Can metronidazole treat gynecological diseases?

Metronidazole is a common drug with a wide range of medicinal uses. For women, if they have vaginitis, they can also use metronidazole for treatment. It has a certain therapeutic effect on bacterial vaginitis and increased leucorrhea. Metronidazole can be taken orally for treatment, or it can be administered externally using metronidazole suppositories, and the effect is also good. Let us learn about this aspect.

Adverse reactions: Gastrointestinal reactions are the most common, including nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and abdominal cramps, which generally do not affect treatment; neurological symptoms include headache, dizziness, and occasionally paresthesia, limb numbness, ataxia, multiple neuritis, etc. Large doses can cause convulsions. In a few cases, urticaria, hot flashes, itching, cystitis, dysuria, metallic taste in the mouth and leukocytopenia may occur, which are all reversible and recover on their own after stopping the drug.

Note: (1) The drug is metabolized by the liver. It may accumulate in patients with liver impairment and the dosage should be reduced as appropriate. (2) Sodium salt intake should be reduced during use, as excessive salt intake may cause sodium retention. (3) It can induce candidiasis and anti-candidal drugs can be used in combination if necessary. (4) It may cause peripheral neuritis and convulsions. In such cases, discontinuation of the drug (or reduction of dosage) should be considered. (5) It may cause changes in blood count, leukocytopenia, etc., so please be careful. The metabolites of this product can make the urine dark red.

Drug interactions

(1) This product can slow down the metabolism of oral anticoagulants (such as warfarin), thereby enhancing their effects and prolonging the prothrombin time. (2) Liver enzyme inducers such as cimetidine can accelerate the elimination of this product and reduce its efficacy. (3) This product can inhibit acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, thereby enhancing the effect of ethanol and leading to disulfiram reaction. Do not consume alcoholic beverages or medicines during medication and within 1 week after stopping the medication.