to a different drug.)

I'm going to start Plaquenil, 200 mg, twice a day. It acts against the cyst form of Lyme. Additionally, it can lower cellular acid levels, which makes doxycycline more effective. Score! And one of it's

The downside is that it can cause retinitis, so I'll have to get an eye exam every four months to make sure I'm all good. Similarly, I get monthly blood work done to make sure that my body is handling the other drugs OK. This month my labs were simply beautiful. Not a number out of place.