7 replies to this topic

[Loci]

Since it seems like a lot of you are on Spiro and antibiotics, I just wanted to know what came first. Did your derm prescribe Spiro with the antibiotics because he/she was already aware of the cysts that and initial breakouts that a lot of women experience with spiro? Or were you on antibiotics first? Spiro first? Just curious. I want to be well informed when I see my derm on Tuesday. My face just got a lot worse since the last time I posted. I want to be able to go in there and say "from what I've read, a lot of dermatologists prescribe antibiotics with initial spiro use".

TIA for any input.

[mizzbuddy]

Hi, I will be celebrating my ONE YEAR spiro anniversary on June 30 and let me tell you, it will be a very happy celebration! I have had ultimate success with spiro. But I will tell you it did not start off that way...

A couple weeks into it I started breaking out BAD -- big, painful, read cysts. I had been taking doryx off and on for a year or so prior to spiro with only slight improvement. So when my derm and I decided to try spiro (we felt I had nothing to lose at that point), he asked me to stop taking the doryx. But after that horrible IB, I asked if I could continue with the doryx for a while, just to see what would happen. He had told me not to expect results from the spiro for at least three months. So he agreed, as long as my bloodwork was coming back normal. (He is very cautious about taxing the system with too many drugs.)

So, fast forward to November of last year, four months into spiro. Time to stop taking the antibiotics. I was really, really nervous about getting off the antibiotics because my skin was finally starting to look really good and it had been over a month with no cysts. I was worried that it was the doryx rather than the spiro that was working so well. But when I stopped taking the antibiotics, an amazing thing happened, something that I never could have imagined -- my skin actually continued to improve for the following 2 or 3 of months. So really, I would have to say that it took 7-8 months to see FULL results of spiro but it has been well worth the wait. And I would say that I had marked improvement after only 3-4 months.

[Loci]

mizbuddy, you have no idea how happy that makes me to hear that you, and so many others here, have had such great results from spiro. I am actually going in next Tuesday, so I will ask my derm. I think my skin it getting slightly worse at this point due to the fact that my period should be here any day now. I am also breaking out on my back and neck, places where I have never seen acne before. It is a little frustrating. However, it seems as if most women here don't see results for 3-4 months, like you have experienced.

Can I ask how many mg of spiro you started out with and how many mg you are currently taking?

[mizzbuddy]

Can I ask how many mg of spiro you started out with and how many mg you are currently taking?

I started on just 25 mg/day for 2 weeks then was bumped up to 50, then 75, and finally 100 mg/day.

It is not uncommon to go as high as 200 mg but I think 100 is fairly standard and probably does a pretty good job for most.

[Boston50]

Can I ask how many mg of spiro you started out with and how many mg you are currently taking?

I started on just 25 mg/day for 2 weeks then was bumped up to 50, then 75, and finally 100 mg/day.

It is not uncommon to go as high as 200 mg but I think 100 is fairly standard and probably does a pretty good job for most.

Did you notice an increase in side effects going from 25 mg to 100 mg?

[mizzbuddy]

Can I ask how many mg of spiro you started out with and how many mg you are currently taking?

I started on just 25 mg/day for 2 weeks then was bumped up to 50, then 75, and finally 100 mg/day.

It is not uncommon to go as high as 200 mg but I think 100 is fairly standard and probably does a pretty good job for most.

Did you notice an increase in side effects going from 25 mg to 100 mg?

I didn't notice any difference at all going from 25 to 50 to 75. But I have noticed that ever since I went up to 100, I've been feeling rather slugish. It's tough to say if it's the spiro though because coincidentally, right around the same time I went up to 100, the weathered turned warm here and that always zaps my energy. Plus I started training for a half marathon....sigh. Maybe not the best 3 things to have happening all at once.

[SamsMom]

Hi, I will be celebrating my ONE YEAR spiro anniversary on June 30 and let me tell you, it will be a very happy celebration! I have had ultimate success with spiro. But I will tell you it did not start off that way...

A couple weeks into it I started breaking out BAD -- big, painful, read cysts. I had been taking doryx off and on for a year or so prior to spiro with only slight improvement. So when my derm and I decided to try spiro (we felt I had nothing to lose at that point), he asked me to stop taking the doryx. But after that horrible IB, I asked if I could continue with the doryx for a while, just to see what would happen. He had told me not to expect results from the spiro for at least three months. So he agreed, as long as my bloodwork was coming back normal. (He is very cautious about taxing the system with too many drugs.)

So, fast forward to November of last year, four months into spiro. Time to stop taking the antibiotics. I was really, really nervous about getting off the antibiotics because my skin was finally starting to look really good and it had been over a month with no cysts. I was worried that it was the doryx rather than the spiro that was working so well. But when I stopped taking the antibiotics, an amazing thing happened, something that I never could have imagined -- my skin actually continued to improve for the following 2 or 3 of months. So really, I would have to say that it took 7-8 months to see FULL results of spiro but it has been well worth the wait. And I would say that I had marked improvement after only 3-4 months.

My daughter experienced something very similar. Intially when she started on Sprio (100mg, still her current dose) she had a pretty severe IB. After about 6 weeks I took her back to the derm and had them put her on Bactrim (2x daily). Within about another 6 weeks the breakouts really subsided. She's been on the Sprio/Bactrim combo for about 6 months now, however about 2 months ago she dosed down to only one Bactrim per day. She goes back to the derm next week and I fully expect she will be weaned off the Bactrim. I wish I had put her on the Bactrim along with the Sprio - the red marks that she had from 2 months of bad breakouts are finally starting to go away and her face is flawless. She gets compliments on it all the time now I also agree that Sprio can take much longer than 3 months to kick in for some people. I think different antiboitics and different time tables work for different people, but I sincerely believe that in the end, Sprio does work for most people. It can be trial and error and take some time but my goodness, I've never seen my daughter's complexion so beautiful...

[Loci]

SamsMom, I really hope I get the same results and I really hope that my doc will put me on antibiotics for at least the next 2 months. I am currently experiencing one of the worst breakouts that I have ever had in my LIFE and I am sitting here crying because as of now, the spiro is doing more damage than good. In fact, I called into work sick last Monday because my face was that bad.....something i have never done before. I love what doxcycline did for me, so I am hoping that he will prescribe it and my face will die down a bit because this is ridiculous. I am getting really discouraged.