Hello everyone! I've been reading along on this forum since i developed health problems after taking a seven day course of 500mg of Metronidazole(Flagyl) in februari 2012. I found a lot of useful information, possible causes and solutions for my problem. But I'm not able to make a good estimation of what the root of my problem is. I've been to several doctors and nothing useful so far, hope that someone can help me here.
First off some background, I am 25 years old (1.82m 72kg BMI 21.73), live in the Netherlands and have always been quite healthy and very optimistic and happy with my life. Before i had the Metronidazole course I was on vacation in Mexico and took a lot of sun, then when I came back i went to see the doctor for some stomach issues i was having for maybe 3 years(sometimes problems eating and a little upset stomach(had it since i ate something wrong)). The doctor first told me there was nothing and later told me i had some parasite infection which was a very common one(25% of the people have it) and doesn't cause any problems, but i could take a course of Metronidazole and it would go away. I asked for the side effects, but she told me they were minimal and all short term. So i decided to take the first antibiotic in my life.
During the week of taking the antibiotics i slowly developed symptoms which i didn't connect to the metronidazole till maybe three days after i finished them since they were becoming more severe.
Things that might have created the problem together with Metronidazole:
- I might have taken Methylphenidate at the same time for one or two days(Been diagnosed with ADD, it's not really a problem for me but i very rarely used Methylphenidate to help me focus more)(Pubmed: 17963129 Metronidazole causes increased the levels of brain serotonin.)
- I took the Metronidazole on a empty stomach
- I have been in the sun quite a lot in that time (10 minutes-4 hours each day(if longer with sunlotion else without))
- I didn't take probiotics during or after the treatment
Ps. I did all she told me and what is in the note comming with the medicin, only when i started having the problems i read online that these things could be bad while taking metronidazole.
The symptoms:
Physical
- Skin flakes all over my body (Now only on my face)
- Dry skin
- Red skin on my face
- Glowing T-zone, like a burning sensation (Little bit less, but could be for not drinking coffee anymore, noticed it would get a lot worse from that)
- Loss of hair (All over my scalp and random places. The house looks like we have a dog)
- Less strong hair and less thick
- Dandruff
- Very difficult to get a erection
- Less firm erections
- Less big in not erected state as it seems for the testicles
- Sore neck and shoulders
- More sore joints and muscles and a lot longer after workout for example
- Constant annoyed throat
- Dry eyes
- Dry mouth
- Joint pain
- Fatigued
- Feeling the urge to urinate stronger and a lot sooner
Mental
- Difficult time falling asleep, continuing sleeping (used to be able to sleep all day and really deep)
- Never had nightmares before, since them have them regally
- No enjoyment from things i would really enjoy normally; Video games, driving around in my car, watching a movie, listening to music, everything became dull
- Loss of affection for my fiancée (And any other women, but never really was interested in anyone else... but now i tried to see if i could
- Not interested in sex or even masturbating (before always did)
- No good feeling in brain when ejaculating or feeling of tiredness how i did before (do have good feeling in my groin area)
- Feeling of anxiety
- Headaches (before never had them)
- Suicidal thoughts for not feeling any joy and not being able to recover from this(Never ever had those before, i couldn't imagine how someone could commit suicide.. lessons learned)
My doctor said it is impossible to have these symptoms from metronidazole and i understand something else could be the cause. However when i look at the list of side effects online i find all the symptoms i'm having now. The doctor send me to a dermatologist for my skin problems, who i believe said sebhorric dermatitis and that would be also the cause for my extreme loss of hair. He wanted to give me steroid cream for my face and also ketonazole cream and shampoo. I didn't want to use any of those, since it only might be helpful for one or two of my symptoms and these have side effects as well.
