doxycycline drying out my eyes??

[LisaLis]

Hi I went to see dr. latkany again and he put me on a month of doxy 50 mg a day. My eyes feel extremely dry and are killing me! I was on this stuff originally about 20 years ago and I didn't have this.
Sure my eyes were dry before I started this but now my eyes are bone dry! I did have some moisture before starting this and the preservative free drops were helping. Unless its a coincidence. I'm putting drops in every few minutes.
I've only been on the doxy for almost 24 hours, it hasn't even been a full day.
Did anyone else have this or am I being ridiculous?

[dryeyes4ever]

He put me on the Doxy too (100 mg 2 x a day) which I took for 6 weeks & am now taking 1 pill for another month. My eyes do feel dry quite often but they don't feel like they have sand in them at the end of the day so for me the Doxy is helping. I go back to see him next month. I would still like more improvement, i.e. not having to use a lot of moisture drops. I have days that are better than others. Yesterday I must have put drops in my eyes 50 times & today so far (it's 3:15 PM) I've only used them a few times in the AM...

[peter56]

Hi Lisa,
it is very unlikely, that Doxy does dry out your eyes.
Doxy is an antibiotic and should also inhibit the MMP-9.
Using the latest equipment, it was not possible to detect traces of Doxy in the tear film. So Doxy and Minocycline are systemic drugs and don`t reach the eye - tear film.

[Rebecca Petris]

I'm putting drops in every few minutes.

That's not good for your eyes... I'm not much of a fan of antibiotics but frankly I would think constant dropping is more harmful than any doxy side effects. Can you find some alternative means to manage the pain or other symptoms without all this dropping? There's some suggestions in this article. There's also a number of threads here from people who quit the frequent dropping either gradually or cold turkey.

[redandunhappy]

I think that you need to be taking doxycycline for a few days before you get enough of it in your system and it can really start working....so don't worry Lisa, I'm not an expert, but I would say that it almost certainly isn't the doxycycline that is drying out your eyes..

[jenny2008]

if its the doxy you could try and stop it for a day or so and see if you have more moisture.. i have severe dry eyes and the doxy helps w/ my glands ( i guess)mgd still awful but i dont feel it dries me out further... maybe test it?

[Jenn1]

Yes I have noticed that doxy is making my eyes more irritated than before, thats probably why they feel dry. And I too am using drops several times an hour, not minute though, mainly because of the thyroid related eye problems and I am told I need to keep my eyes wet to protect the surface and cornea because this disease causes eye dryness. If youve only used the doxy for a day then give it a week and if your eyes feel worse then I would stop using it and ask for another tablet. Are you wearing goggles since you are using drops alot?

[LisaLis]

Hi Everyone, thanks for your responses. I forgot to subscribe to this thread so I didn't even realize that so many people responded!

Dryeyesforever- Wow he put you on a high dose. He only gave me one 50mg pill to take 1x per day. At least you see an improvement. I guess our eyes can't be perfect.

I stopped the doxy after 5 days as suggested by Dr. Latkany and my eyes did feel better. He said it takes 5 days to get out of your system. Maybe it was a coincidence they felt better. I Then waited a week and started it again just to see. After a few days my eyes bothered me again but this time it was more of a burning and tearing, not dryness? I took the antibiotics for another 5 days and then stopped them again. I also started using this other eye cream so it may have been that too. I know it sounds really strange. Another thing I noticed is the doxy made wired at night. I felt hyper and anxious. Well I stopped them again. I feel like I'm going around in circles with this thing.
I know that they won't work if I keep stopping and starting them. I am seeing dr. Latkany in mid June so I'll see what he says. This stinks.

[regina]

i wonder if you are having an allergic reaction to the doxy?? Maybe ask the doc to put you on another type....?

[LisaLis]

i wonder if you are having an allergic reaction to the doxy?? Maybe ask the doc to put you on another type....?

Hi Regina, I know its weird. I just called his office and they are going to call me back about it. I'm not sure what else there is but I'll ask him.