Metronidazole Lasting Side Effects (Page 37)

I have been taking this medication for 7 days and off of it since a week and still have severe side effects, abdominal cramps, severe headaches, dizziness, unsteadiness... How long is it expected to last? It was prescribed with Ciprofloxacin to me and I take Entrophen on a regular basis...

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This is definitely not the norm. I am still having side effects 5 months later. I hope you are one of the lucky ones!! This is a horrible drug &a people need to be made aware of the risks!!

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Gubs41
Yes I'm one of the few that was fine after I had ended dosage, bacteria gone & effects gone. I tell everyone here to write to the FDA because the more complaints the quicker they'll see how bad this drug is & give us a different one. I can tell you that because of another helicobacter pilori I was put on CYPRO & this was very strong also that it created an ULCER in my tong the size of a dime &. The doctor said it could have turned into cancer... I was floored when I heard this but he gave me a great canker sore cream that took care of it. We can't help but get these bacterias although we're all so careful but still get contaminated. I can say I've been blessed to live in USA can't imagine other countries with no FDA control over what we are prescribed & the side effects. Do your daily affirmations & I wish you a speedy recovery you've suffered enough. ????

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Safetyfirst, the pharmacist has no idea what he's talking about. And don't expect your doctor to do any better--they are in denial when it comes to the dangers of drugs because that's what they use to treat people.

Metronidazole can cause lesions on the brain. They are mainly on the cerebellum, but can also be on the basal ganglia and midbrain. The cerebellum helps coordinate voluntary movement, and helps with cognition and emotions. The midbrain helps with hearing, motor control, vision, YOUR SLEEP CYCLE, and temperature regulation. And the basal ganglia controls voluntary movement, motivation/reward, eye movement, and plays a part in cognition and emotion. Two diseases of the basal ganglia are Parkinson's and Huntington's, just to show its importance.

Metronidazole typically affects the cerebellum the most, but these other areas can be affected as well. Basically, it probably damaged something. Some people recover really fast--within a week. Others, the effects linger.

Plug metronidazole toxicity into your search engine and read about it. Print it out, give it to your doctors. They still might not believe you, but it gives you an extra leg to stand on. I hope you feel better.

And yes, report this stuff to the FDA. It's important for informational purposes...but don't expect the government to do anything. They know about this already--there's another branch of antibiotics that's even worse called "fluoroquinolones"--Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox. Their recover rates are much worse than metronidazole, but they are still on the market. Just to say.

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Erin, I had no idea that there were so many risks involved with taking this. I usually do really well with antibiotic treatment, but this one has made me miserable. I also have an Iud (Skyla) and plan to have it removed after having it almost a year. I have felt new side effects since having it places as well. It's very concerning to me that these medications aren't looked at more closely, before issuing them out to people. I'm going to demand blood work, and anything else that I need to be checked, because this is not normal. I was put on Metronidazole for BV, and it is seen more in women with Iuds than those on other forms of birth control. I will be speaking to the FDA about Metronidazole for sure. Seems to me medications cause more problems than the ones you initially go to the dr to get treated for. Thanks for all of the info, Erin. It was very helpful!

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Hi safetyfirst, why it was prescribed in the first place? I'd be afraid to stop it because I had amoebas that were in my gut for too many months and FLAGYL was prescribed for 14 days 3x/day 500 MG. I got similar symptoms like the dry mouth, dizziness, inbalance & at one point my legs gave up on me & I thought I'd pass out & my husband held me. But I continued till I was done with my 14 days. I hated the bad equilibrium & blurred vision. I can say that all my symptoms are gone except now reading this blog my vision has changed because when I read or on my phone's display my eyes get totally blurred and jumpy all over. Each day it gets better. It shall pass for everyone here, in time. It has to. We need to be more vigilant as to why we are on these meds to start with. I hope I never get a bacteria again. Be well. God bless all of you and don't forget your Affirmations, they work for me now and in my past.

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Trish, you seem like a nice person, but you losing the ability to walk is a clear indicator that you had lesions on your brain, specifically the cerebellum. Your vision issues...probably damage to the midbrain. Aka, brain damage, and if you had done an MRI when you lost your ability to walk, there's a 93% chance those lesions would have been visible on the scan.

Thankfully, the lesions disappear 83% of the time, but there's a poor connection between symptoms resolving and those lesions going away. You have a 65% chance of a full recovery, 29% chance of improvement but not fully recovery, and then the remaining 6% of people have permanent cognitive impairment. Some people do die from this.

This isn't a matter of willpower. This drug causes neurological changes. Since we've all stopped taking the drug and it didn't cause us to slip into a coma, we probably don't need to worry about dying now. It's out of the body 16 hours after you take it, but it can cause damage before it's gone.

I'm not saying this to scare anyone, but I work off research. I want to know what I'm dealing with in order to learn how to fight it. This is the research, and most drugs can be dangerous to certain individuals. Tylenol killed about 500 people last year--it happens. People need to find out what they have, understand it, and learn to cope with and treat the symptoms, for however long they remain.

If it's any consolation, when the drug is out of the system, the symptoms are unlikely to worsen. Some drugs have a delayed reaction, but I don't think metronidazole does that.

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holy moly... could this drug have cause the imbalance I'm feeling and the weakness in my body? I finished taking it Sept 8th... and a month later I'm still having problems with these two symptoms..

