Matt was on Flagyl for 6 months, 3 months pre op and 3 months post op.
At diagnosis it was identified that he 10cms of his terminal ileum was inflamed with a further 5cm, at the proximal end, showing signs of very mild inflammation. He was commenced on Azathioprine, Prednisone (approx 2 month regime) and Flagyl for 1 week. About a week after completing Flagyl he started to develop signs of complications, turned out to be a perforation, fistula and abscess. He was then commenced on Flagyl again and another antibiotic, Augmentin duo forte which he stayed on until surgery 3 months later. During this time they were able to stabilise him and reduce the inflammation considerably and at the time of surgery the affected area remained at that 15cms he was originally diagnosed with.
Although at times I have questioned the effectiveness of the medication he was taking in hindsight I have to admit that they obviously did help to keep the inflammation contained to that 15cm segment.
Flagyl is used for it's antibiotic properties as the process of inflammation does seem to produce infection but it is also used because studies do suggest that it does have anti inflammatory properties. The 3 months he was prescribed it post op was because the Crohn's specialist indicated that research seemed to support the theory that 3 months of treatment post operatively increased a patients chance of maintaining a long term remission.
Matt took 400mg three a day and post op 200mg three times a day. He did not appear to suffer with any side effects and never had issues with the taste except when he tried the cheaper generic Metronidazole, he found it unpalatable due to the powdery coating it had.
Here the 400mg tablet is on the larger side and pale yellow, the 200mg is the same only little smaller.
Dusty. xxx