What happens after C.Difficile?

@losthope I certainly know what you're going through. I too took Clindamycin in April for a sinus infection. Two weeks later, I was diagnosed with Cdiff. I did 10 days of Flagyl. Five days after finishing the drug, Cdiff returned. I then did 10 days of Vancomycin. Again, within a week of finishing Vanco, Cdiff returned. I then did the Vanco pulse and taper for 5 weeks. I felt great for 3 weeks after finishing that round of Vanco. Then my 4th bout of Cdiff hit. It was the hardest and I lost 10 pounds in two weeks. My first stool sample came back negative so I had to wait another five days before we did another sample which was positive for Cdiff. Having FOUR bouts of this, I knew I had Cdiff even when the sample was negative. I then took the expensive med Dificid (fidaximycin). 20 pills for 10 days and the cost was almost $5,000. My copay was almost $1,000. Thankfully, there was a fund that paid part of my copay. I finished the Dificid on October 26th. So far, so good. And I knock on wood every time I say that. If Cdiff returns for a 5th time, I'll do the fecal transplant. I've looked in to Open Biome and doing the capsule form. The cost is $635. I haven't discussed this with my gastroenterologist and hope he would approve. I just pray that I'm on my way to good health. Are you doing the pulse and taper with vancomycin?

Could someone please tell me what I need to eat after finishing my 3 rd round of antibiotics. 2 toimds of Flagyl & after relapses I got vancomycin. I’ve been off for 2 days & M getting anxious as each day comes. Each relapse was about 4 days off antibiotics. I was told by my gastro to eat soft foods that I could tolerate. I had a severe case of ischemic colitis about 10 months ago. I’m also lactose intolerant. I’m am. Ow taking a probiotic that my gastro told me to get. It’s phillips colon health. I have heard that kefir & some yogurts would be ok for lactose intolerance. I don’t know what to eat. I also need to know if I need the probiotic along with the Kifer or yogurt. I’m desperately not wanting to get sick again I’m 71 & down to 85 pounds. Someone please give me a direction as to diet & whether to do kifer & or probiotic

I'd stay away from all dairy at least for the time being. I'm lactose intolerant too, and despite what dietitians have said in the past, I was never able to be symptom free from any of it even before I got fructose malabsorption. Probiotic is a good idea; just make sure it doesn't have lactose in it.

I'd also get tested for fructose malabsorption. Intestinal infections can damage the lining of the intestine. In the meantime, try not to eat any sugar or fruit.

Gluten free, dairy free, no grains or complex carbs at first. No apple sauce or rice or toast or jello or any of those bland foods they tell you to eat for diarrhea. I drank a lot of bone broth and bananas and could also eat scrambled eggs. I am slowly adding new things to my diet. You can only introduce a new item every third day and keeping a food diary. If your intestines are inflamed or dysbiotic (out of balance), then you may not be able to tolerate all the foods you ate before for a while. If you are losing weight, try an elemental drink such as EleCare Jr., which is what I am doing now to put some of the weight back. You may or may not be able to tolerate Kefir at first. I take Florastor and Align as probiotics and recently started taking Vitamin D after a study from England was published which seems to support the use of vitamin D to treat inflammation in the body, including the gut.

What threw me off at first (besides eating the wrong foods like a ton of Jello) was the expectation that the antibiotic was going to cure me. It sort of did but it also created other problems. Just like CDiff wipes good bacteria so do antibiotics, so my theory is that the antibiotics both help and contribute to the problems we are having. Our intestines are still inflamed and out of balance following antibiotic treatment so we relapse if we eat “normal” because the bad bacteria is feasting and feeding on the sugars and carbs we are eating because we are hungry and desperate to gain weight. It is a vicious cycle.

@sandyabbey My gastroenterologist is the one who told me about what probiotic to take. He suggested the Florastor. It's important to take one with "Saccharomyces Boulardii." The Cdiff spores will line your intestines. Most probiotics will help your stomach and gut flora. You need one that survives the acid in your stomach and will colonize in your intestinal tract where the spores survive. I've had 4 bouts of Cdiff. I took one round of Flagyl, two with Vancomycin and after the last relapse, I took Difficid (fidaxamycin). I've finished that med on Oct. 26th. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this med killed the spores. It was expensive and I understand why they don't give it out until you've tried everything else. Many doctors now don't even bother with Flagyl and they start you on Vancomycin with the first episode of Cdiff. My insurance asked me I'd taken Vancomycin before they would approve the Dificid.

@guthealth. I’m confused. I was to,d to eat carbs like potatoes, oatmeal, toast soups & those types of foods to let my gut heal.

Nope! Quite the opposite. Soups and broths are great but the grains, cereals, toast, jello and carbs not so good. There are quite a few posts on diets on this site, but all the traditional advice you hear, including from many well meaning doctors is wrong. I have been through all that, and for months kept relapsing after the antibiotics due to all the wrong advice I was receiving about eating “normal,” or eating applesauce, rice and toast or Jello, which is loaded with sugar. What seems to help is a Low FODMAP diet that limits fructose, complex carbs, gluten and dairy, and very slowly introduces these foods back into the diet. Well worth for you to do a little reading and even get a referral to a nutritionist if you can. That’s what turned things around for me after repeated rounds of diarrhea and dropping 20 pounds in three months. You may be able to eat little at first. For a while, my only safe foods were chicken or bone broth, bananas and scrambled eggs. I am now eating lactose free cheese, almond milk, most meats, rice crackers, grapes, cantaloupe, pineapple, lentils, garbanzo beans, etc. I am working with a nutritionist and slowly trying new items and recording my reaction to them. I am far from normal but this is my new “normal”, and I have now been diarrhea free for a month and gained seven of the 20 lbs I lost. I am happy to eat a restricted diet for a while to regain my health. Proper eating after these intestinal disasters is key. Our guts can heal but this is a process that is going to take many months. Took me a while and a lot of reading to figure this out. Hope this information helps you.

I also take Florastor and Align daily (probiotics) and several supplements to help my gut heal. Vitamin D, vitamin A, Zinc, L-glutamine, omega 3, b complex, vitamin c, and quercetin. I put a scoop of collagen peptides in my peppermint tea.