What is better to treating ureaplasmosis: Metronidazole or Flagyl ER?
Content:
Ureaplasma belongs to the most common diseases, which, according to statistics, affects at least 70% of the entire sexually active population, and it is often found in infants and adolescents who have no experience of sexual activity. This is because ureaplasmosis is usually transmitted sexually, and if a pregnant woman has been infected, the child can become infected while passing through the birth canal.
Why do doctors prescribe Flagyl ER?
Due to the fact that ureaplasmosis is not just an infection, but the damage to the mucous membranes of the urogenital system by parasitic organisms, the usual antimicrobial drugs will not give the desired effect.
Treatment of ureaplasma is most often performed by antibiotics and protozoal drugs, the principle of which is based on the reduction of the 5-nitro group interacting with DNA of the simplest microorganisms, leading to their death. These include the following medicines: Flagyl ER, Metronidazole and Trichopol. The latter earned the trust of doctors, is in constant demand and has good reviews.
In fact, Flagyl ER and Metronidazole are analogues of Metronidazole, both have the same active ingredient - Metronidazole.
The appointment of Flagyl ER with ureaplasma occurs quite often, which is due to its affordable price and high effectiveness in the fight against parasitic microorganisms of different groups due to its wide spectrum of action.
Opinions of doctors agree that for successful treatment of the disease it is necessary to select only one type of drug and apply it, strictly following the instructions or individually adjusted by the doctor dosage within 14 days. Most often with ureaplasma, antibiotics are prescribed, but Flagyl ER does not apply to them, patients are often interested in whether the drug is sufficiently effective in treating ureaplasma.
Despite the fact that officially Flagyl ER is not classified as an antibiotic due to the presence of other excipients, it still has an active ingredient in its composition - metronidazole, which in turn is an antibiotic. And since this component is sold separately and is prescribed by doctors for the same purpose as Flagyl ER, confusion often begins, and the question arises: what is better to buy for the treatment of the disease?
Flagyl ER or Metronidazole?
Metronidazole in ureaplasma is administered as often as Flagyl ER. Which of these drugs effectively treats the disease and what is their fundamental difference?
In fact, these two medications are analogues of each other and when choosing it should be guided only by the price and ease of use. Flagyl ER is produced in various forms: tablets, vaginal suppositories, solutions, suspensions, powder.
Metronidazole is also contained in a special antimicrobial cream. How to take the drug in each case is decided by the attending physician.
Due to the fact that the preparations contain toxic substances that help to fight parasites, they have approximately the same side effects, which manifest themselves as follows:
- metallic taste in the mouth;
- heart rhythm disorder;
- dyspepsia;
- anemia;
- headache;
- stomatitis, nausea;
- painful sensations in the joints;
- pain when urinating, color of urine in red or brown in different shades;
- vomiting, diarrhea.
The appointment of Metronidazole and Flagyl ER with ureaplasma is performed only by a specialist after carrying out the appropriate diagnosis, an independent uncontrolled use of the drug may harm the health or not have the necessary effect due to the incorrectly taken dosage.
Given the fact that the indications for and use of the action are identical, the difference between the two drugs is only that Flagyl ER has some auxiliary substances in its composition, this is the patented name of the drug, and Metronidazole is the non-proprietary international name of the drug. Therefore, to treat the disease can be equally effective as Metronidazole, and Flagyl ER.
How to achieve effective treatment of ureaplasmosis?
It is known that the disease is equally common in both men and women, but the pronounced discomfort usually suffers from weaker sex. However, this does not mean that only women should be concerned about this situation. Detection of ureaplasma in a man is an occasion to undergo a course of treatment, because the disease sooner or later can go into a chronic form and become a real threat to the body, a source of constant discomfort and physical suffering.
Since this disease, despite a long course of treatment, can appear again and again, then it is necessary to treat ureaplasma immediately with two sexual partners. Only in this way it is possible to achieve the desired result, otherwise a repeated infection will constantly occur. The best prevention of the disease, of course, are monogamous relationships, because even if the sexual partners do not have this disease, a constant meeting of microbes of different microflora can cause a sharp increase in pathogenic organisms - mycoplasmas.
