Dear Sir I recently was prescribed 2 courses of Flagyl for Giardia. The first course is a single dose and the second is a 10-day(30 pills) course. The two courses
were taken about 1 month apart. I would deeply appreciate it if you could
advise me if the mentioned were possible adverse reaction from taking Flagyl so that I can rule out other causes and take future precaution.
1. During the course of taking the second course of Flagyl I developed
dark urine, dry mouth. I had dry peeling skin on my face about 1 week after
finishing the second course and continue to experience a dryer skin on
my face(slight peeling around nose) and palm of my hand for the next 2
months.
2. I also experinced some transient numbness of my left forearm and
tingling of my left palm for a few nights in the beginning of the second
course. The tingling and numbness goes away within a minute when I massage and shake my left arm.
3. However, about 1.5 month after I completed my second course, I started
to experince a numb sensation on my right hand thumb. The sensation
can best be described as if I have soaked my thumb in the water for a long
time. The numb sensation is still there for the past 1 month.
I hope you can help advise on the above especially the persistent numbness of the thumb which is of most concern to me.
Cliff
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Thanks for your question. There have been clinical case reports of persistent
Metronidazole-induced peripheral neuropathy in the past. However, the
dosages were generally higher than you have taken, and the symptoms improved
significantly after the medication was stopped. The following report was of
a woman who was given 2000 mg/day for 50 days due to Crohn's disease:Persistent metronidazole-induced peripheral neuropathy.
DICP 1990 Jan;24(1):19-21 The complete resolution of sensory symptoms have been reported to take
up to 6 months. The other two side-effects (dark urine, and skins reactions) have also
been reported during usage of Flagyl, but promptly resolved after medication
is stopped. I hope this information is helpful. This information is provided for general medical education purposes only.
Please consult your doctor regarding diagnostic and treatment options.
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