Has anyone had GI problems with bicillin LA? I've been on it for 7 weeks. For the past two I have become increasingly uncomfortable in the upper abdominal area.
A sense of bloating, and sometimes strong pain, have been enough to keep me from eating much. The number of things I can tolerate digestively is shrinking daily, and so am I--moving toward a 15 pound weight loss, and I'm small to start with.
I know to check for co-infections and am working on that. I have had GI tests--everything looks normal. Before I spend a fortune on more doctors and tests, I want to consider the possibility that the meds themselves are causing the problem. The only other drugs I'm taking are flagyl (twice a week only) and nystatin.
Thanks for any help.
Peggy
Posted by NoVAChick (Member # 9814) on :
Hi Peggy, I have been on bicillin for a little bit longer than you, and coincidentally, this week, I have had the same GI distress you describe. The upper GI bloating and gas pain - even between my shoulder blades (like gallbladder pain and I don't have one anymore).
I didn't even stop to think that it could be related to bicillin - that is an interesting thought. And, I have learned through time to always look first at drug side effects for the answers to mysterious new symptoms.
Posted by beachcomber (Member # 5320) on :
Yes, Peggy, Bicillin can cause GI upset. I lost a considerable amount on weight while on Bicillin. I developed colitis and eventually had to to take a break from it. Despite the GI problems, Bicillin took me to another level in my healing.
Not sure what advice I can offer you, other than eating helps.
Posted by Peggy in Maryland (Member # 10480) on :
NoVAChick--yes, very much like gallbladder pain, and I don't have one anymore either, but I went through enough misery when I did to know what gallbladder pain feels like.
Since the liver is in the same area, I had that checked out, but the liver enzymes are fine. So is the pancreas.
beachcomber--bicillin has also helped me a lot, I think. I was having extreme nervousness, my doctor said the Lyme was in my nervous system. Nothing helped. I felt I was losing my mind, couldn't sleep, it was awful. But for the past 2 weeks, those symptoms are gone and I sleep all night without drugs.
So I'm very hesitant to stop the bicillin, but now I'm weak and shaky from getting almost no calories and losing weight. I wish eating helped me as it helped you--instead, everything seems to blow me up like a balloon. It feels like I've eaten a whole banquet after one or two bites.
So now I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. Do I stop the bicillin and risk the nervous symptoms returning, or do I continue and suffer whatever the GI breakdown will bring? Yikes.
Posted by timaca (Member # 6911) on :
Perhaps you could consider dropping the flagyl or nystatin before the bicillin and seeing if that helps....
I have been on bicillin twice a week (1.2 mu). I had C. diff prior to going on it, and even with the bicillin, was able to clear the C. diff (although it took me 11 months! )
Timaca
Posted by David95928 (Member # 3521) on :
If you are taking orals in addition to the Bicillin, I'd be more include to suspect them.
Posted by Peggy in Maryland (Member # 10480) on :
I stopped taking both flagyl and nystatin this morning. That leaves only the bicillin. Now if things don't improve, it either has to be the bicillin or a co-infection, or as someone has suggested, yeast.
So I've also increased my probiotic intake. I have to do that slowly, by one a day or so. Otherwise gas and bloating are inevitable.
Peggy
Posted by David95928 (Member # 3521) on :
Probiotics make me feel worse and I haven't taken them for several years.
Posted by NoVAChick (Member # 9814) on :
Peggy, How are you feeling after stopping the nystatin and flagyl?
I am noticing that certain foods trigger the really bad upper GI gas pain, but even if there is no pain, my intestines are always rumbling...reminiscent of when I had yeast.
Posted by Rianna (Member # 11038) on :
beachcomber--bicillin has also helped me a lot, I think. I was having extreme nervousness, my doctor said the Lyme was in my nervous system. Nothing helped. I felt I was losing my mind, couldn't sleep, it was awful. But for the past 2 weeks, those symptoms are gone and I sleep all night without drugs.
So I'm very hesitant to stop the bicillin, but now I'm weak and shaky from getting almost no calories and losing weight. I wish eating helped me as it helped you--instead, everything seems to blow me up like a balloon. It feels like I've eaten a whole banquet after one or two bites.