Earlier, in addition to Metronidazole and Flagyl ER, aminoglycosides were used to treat ureaplasmosis. These are antibiotics, the effectiveness of which was rather low because of the inability to affect the intracellular pathogens of ureaplasma and other parasitic organisms. In connection with this, antibiotics of the new generation from a number of tetracycline, fluoroquinolone and macrolide antibiotics began to be used.
But they, unfortunately, did not always give the desired results, because in some cases ureaplasmas are resistant to this or that kind of antibiotic, even if it helped one of the sexual partners. This is explained by many factors, one of which are the characteristics of each organism, the degree of the disease and the various foci of the lesion (urinary tract, genital organs, or severe disease when mycoplasma is present everywhere and rises up to the ureters and kidneys).
Therefore, in order to effectively combat the disease, in some cases you will have to pass an antibioticogram to find out what kind of pathogen you become ill, then start therapy with your regular sexual partner - only in such a short time you cure ureaplasmosis without the risk of re-infection.
Signs of the disease
The main goal of treating ureaplasma is to reduce the amount of pathogenic microorganism to improve the clinical picture, which in men and women has some differences and common features.
In men:
- Urethritis (painful urination, severe scarring);
- Discharge from the urethra (usually in the morning, after a long stagnation of urine);
- Orhoepidymitis (inflammation of the testicles against the background of urethritis);
- Asthenospermia (infertility associated with parasitizing ureaplasmas on spermatozoa, which leads to their inactivity).
In women:
- Bacterial vaginosis;
- Severe pain in the lower abdomen;
- Discharge from the vagina or, conversely, dryness;
- A sharp unpleasant odor from the vagina;
- Pain during or after sexual intercourse; Severe neck when urinating;
- Itching of the genitals.
What drugs can still be assigned to ureaplasmosis?
In the presence of one or at once several signs of the presence of intracellular parasitic microorganisms, it is necessary to immediately consult a doctor and take the necessary tests so that he can select the most suitable means in the fight against ureaplasma. In addition to the above listed popular anti-ureaplasma drugs, there are a number of effective protozoal agents and antibiotics that can be prescribed by a specialist.
Antibiotics:
- Doxycycline belongs to the group of tetracyclines. The sensitivity level is 87.5%, with a resistance of 12.5%.
- Ofloxacin (Floxin), belongs to the group of fluoroquinolones with a sensitivity level of 82.3% and resistance to the drug - 27.7%.
- Clindamycin, belongs to the group of lincosamides. The sensitivity level is 71.9%. Stability - 28.1%.
- Erythromycin, belongs to the group of macrolides. The sensitivity level is 71.9%. Stability - 28.1%.
- Pefloxacin is a group of fluoroquinolones, sensitivity is 50%, resistance is 50%.
- Tetracycline is a group of tetracyclines, a sensitivity of 46.9%, stability is 53.1%.
The best in the fight against the disease, of course, will be Doxycycline due to the high level of sensitivity of the ureaplasma to the active substance and its relatively small resistance to it.
Is it possible to recover from ureaplasmosis forever?
As the medical practice shows, it is impossible to completely get rid of the microorganisms that cause ureaplasmosis, since it is believed that they are always present in the body of even a completely healthy person.
The difference between the normal state and pathology is determined only by the amount of this parasite in the natural flora, which is constantly exposed to external attacks in the form of new sexual partners or repeated infection from one permanent. Stress and lower immunity also affect the ureaplasma population in the human genitourinary system.
With the right medicine and timely access for help to a specialist, you can quickly reduce the concentration of microorganisms in the shortest possible time by suppressing their growth and adjusting to normal microflora. To hope that everything will pass and to let the disease into its own right is by no means impossible, because sometimes it leads to very difficult diagnoses such as infertility, and in women ureaplasmosis can cause abortion, permanent miscarriage or intrauterine infection of the fetus. Such risks are unjustified if one considers that the disease is not so difficult to treat, provided that the patient is interested in recovery and carefully observes all the recommendations of the doctor, taking the medication picked up and taking the necessary tests for control.
