First and only pain-free period after taking Doxycycline (Sharing for the Purpose of Research)

First, I want to make it clear that this is **not** medical advice or a recommendation to take doxycycline. It is a personal story that may have wider implications for the research community. I have a confirmed diagnosis (endometriosis and adenomyosis) and had laparoscopic surgery a few years ago, followed by 10 months of Dienogest. I stopped because of side effects, and the pain came back instantly and just as severe as before. The experience made me lose faith in surgical and hormonal therapy as a way to stop/slow regrowth of lesions, but everyone’s different, so again, this is not me saying don’t do these things. They may work for you. Anyway, I resigned myself to just managing the pain. I’m taking Metamizol (I’m based in Germany, where it’s approved and available via prescription), which brings down my pain from a 9-10 (aka I'll pass out from the pain) to a 2-3 (provided I take it before the pain kicks in), so I’m surviving. 🥲 It doesn’t alleviate any of the other symptoms though, like fatigue or my stomach tripling in size. Some time ago, for an unrelated infection, I was prescribed a 1-month course of Doxycycline. Then something unimaginable happened… my next period came, and I didn’t notice. As in, I was just bleeding one day and I was so confused because there was no pain preceding it. I kept waiting for it, but my period was completely pain-free (no endo belly either). For the first time in 15 years, I didn’t need a single pain killer. I felt…healthy. I know “miracle” is a strong word, but that is what it felt like to me. It didn’t last, and by the next period, everything was back to normal. I did some thinking and realized the only thing I changed was the doxycycline (I’ve taken other antibiotics before, sometimes over even longer periods, and none had any effect on my endo pain), so I feel confident saying it was that. I did some googling and found [a study from the University Hospital Zürich](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30981279/) that supports my experience. Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do with this insight. I did reach out to the researchers of that study but got no response. I also reached out to several other international researchers. I only got a response from The Charité Berlin. They confirmed that *“several studies in scientific literature suggest that doxycycline not only has antibacterial effects but also intervenes in inflammatory and tissue remodeling processes”* and that *“in animal models and in vitro studies, this has been shown to attenuate endometriosis-like processes,”* but that *“it has not yet been proven that doxycycline reliably relieves endometriosis-related pain. Clinical trials with the explicit aim of improving the pain situation in patients are still lacking.”* (Translated from German) I asked them how doxycycline could theoretically be used in patients without the typical long-term side effects of antibiotics, whether the dose or duration could be adjusted, and whether a lasting effect could be achieved by taking it only for a limited period. I didn’t get a response. So yeah… that’s really all. Maybe this is extreme to say… but it felt a little bit like I stumbled over a “cure,” but no one believes me. Maybe it was just a coincidence. I wish there was a way to safely test this under medical supervision. I wish more was done with this information (which is why I'm posting it now, so at least it's on record). I wish we could all feel like I felt during that week… healthy and strong and fu\*king normal for once. Anyway, I’m curious to hear if any of you have experienced something similar. Or perhaps there’s a researcher here who can speak more about it. Much love 🫶