Western vs. Eastern medicine to Cure CDiff

[DawMa95]

I didn't see much out there about this. I had my first relapse with CDiff and went from Flagyl first round to Vancomycin second round. I'm about to retest soon (a little over 14 days past finishing Vancomycin). I'm still exhibiting infectious symptoms. My stool was loose for a while (one to two per day), but now it appears as though the stool is becoming a little more watery and shredded looking. I am going four to six times per day, give or take. I also had some bad cramping yesterday in the ovary area. Is this normal? Also, can anyone tell me if they found eastern medicine, homeopathy, wholistic or the like to be more successful than western medicine? I feel like I've tried tons of different probiotics (align, renew life, VSL3 in both capsule and packet form, and Florastor) and nothing seems to be helping. I know that this is a tough infection to beat, but I would think taking a half of packet of VSL3 one time per day and one Florastor would help my cause. I feel discouraged at this point, but maybe someone out there can offer sound advice.

[Dukiemom]

I am so sorry you have to concern yourself with a possible relapse. It is so stressful that it is hard to think of anything else. I do not have experience with Eastern medicine options for cdiff (and I do believe that we can get fairly ethnocentric about our Western medicine superiority) so if you want to research the options it certainly can't hurt. I do want to say though that many people on this board, including me, had multiple relapses with careful protocols and probiotics from vanco and vanco taper, but where then cured (to the extent we can say that) with Dificid. When I was in the throws of multiple relapses it felt like another pharmaceutical option was just a shot in the dark, but Dificid is a a shot that has worked for many people.

[AllisS]

Probiotics will not cure an existing case of C. difficile. Whether or not they are effective at preventing recurrences or new cases remains to be seen. I share the frustration with Western medicine. However, I don't feel optimistic that Eastern medicine, herbals, supplements, etc., are able to fill the void.

[Ril]

I have read some recent research that indicates that probiotics prevents recurrences of c diff but of course that is not widely proven. In any case, that does not apply to existing cases. I agree with Allis. Although I do not rule out some complementary Eastern medical treatments I personally would not attempt to treat myself solely with any of those. For c diff I would stick with proven researched modalities.

[tessa63]

I am also sorry that you are going through this. The pain in the ovary area is your colon. Before i got officially diagnosed w/C diff I had a pelvic ultrasound because I thought I had ovarian cysts due to the crampy pain in that area. The ultrasound showed an inflamed bowel and prior to following up with a CAT scan, I ended up in the ED with WD and was diagnosed w/Cdiff colitis. I had the pain during the early weeks of recovery as well. You should be tested to see if you are relapsing and I agree w/Dukiemom and would request Dificid if your test is positive. I also have been in recovery (over 10 weeks now ) since taking 10 days of Dificid after failing Flagyl and Vanco. Again we all understand how awful this is and I wish you the best...(probiotics didn't help me but have helped others)

[DawMa95]

Tessa 63 and those of you that took Difficid, what were the side effects like? I was wondering just in case I relapse again. Flagyl was completely awful for me, so bad that it was making me hallucinate and I believe it contributed to more vomiting although that could have been the CDiff itself. Vancomycin wasn't bad in terms of side effects, but the worst part was waking up in the middle of the night to make sure that I had an even dose in my body. Those of you that recovered, but had post infectious symptoms, did you also find that you were vomiting at times? I find that this is still happening, not everyday, but the nausea is still there, so I was wondering if this is either a relapse or could be post-infectious symptoms as well. I guess knowing will put my mind at ease before retesting again.