Has anyone ever taken....

[princessmel]

tetracycline? Just curious. Wondering if any of you had any problems with it?

[princessmel]

is anyone there? it's used for acne. i've taken it in the past and it nevered bothered me. could it bother me now?

[sillygirl]

I took minocycline which I think may be similar and never had any problems with it.

[chicajojobe]

Yeah, I took that for acne for a while.

It didn't help the acne, so I stopped taking it but while I was on it I had no problems at all.

[princessmel]

Did u take it on an empty stomach or with some food? It says to take it on an empty stomach or 2-3 hours after eating.

[chicajojobe]

Oh I don't remember, it was a long time ago. Usually I just go with
whatever instructions come with it though so if it says take on an
empty stomach then I'd do that.

[princessmel]

I'm such an idiot. Instead of taking the tetracycline, I took doxycycline, which upsets my stomach a little. I took 100mg about an hour ago. That's what my doctor originally prescribed for me. Oh Well. I'm ok. I don't know why I took that one. I just want to get rid of the zits anyhow.

[falon_17]

My brother takes one of those meds for acne, not sure which one. I had it bad until I got pregnant...haven't had to deal with it since then and that was 3 years ago (I'm 22). He used to make fun of me about my acne before he hit puberty, and now he's got it WAY worse than I did. My brother also uses ProActiv and that stuff is great! I sneak some occasionally, I love the way it makes my skin feel. Good stuff. You can get it cheap on eBay.

[nikki.l]

Hi Mel, try not to take the antibiotics on an empty stomach, this seems to make the n* worse. If you're prone to d*, try eating some yogurt everyday since this helps to reestablish the natural bacteria in your gut that the antibiotics kills off. Oh yeah, are you taking birth control pills? Tetracycline is one of the few antibiotics known to decrease the effectiveness of the Pill, so watch out if you're taking it! [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]


Nikki

[princessmel]

I'm 30 years old and I still get acne. It really blows. It's not bad at all, but I have been getting the cystic ones. I've been going to the doctor to get those shots that help clear them up. For some reason whether they are big or small, I'm getting one every two weeks. My doc said I can come in anytime for a shot, but he wants me to start taking the medicine to clear it up. He said my skin's looking better, but he wants me to take the meds. I'm not on birth control. I've never taken it before. I've tried Proactiv a long time ago, but I'm allergic to benzoil perioxide. It makes my skin very very dry and itchy. So, instead I use topical things. RetinA is great and a topical antibiotic. Tetracycline I think I can take on an empty stomach, but it's been so long. Doxycycline I have to take with a little food. No d* though. I think it's just a phase with these stupid things. I've been stressed the past few months, but things are getting better over here. At least, I can cover them up. Oh Well. The only thing I can do is take the medicine.

[thegooddr]

mel,





I find that with tetracycline it can take a few days, or even after the end of the (usual) 5 day course before the effects are noticed. It takes that amount of time to start killing off your normal gut flora and the potential overtake of bugs that can cause the d*. As nikki said, yoghurt is good as it can help replace the invading bad bugs with a nice healthy flora of good ones (its a battle in there I can tell you). Also helpful are the capsules containg large doses of freeze dried 'probiotics' - look in your local health food shop for them. I can't remember brand names and they are probably different over yourside of the pond anyway.


As for those who take minocycline, it is not the nicest of antibiotics. I was on it for about 2 years (for severe acne) and I felt really ill on it. A lot of research was published about 6 or 7 years ago saying that minocycline can have very bad effects of the kidneys and a lot of doctors were withdrawing it.


Perhaps the best treatment for acne, although probably the most dangerous is Roaccutane, which should be administered with constant medical supervision due to the serious liver side effects, however it is very very good at its job and I have seen it clear very painful bleeding and cystic acne in 3 months and for it not to return.


Hope this helps,





Iain

[californiagirl]

I have heard to NOT take Tetracycline with grapefruit juice. I'm not sure what the side effects would be, and I could be wrong, but I have heard this several times---you may wanna check into this if you like grapefruit juice, hun[img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

[princessmel]

I'm just taking the Adoxa (doxycycline). I took it before and didn't get any d* from it.

[joeylynn]

I have taken both the tetricycline and doxycycline. The first one upsets my stomach terribly. The second one although it does not upset my stomach (I took it at night just before bedtime) actually got stuck in my esophogus and burned a whole in it!!! It was the most pain I have ever been in so make sure to wash it down with a full 8 oz. glass of water as recommended (the water is to make sure it goes all the way down -- not to decrease the likelihood of stomach upset.


I have to say -- I also use a cream called Bactroban (with the Proactive) and have not had ANY breakouts since and I've been off the antibiotics for SEVERAL years now (I'm in my late 30's with adult acne).


Hope this helps!!!

[princessmel]

Thanks for the advice. I've been taking the Adoxa with actually 16 oz. of water.lol Wow. I cannot believe it got stuck in your throat. That must have sucked. I'm only going to take the antibiotics for a couple of months. My face is doing better. It looks good. Unfortunately, I cannot use Proactive. I'm allergic to benzoil peroxide that's in it.

[chicajojobe]

Hmm, that is a shame because benzoil peroxide soap was actually
effective when I had bad acne. What worked to get rid of it in the end
was getting my hormone levels normal, but that's only a viable option
if your acne is caused by excess testosterone caused by PCOS and
hopefully you don't have that because it really blows!



You mentioned that you've never been on birthcontrol. Well I have heard
that birthcontrol can actually help acne since it chemically simulates
pregnancy, and most women say that they have great skin while they're
pregnant.