Update 15 weeks post vanco

We spend a lot of time talking about the bad news in this discussion group - here's the spot for the good news. If you've had c-diff and are now well, please tell us about it here.
andy2007
Regular User
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2020 12:35 pm

Update 15 weeks post vanco

Postby andy2007 » Sun Apr 26, 2020 2:37 am

Hi everyone. I hope you are all staying safe through these worrying times. I just thought that I would give an update on my experience with c.diff. Maybe it could be of some encouragement to others.

I got c.diff some time back in December 2019 after being in hospital for some kind of bacterial gastroenteritis. I believe it was because of the antibiotics which I took at the time.I finished the vancomycin treatment for c.diff on January 9th, so it has been about 15 weeks since I completed that. Hopefully I'm out of the woods now, so I thought I'd give an update.
First, I would like to thank all the people in this community. I posted a lot earlier this year when I was really worried and confused about stuff. I got a lot of great advice on here from many people. My apologies for the repetitive nature of my posts at that time. Getting feedback and a few encouraging words meant a lot.
Anyway, it seems like I am back to normal now. In fact, I seem to have been back on a normal diet with no issues from around eight weeks post vanco. I know many people suffer much worse than I did. I probably had a mild case compared to some, but it was still horrible at the time and made me constantly anxious.
I don't know really what I can say in terms of advice. I imagine everyone is different, but in my case I found that as soon as I got on a normal diet, the faster things got back to normal. I don't know if this just coincided with my natural healing time frame, but I started eating a lot of my regular foods from about eight weeks post vanco. I still didn't touch a lot of dairy foods or coffee until a weeks after that, but for the most part I was eating what I wanted. I think now I can eat anything that I ate before with no issues. Also, drinking alcohol is fine for me now although again, everyone is different so do what you think is right for you. I still have the occasional days where bm aren't totally normal, but I was like that before I got c.diff.
I had mild mixed-type IBS before, and this was definitely much worse during the first two months of recovery. I have found that when I eat a large meal I likely need to go shortly after because of a heightened gastro-colic reflex. I try to eat smaller meals now which helps a lot although I have a big appetite so it's not always easy to do. I had quite a few flare-ups where I was really worried it had come back. These are to be expected. I found that being stressed all the time made it much worse. Constantly thinking about whether it had come back, googling and reading every medical report on the subject, and over analyzing and counting the number of bm every day are not healthy for the mind. And, if you have post infectious IBS this will definitely be made worse by stress. I can't say that I am relaxing more as I have other things to stress about what with covid 19 and worries about my parents' health. Certainly, if you suffer from IBS, try and minimize the stresses in your life if possible. I'm still working on that.

It was also a huge relief when I found my current doctor. He was so helpful and really put my mind at ease. One thing he told me was that everyone is different during infection and recovery. Don't just read online medical reports or lists of symptoms and freak out if you don't follow the norm or have a different experience. I initially freaked out when I had blood in bowel movements. I thought it was a big indicator of a severe infection. When I discussed this with my new doctor a few weeks after finishing vanco, he told me that in his experience that was a common symptom, even with mild cases too. Of course, you must discuss your own symptoms with your doctor. This was just my experience.
I took some probiotics over the first couple of months and still do occasionally. I am not totally sure how much this helps, but I take a Japanese probiotic called WAKAMOTO three times a day. I am from the UK, but live in Taiwan and people here take this product religiously whenever they have any gut issues. I trust most things which come from Japan as the quality always seems to be great. This product contains their own blend of probiotic and brewers yeast. Whenever I have an upset stomach I take this and it helps. My wife suggested that I try this when I was recovering and it seemed to help. I am not advocating people take this; it just seemed to work for me. People need to find what works for them and properly research medicines and supplements before starting to take them.
So, hopefully I'm past the period where the chances of a relapse are high. I am still trying to be careful and have concerns about if and when I have to take antibiotics again. I recently had a bad gum infection, which cleared up fortunately, but I was worried that I might need antibiotics. I think I need to research about which are safe to take.
Thanks again to everyone who shared some kind words. I really appreciate that. I still check this group and will try and post now and then if I have some information worth sharing. Hope that anyone who is still suffering from this infection can see that there is a road to recovery. Stay strong during these difficult times.

Andrew

Ali-Mar
Long Time Contributor
Posts: 463
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2020 4:17 pm

Re: Update 15 weeks post vanco

Postby Ali-Mar » Sun Apr 26, 2020 10:06 am

Congratulations Andrew, hope you will beat this one for all. CDC website starts most of replaces are 2-8 weeks after treatment. You are well passed the window.

For how long did you have PI-IBSAnd what were you PI-IBS symptoms? Did you have on and off Mucus during the PI-IBS 2-8 weeks post treatment?

I am 5 weeks post Vanco, but having many issues since Thursday
Male 54, contracted C-Diff on Feb 5, 2020, diagnosed on March 2nd, Took Flagyl for 8 days, Vanco for 10 days, relapsed 5 weeks post-Vanco. finished Dificid Taper on June 20 relapsed two weeks later, had the FMT on July 14th, 2020


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