I'm in the process of weaning off doxy and will share my progress in case anyone is interested. I've taken 40 mg of doxy for over two years now without a problem. I'd taken Oracea before this but it was too expensive and so switched to low dose doxy (anti-inflamatory versus antibiotic dose). When I took Oracea it really didn't do much of anything and I'm not sure the doxy has either. I'm on a complex tx regime (see below) so who knows for sure what is doing what. I stated one week ago slowly weaning off doxy to see what happens. My ultimate goal is to only use topicals. Getting off of doxy (even an anti-inflammatory dose) I think is healthier for my body longterm.
I've been clear for a long time, especially after my derm started the BP cleanser (Panoxyl) + topical antibiotic (Cleocin-T) + monthly microdermabrasions combo. Even on this regime I can sometimes get really tiny flat lesions, only a couple at a time...that sometimes have pus, sometimes not. They seem to come up after eating rosacea triggers so I think they must be rosacea (I also have been diagnosed with acne). Avoiding added oils also really helped clear up my skin.
So that brings me to weaning off the doxy. I'm one week into it and my skin seems about the same. I'm down to 20 mg doxy once a day. Then I will take one less doxy a week until totally weaned (7 weeks). Have to admit I'm a bit nervous about tinkering with things...but here goes!
It's been one week since I weaned down from 40 mg/day to 20 mg/day and each week I'll wean off one day until I'm done (7 weeks). Today was my first day of not taking any doxy at all...the rest of the week I'll take 20 mg/day and then next week wean off two days (Mon & Wed) and so on. Eventhough it was only a low anti-inflammatory dose (not antibiotic) the doxy was still causing some stomach upset at 40 mg/day...and even at 20 mg/day. So it has been very nice today to not have any stomach issue. Plus I can now take my probiotic first thing in the morning which is a plus for my bod.
Thus far my skin has been doing fine. No flare-ups or anything. But I am also being very careful about following a low inflammatory rosacea diet and avoiding triggers. The true test will be when I'm traveling and can't avoid triggers...this is when my skin usually flares up --- not so much acne as rosacea p&p's...which for me are somewhat different. The low dose doxy was for my rosacea p&ps which are different than the acne I also have. All of this is about weaning off oral meds and only using topicals. That's my ultimate goal...if possible.
I've made significant changes in diet in the past several years (religiously avoiding dairy, sugars, rosacea triggers, added oils, etc.) that also include concentrating on whole nutrient dense foods. Especially avoiding oils has made a huge difference.
So far so good...skin is staying clear! Next Monday I'll be at 5 total for the week (20 mg each) and two days with no doxy at all. I'm being really careful to eat my rosacea/acne diet which is basically an anti-inflammatory low glycemic diet that is nutrient dense. Keeping fingers crossed that this works.
Still doing great and now down to only three 20 mg doxy pills a week. In a couple of weeks will be all done with doxy. Yeah! Wish I had had the guts to do this earlier. I really think the combo of Panoxyl 4% cleanser (BP) + Cleocin-T (topical antibiotic) + monthly microdermabrasions and the daily spiro are eneough to keep me clear, along with my diet that is whole nutrient dense foods and avoids dairy, sugars, processed oils, etc.
Thanks! I'm now completely off doxy...all done! Have been now for almost a week and so far no flare-ups. Spiro by itself never kept me clear. It was the addition of everything else that finally got me clear. I think spiro helps as part of an overall regime, at least for me. But I probably have the most resistant chronic acne in the world...have had it since teens and am now in 60's. Yes, I'm too old for this stuff but nothing by itself worked...not diet, not individual meds, nothing. It wasn't until my current derm who put me on a multi-prong approach (pills + topicals + microdermabrasion + diet) that my acne finally cleared up. But the goal is to eventually try to get me off all oral meds...even the spiro if possible. Could be as I get older hormones will be less of an issue but we live forever in my family (100's) so being 63 is still rather young and I'm still sensitive to androgens - hence need for spiro right now.