Trying to recover from a c. diff infection (Clostridium difficile)

@mala1921 I too took clindamycin for a tooth infection back in August, 2018. Three weeks later I ended up in the hospital for 8 days. Agony! They gave me vancomycin but I relapsed 4 times over the next 7 months. Lost 14 pounds and weighed 86 pounds. Finally, I had an fmt (fecal microbiome transplant) in March, 2019. Since then, I have been doing ok. However, I still can't gain any weight back! I live in terror of it coming back or if I get sick and need any antibiotics. A lot of antibiotics can start it back up. I take probiotics every day, specifically, Visbiome and saccharomyces boulardii. If you have any questions, let me know. Good luck to you! Hope you feel better soon.

I took Clindamycin for a sinus infection in 2018. Shortly after taking it, I ended up with Cdiff. I've never been so sick. I was given Flaygl for the first infection. After stopping it, three weeks later Cdiff was back. I then was given Vancomycin (Vanco) for 10 days. Again, the Cdiff returned after a few weeks, I then did the Vanco pulse and tapper method for over a month. After completing that, I was okay for about a month. But then I had a 4th bout of Cdiff. My gastroenterologist said he would prescribe Fidaxamycin (Difficid). It's expensive. $7,000 for 20 pills and the co-pay was almost $1,000. But it worked. My insurance wasn't willing to pay until I had tried Vanco. I wish medical providers would prescribe Difficid after a second round of Cdiff. And many physicians are not even using Flaygl as the first line of defense any longer. They're going right to Vanco. I also know that many dental offices are no longer prescribing Clindaymcin for infections. The rate of Cdiff is peaking after using it. I hope this info is helpful to you. If the Flagyl doesn't work, I would suggest you talk to your physician about Difficid. If it hadn't worked for me, I was going to do a fecal transplant. Just happy it happened to be the one to kill all the Cdiff spores.

@pines - I agree that Clindamycin should not be given for dental infections. If someone has penicillin allergy there are other antibiotics less risky than clindamycin.

After taking clindamycin for a dental procedure, my husband had a six month bout with c diff many years ago. After multiple courses of antibiotics and reactions to them, he put his foot down and refused to take any more. Finally, the GI doctor prescribed Questran, an anti-cholesterol drug that coincidentally binds matter in the intestines. Finally, after two weeks of Questran, he could live a normal life again. Sadly, his gut still reacts negatively to anything that disrupts the normal flora. He relies on kefir and other probiotics.
I haven’t read anything about Questran on these threads, but maybe it can help someone else.

Hi, did you find that doctor in Canada that does the fecal implant by pills??

Don't take no for an answer. Flagyl is horrible, it's a cheap drug, that's why they prescribed it so much. My platelets bottomed out on it. Have blood work done on him, check his platelets. Vancomycin is better. Definitely take S. BOULARDII, it's a game changer.in canada we have Florastor and Renewel..

I had c-dif for the first time in 2019 and was a wreck. My GI Dr put me on vancomycin and it cleared up the c-dif. MovIng on to this year. Three weeks ago I got my second bout of diverticulitis within the past 4 1/2 months. They put me on augmentin and now I have c-dif again. My colonoscopy in Jan showed I had a tortuous colon and the GI dr couldn’t do the full colonoscopy and I wound up also having a virtual colonoscopy. Bottom line is that I’m an anxious wreck. Any health related thing sends me down the rabbit hole. I see a psychiatrist but I’m too afraid to take the meds he prescribes. I’ll be 64 next month and never thought I’d wind up like this. It’s bad enough the c-dif sends me to the bathroom, but I also have BMs related to the anxiety. My GI Dr has me on vancomycin. I can’t remember if it gave me as my side effects two years ago, but I’ve been on it for a couple of days and feel a little jittery/weird. Don’t know if it’s the vancomycin or just me being crazy anxious. Has anyone had this side effect or what side effects have you had? Also, what routine do you use to make sure your bathroom and house stay free of c-did?

Yes, definitely had side effects, was full of anxiety and depression, thoughts of dying. I'm off and on vanco for 11months. Hang in there, we're here to support you.

Thank you so much for responding. I’m so glad Mayo had this site. It’s just been a frustrating past few months between diverticulitis and now c-dif. In a way I’m glad I was overweight when all these problems started back in late Oct. I’ve lost about 30 lbs since then.

@judy, I had cdiff 2018. Vancomycin. On top of IBS-D, and fecal incontinence..... some days now its one roll of toilet tissue a day. Only thing that stops it is Imodium. Any antibiotic did and does give me double duty diarrhea and when having diarrhea not supposed to take Imodium..
About making sure bathroom and house c-diff free: I bought a book about it from amazon but wish I hadn't as it scared me .... I actually went bonkers trying to follow what she said to do. Actually, it was a prelude to what we we are doing since
Covid first struck.

Obviously, main thing was bathroom.... and mainly what I used was ratio of 1 teaspoon bleach to 1 cup of water, multiplied by ratio. Thin rubber gloves and I have a stock of white face cloths which I only used for myself... so wet the cloth with the bleach mixture and wiped everything over that bleach wouldnt ruin, including door knobs, light swithches.

What some people forget is the handle of the toilet brush and the flap to flush the toilet, anything that is touched before washing hands. However when first got it and the book , I spent almost five hours wiping everything down that was plastic, counters etc, tv channel changer, phones, until I felt I was going to pass out with exhaustion.
I had 3 piles of laundry; kept my clothing separate from husband's and kept my soiled articles separate from other piles. I ruined some black slacks as got bleach on them. Beautiful summer but didn't put clothes on line once... used the hottest setting on dryer and of course ruined some more clothing.
Anyway, I later heard of others who had C.Diff who just made sure their hands were washed with soap and water before eating and cooking.... or preparing food; similar to what we are now doing through Covid. Covid is more scary as we cannot see the virus.... but with c.diff we know its mainly in the bathroom....so toilet, bathtub, shower, sinks and taps would be my main concern. I went overboard though and didnt visit neighbours. Cancelled cleaning company. I was quite ill. Of course now there are many types of wipes and sprays in the stores for Covid which will also kill C.Diff but bleach is cheap just dont use it too strong and open windows etc.,per the instructions on bottle.
Odd thing is, there are many many people walking around (or were before covid) and serving us food etc, and they had c.diff and either don't do anything about it or don't know they have it, so I would say be extra careful using someone else's bathroom, and especially public washrooms and washrooms in doctors offices etc. Good luck with it all.... hope I have passed on some helpful info. I got it after 6 antibiotics in 5 months and I think I may have picked it up in hospital bathroom. J.