Stool consistency while on vancomycin and its significance

So true, my family doctor doesn't know what to tell me. He's never had a patient with reoccurring C Diff.

Interesting. You have constipation and the fruits and veggies help alleviate that? Which fruits and veggies?

I’ve done a lot research, and I also read this and other forums. Though I feel I know more than when I started, frankly, I feel so uniformed. I feel desperate to try anything. Therein lies the danger — jumping at any thing that worked for someone else. So I try to go slowly, but the anxiety of not doing anything to “help” fix this or the anxiety of thinking I’m doing (primarily eating) something that makes this worse can be overwhelming.

Very overwhelming, glad l have this group because the medical field are very contradicting. No matter how bad you feel, know that it will get better
Diet l believe is the answer.

Oh absolutely of course I would share. It took over 20 days for them to diagnose me with c Diff. I was put on vancomycin for 10 days and 4 days later diarrhea came back. My doctor put me on metronidazole for 14 days. Diarrhea was gone but had loose stools formed at times but very very soft and sometimes not even formed but no watery diarrhea. Since then I had some scares when my stool would look weird and smelly got tested for c Diff toxin and came back negative this was two weeks after I finished the metronidazole. I was nauseous for almost 3 months after and had lots of bad days and like you was doing my homework and reading a lot. While I had c Diff i was eating bland food like rice bananas potatoes but heard this is bad. I worked with a nutritionist and was put on a meal plan lots of fibre fruits and she stated me on raw vegetables (but I had cooked vegetables before for almost 3 months before starting raw). I am still not feeling well now I am doing a low FODMAP diet as I heard people can develop ibs post c Diff. Only been a week on this diet so will see. Looks like I cannot eat gluten anymore this is causing me very loose stool so I stopped gluten and read that you can be gluten intolerant after c Diff and I am only eating lactose free dairy just started that. I got tested again for c Diff toxin in December and got negative results. I have lots of anxiety still and fear. My doctor told me c Diff won’t recur at this point unless I go on antibiotics this will put me at high risk for getting it. I am still dealing with the after c Diff and trying to find a new normal. I feel for you guys and what you are going through I myself too healthy otherwise and took antibiotic originally for a sinus infection that led me to c Diff. I am still taking probiotics 60 billion 1 capsule per day. I took Boulardii in addition to probiotic for almost 3 months and stopped the Boulardii and now only probiotics. Please ask away this is the only was we can help each other’s and get some answers.

Thank you for the encouragement. Yes, I’ve come to think that diet is the key once you get the meds started, and more so after the meds have finished. But as you pointed out, it’s very difficult to find guidance in what to eat in both those situations. I wish I would have known that on day one of the diagnosis. Might have made a difference during/after the first or even second round.

I remember walking out of the doctor’s office when first diagnosed thinking my biggest challenge would be sometime in the future when I couldn’t avoid antibiotics for some procedure. Two recurrences later, I almost laugh how naive I was. My biggest challenged turned out to be getting rid of this darn disease. Don’t have the luxury to worry about the future. I got to get this cured now.

mhi, you said “ While I had c Diff i was eating bland food like rice bananas potatoes but heard this is bad.” What did you hear that was bad about eating those things while you had cdiff? Those are in the BRAT diet, which I thought was “standard” while fighting cdiff.

Because white toast and white rice and applesauce all convert to sugar and this what they told me feeds the bad gut bacteria and it could spike your blood sugar as well. Again like you guys all mentioned it is very hard to know what’s good and what’s not. I am glad to hear you are working with a nutritionist because they know best how to guide you during this time. I am so glad too I found this group because until this day I still fear this disease and I keep saying what if it comes back. It is very hard. You guys will be in my prayers to overcome this.

So true, keep in touch. Maybe new literature will surface or an antibiotic that doesn't cause this.

Yes, I got off the white toast, stopped sweet foods, stopped Gatorade(sugar), and backed way off the starch all cuz I read they all feed bad bacteria and possibly cdif. Then gave up trying to go the diet alone and sought help from a dietitian. Although the dietitian includes a banana a day for other reasons, which I cannot recall now. Thank you for your insight.