Oh my goodness. That’s outrageous! I hope you can find a reasonable option.

@ahnemeke Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I am sure there are several members reading this who can relate to your dilemma. While antibiotics do a great job on "the bad guys", they can also kill off the good bacteria in our gut. Here is what Mayo Clinic has to say about C-Dif: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/c-difficile/symptoms-causes/syc-20351691#:~:text=Antibiotics%20that%20treat%20an%20infection,can%20cause%20C.%20difficile%20infection

One thing I have found is to remember to eat for a healthy gut. Probiotics, usually in the form of Greek yogurt, are often on my table. Also, an apple a day seems to help. What is your doctor telling you? Are you able to get a form of Dificid that your insurance will cover?
Ginger

I am on the same journey waiting to see if I can get a referral to Mayo for the specialist team to assess if there are other underlying conditions preventing the cdiff from recovering. I was hospitalized in July with diverticulitis with a perforation and pocket of fluid on IV antibiotics for a week sent home on Augmentin developing cdiff. I started with metronidazole, then vanco for multiple rounds 10-14 days twice then six week taper then thankfully insurance approved Dificid probably also because I had been on the other meds. Unfortunately the 10d Dificid did not resolve the cdiff with symptoms worsening less than a week post meds. I am now on a 10-week vanco taper with a GI apt coming up Thursday hoping to get a referral to Froedtert or Mayo for infectious disease/GI not sure if there’s a different underlying condition preventing it from healing. I do have auto-immune issues like reactive arthritis, prior thyroid cancer that spread to my neck lymphs resulting in ongoing lymphedema, and gastroparesis. I was also on proton pump inhibiters for around 20 yrs I stopped after the first cdiff meds didn’t work.

I’m praying the Dificid works successfully for you, I read many positive things about it’s success ratio. I also work with the Wellness Way locally and they are helping me work on improving the good bacteria in my gut. I’m taking many natural supplements and a combination of prebiotics and probiotics. I also added superfoods with antioxidants. I read in these chats multiple people recommend the probiotic S Boulardii so I recently increased how much of that I take. I recommend checking into supplements and the pre/probiotics to enhance what you are already doing. Good luck this infection is no fun, it’s great to chat with others.

I also went through Vancomycin and then Difficid for c diff in conjunction with ulcerative colitis.

For probioticx, my GI recommended Florastor + suggested I try 4 oz kefir/day.

But +when meds failed both the GI I originally went to and the GI I now see since the 1st retired (both at Mayo Phoenix) were going to try FMT (fecal matter transplant) for recurrent c diff once I met Medicarre's criteria for coverage (having to do with tests establishing repetitive c diff. (But the issue became moot after I had a colectomy.)

I totally emphasize. It interferes and makes life totally miserable!

I just learned today that I am positive for C Diff for the second time. I had it in October and was sick for a month before I was finally picked up by EMT’s and taken to the hospital. While there I managed to get MRSA in my blood and pneumonia. I also had a bad UTI. I was in the hospital for 21 days and there were times I really thought I was going to die. I am allergic to Vanco so after a week of taking that they put me on Dificid. I went home mid November, tested negative 2 weeks later and now I’m back for more punishment. What is worse, (I’m fairly certain) is my doctor prescribed Clindamycin! From everything I’ve read Clindamycin has been known to CAUSE C Diff! Now we’re into the weekend, AND it’s New Year’s Eve and I’m honestly scared to wait until Monday to get the right prescription! Why would an Internist who knows I just got out of the hospital prescribe that? Sure, he’s human, but what if I hadn’t read what I had? There are a lot of people out there who just do as their doctors say without educating themselves! I know before I went in the hospital the last time he had me taking Clindamycin. Would that make the infection worse? Because by the time I called the paramedics I was very sick, but had been infected already for 30+ days. I believe I got the other infections while in the hospital because of the medication I was taking for rheumatoid arthritis, even though they immediately took me off of it. I didn’t know why they had done that at the time and honestly I don’t even remember the first week I was there. It felt like it just hit me out of left field and sinee my sister passed away after getting C Diff after knee replacement surgery (she had RA as well) I was terrified. They were running all sorts of tests on me, gave me a blood transfusion and a lot of other things I don’t even remember. I went from a size 9 to a size 4 in 3 weeks and I’m scared I’m going to end up back in the hopital! For now I’m just going to contact the doctor on call tomorrow and explain my situation and really hope for the best. My immune system is still weakened even though I’m still not on any medication for my rheumatoid arthritis which has begun rearing it’s ugly head as well. This all started with a revision reverse shoulder replacement surgery which is.another long story I won’t go into…but this is all just crazy! I want off this terrible ride and I’m hope hope hoping this will be my last fight with C Diff. My empathy goes out to all those who are suffering with this awful, insidious infection!

Megasporbiotic (a probiotic), by Microbiome Labs, helped my 84-year-old aunt twice. Her meds didn't help and/or work completely.

Commented in wrong subpost admin please delete

I had severe ulcerative colitis.And had a couple of c diff recurrences while failing Humira, Entyvio and Stelara. Finally Rinvoq worked for me causing me to go from severe to mild with no recurrences (due in part to no need for antibiotics, which are a major trigger).

But then when they removed an area of high dysplasia in my colon, pathology showed a small area had converted to cancer. They thought they probably got it all, but I didn't want to take a chance.

A couple of years before I was thinking of doing a j-pouch, but elected a full procto-colectomy with end ileostomy instead. One consideration was that pouchitis is common, and that is treated with antibiotics. The probability of c diff after removal of the large colon is remote, but not 0.

They removed the colon together with the surrounding fat layer where lymph nodes are located. Testing over 70 lymph nodes + the colon was totally clear, So I have no regrets (other than I wish I could have found something like Rinvoq that worked for me years earlier).

I had cdiff a couple of years ago after taking a two month round of different antibiotics trying to get rid of a bad infection. I had never heard of it at that time, but found out that most antibiotics can cause it, especially if used long term. My immune system was down to zero. I truly thought I might end up in the hospital. I remember one night I had my finger on the phone to call 911, but I wasn't sure if I could even crawl to the door to let paramedics in. I toughed it out until I could call to my regular doc. Instead of taking more meds, I opted for pumping probiotics into my system along with lots of yogurt. I lost weight I could not afford to lose, but after a few days I started getting better. I tried to stay away from getting close to people as much as I could because my immunity was shot. It took months to get back to my normal, and I have refused antibiotics since that time. I honestly do not remember exactly which probiotics I used. I did some research on which strains were best for cdiff, and I did not buy the most expensive ones either. I had nothing to lose by trying that treatment. Although it worked for me, I certainly could not say it would work for anyone else. Currently I take a general probiotic-14 with 25 billion cfu just for maintenance since I have a history of GI issues along with a bunch of other junk we get as we age. Ugh I am certainly a lot better off than a other folks I see on these posts.
Bless your heart. I hope you can get better soon. Keep fighting.