Beware of Flagyl (metronidazole) - can act like a fluoroquinolone

So ... haven't been on these boards in months ... because I was largely healed from my benzo w/d by mid-summer.

 

But now I find myself back with many of the symptoms of acute benzo w/d - all because of a little antibiotic called Flagyl (metronidazole).  Ironic thing is that, now that I'm much wiser, i believe this same antibiotic may have started my whole anxiety nightmare that led me to klonopin in the first place.

 

I want to warn everyone on benzos or in w/d - please, please be careful of this medicine, frequently prescribed for GI or pelvic/gyn infections. It messes with serotonin and, clearly, GABA as well.

 

The update:

Great summer. So wonderful to be healthy.

Early August camping trip - got bit by a tick. Didn't know it. No rash. But 3 weeks later developed strange head/neck ache and tingling in feet/fingers - my brilliant neurologist ran a test for Lyme disease (not that common in CA). 4 weeks later it came back positive. Started antibiotics roughly 2 months after bite. Seeing a Lyme specialist who has me on a cocktail of antibiotics to maximize my chances of 100% recovery. I'm tolerating the first two (doxycycline and cefdinir) just fine. But then 10 days ago he added Flagyl. I was wary because I remember being on Flagyl for c. diff right when I started having major anxiety problems. But he said it was a lower dose and I should be OK.

 

Within 24 hours I was waking at 4 am with the awful adrenaline surges, hot/cold waves I hadn't had since my days first on SSRIs and then in benzo w/d. I thought maybe it was just an adjustment period, but over the next 5 days the insomnia worsened, as did the pins & needles in my hands and legs, and - boom - debilitating anxiety and OCD behaviors that sent me out of control.  Terrified of every potential complication or side effect. Searching the web over and over again for every symptom and story. Unable to work or function. Heart rate through the roof. Concentration down the tubes. I THOUGHT - OH, SINCE I KNOW IT'S JUST THE MEDICINE DOING THIS, I'LL BE OK. BUT I WAS WRONG.

 

Although not included on my medication insert, I've since learned...

- flagyl is known to mess with serotonin levels, which is why some places say not to take it with triptans or SSRIs. That likely explains those awful hot/cold flashes

- flagyl shows up on many websites has having caused crippling anxiety and depression

- flagyl cannot be mixed with even tiny amounts of alcohol or you risk awful side effects, which makes me think it messes with GABA somehow.

 

So, after 7 days, I discontinued the drug (I was supposed to be on it for a month). Within a day, I was sleeping better, and the hot/cold waves are getting a little better each day. The tingling has decreased dramatically, which gives me hope that the other symptoms will dissipate with time. I'm hoping the crippling anxiety is just a temporary wave that subsides once the flagyl gets out of my system and my body has a chance to recover. But I feel like, after being 99% recovered, I'm back in medication-induced anxiety hell. My frustration is palpable.

 

PLEASE, PLEASE be wary of this awful drug. Add it to the list of antibiotics to stay away from if you're benzo sensitive.

StanfordGal

 

Fingers crossed the impact of this awful med is temporary.

It's also commonly prescribed for tooth/gum/mouth infections

 

I was fine on them, everyone's different I guess.

I am taking metronidazole because of H. pylori ulcer in stomach and I want bear out this post. Metronidazole rev up all my w/d so extremely. Caution with it. I am jumping to tinidazol and watching.

Sorry to hear that. I switched to Tinidazole and was AMAZED at the difference. Other than a few headaches during the first days, I tolerate a very high dose of Tinidazole with my Lyme treatment just fine. Night and day from Flagyl.

 

Good luck. I hope it works well for you, too.

 

And do you feel like flagyl has worsen your w/d permanently? Same symptoms here.. tingling, insomnia, anxiety, cold/heat surges...

 

I am off one day and I am starting to feel better.

I felt the effects of flagyl for at least a week after stopping the medicine. Two weeks out, I think I was back to my prior state.

 

As to whether it re-activated my withdrawal - who knows.

The lyme symptoms are so darn similar to some of my w/d symptoms (anxiety, insomnia, weakness, for example) that it's really hard to know. I feel that I'm not just in a state of extreme sensitivity. Advil, Aleve, stress - I think any of those now send me into a few days of w/d-like symptoms. but maybe those waves would have happened without those triggers. And maybe they aren't waves for me - they're sensitivities to my Lyme meds or the Lyme itself.

 

In other words, I have no idea :-).  But I think the flagyl effects wore off within a week or two. Even with all of the strange wave-like episodes I've had since, NOTHING was as acute as the week on flagyl - was like being in acute benzo w/d all over again. I thought I was losing my mind.

Took 250 mg Flagyl generic last night and have to say - it caused major wake up after 2 hours of sleeping. Hot, sweating, terrified, panic off the charts. I did the same thing - symptom checking OCD style online.

 

Called the pharmacy who reported it is not listed as a side effect though it is reported on other web sites re: drug info as well as user experiences.

 

I spoke with my psych dr today and he said not to take it again. Oddly I have the same reaction when I took prednisone yrs ago long before I had crippling depression and full blown panic. Both flagyl and pred unglue me.