Postpartum C-Diff Finally Gone!

[bearsmama]

Hello All-
Today marks 70 days c-diff free for me which, I've read on this site, is the magic number. I thought I'd share my story:
I'm 27 years old and contracted c-diff after the birth of my daughter in December. I had a very long induced labor during which I got an internal infection from having my water broken. I eventually had a c-section and got a second infection several days later at the site of the incision. I also had a third infection from a poorly placed IV. Yikes. I was given two IV antibiotics, one of which was clindamycin (sp?). I was also given oral antibiotics (kaflex ?) that I continued for 10 days after my hospital stay. I was not warned of c-diff by my doctor or the hospital so I had no idea the urgency of speaking to a doctor when I came down with c-diff symptoms 2 weeks postpartum. I happened to mention the severe "D" and nausea to my doctor after carrying on with it for about 5 days. He immediately ran a c-diff test but by the time we got the positive results back, I thought I literally might die. I had severe bloody D and was throwing up. I also had a very high temperature for several days. My doctor put me on Vanco after I refused Flagyl due to breastfeeding. My OB said Flagyl was fine and the pediatrician said NO WAY! People on this site will tell you they've nursed with Flagyl. It's a personal choice and very hard to get a clear answer on from the medical community so I don't blame them for wanting to continue the important work of nursing!
I did 10 days of Vanco (125 mg * 4) and relapsed violently after 5 days off. My OB put me back on Vanco for 21 days and referred me to an ID doc. The ID doc said if I relapsed again I had no choice but to take the Flagyl AND the Vanco together and to stop nursing. I lived in fear of that and sure enough, 5 days after stopping the second round of Vanco, I relapsed. The ID doc put me on 500 mg of Flagyl * 3 for 14 days and 125 mg of Vanco * 4 for 21 days. After a second pediatrician said it was fine to nurse with Flagyl (as did the ID doc) I continued nursing. My little one became fussy but I'll never know if it was a coincidence. I was very sick on the Flagyl (I prefer the c-diff!) and lost so much sleep over the nursing issue that I only took it for 2 days! I continued the Vanco and after much badgering over the Flagyl with the ID doc, I went to see a very compassionate GI doc who said that he would let me continue on Vanco for as long as I wanted and that he would leave it up to me to do pulsing or tapering or whatever I wanted to try. (My ID doc had said flat out "no" to both of those). I also started taking Culturelle twice a day and Primal Defence twice a day, as far away from my Vanco as possible. I also got up in the middle of the night to take the Vanco instead of taking the 4 during regular daylight hours as I had done in the past. After stopping the vanco I certainly had some scares with the D but I think that was just good old IBS. I also had a scary bout of the stomache flu that I was sure was c-diff! However, 70 days later and I'm still in the clear (I have been tested twice when I've had iffy stools and they both came back negative).
This was such a hard road with a newborn at home and also a touch of postpartum depression for the first 2 months but we are all happy and healthy and stronger (and wiser...take those probiotics!!!) for it. Good luck to all who are suffering from this nasty bug. It will eventually give up , I promise.
All the best,
Caitlin

[diane]

Yea!!!!!!!!!!!That is great news... Congrats