Metronidazole Lasting Side Effects (Page 72)

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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Re: Betty (# 1420)

Betty, I am so glad that you are waking better and longer these days. It is good that you were persistent and found out that the varicose veins caused you to have the issues with mobility. I am glad that you are getting better and better over time. It’s been a long journey for you since you took metronidazole and then Cipro. Just keep going and never give up and believe that you will get well gradually. I am also getting better. I still have neuropathy in feet and legs though, but it is getting less as time passes by. The vision in one eye is getting worse but at least my other eye is still good. It’s been around 17 months since I took metronidazole and I just want to get my health back, but I think it will take long time to fully recover. Betty, please let me know how you doing overtime.

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Re: Betty (# 1420)

Hello Betty, You mentioned that the doctor prescribed you an antidepressant for anxiety. Are you taking these meds? I just wanted to tell you to be careful with taking antidepressant medications as they have side effects. I hope you don’t take any meds and just trying to heal your body without taking the medications. When I started to have a neuropathy after taking metronidazole, my neurologist wanted to put me on antidepressants because they presumably help to block nerve pain. I took the pills for two days and them stopped taking them because they just like antibiotics, have bad side effects. Since then, I just leaving my body along and I think the time and healthy lifestyle will heal the body gradually. Betty, I hope your varicose vein procedure went well and hope that you recover soon!

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Re: Galina (# 1422)

No I refused because I was insulted and knew her diagnosis was bogus.

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Galina (# 1420) --

No, I didn't take any antidepressants as it would be counter to what my body needs and I need my brain to function.

Not sure when the last update was but here is what is going on now.

1. I still have neuropathy... numbness in area around my ankles and heels but no pain, thankfully.

2. I was able, with the help of my chiropractor to figure out what was wrong with my feet and legs.

Update.... in addition to the neuropathy, my legs were COLD nearly all the time and felt like I was wearing very, very heavy combat boots. Also I could not walk more than about 30 steps before I felt winded and had to sit down and rest. After telling no less than 6 doctors about this an 0 of them looking at my legs or checking anything at all.. wait...one doctor checked my thyroid and it was good so she never checked anything else.

My chiropractor does dry needling and one day while working on the spasms I was having in my lower legs he said, you have very bad circulation down here.... I asked how he knew, he said he drew blood and it was black!!! supposed to be bright red, he said. I asked what caused it, he said it was usually genetic... he doesn't treat circulation so I just stored that info somewhere.. Early this year in middle of night I woke and realized that I was warm, the bed was warm except for my legs from the knees down!!! they were frigid, icy.... I went to bathroom and back to bed and thought....WAIT!! bad circulation... so in morning I did my research. I had most of the symptoms of bad circulation...surprise... so looking for solutions, I found a recommendation of compression stockings. Now this is funny... in 1998 I was in the hospital for 9 days... they put compression stockings on me.. TEDs...I found them in my sock drawer and put them on and felt better all that day. I started asking people about these stockings, was suggested to go to a medical supply store... at the store they said you have to see a vein doctor before you know what strength you need and they referred me to an endovascular doctor... who tested my legs, said you have some serious issues with varicose veins (internal) and recommended and got medicare approval for 3 procedures on my legs. July 2nd this year I had the first leg done and walked out of there feeling like that leg was light weight!!!! Next day did the other legs...wow...what a difference.. I was walking and walking and walking and NOT out of breath...I had gotten to 9k steps a day!!! YAY!! but Sept 8th major sudden rain squall blew open the door to my bedroom (next to the deck) flooded the wood floor and when I got up to close the door not knowing it was wet... left foot slipped out from under me, hit my knee on floor... MCL sprain, and then hip and back... compression fracture in L1
I've been getting a lot of help from PT and neurosurgeon and osteopath and am finally without pain about 99% of time... and yesterday went to water aerobics!!! I'm on my way back.

3.. anxiety? no.... varicose veins and poor circulation!!!