Since they weren't able to help me i went to a private doctor who did extensive blood work. Results:
22-6-2012
Hb 9.2 8.0-10.2
MCV 89 82-98
glcn 4.2 4.0-6.4
TSH 1.15 0.35-5.5
B1 112 90-200
vit C 70 25-102
vit B12 454 150-700
4-7- 12
Free carnitine 41 43.5-105.5
acylcarnitine 7.0 5.6-14.3
Total carnitine 48.0 49-119.7
23 -7 -12
Salvia:
DHEA 8 ug/l 3-10
prog 22 ng/l 5-95
androstenedion 297 ng/l 151-350
oestrone 23 ng/l 30-58
testosteron 22 ng/l 60-135
dihydrotestosteron 60 ng.l 22-123
Salvia cortisol
Morning 17 nmol/l 13-24
Noon 6 nmol/l 5-10
Afternoon 7 mol/l 3-8
Evening 1 nmol/l 1-4
DHEA-s 10 mg/l 3-10
cortisol-load 31 23-42
24-12-2012
Sedimentation mm/h 11
Hemoglobine mmol/l 9.3
Hematocriet l/l 0.44
MCV fl 94
Trombocyten x10 9/l 180
Leukocyten x10 9/l 3.9
Dif:
Basofielen x10 9/l 0.02
Eosinofielen x10 9/l 0.05
Segmenten x10 9/l 2.00
Lymfocyten x10 9/l 1.44
Monocyten x10 9/l 0.40
Kreatinine umol/l 83
eGFR MDRD4 ml/min >60
Natrium mmol/l 139
Kalium mmol/l 3.8
Calcium mmol/l 2.52
Albumine g/l 48.9
Glucose mmol/l 4.9
Vrij T4 pmol/l 18.5
TSH mU/l 2.43
Thiam. difosfaat (Vit. B1) nmol/l 149
Vitamine B6 nmol/l 131
Vitamine B12 pmol/l 485
LH U/l 3.0
FSH blood U/l 1.6
Testosteron nmol/l 12.29
Now i'm with a different doctor since that one wasn't able to help me further either. This one is doing even more extensive tests and also examined my body more closely. What he told me during the first consult is that i have a cold nose, hands and feet and he told me they looked a bit orange(my hands). Furthermore my tongue looked a bit white(but this is something i've had for a long time). Also he thought there might be something with my thyroid, but will tell me more about it when all the tests results are in.
What i've found/think could be related to my problems is the following:
- "Although the mechanism of metronidazole toxicosis or how diazepam exerts its favorable effect is not known, it is likely related to modulation of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor within the cerebellar and vestibular systems" PBMID: 12774970 (Sorry can't post links yet)
- "MR imaging of metronidazole-induced encephalopathy: lesion distribution and diffusion-weighted imaging findings." PMID:17885234
- Imbalance in the gut
- Skin and hair damage due to higher sensitivity to the sun and that all other problems i'm having are a physiological side effect of that (Doubt this myself, since i was already having problems with erections and getting less joy from thigns i loved to do, before I noticed these changes)
- Different hormone balance " Effect of metronidazole on spermatogenesis and FSH, LH and testosterone levels of pre-pubertal rats." PMID: 11906111
- Some infection i ran into on my vacation a month before taking the metronidazole or side effects from vaccinations i took before going on vacation which symptoms became visible on coincidence during my Metronidazole use.
- Also things i changed in the months before this happened is i stopped looking at porn, stopped using whey protein shakes(which i did for maybe 5 years with exception of some months)
- Candida overgrowth, similar symptoms and associated with antibiotic use. However I don't know how much to believe from what is written about it. It seems like something that is easy to exploit for alternative medicine practitioners, since they cannot proof you have it, no one is ever cured from it completely and almost everyone that is sick will have some of his symptoms listed since the list is so long.
Oh yes one more thing, for my ADD i visited a Neurofeedback therapy center 6 years ago. Last month i've visited them again to see if they could see anything different in my EEG from now. He told me he saw a difference in the slower brainfrequencys, the so called "Delta band". Firstly the level of the frequency is low(Which means that there are too little brain cells working on that frequency) and also the coherency of the same brainfrequency is low. He says that those two things show that the brain misses stability which can lead to several, mostly, physical issues. These problems are often found in people with intoxication, and full anesthetics.
Ofcourse many other things changed in the course of five years and these differences could not be the cause of the adverse effects i'm having.
I hope someone can help me and give me some direction or even the answer on what is the cause of my problems!
Edited by Metronidazole, 13 January 2013 - 08:54 PM.