Any Chance Of Brain Damage Or Long Lasting Side Effects Considering My Dosage Metronidazole 400mg?

Posted on Wed, 2 Feb 2022

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 2 Feb 2022 Answered on

Thu, 9 Jan 2025 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi there, Following a perianal abcess incision (local anesthesia), the doctor at the ER prescribed 2 different drugs to me: - Metronidazole 400mg - 3 times daily (3 days, 9 pills) - Augmentin 1gm - 2 times daily (3 days - 6 pills) I already took augmentin before without any side effects but it was my first time on Metronidazole and I think this drug messed with me a bit. Please not that my abcess is drained and the wound is perfectly clean (no more infection). I have had incisions in the past but it never made me feel bad or tired after the surgery. I am usually a very active guy and it is hard to make me tired. While on Metronidazole I felt exhausted and had symptoms that concerns me: anxiety, tired when just talking, some kind of panic attacks, real lack of motivation for anything. I stopped taking metronidazole yesterday but I still feel the same "side effects". So i Googled the name of the drug and found thousands of articles talking about brain damage on metronidazole and thousands of testimonies with people complaining about the same exact symptoms i am experiencing now (and their symptoms dont go away even after years...) Is it normal to still feel like that a day after I stopped metronidazole? are my symptoms common with this particular drug? Any chance of brain damage or long lasting side effects considering my dosage etc? Let me know what you think please

Answered by Dr. Aaron Branch (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Not likely to have permanent effects

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
I'm sorry to hear that you had these effects while taking the metronidazole. It is true that metronidazole can have side effects like this, though it is rare and though I prescribe it often I have not had a patient complain of these side effects before. I do not believe it has ever caused permanent damage with your dose and only for a few days. It does take a few days for it to completely be eliminated from your system, so I would give it another few days and see if they resolve, which I would expect they would.

It does sound like your wound is not infected and the antibiotics were just given to protect against a possible infection, so it doesn't sound like you need to take anything in place of the Metronidazole.

I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any other questions about that, and I would be glad to discuss it with you further.
Thanks.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar