Flagyl Or Prednisone Side Effects?

[greyhead]

I know it's late, but is there anybody out there who can share negative experiences with Flagyl? Is it more problematic when prednisone is taken at the same time? I know there's some issue of flagyl toxicity, but I don't know the details at all. He started on it last Friday and takes 500 mg. twice a day. (The prednisone is 10 mg. twice a day.)

 

Spencer has been breathing a bit fast all evening, like 54 per minute or sometimes a little faster. His nictitating membranes have been up, and at one point he started breathing/panting through his mouth. It was time for his thyroid pill (5 mcg twice a day), and I wasn't sure I should give it to him. But after a while, i went ahead. Thing is, he had what we think were some mild seizures when he became hypothyroid but before he was medicated for it. (But as I recall, he took Flagyl shortly before that, when he had tummy problems -- which later turned out to be due to hookworms.) In any case, this is a dog who apparently has at least some tendency toward seizures.

 

For sure, I'm not giving him his meds in the a.m. until I talk to his vet. But any advice/experiences anyone could share in the meantime would be most appreciated.

 

Jeez, and things were going so well! (See "Should We Endoscope/Biopsy" or some such title in H&M if you want history.)

 

Many thanks, to nightowls and early risers.

Edited January 28, 2009 by greyhead

[Chicocat]

I've never experienced any problems from using Flagyl with my dogs. You do want to give it with food. I have read that panting can be a side effect of the Pred. If he just started it, that might have caused his panting. I've always found with Pred. that it takes a few days for them to adjust to taking it. ie - excessive thirst, urination.

 

Hope your boy is feeling better by morning.

[greyhead]

Thanks, Ann, that makes me feel better!

[Guest mandm]

I have no experience with thyroid meds, but have treated greyhounds with both Metronidazole and Pred. I never noticed anything weird with Metronidazole, but lots of odd things resulting from Pred. Like Chicocat, I would suspect it's the Pred causing the problem. I haven't had to give Pred for a while, knock wood, but know you can't just stop dosing, but rather have to taper down. The Met. dose sounds pretty standard, while the Pred dose sounds, to me, a little light if it is for IBD. But again, it's been a while since I have used it so am not really sure. The Pred does some awful things . . . and also some wonderful things. I hate it . . . and I love it.

[greyhead]

Thanks to you too!

 

By way of update, it's now an hour later (or so) since I first posted, and he's better. He got up and started acting better, went out, drank a bunch of water, so I gave him a dental chew to see how he responded. He enjoyed it, and nothing bad happened, so I freshened up his uneaten dinner with lots more canned food, and he ate it all up. Most importantly, he quit breathing fast and acting weird!

 

It seems like, if this is the medicine, it mirrors the up-and-down rhythms of the GI problem itself -- fine for a while, then alarming, then fine again. So the human tries to walk the line between overreacting and underreacting!

 

Hope we'll all sleep now! Thanks again.

[Fiona3]

Our Hobbes was on the same dose of Pred for almost a year and did very well with it. In the beginning, however, we do remember the panting off and on for a couple of weeks and he acted a little restless at times. This eventually just disappeared at he adjusted to the medication. Interestingly, he could not take Flagyl. It made him vomit, his diarrhea got worse and each time we tried him on it the vet discontinued it early because of his reaction. This doesn't sound like want you are seeing, though.

 

Hugs to Spencer - hope he is feeling better.

[Guest SoulsMom]

Soul had no problems at all on Flagyl, and I've even been told that it can be taken long term will no ill effects. I've never heard of toxicity issuses with Flagyl, other that it may cause a bit of an upset tummy if not taken with food.

 

Hope things are better this morning!

[Guest KennelMom]

I've given flagyl to a lot of dogs...and many times to our own crew and never had a problem or side effect. I'd be more concerned with the pred. Some greyhounds do not tolerate pred well at all.

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

Well this is way late but Prednisone causes panting because it makes them hot. It also causes excessive thirst and hunger. When my Spencer is on Pred he exhibits those symptoms quite frequently. He's off the Pred for now but he still thinks he's always hungry. Interesting to me but I don't mind feeding him more as he's underweight right now. And my Spencer has always been a big water drinker but with Pred it seems like gallons a day!

 

[Guest MZH]

Flagyl can cause seizures in dogs or people prone to them. (So can Zeniquin, for that matter.) I won't give either to my pets who've had seizures.

Marcia

 

From RX list:

 

Two serious adverse reactions reported in patients treated with Flagyl (metronidazole) have been convulsive seizures and peripheral neuropathy, the latter characterized mainly by numbness or paresthesia of an extremity. Since persistent peripheral neuropathy has been reported in some patients receiving prolonged administration of Flagyl, patients should be specifically warned about these reactions and should be told to stop the drug and report immediately to their physicians if any neurologic symptoms occur.

 

I just remembered. One of our seizure dogs had a lot of panting and high heart rate (90 to 100) when on higher doses of thyroid meds (he was on Soloxine), so you have a couple of things going on here. When we lowered the dose his heart rate went back to 70; he looked far more comfortable at that heart rate.

 

Marcia

[Guest EmilyAnne]

Henry as you all know is very prone to seizures, and he absolutely cannot have Flagyl at all. He starts having small Focal seizures right away, then a full blown Grand-mal within 24 hours. Before Henry's seizures, he will pant very heavily.

 

Anyways, that's my experience. It may be that this has nothing to do with the Flagyl or seizure activity, but it's good to be aware of all the possibilities of what may have caused Spencer to be that way last night. All the seizure dogs I have heard of doing ok with Flagyl, have all so far been dogs on anti seizure drugs, so the drugs may have been suppressing the seizures enough that the Flagyl didnt cause a problem. Henry was not on seizure drugs when we figured out Flagyl is a huge trigger. Even thogh he s on seizure drugs now, I will never ever give him Flagyl ever again as I simply do not want to rock that boat!

Edited January 28, 2009 by EmilyAnne

[greyhead]

Thanks everyone. Spencer seems okay this morning. Unfortunately, I have to run out the door to deal with someone else's emergency, as that's my job. Sure wish I could stay home and observe Spencer instead! But DH works from home, so he'll keep an eye on things until I get back. I'll call and leave the vet a message just so she knows that he's having this reaction at times. The thyroid dose may be a little too high with the weight he's lost, and maybe we need to adjust it downward a bit, in case it's contributing to Spencer's reaction to his meds.