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I've been taking minocycline for close to a year now. I've seen improvements withmy acne but I'm gaining weight? I've always been very skinny, and have had a very fast metabolism. 17 year old male, I work out almost everyday, but gaining weight in my stomach. Almost like bloating. If I stop taking it will my acne come back worse than ever? Does my weight gain have anything to do with minocycline? Any help would be great, thanks.
Just so you know you can't be on antibiotics for sooo long unless advised by a doctor. Chances are you will build up a resistance to it and then it won't work anymore.
Although I can't really comment on weight gain since I was only on minocycline for 3 months.
Agreed with Nicmic...3 months is the normal course recommended by most derms and up to 6 months is OK, but anything beyond 6 months is not advised unless recommended by your doctor, due to the potential for resistance build-up, which means they may not work when needed to treat an illness.
Weight gain...if you're gaining weight in your stomach, it could be bloating from overuse of antibiotics. I'd strongly recommend taking a break from antibiotics and getting on some good probiotics to rebuild your gut flora. Go to a really good health-food store or better yet, see a nutritionist who can give you some good-quality probiotics. You'll want anything with 100 billion+ live & active cultures per capsule, and a minimum of 8 different strains. Klaire Labs probiotics are the best if you can get this brand...the kind I'd recommend is Klaire Labs Therbiotic Factor 6. You can take along with Klaire Labs Saccharomyces Boulardii, a potent yeast killer, which will clear up any gut candida. Diet-wise...load up on kimchi and other fermented veggies, kefir, kombucha tea, bone broth, etc. All promote good gut flora and will help the probiotics work even better. You can find everything you need at your local health food store orWhole Foods; ShopRitealso carries most of these items.While your gut is healing, avoid starchy foods, simple carbs, sugar, junk food, fast food, pizza, etc. All this feeds the bad flora and promotes bloating. With time you can gradually cut back on all the probiotics and return to a more normal way of eating.
Can you tell I've done this before? Minocycline worked beautifully for my son but left him with gut issues afterwards, and this is the protocol our nutritionist recommended.
Yes, it's possible that acne may come back. But I think your gut health is more important at this point. Try getting on some 2.5% benzoyl peroxide to help keep up with killing acne bacteria topically. Or if your acne is very severe, consider switching to Accutane.
If you revisit antibiotics in the future for acne, get right on the potent probiotics, fermented veggies, carb/sugar-free diet from day 1 to minimize problems. But take probiotics several hours apart from antibiotics or they'll cancel each other out.