C Diff and Vanclomycin

I've had this. I was on vancomycin. It took me four months and a fecal transfer to rid this from my body. It's miserable. I'm sorry you're going through this. The only thing that saved me was the fecal transfer. You could also take a really good probiotic like Florastore. But I lost 30 pounds in four months. Just keep taking the medicine. There are other meds they can try if vancomycin doesn't work. Hang in there.

Give yourself time to heal. C Diff is a tough and does take time. Invest in a good pre and pro biotic.
Talk to you physicians office if you feel your a slipping backwards in recovery.

I had one severe episode of C Diff. I was overprescribed antibiotics , then had a sloppy colon surgery. Came home with it . I lost 15 lbs. was prescribed flagel , but didn’t take it long enuf . I finally got relief taking Vancomycin. I took it for 18 days. Tapering it up then off. I have carried C Diff from age 62 to now. I am 79. It never goes completely away. I have kept it under control by refusing all antibiotics other than vancomycin. AND, Most of all with my diet. I do not understand why clinicians do not discuss diet when treating C Diff. C Diff is a bacteria that feeds on sugars. It especially likes high fructose corn syrup. Just look at the many products that use it for sweetener . Fructose comes from fruits . Natural sugar from fruits. There are other refined sweeteners that I avoid . I cannot see how one can recover from C Diff while consuming these sugars . I still cannot eat a candy bar ( they contain high fructose corn syrup )without a slight attack of diarrhea the next morning. Even if I eat too many carrots at a meal . They are sweet enough to effect me . I have read and read online for years about C Diff. You should too. And don’t drink OJ for breakfast. Drink water! Blessed Be , Crys

I was diagnosed with this in July of this year, 2 weeks after hospitalization for appendicitis/appendectomy. While in the hospital, I received a prophylactic broad-spectrum antibiotic (before surgery) and then received (in error) 2 IV bags of the same broad-spectrum antibiotic, which killed my good microbiome and left me open to the C. Diff lurking in the hospital. I was put on Vancomycin for 10 days (although my doctor’s first choice drug was Dificid). I did not start having anything close to a normal stool until 2 weeks AFTER completion of the 10 day course (about 24 days). I also took a very strong probiotic (ProBioMed 250 Billion) which helped tremendously. I developed a form of post-infectious IBS and could not eat much of anything and lost 27 lbs in a short period. I FINALLY was able to see a wonderful gastroenterologist who recommended that I take the following probiotics: Visbiome (112 Billion) and Florastor every day. Within a week or two I was eating again and stopped the weight loss. I have been told different things by different doctors: GI said to take both for 6 months, another doctor told me to only take Florastor and yet another doctor told me to take both for as long as I want. I am now over 3 months post infection, I feeling fine and confident enough to re-enter society. I hope you were told that you should be VERY careful with antibiotics (especially broad-spectrum) and any medication that could alter your microbiome for the rest of your life. Make sure your doctors know that you had C. Diff.

I forgot to mention that the Low FODMAP diet helped tremendously with tolerating foods during recovery. It’s only a temporary diet, check it out on YouTube and find apps on phone. Also, limit carbs…the bad bacterial love sugar.

You have my sympathy. C-diff is awful. I had recurrent c-diff that started after I picked up the first case in a hospital.

My GI prescribed vancomycin and recommended Florastor. That helped recovery the first couple of times, then stopped working. Next was Dificid (very expensive and didn't work for me.)

My GI planned to pursue a fecal transplant after the third case (the threshold for Medicare approval) but I ended up dealing with other issues instead. In the meantime I tried to avoid antibiotics at all costs.

I had severe UC flares, but not c-diff until I had a hip replacement and they relied heavily on antibiotics. I ended up with c-diff that caused a flare that kept me in-patient for a month (instead of overnight as planned).

When I asked one GI how to reduce the risk of recurrence she said to practice good public hand washing hygiene and stay out of the hospital.

When I got back to Mayo the GI who replaced my original GI (who had retired) also indicated that a FMT should be the next step if there was another recurrence. But I ended up with a total colectomy so now it is very unlikely that it will become an issue.

So, I recommend you ask your doctor about a fecal matter transplant if c diff continues to be an active issue.

In the meantime, how are you treating your pancolitis? For years I managed using only mesalamine, although my GI drs kept arguing for something stronger given my inflammation.

There are an increasing number of treatment options. So there is hope for remission, although finding that solution can be a difficult path.

I hope you find something that works for you.

I'm so sorry you are suffering with this. When I had C-diff I was very fortunate that insurance covered the drug Difficid. I only say that because two doctors told me it was hard to get insurance coverage for that. It worked like a charm and I believe I started feeling a little bit better by day 3 or so. The way it worked is that I would still get diarrhea but not as often. And each day there was less and less but overall it took about 6-8 weeks to fully recover. Vancomycin is a great drug too. The first time I had to use antibiotics, my GI ordered some low dose vancomycin to take with them and I didn't get a recurrence. In my case my c-diff was obviously caused by antibiotics (plus have immune deficiency). I was like you, I got serious colitis covering the entire colon and rectum (proctitis).

About 8 months past the C-diff, I had to do a scope prep for a capsule endoscopy and I got the colitis back from the diarrhea. I only know that because the next month I had to have abdominal CT for a different doctor and that's when the colitis/proctitis was seen. So if you can avoid it, I'd try to avoid a colon prep for a year or so.

I hope you'll only get it this one time. I had mine last fall, and so far I have been good.

Hi so sorry for what you’re going through. My dad had c diff many times. From nursing homes. But was always put on vanc and flagyl. These helped tremendously. It took a full two week dose before he started to feel better. He also changed his diet for a while. Low fiber. More breads rices bananas pastas. Have you asked your Dr if you can take pro biotics? Good luck to you. Feel better soon!