**updated in comments** 6 weeks post second course of vanco (tapered)

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.
lilkitty
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**updated in comments** 6 weeks post second course of vanco (tapered)

Postby lilkitty » Thu Mar 11, 2021 11:25 pm

Hello! I know this is a bit premature as really it’s the 12 week mark and beyond that really counts but I’m half way there and I’m feeling pretty good so I want to document it to give you hope! I will continue to update this every so often for myself and people to celebrate the milestones along the way :)

MY STORY
Contracted c diff after taking several courses of antibiotics over a period in four months, finally sealing the deal with clindamycin in October 2020. Had symptoms for 10 days before diagnosis, was treated with 14 days of vanco. Relapsed exactly four weeks later after finishing treatment after taking fluconazole for thrush. Was treated with another extended/tapered course of antibiotics for six weeks or so. I stopped the vanco prematurely (was supposed to be eight weeks) as I started getting ringing in my ear and didn’t want to cause any auditory damage, or further any.

HOW I AM FEELING TODAY
I am mostly okay. My BMs are actually mostly normal-ish, which is good. Definitely formed 95% of the time and have gotten down to once a day which is how often I went prior to c diff. In terms of symptoms, I have some mild PI-IBS, seemingly less bad than after the first course of vanco, maybe because I hadn’t properly killed the c diff at that time. Right now I still absolutely cannot tolerate raw foods, except for cucumbers in small amounts and some fruits like banana, avocados, and berries. No sushi or salads for now it seems. Everything else is “tolerable” to varying extents. I stopped having dairy and excess sugars for a few weeks to reduce inflammation and also reduce some skin sensitives I developed since having c diff. They are mostly improved. I am still experiencing ringing in my ears but I also have a TMJ disorder so more to be discovered on that front I suppose. I’ve started taking digestive enzymes occasionally to eat foods on the heavier side. So far I feel lucky being this soon after treatment I can eat spice again to a reasonable extent without any D, maybe mild stomach upset. Dairy seems okay again too. Other things definitely make me gassy and bloated but regular enzymes and probiotics help with that. I take a probiotic called bio k which is clinically proven to prevent c diff in hospital settings. I was also taking Florastor but ran out. I take Metamucil sometimes when I feel like my stools are too hard or too soft. I exercise semi regularly which also seems helpful. The urinary symptoms I was experiencing seem to come and go and are primarily associated with pelvic floor tightness from being constipated / straining the last few months. Will update more on that as I learn more or it improves. I occasionally feel joint stiffness so I wonder if there’s some element of reactionary arthritis as RA runs in my family so I wouldn’t be surprised if I also have that gene. That is supposed to be temporary though so we’ll see how that improves over time as well. I do have some symptoms of stomach acid excess but I take tums occasionally for that as anything stronger bears the risk of relapse as well. My tongue still looks kind of funny which is maybe thrush coming back but my online dentist appointment seemed to think it wasn’t a problem so we’ll go with that. It’s probably a result of imbalanced gut and weird diet and dehydration. I just try and keep up with my oral hygiene and hope for the best.


Be hopeful people! I don’t spend my time obsessing or negatively ruminating anymore and it’s helped significantly. I still do examine most of my bowel movements and if things are softer I feel a mild panic as we all do but then I hop straight to probiotics fiber and gut friendly foods and it usually resolves itself. I stopped worrying about obsessively bleaching as I haven’t had D for ages and I did many many deep cleans of my apartment during that time. Now I feel an occasional bleach wipe of the bathroom is all that’s needed and that’s worked fine. I don’t get worked up about eating with my hands or anything else along those lines of paranoia but obviously practice diligent hand washing etc. Hope this gives people out there hope. I hope I can continue posting positive updates for everyone (and myself most especially)! Will write again in a few weeks :)
Last edited by lilkitty on Fri Jun 04, 2021 8:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

beth22
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Re: 6 weeks post second course of vanco (tapered)

Postby beth22 » Fri Mar 12, 2021 2:15 am

Thanks for posting and giving hope to others. I'm glad you are doing much better and are able to eat more foods. You can introduce new foods gradually and hopefully down the road you will be able to eat as you could before c diff. The tongue is probably the imbalanced diet. I had it too and when I started eating more variety it improved considerably.

NS789
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Re: 6 weeks post second course of vanco (tapered)

Postby NS789 » Fri Mar 12, 2021 3:36 pm

Thanks for sharing your good news! I'm so glad you're doing well. I have been the same as you in terms of food intolerances... bananas, cucumbers and berries are fine but raw veggies are a no no for now. I hope to be able to reintroduce more veggies soon, but with a slow and careful approach!

Keep us posted on your continued recovery :).
32 y/o female. Got C. diff in Feb. 2020. Prescribed Flagyl (10 days), then Flagyl again (4 days), then Vanco (10 days), then Dificid (10 days), then Dificid again (10 days), then a Vanco taper (5 wks), then a Dificid taper (2 mths) and finally recovered.

lilkitty
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Re: 6 weeks post second course of vanco (tapered)

Postby lilkitty » Fri Jun 04, 2021 6:38 pm

Hello! It’s now been 12 weeks since my last post here.

The week after I posted this I had a mini two day flare which I treated with 3 days of pepto bismol and an aggressive amount of probiotics. The week leading up to the flare I had inadvertently stopped taking probiotics, probably forgetting mostly because I started to feel better, but then I got told off by my angry gut. I cannot stress the importance of regular probiotic intake for the first three months minimum after stopping treatment. I see no reason to not take them daily if possible during this time.


I almost thought I jinxed myself posting only six weeks after stopping treatment and then getting a mini flare a week later so I wanted to wait a good while before commenting again. After that little flare, which was 2-3 instances of LD over the course of 24 hours, I knew to jump on it right away with pepto and hop right back on probiotics. Since then I have been pretty much fine. I occasionally get D that is more formed and not like c diff so I don’t worry too much as those instances are all attributed to food that didn’t agree with me.


What also helped me a lot to eat more food was taking a complex digestive enzyme that had many types of enzymes in it to help me break down food. Now I can eat pretty much anything like I did before and my bloating is significantly decreased. Overall I’m feeling much healthier and my PI-IBS has reduced drastically. Hard to say when specifically that happened but with probiotics, enzymes, and fibre it eventually got better and is still trending that way. I get heart burn more regularly now and I am still left with ringing in my ears but I now suspect that is more likely caused by my TMJ issues than anything else.


Good luck to everyone! I wanted to come back to post this to help since I’m sure most people who feel better don’t come back so this site is full with people still in the trenches with this awful disease. It does get better! Trying to fixate and obsess less is also important. You build immunity by being mentally strong as well. Take care all

Bobbie
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Re: **updated in comments** 6 weeks post second course of vanco (tapered)

Postby Bobbie » Fri Jun 04, 2021 8:40 pm

Thanks for posting to give hope to others.


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