Posted by Rianna (Member # 11038) on :
Sorry before hit wrong button Its great to here how the CNS problems have resolved as I am at the severe anxiety stage from bicillin and am also told that in time and persisting with bicillin this will go. I was told by LLMD that I must have massive dosages of pre/pro biotics + drinks etc and to eat tonnes of live yogurt, I do this religiously and it has helped GI so much - I also have to take Destolit (Actigall) as he said that when you have a high die off you can get billary sludging, prhaps ask your doc if you can try it as it will help with the gallbladder sludging.
Rianna
--bicillin has also helped me a lot, I think. I was having extreme nervousness, my doctor said the Lyme was in my nervous system. Nothing helped. I felt I was losing my mind, couldn't sleep, it was awful. But for the past 2 weeks, those symptoms are gone and I sleep all night without drugs.
So I'm very hesitant to stop the bicillin, but now I'm weak and shaky from getting almost no calories and losing weight. I wish eating helped me as it helped you--instead, everything seems to blow me up like a balloon. It feels like I've eaten a whole banquet after one or two bites.
Posted by Peggy in Maryland (Member # 10480) on :
NoVAChick--stopping the nystatin and flagyl had no effect. I know it may be yeast, although I've been on antifungals since the day I started abx. And a yeast-control diet, too. So I'm upping my intake of pbx--I'm now up to 6 a day, 3 different brands.
I'm aiming to double that amount. A friend who's been in treatment for 4 years told me that Dr. B told her to take pbx by the handful. She takes about a dozen a day and has never had yeast problems.
It doesn't seem to be a matter of what I eat, but of how much I eat. I ate a protein bar for breakfast plus some Perfect Food, and it was 5 hours before I could eat again. I felt stuffed, like I'd had a 12 course meal. I'm barely managing to consume 1000 calories a day.
Rianna--you're lucky your MD told you to take massive doses of probiotics. Mine didn't even tell me to stop eating sugar--I just happen to know, from years of illness, what to do nutritionally.
I can't tolerate yogurt, and haven't been able to since I started on abx, though I used to have no problem. Kefir, too. I love kefir, was all prepared to consume mass quantities to offset the abx, and I can't even have a tablespoon. I don't have a gallbladder, though I'll have to ask the doctor if you can still get biliary sludging without it.
The bicillin definitely was the best thing I've done as far as the nervous system symptoms. I thought I was losing my mind, but after 5 weeks on bicilllin, things calmed way down. If you can keep it from wrecking your gut, it may work wonders for you. It seemed to help me way more than rocephin, at a fraction of the cost.
Peggy
Posted by NoVAChick (Member # 9814) on :
Hi Peggy, Sorry you're still having GI problems even after discontinuing flagyl and nystatin. BUT, glad to haer the bicillin has helped with the anxiety!
I remember your post from a couple of weeks ago where you were having a really difficult time with the anxiety. So, it sounds like you are really improving!
Like you, my doctor never told me to take probiotics. I knew not to eat sugar, but I did anyway. That will be coming to a stop!
I don't have the issue you have, where you feel so full after eating just a little. My appetite has really increased and I don't ever feel full really.
Sounds like probiotcs are the key - I will start taking them, too.
Rianna, I'm glad to hear you are doing better, too. I remember your recent post, too, where you mentioned struggling with the anxiety.
I hope you both continue to improve, and let's get these GI things under control, too!!
Posted by WildCondor (Member # 434) on :
Bicllin gave me clostridium difficile and it is horrible! Whenever you take any antibiotics make sure to take probiotics plus Florastor to prevent the c.difficile. Antibiotics upset the GI flora, and if you contract the c.diff spores (easily donw) you can end up with a real problem. If you are experienceing diarrhea, abdominal pain etc. while on antibiotics, get a stool test for c.diff toxins A & B plus a stool culture. Posted by Peggy in Maryland (Member # 10480) on :
Wild Condor--an article at the Wilder Network says that flagyl is the drug of choice for Lyme patients with C. diff, since it's also active against Lyme. I've been on flagyl for months. Hopefully that would mean it's not C. diff, but I'll talk to my doctor.
I've been on high-quality probiotics from the beginning, including Culturelle. I was also on Florastor, but once I started serious abx, I also started on an antifungal, so I had to stop the Florastor. The Florastor website says antifungals destroy it.
But as the days go by and I'm able to eat less and less, and the weight drops lower, and I talk to other patients, I increasingly suspect a coinfection. I'll talk to the doctor about that, too.
Thanks for your input. I've done a lot of reading at your website--am now on the GI issues section.
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