Doxycycline helping stiffness, but still having flare

[Laurainaustin]

Oops, posted in wrong place...maybe this is right one

I had surgery on my tear duct a few weeks ago and am on 2 mos of doxycycline because it thins the mucus or somesuch. I realized about a week in that I was feeling GREAT - getting in and out of bed, car, couch with no stiffness or pain whatsoever. I started walking...OMG I could go on walks and feel *pleasantly tired* after and not sore and exhausted. I googled and had ridiculously high hopes - doxy used to be commonly used for inflammatory arthritis, but has fallen out of use because it's a generic and no one speaks up for it much. Also - even tho I couldn't get ANYONE to order me a Lyme test, it's been in the back of my mind for years - is this really Lyme? And Doxy is the drug of choice for Lyme, although at this point I think oral doxy wouldn't make that much difference (my son had Lyme a few years back - needed 6 weeks of IV abx for his recurrence and that knocked it out as far as we can tell), but maybe.

A couple of weeks go by and I'm suddenly tired, irritable, needing naps every day, my shoulders hurt and arms ache all night because I had to carry something extra in my purse that day. Today I woke up and my legs huuuurrrrrrttttt, I took 2 naps and finally an epsom salt bath and put on my pjs at 3:30 - it's a flare.

But I'm NOT STIFF. I can still get up and get down without being slow or hunching over. I can stand up from the couch and walk immediately.

So what is the doxy doing that is helping the stiffness but not the actual flare? Could they be separate things? Any thoughts?

 

[MrsFish]

Just piping in to say that I was put on doxy for a month for a skin condition and had the same thing happen. I felt better than I had in very very long long time for the first couple of weeks and then sort of went back to my baseline. I remember six years ago feeling awesome AFTER I gave birth to my last child and I had two rounds of IV antibiotics while in labor, the results lasted almost a month that time and I was dealing with a newborn! I remember being able to get up with him at night and still feel pretty
Good during the day. I thought to myself this is what a normal person must feel like. I have just recently been putting all this together. I have no idea what it means, but I thought I would let you know I had it happen to me.