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Hi Trish. I was put on it for 2 weeks for BV (bacterial vaginosis), but usually 7 days is the length of treatment time for that, but my Gyno said just to be on the safe side, stay on it for 14. I stayed on 10, so that was close enough to 14 days as I was going to get with how bad it started making me feel. Now, I wish I would've stopped sooner! While my symptoms have improved over the past week, I still don't feel like myself. I probably would rather deal with the cramping from the BV than experience all the symptoms I've had from this medication honestly. With me having an Iud for birth control, my doc also said I'm at a slightly greater risk for BV and UTIs than women who don't have one :(.

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BJH, I'm willing to bet it is, unless you have another preexisting condition that could be causing your symptoms. I can't believe how this medicine has affected so many people negatively! This needs to be taken off the market. Surely, pharmaceutical companies can do better when it comes to treating us with antibiotics. No other antibiotic I've been on has made me feel like this. I don't even drink alcohol, nor had I used anything with alcohol in it (to my knowledge) such as hand sanitizers, perfumes, or soaps. There are too many people with adverse reactions to this drug. I hope our symptoms will eventually go away, so we can feel normal again.

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Erin I really didn't lose the ability to walk I almost fainted but I had just gone up about 35 steps in California is like that & probably my blood pressure med & flagyl didn't go well together & my legs felt like rubber bands for a moment but my husband held me then I was fine. I havent had again. I do feel lucky that I recovered fast & as for my vision, I need to get eyes checked I'm due it's been 3 years Thanks for your info.

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Thanks.. I'm not a drinker at all so alcolhol can't be involved in the way I feel. I'm managing to do more these days.. made and canned pasta sauce and pear butter today... managed to force some friends to take the rest of the pears because I can't handle anything else..but I did get something done...I'm just hoping that I can find my old self inside this body soon..

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BJH, absolutely. The drug can certainly do that--dizziness is one of the most common adverse reactions (in fact, it is the MOST common side effect I've found on a very popular review site--can't post links in here, sorry) and the weakness is something a lot of people complain about. Are you having problems with posture? With walking?

That's not to say it can't improve, but these all all tell-tale signs of an adverse reaction. The vast majority of people do recover fully or at least improve over time, and I can tell you, most case reports from physicians only follow people for 3 months after their reaction. I'm a year and a half out from mine, and the symptoms I have (I had bad respiratory problems with this), are still improving, even now. They're more annoying than anything at this point.

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Trish, I can appreciate that. I'm glad you're doing so well. I lost the ability to walk and speak when this first happened--my doctor even witnessed it. I had to be wheelchaired around, so when I hear that you couldn't walk, that's a gigantic red flag. Thank you for clarifying it.

You're right, it could just be an age-related eye issue. But the drug can cause optic neuropathy and damage to parts of the brain that affect vision, and I've talked to other people via email about blurry vision, etc, so that's why it alarmed me.

I do think having a positive mind while dealing with this is a great idea. It really can help--but since psychiatric issues like anxiety, insomnia, anorexia (yes, anorexia, of all things), and depression seem to be the most common side effects, even more than physical problems, I don't want anyone who's dealing with things effects to feel like it's their willpower that's the issue here. It stems from neurological issues, and those need to be addressed better, especially with the doctors caring for these patients.

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I've been off these tablets for 5 weeks. Ever since I've been dizzy and feels like my brain is seized. It's worse at night. I'm waiting for blood test results. Has anyone else had these affects as I'm scared.

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Shonkie, what do you mean your brain is seized? That's really open to interpretation.

If the metronidazole is the problem, blood work won't show anything. Having an adverse reaction to the medication is very hard to detect, and nothing comes up in blood. I'd suggest reading the posts on this page--we just went through a lot of info about metronidazole toxicity.

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Ok, so these symptoms need to be addresses... HOW??? more meds with more side effects?

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Ok, so we may never get okay after taking this med? I think I have a bladder infection and asked for an evaluation ...still haven't gone to the lab... they rx'ed cipro without waiting for the evaluation... then I read that that drug can be a problem..so I'm not taking it...

I'm forcing fluids and taking cranberry extracts, etc... and waiting to see if that solves it rather than taking more antibiotics at this point...

I'm sorry but this is NOT okay with me to have been ruined with this drug and I'm NOT okay with taking more if there is any other way..

And then I hear that some people have to go through this twice and they rx the same damn drugs the second time around... not going there... fortunately the diagnostic results came back negative....

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BJH, if I had an answer for that, I would have gotten better treatment, I'm sure. To be frank, the best treatment seems to be time. That's not to say don't see a doctor, but getting them to even believe you're having an adverse drug reaction is hard enough. They might be able to treat the symptoms, however, but that very possibly means more drugs.

Dizziness and weakness might respond to physical therapy or acupuncture, but it's hard to say. If you're having anxiety (lots of people do with this), then a sedating drug might be helpful. I took an antidepressant called mirtazapine, which has a sedating quality to it. Others have taken Xanax, but that could be addictive if taken for more than a few weeks.

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Well, I don' think there is anxiety with this, just weakness and balance issues... but I'm not willing to do more drugs at this point...so may just have to wait it out.. hope it doesn't go on for years or the rest of my life.

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It's great that you don't have anxiety--with the exception of dizziness, psychiatric symptoms are the most common problems, so this is great that you didn't have those.

Most people do recover fully. And the ones who don't still typically improve. Maybe that's not the best news, but the odds are still in your favor.

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