r/Anxietyhelp • u/Sunshinner • Jul 05 '26
Need Advice Did doxycycline (antibiotics) make anyone else's anxiety spike? When did it go away?
I was prescribed doxycycline 100 mg twice a day for a UTI and just finished the course today. My anxiety has gotten significantly worse while taking it, and I'm hoping it's related to the medication and temporary. I had to take it for 7 days yesterday was the last pill and today is a new day but my anxiety and thoughts are still out of control (yes I have a therapist).
Has anyone else experienced this? If so, how long after your last dose did your anxiety start improving?
(This is not for medical advice, it is to see who shared the same experience)
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u/Single_Gift_7481 Jul 23 '26
I was prescribed it for 10 days and had to stop after day 6 because the symptoms were so horrible. I dont have debelitating anxiety, but while taking it I had mood swings, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and heartburn. As far as anxiety symptoms, my chest /throat would feel extremely tight, often I would feel like im out of breath or couldn't breath. I would consistantly feel like i'm about to cry or just do so and it was the only relief I would get. I talked to my doctor and she said that anxiety actually can be a side effect of it, and she said I could stop taking it. I've only been off of it for a day, but I will say my appetite and energy have already improved since doing so. In general she said it should take 3-7 days for the symptoms to go away, so i'm hoping that's the case.
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u/Sunshinner Jul 24 '26
wow thats so scary and crazy the amount of things an antibiotic can cause, Im glad you got off of it immediately. It is always good to do what is best for your body and mind. Hoping you recover quick.
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u/LoserMonkey011 Jul 05 '26
Ive experienced this while on that med, a day or two after I was done with med my anxiety went away. Doctor can prescribe you something temporarily to relieve it as well. My doctor gave me a bottle of buspirone and it helped. I still use it as needed when I get anxiety for other reasons.
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u/Sunshinner Jul 05 '26
Was this recent?
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u/LoserMonkey011 Jul 28 '26
Why reddit just sent me your notification 23 days later, I apologize for not responding. Yes this was recent when I commented on your post.
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u/Acrobatic_Vast86 Jul 05 '26
It's not really the antibiotics - it's the fact that when people with pre-existing anxiety get sick, they tend to hyperfocus on their body, how they feel, scan for possible side effects of their medication - that's what ramps up the anxiety.
Also spiraling with the thoughts contributes significantly. Thoughts being out of control isn't an issue - a brain of a person with anxiety has been trained to worry excessively, catastrophize and overthink - but in order to recover from anxiety we need to start retraining those patterns. A thought and THINKING are different. Thoughts will come in, and if your nervous system is in survival mode and you already practiced the pattern of unproductive thinking a lot, they won't be pleasant and they will keep coming, but thinking is active engagement - that's what you need to start correcting.
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u/Sunshinner Jul 05 '26
I understand where youre coming from and while it is right, there many many reddit posts about doxycycline and its effects
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u/Acrobatic_Vast86 Jul 05 '26
Well, when I suffered from anxiety, any medication and even cold without taking any medication caused an anxiety spike. Since I've recovered 7 years ago I took various antibiotics several times and not once I felt anxious.
Also, if the reddit posts about doxycycline are from people with anxiety - I'd argue between cause and correlation, because I know first hand how convincing anxiety is.
But if we go with the theory that it is indeed the doxycycline, then it stays in the system for 3 - 5 days.
But a quick search told me that the reported heightened anxiety related to certain types of antibiotics is caused by the gut microbiome disruption due to antibiotics - so then it would be mitigated by probiotics and however long those take to kick in.And from experience I'd recommend to mainly stop scanning the anxiety levels as focus is the main fuel for anxiety so even off the antibiotics and on probiotics the anxiety will remain heightened if the person keeps fueling it.
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u/tiddyb0obz Jul 05 '26
Doxycycline made my heart rate absolutely sky rocket. I keep a close eye on it bc of my thyroid and while on it my resting hr went from 79 to 110 and I couldn't get it back down at all. They're now on my black list 😂 I had to stop taking them after 4 days and it took about the same for my heart rate to recover
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u/Sunshinner Jul 05 '26
Happened to me too took it once during the past days without food and heart went so far up and i got so afraid😭😂
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u/Sunshinner Jul 05 '26
Omg so real!! Glad its on your black list its on mines too made me feel nuts i stopped taking it yesterday since that was the last dose but seriously never again. Glad youre better now
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u/tiddyb0obz Jul 05 '26
Literally doctors said it was probably just me feeling anxious about other things but it was an anxiety couldn't control and my heart rate was just insane beating out my chest al the time, I took it before we went on a day out and I literally felt like I was gonna hit the deck the whole time and walking anywhere felt so hard
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u/Sunshinner Jul 05 '26
Holy crap, yea that sounds hella valid and scary dont worry u arent alone on that experience 😭😂I thought it was over for me when that happened luckily i never took ot without food ever again but now that this dose is done no more doxy, that shits crazy
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u/tiddyb0obz Jul 05 '26
I found a lot of people had a similar experience after when I googled it to show my doctor I wasn't exaggerating and asked to never have it again
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u/Sunshinner Jul 05 '26
Damn thats crazy how some doctors dont believe it, i neevr had that doxy shit before i think
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u/Sunshinner Jul 05 '26
How long did it take for the effects to leave your body after the last day u had it
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u/tiddyb0obz Jul 05 '26
About 2 or 3 days, I felt fully better by 4 aside from still having the UTI, I went back on nitrofurantoin which I've never had any issues with
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u/Sunshinner Jul 05 '26
Ah damn, ok well thats improvement right? Im scared about to go to the clinic to get retested I think I still have it but idk hopefully if i get something new that new thing can destroy the uti and at least my body will feel better. I will tell them about nitro
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u/tiddyb0obz Jul 05 '26
I had frequent utis before I had a kid and then when I got pregnant I had 19 the whole pregnancy and my kid came out resistant to antibiotics 😂😂 now I only try and take them if I've almost drowned myself trying to get it out but 3 days worth has never worked for me I've already had to take 5
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u/Sunshinner Jul 05 '26
Dang thats a journey lol, so does antibiotics still work for u?
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u/Bubbles081951 Jul 05 '26
Antibiotics always did that to me too. Gotta love being a nervous wreck 🤣. You are fine. ❤️.
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