Doxycycline seems to stop my headaches. I took some recently after a whey protein incident. It seems to do something to my skin also though, some redness and irritation. It can increase sunburn, and I’ve seen changes in my skin tone even though I get outside for less than an hour and it’s overcast. Perhaps it has made me sensitive to my heat lamps. I think it also increases tinnitus. Pain in general is almost completely gone, I have glandular and shoulder pain usually.
I dug up a few references, took a while to track down the first one. The idea is that it’s a TNF alpha inhibitor and this is chronically elevated in refractory persistent headaches. Vitamin D3, B3 and cyproheptadine (all TNF alpha inhibitors) all had only minor effect, so there may be something else going on.
I was suing 50-100mg per day. I may try lower dosing. I wonder if anyone knows something that works in a similar way. K2 seems to have no effect, but I was taking aspirin with it.
http://www.cascadeneurologicheadach....-New-Daily-Persistent-Headache-An-Update.pdf
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“Doxycycline is used to treat infective diseases because of its broadspectrum efficacy. High dose administration (100 or 200 mg/day) is often responsible for development of bacterial resistances and endogenous flora alterations, whereas low doses (20–40 mg/day) do not alter bacteria susceptibility to antibiotics and exert anti-inflammatory activities. .....
Low doses were more effective than high doses in modulating gene expression of LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokines (IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-6), when added before (pretreatment) or after (posttreatment) LPS stimulation.”
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2015/329418/
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“Doxycycline effectively suppressed the expression of MMP-3 induced in response to cellular stress in the DAergic CATH.a cells. This was accompanied by protection of CATH.a cells as well as primary cultured mesencephalic DAergic neurons via attenuation of apoptosis. The active form of MMP-3, released under the cell stress condition, was also decreased in the presence of doxycycline. In addition, doxycycline led to downregulation of MMP-3 in microglial BV-2 cells exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). This was accompanied by suppression of production of nitric oxide and TNF-alpha, as well as gene expression of iNOS, TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and COX-2.”
Doxycycline is neuroprotective against nigral dopaminergic degeneration by a dual mechanism involving MMP-3.
I dug up a few references, took a while to track down the first one. The idea is that it’s a TNF alpha inhibitor and this is chronically elevated in refractory persistent headaches. Vitamin D3, B3 and cyproheptadine (all TNF alpha inhibitors) all had only minor effect, so there may be something else going on.
I was suing 50-100mg per day. I may try lower dosing. I wonder if anyone knows something that works in a similar way. K2 seems to have no effect, but I was taking aspirin with it.
http://www.cascadeneurologicheadach....-New-Daily-Persistent-Headache-An-Update.pdf
---------
“Doxycycline is used to treat infective diseases because of its broadspectrum efficacy. High dose administration (100 or 200 mg/day) is often responsible for development of bacterial resistances and endogenous flora alterations, whereas low doses (20–40 mg/day) do not alter bacteria susceptibility to antibiotics and exert anti-inflammatory activities. .....
Low doses were more effective than high doses in modulating gene expression of LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokines (IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-6), when added before (pretreatment) or after (posttreatment) LPS stimulation.”
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2015/329418/
-----------
“Doxycycline effectively suppressed the expression of MMP-3 induced in response to cellular stress in the DAergic CATH.a cells. This was accompanied by protection of CATH.a cells as well as primary cultured mesencephalic DAergic neurons via attenuation of apoptosis. The active form of MMP-3, released under the cell stress condition, was also decreased in the presence of doxycycline. In addition, doxycycline led to downregulation of MMP-3 in microglial BV-2 cells exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). This was accompanied by suppression of production of nitric oxide and TNF-alpha, as well as gene expression of iNOS, TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and COX-2.”
Doxycycline is neuroprotective against nigral dopaminergic degeneration by a dual mechanism involving MMP-3.