Taking 200mg metronidazole antibiotic, three times a day. as a hypochondriac i'm worried about neurological damage. how common is it?

Not common, but: The best thing to do is talk w/ your doctor. Ask for full info on what your infection is, what the medication will do and what to expect and concerns to watfch for. If you have any serious side effects, let them know asap. You might get a hand-out or take good notes. Be a team member w/ the doctor - it will work best. This drug is widely used and considered to be reasonably safe as prescribed. Ok?

Rare: But hard to say how rare it is. Nobody really knows. The kind of study that will provide a numerical estimate of risk has not been done yet. A reference for you in case you want to read more, in particular, read page 77 for a summary of what is known: http://www.Ant-tnsjournal.Com/mag_files/21-2/005.Pdf.