Minocin and lupus

I was on Minocin for acne for almost 2 years. It worked great. HOWEVER I started getting a stuffy nose that wouldn't go away. I went to ENT clinic for about 5 months trying to figure out what was wrong. Then I started getting so tired I could function or even to go to work. At this point I wasn't even thinking it could be the medicine since I had been on it so long. I started having days when the joints in my fingers would stiffen and my knees, hips would stiffen. There were times I could hardly walk. Then my rosecea would flare up really bad. Each place on my body where I had a scar, there would be a perfect round circle around it that would itch. One point they had dx me with cat scratch fever! Symptoms continued and got worse. I was having tightness in chest, shortness of breath and the joint pain would come and go. I was tested for lupus and received a "false postive" reading. At that point I started doing my own research and found out that some meds will cause a drug induced type of lupus. I stopped the med and symptoms went away. They put me on doxycycline and immediately I started getting a stuffy nose and my joints would ache. I can no longer take any meds that are in the "cycline" family. However, I just thougt it odd that I could be on a medicine for 2 years before I had any type of reaction.

Complete Nightmare. Please read...I was on Minocin for a week. I developed major CNS (central nervous system) side effects including major light sensitivity, back pain, runny nose. The worst of the lot were the mental side effects which included extreme paranoia, the inability to concentrate, depression, suicidal thoughts. I couldn't go to work, I was up all night crying, couldn't socialize properly or look people in the eye. i felt completely out of my mind and didn't know why..until i stopped taking the drug the next day.

My mother who is a registered nurse accompanied me to my dermatologist the following week to describe my experience. Let's just say he denied my claims and that there could be any connection between my side effects and Minocin, rushed me out of his office without treatment or refunding the fee that I already paid to see him, and continued to cancel my future appointments with him. I never heard from him again.

Over the following months, my mother did her own research at her hospital. Turns out,she witnessed and heard of many young women come in with the same side effects..and they were in a mentally unstable state. They were admitted to the psych ward and most were suicidal.

I know this sounds extreme and everyone's body reacts differently to drugs, but this is a true recount of my experience with Minocin and I wanted to share it.

Background: I've never taken regular prescription drugs other than anitibitocs for infections, and am otherwise a healthy person. I have no history of depression and was not going through any emotional stress at the time. I was not on the pill at the time, so my body was not bombarded with high levels of tetracyclin (which Minocin is of) although I was on the pill for a year, 3 years prior.