Flagyl Side Effects?

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johntp

Trad climber
socal
Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 24, 2013 - 10:35pm PT
A friend of mine is doing the PCT (currently in TM). She did a course of flagyl several weeks ago and is now having stomach pains when she eats and apparently is now lactose intolerant. Any body have any personal experience with flagyl and the side effects?

Doing the miles on the PCT and not being able to eat is not a good thing.
johntp

Trad climber
socal
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2013 - 10:41pm PT
HaHa, I'll have her stop by your place for a rest stop.

But seriously, anyone got some info?

Crazy Bat

Sport climber
Birmingham, AL & Sweanee, TN
Jun 24, 2013 - 10:48pm PT
It probably wiped out some of the nesscary bacteria in her gut. Some people respond well to eating yogurt with active cultures. The theory being that it innoculates the colon with needed bacteria. Ive known several people who developed chronic diarea after antibiotics and yougert cured it. Wish her luck for me.
johntp

Trad climber
socal
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2013 - 10:52pm PT
Thanks guys. She has already done the flagyl course, so it is too late to choose an alternative treatment.

Bat- that makes some sense; from what I understand the flagyl pretty much kills all the bugs, good and bad. Living on typical PCT rations would not help rebuild the good bugs.

edit: what are probiotics?
Mark Rodell

Trad climber
Bangkok
Jun 24, 2013 - 10:52pm PT
In Kathmandu we'd take something called Tinnaba (sp). Very nasty stuff, loaded with arsenic and heavy metals...a person would know they'd taken poison.
Heyzeus

climber
Hollywood,Ca
Jun 24, 2013 - 10:54pm PT
Why was she on the Flagyl? Giardia?

Metallic taste in the mouth and feeling yucky were my main side effects but the stuff is jingus.

Best advice I got- get the best pre and probiotics you can as well as Kefir. If she can't do Kefir, other fermented foods, sauerkraut, etc. Interfase Plus from Klaire labs is amazing, breaks down biofilm, look it up if you don't know what that is. I think Klaire makes a product for the lactose problem as well but have no idea how well it works..
Morgan

Trad climber
East Coast
Jun 24, 2013 - 11:00pm PT
I never had it, but I talked to someone who took it after a Himalayan trip. They feel they can no longer digest meat or chocolate.
John M

climber
Jun 24, 2013 - 11:02pm PT
I have taken flagyl a number of times. It usually took me months to get my intestines back in balance, but then I have a history of issues with my intestines. I took probiotics after taking flagyl to help build up the good bacteria. What usually helped the most was to eat a lot of cooked vegetables, eat meat in moderatiion, take probiotics and stay away from sugar, alcohol, and large amounts of grains.
johntp

Trad climber
socal
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2013 - 11:08pm PT
Why was she on the Flagyl? Giardia?

I'm not sure, but she thinks so and picked it up somewhere around Kennedy Meadows south.

She is trooper, despite it all she has summited Whitney and made it to Tuolumne. She is from the east coast and has no real support out here.
SCseagoat

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
Jun 24, 2013 - 11:12pm PT
I was on flagyl and cipro at the same time. The worst experience I ever had (other than chemo). I had all the gut problems as mentioned earlier. It does wipe out everything, good and bad. I had auditory hallucinations (not voices but sounds, like the reverse beeping sound on trucks would seem to be right in my ear, I would hear clicks and clacks that just weren't there). I had no appetite and felt generally "disconnected". It did clear up the Giardia but the side effects were hellacious.
Best of luck to your girl friend. Others have mentioned other options...I'm not aware of those but if I ever need flagyl or cipro again I will ask for other options.

Susan
johntp

Trad climber
socal
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2013 - 11:21pm PT
cragman- that is very generous. I'm not sure when she is leaving TM, she may already be gone north. PM your phone number and I'll text her with it.
TwistedCrank

climber
Dingleberry Gulch, Ideeho
Jun 24, 2013 - 11:27pm PT
Gurgles, blasts, and squirts.
mongrel

Trad climber
Truckee, CA
Jun 24, 2013 - 11:36pm PT
+1 for all the comments about probiotics. They are very helpful after a course of any antibiotics; or even during, if you're on them for a while. The greater the diversity of different bacterial species in it, the better. It's biologically highly doubtful (I would say completely implausible but you never know with biology) that it has anything to do with lactose intolerance, which is strictly genetic and results from zero or insufficient levels of the enzyme that breaks down lactose. The normal pre-civilization condition for humans is to stop producing lactase in childhood, so virtually all adults were once lactose "intolerant" until the prevalence of dairy foods conferred an advantage on the mutations that delay the decrease in lactase production. Interesting, but not relevant here.

If the digestive issues have diminished by the time she reaches Tuolumne, Cragman ought to take her to dinner at the Mobil!
Heyzeus

climber
Hollywood,Ca
Jun 24, 2013 - 11:49pm PT
I doubt the better probiotics will be in a store in Mammoth et al, but ya never know. I would at the very least get Primal Defense by Garden of Life, which should be available locally, and doesn't need refrigeration. With any of these products go slow. Start with one and build up (with Primal Defense to 12 a day)otherwise she will feel like she has the flu. Herxing they call it, as in Herxheimer reaction.
neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Jun 25, 2013 - 12:47am PT
hey there say, johntp.... oh my, i will sure be praying that all goes well for your friend...

here's cheering for good things for her...
god blesss...

:)
johntp

Trad climber
socal
Topic Author's Reply - Jun 25, 2013 - 01:03am PT
Just a note to thank everyone for the input. There are a lot of people on this forum that have good hearts. Sometimes that gets lost.
limpingcrab

Trad climber
the middle of CA
Jun 25, 2013 - 01:13am PT
Everyone has basically covered it all here. One correction, the one dose drug is called tinidazole and is usually done with 2 grams, but cragman probably just had a typo. It's WAY better than flagyl and I recovered a lot faster from that stuff while eating probiotics (foods with good bacteria in them).

The never ending giardia in the sierra arguments, I should've done my thesis on that to try to finally figure it out...

Hope the rest of her trip goes well and she feels better, wish her luck from the taco!
stevep

Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
Jun 25, 2013 - 01:30am PT
I felt a little bad for a longish time on flagyl. I felt like utter crap on tinidazole, but it was only for one day.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
Jun 25, 2013 - 01:42am PT
Flagyl as a teen after a trans sierra trip from Onion Valley to Roads End in Kings. Bad filter. Got appendicitis, and contracted something that wiped me out. Flagyl for awhile, and never really was just the same in the guts. Lactose intolerant later in life.
BASE1361

climber
Yosemite Valley National Park
Jun 25, 2013 - 02:19am PT
Is she drinking alcohol while taking it?


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