metronidazole long term effects

Hello all

My son 17 years suffered old serious neuroligical side effect ataxia from metronidazole. Like you all say doctors and nurses discredited my say. I took him to a private neurologist and this doctor identified the effect of metronidazole immediately. Thanks god and thanks to my assertiveness and determination to stand up to incompetent nurses and doctors and their rudness or i would have a disabled son now. Two months later and special medical treatment is still struggling with his legs and hands coordination.

Hi was reduced to be wheelchair bound and slurred speech.

Our nueroligist had seen a previous patient with exyrem anxiety and horrid dreams as well like many of you state.

This is a drug that can induce life dibilitating symptoms and should be immidiately discountinued if any of the more common symptoms appears . The reason is because the dosage and administration IV by vein increases the risk of serious and severe drug reaction.

I and all my family members were seriously keep away from taking this awful drug.

I am concerned by your say that some of you kept using this antibiotic although you had clearly identified it as the cause of side effects.

Pehaps reading few journals on metronidazole and ataxia would give you a wider view of this drug serious side effects.

To you all ignore all professional that ignore your symptoms and pay 150 pounds for a competent doctor to resolve the dibilitating reaction this drug causes.

It is disgusting how farmaceutical company put money before peoples lives.

I'm really sorry to hear that Cesarina.

I have been severely affected by metronidazole and I have been suffering now for eight months and no doctor believed or helped me. There is a metronidazole toxicity group on Facebook.

 

Jess, this drug gave me horrible anxiety and depression, and I’ve never had trouble like that before. I would never take this drug again. It has taken me a long time....nearly10 months.....to feel almost normal again, and I still have days when I suffer. I also had a low grade headache, facial numbness, weakness in one arm, tingling scalp and an overall feeling of unwellness. I know what you mean about thinking you’re really sick with something horrible. My husband has spent many hours trying to convince me that I’m ok and it’s just side effects from the drug. I will definitely do better research before ever taking another drug, and never again will I take metronidazole! 

Sounds a bit psychosomatic. I recently finished a 7 day course of 400 mg pills which successfully cleared up my appendicitis. I felt a bit nauseous and weak during the course but that was about it. 48 hours after finishing I felt fine, but had a yellow coated tongue and a noticeable metallic taste which persisted for another 3 weeks. But that's now cleared up.

The important thing when you take a pill of metronidazole is that you should not take it on an empty stomach I was advised by a nurse to take it with a banana and milk, and I suffered no serious side effects. It seems like a powerful but effective antibiotic.

Karol, I experienced horrible depression and unwellness as well, among other things. How long were you taking the drug?

I had only one dose (gel, for BV) and immediately felt something was off. It was administered before bedtime so I went to sleep, but next morning I felt "not right" though I went in to work. All day I had extreme mood swings, constantly felt like crying, irritable, short fuse, and copious discharge that I had not had before. I've never had trouble like this from any medication, though I almost exclusively take homeopathics and natural remedies before resorting to any sort of allopathic drugs. I'd been battling BV for two weeks and it was nearly gone, but the doctor prescribed Metronidazole while waiting for my culture results to come back from the lab. (The only reason I went in was because the symptoms had improved and then returned, several times over two weeks, and I thought maybe this was bacterial and wouldn't respond to probiotics and homeopathics.)

Finally had to leave work yesterday, unable to concentrate and couldn't hold back the tears any longer -- walked in the door at home and burst into tears, then couldn't stop. Thankfully my husband was working at home yesterday so he could take care of me. I was an emotional basket case. Train wreck, more like! This was like the worst PMS I'd ever experienced, and I'm post-menopausal (3 yrs). The mere thought of that medicine instantly made me want to go smash it to the ground and stomp all over it! I was angry, sad, enraged, exhausted, on an emotional rollercoaster...and when the doctor finally returned my call, all he said was that he'd "never heard of any reactions like that," and suggested I try the oral dose instead. HELL EFFING NO! KEEP THAT #^%#@ AWAY FROM ME!

Today I felt better, though not well. I went in to work, slogged through most of the day, but had to come home at 2:30 because I just couldn't handle it anymore. It's felt like I'm struggling against quicksand all day, and I've had this "sinking feeling" in my body, hard to describe except I feel like I'm sliding down or slipping down a very steep slope. I'm lethargic and can barely sit in the chair to type this. I just had to come online to see if others had gone through something like this. I don't feel like me.

I agree with you, Karol -- I will definitely do better research before ever taking another drug, and never again will I take metronidazole! 

Please let me know how long you had taken the drug, and if anyone has recovered from this horrible drug after only one dose, please let me know. Reading the comments here has me frightened, to say the least. 

PaulBen, it's NOT psychosomatic. I had similar symptoms (some worse), and I did not take the oral form, but the gel form used for BV. I've had to leave work early two days straight and I feel very messed up; see my longer reply to Karol, below.

There are many other type of antibiotics why take this horrible drug if you suspect even any minimal side effect. Dont listen to doctors most of them have not a clue what they do. We are the doctors of our bodies. Do listen to your opinion first and stand your ground when you see your Gp . They are not infallible!!

I’m so sorry you’re suffering this way, Karen! I took the oral type for 7 days. I started feeling anxiety right away, but after finishing the course I took, I began having a whole range of symptoms....numb face and lip, racing heart, headache in the back of my head, weak arm muscles, brain fog, no ambition, feelings of giving up and worry...overwhelming anxiety and not feeling like myself. It took 4 months before I finally had a day where I almost felt “normal”...followed by weeks of the previous side effects. Slowly I began to have better days back to back, with a week or so of relapsing into the side effects. I took the medication in February, and I am just now having more normal days than “off” days. Be encouraged; it does take time. I was told that it would eventually get better and I would return to normal, but I had a hard time believing that, given how terrible I felt. But I can affirm that it does finally get better. I am careful to only eat meats that have not been treated with antibiotics, because I have noticed that meat that has antibiotics brings a swift relapse of the side effects. I also take a lot of probiotics. I hope your experience will be short-lived and you will soon return to your normal self!

Thank you, Karol. I'm somewhat better but still not totally  myself (up and down). It's been a week since I took the single dose of metronidazole. Yesterday I had some weird pains/cramping in my lower abdomen/uterine area that I know are because of the drug - definitely not period-related since those stopped three years ago. I'm still going through the emotional rollercoaster, as well as having dreams that make me feel lost and wanting to cry. Since I already do lots of healing work (EFT, etc.) on myself, I know quite well that these emotional issues are due to the drug.

I wish now that I'd never taken that horrible drug. I certainly never will again! Thank you again for your kind words of encouragement. I'll just keep going until the horrid effects of this have passed.

PaulBen,

I was given twice as much as you were and am suffering horribly both physically and mentally. Some people don't react the first time and then take it again and have a different and dangerous reaction.

I hope you get better Karen. I took 500mg oral twice a day for one week and now my life is essentially ruined and none of the doctors believed me. I had all your symptoms and they come in waves and it has been 8 months now plus many more and I have trouble breathing. I should have trusted my gut instinct and not taken it to begin with. I hope you get some help from a good doctor. There is also a Flagyl metronidazole toxicity group.

Hi all,

I was h pylori positive and omeprazole for 7 days plus another antibiotic. The bacteria was not erradicated and I was blaming h pylori for all my symptoms. The Dr said it was not the bacteria. Now that I read your posts it makes sense. All my symptoms started after I took these medications. Fatigue, weakness, lack of interest, anxiety and now depression!! I really hope this goes away for everybody

It has been almost 3 months since I took it. I was having good days where I felt better but the symptoms came back.