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Re: Betty (# 1424)

Betty, I am so happy for you that you are almost recovered especially after the fall. I am still recovering from the neuropathy. I am also have numbness around ankle in one leg but it doesn’t bother me. What continue bothering me is burning sensations and pain in my both feet and calves. The symptoms been getting less but very slowly, but I am happy with the progress I’ve made over the past months. It’s been almost 20 months since I finished metronidazole and it’s been a very long road to recovery. But I feel blessed that I wasn’t damaged even more and some of the initial symptoms have gone away. I used to have fatigue, muscle twitches, bad insomnia, and severe headache, and now it is 99% gone. So i I am grateful, I just wish that my burning neuropathy would go away. Betty, how long it’s been for you since you took metronidazole and Cipro?

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Re: Galina (# 1425)

Well, I'd say that I took the antibiotic about 2015 if I remember correctly. Cipro I took last year. At this point who knows what caused what. I was gradually able to get to where I could stand up and move about with falling.... then I took the cipro and got worse... and if you read my posts you can see how unhelpful the doctors were.

I'm struggling at moment with knee and back injury from a fall in early Sept... not sure when it will heal enough for me to participate in gardening, etc..

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Re: Betty (# 1426)

Hi Betty, you’ve been very brave and patient through your recovery. It is setback that you fell in a wet floor and injured your knee and back, but just be hopeful and positive and you will get to the full recovery. I’ve been struggling a lot with my painful neuropathy for more than a year. In March, it will be two years since I took metronidazole and I am still struggle to fully recover from Neuropathy. It is very frustrating at the times but at least other symptoms went away. Betty, I hope you will recover soon from the fall injury and be able to do gardening.

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Re: Galina (# 1427)

Hi all, after 28 months of shear hopeless hell, I've been finally diagnosed with ototoxic vestibular balance disorder due to Metronidazole toxicity. Sadly the damage its permanent without relief.

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Re: Dennis (# 1428)

Wow!! I've never heard of that and would like to know more about it. And whether or not your doctors have given you the diagnosis with or without any suggestions of how to help even if it can't be cured. I'm so annoyed with doctors because they are not paying attention. It took me almost 2 yrs to figure out that the reason I was having so much trouble walking without being winded when all tests showed I was FINE, was varicose veins!!! Poor circulation!! I don't know how many doctors I told this to that basically just ignored it. Figured it out on my own after a casual mention from my chiropractor that I had a severe circulation problem in my lower legs. Is there a support group for people with this condition that helps one cope?

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Re: Dennis (# 1428)

Look what I found here. I'm sure you've probably already seen this but hopefully others will look at it too now that I've posted it here... There are, according to this info, 200 drugs that can cause this. Most of it talks about hearing loss or damage which effects balance. It would be helpful to be reminded of your particular experience?

asha.org/public/hearing/ototoxic-medications

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Re: Dennis (# 1428)

Hello Dennis, I it so good to hear from you. It’s been a while since you posted here. I feel so bad that you got such a bad damage to you inner ear. I truly hate this drug and what if has done to our life. I cannot even describe how this drug changed the quality of my life. I am just greatfull that I am not bedridden and can walk. Dennis, have you noticed any improvements or it has gotten worse over time. Have some symptoms improved or not at all? Can you walk or your balance is very bad?

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Re: Betty (# 1429)

Hi Betty, you may need to be tested for Microvascular disease. You may also benefit from a brain scan preferably a MRI and/or MRA to detect small lesions in the brain due to vascular impairment or infarction. If so Metronidazole severely harmed you as it did me. This antibiotic was recently contraindicated in persons suffering from either a brain or vascular pre-existing condition by Pfizer because a severe medical event reports, including vestibular impairment, balance disorders, retinal/macular damage, severe ototoxicity and tinnitus, cerebral infarction, and death to name a few. If you had any of these pre-existing conditions (known or unknown) and were given this antibiotic to treat something else by mistake it could have caused catastrophic harm. Sad part, the US-FDA is dragging their feet to add these Manufacturer Warnings to the USA's DataSheet for the drug due to industry pressure from the AMA. Every other nation on the planet has already complied, even Russia and Iran!... but NOT the good old USA. Please see here: https:/­/­jmp.sh/­Yb5QsVi

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Re: Galina (# 1431)

Sadly the answer is "no" to both of your questions. There are days I can walk yes, but that's an extremely rare occasion. I feel perpetually sea-sick and hung over every second of every hellish day with nausea, sweating, photophobia and severe migraine. NSAIDS are worthless, and in fact increase the tinnitus and nausea with no benefit whatsoever. There are no known treatments.

