Doxycycline for a 3 year old - I'm scared

[Hopeny]

My 3 year old had a bullseye pop up on her arm in August. I got her on Amox the night we found it. I just her Quest bloodwork back today and she came back low + IGG for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever She has an appt with Dr J in January. In the meantime I am taking her to a middle of the road pediatrician/ID doc for this issue. She also has an immune deficiency. My older DD with chronic Lyme is + for RMSF too. So I went back and did some re-reading and EVERYTHING says, even CDC, it MUST be treated with Doxy regardless of age. The ID doc was on the fence on the phone, we have an appt Thursday, she has not had a high fever but has been hovering around 100. Her eyelids blew up a few weeks before the bullseye, one after the other, I thought it was mosquito bites. After reading everything I read I am convinced she needs to take Doxy but I am petrified. My sister called the CDC and they said 7 to 14 days of it. Has anyone used it in such a young child?

[SSS]

I haven't used it on a young child, but I have done 2 separate long rounds of Doxy, and got dark brown staining up on my back molars both times-

each time I went to my dentist, he was able to 'blast' it off. Stains gone.

Hope that helps--- I'm sorry.

[philamom]

Regarding your appt. with Dr. J (assuming in CT), you could call to see if there's been any cancellations, or schedule a phone consult with him (does them on weekends) until your appt. date. He won't be able to prescribe without seeing your child, but can make suggestions to bring to your current doctor.

 

My daughter had very high RMSF Igg titer when first tested in Sept 2010. It was 1:256 (ref range <1:64). Two years later she is still positive Igg at 1:64. In her case, Dr. J was not concerned with it (past exposure), and the antibiotics prescribed would cover it anyways. But with a 3 yr old & new tick bite, I too would be concerned.

 

I hope she feels better soon.

Edited September 12, 2012 by philamom

[Hopeny]

Thank you both, I am not terribly worried about her teeth, but more about some other issue. hubs and I agreed, caps all the way for the kids if they end up that way. Everything says no Doxy for young children but it doesn't say why except the teeth. I am just worried if there is something else bad about it.

Philamom I called Dr. J's office, great tip thank you, unfortunately he won't do phone consults for new patients but they did give me an appt in November versus January, well worth the call. It is interesting what you wrote. My daughter's titer is low + but I read somewhere that the titers can increase by 4x in a short time. What is really freaking me out is that the CDC who IMO barely seems concerned about Lyme states that regardless of age all RMSF must be treated with Doxy. After all the suffering with DD8, I can't take the risk of DD3 not getting well. Just reading about the side effects of RMSF makes me go cold inside. I will see what our interim doc says tomorrow but I have pretty much decided to try the Doxy.

[colleenrn]

I did 28 days of doxycycline with my 5 year old son after researching the heck out of it for more than a month. He had over a month of horrible, different types of rashes. None of the first physicians tested for it even though we made several trips to 3 different drs locally and had 35 days of bad rashes. It was when we went to an LLMD that we were told he needed to take a course of doxy to cover for a rickettsial infection just in case and b/c of the persisitant rashes. I was too afraid to give it to him b/c I was taught that doxy could never be used in kids under 8. We then did titers and he was IgG positive for it. I will try to post some links later, but if a child has any rickettsial infection, doxycycline is the treatment regardless of the age of the child. He was on day 40 of rashes when I gave it to him. Within days the rashes were alsmost gone. Unfortuantely, SO many health care professionals do not know this. It is the fear of teeth staining that keeps physicians from prescribing it, which is so dangerous when you have a rickettsial infection.

 

Colleen

[Hopeny]

I did 28 days of doxycycline with my 5 year old son after researching the heck out of it for more than a month. He had over a month of horrible, different types of rashes. None of the first physicians tested for it even though we made several trips to 3 different drs locally and had 35 days of bad rashes. It was when we went to an LLMD that we were told he needed to take a course of doxy to cover for a rickettsial infection just in case and b/c of the persisitant rashes. I was too afraid to give it to him b/c I was taught that doxy could never be used in kids under 8. We then did titers and he was IgG positive for it. I will try to post some links later, but if a child has any rickettsial infection, doxycycline is the treatment regardless of the age of the child. He was on day 40 of rashes when I gave it to him. Within days the rashes were alsmost gone. Unfortuantely, SO many health care professionals do not know this. It is the fear of teeth staining that keeps physicians from prescribing it, which is so dangerous when you have a rickettsial infection.

 

Colleen

Wow that is so scary. My DD has not had any RMSF symptoms, so the doc was very reluctant to treat her with Doxy, he gave her six weeks of high dose amox for the bullseye. She has an immune problem to begin with so I am doubly worried this could turn to something bad. I asked him how many patients he had with RMSF + and he told me about 4, so although I do like him, not any real expertise there! His point was since it is IGG it is not active, but they don't really know IMO and something I saw on CDC site said titers start low and increase fourfold. I pushed and he agreed to 3 days of Doxy for her. She has an appt with Dr J in Nov,will do the Advanced Labs blood test for spirochetes and rerun the RMSF test. In the meantime if she gets a fever it is going to be very worrisome!