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Re: Dennis (# 1433)

Hello Dennis, I am so sorry for what you are going through. I actually researched the ototoxicity due to the antibiotics and saw that currently there are no treatments available to heal the damage. I feel so bad for you and what led to help you but don’t know how. I can only tell you to hang in there and have hope that the body can recover gradually. I don’t know if my neuropathy will ever go away, but I can only hope. During the first year, I also had very bad migraines with aura and it was frightening experience. Like you said, nausea and headache are very debilitating. So when I had bad cases of migraines I could only lay on a couch. Before metronidazole, I have never had headaches or migraines and I know that this evil drug had damaged my body system very badly. Now I still have pain in a head, but is very manageable. The migraines and aura went away slowly. Please, Dennis hang in there and keep hope for recovery.

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Re: Dennis (# 1432)

Thank you for your message. Our moderators have reviewed and approved it. Please note that sometimes a message is automatically flagged for review, but that does not mean it will be blocked completely. It just means that we need a human to review and verify it, which usually takes less than one business day.

Thanks again!

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Re: Dennis (# 1433)

Hello Dennis, i have another question to ask you. How is your vision in both eyes? My vision in left eye has been worsening a lot. I used to have 20/10 vision in this eye, but now it is probably 20/90. So I lost 8,9 lines in visual acuity test. The weird thing is that when I look straight I cannot see well in my left eye, but i I look to the side, I could see very well out of my left eye. I have no idea why the eye is functioning in this way. Last time I saw my optometrist was in spring and I decided to wait until next summer to have another appointment. The eye doctor did not find anything wrong with the eye. He did the scanning of the back of the eye and could not see anything. I think that my brain part that is responsible for vision is damaged by metronidazole and my vision cannot be recovered. Is your eye vision in both eyes the same as before taking metronidazole or it got worse in one or both eyes? I am not sure how long my vision will continue go down but I hope it will stop at some point. I hope you have a better day and feeling better.

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Re: Galina (# 1436)

Sadly I had no eye issues before taking Metronidazole, although as I mentioned earlier, I carried a Med-Alert card describing severe antibiotic sensitivity throughout my life, which was ignored by the prescribing physician. Within 24 hours I felt a loud snap in my left eye (my perfectly healthy 20/10 eye) which then went completely black. My retinal macular had completely burst, vision was instantly lost. My right eye is now slowing deteriorating as well, went from 20/20 to 20/100 in less than 6 months.

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Re: Dennis (# 1437)

Dennis, thank you so much for letting me know about your vision damage due to metronidazole. I also noticed that the vision in my right eye is slowly worsening as well. I am so afraid that I am going to lose the vision in both eyes. I am naturally nearsighted and in 2013 had a vision correction with PRK laser free. After that my vision was perfect for years until I took metronidazole in the end of 2017. I saw my surgeon in spring and he told me that for a year or two he will be monitoring a change in my eyes and if the surgery is possible later on, he will do it to restore my vision. So for now I am just waiting and observing the changes in my eyesight. Dennis, did your eye doctor find out if the vision can be restored in one your eyes or it is impossible. My doctor said that because I had a corrective surgery before, the eye tissue is thing and he doesn’t sure if the surgery is a safe option for me. Dennis, did your eye doctor Or neurologist know whether metronidazole damaged the eye itself or the part of the brain that is responsible for vision. My doctors have no clue when I asked them.

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Re: Galina (# 1438)

It's hard to say, but visual changes can be caused by many things, blood pressure, caffeine intake & addiction, even age or lack of sleep. So please don't panic. Yes Metronidazole destroyed my vision. It took roughly 36 hours after it was started to blow out my eye. Sadly the destruction is permanent.

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Re: Dennis (# 1437)

WOW!!! That is horrible. Have you considered a lawsuit against your doctor and the drug maker?

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