Question about how long until diarrhea subsides

[cstein]

Hi everyone - so my poor mom is still suffering from many bouts of diarrhea - after finishing the 14 days of Vancomycin. The doctor wanted to let her be without any antibiotic over the weekend to be sure that the diarrhea wasn't a result of the Vanco. She actually had a decent weekend - during both daytimes - but again the diarrhea would come back several times each night. He did have her take the Questran powder - 1/2 scoop in 4 ounces of water 2x/day - since the full scoop was causing her to feel very sick to her stomach. So fast forward to Monday (yesterday) and she was diarrhea free until about 5 pm - when it started - and literally went ALL night until about 8 am this morning. Spoke with doctor and stopped Questran (last night at 8 pm was last dose) and will get a "stool" (more like watery diarrhea) sample after 8 PM tonight and bring it to hospital for C-Diff test. In the mean time - he prescribed the fidaxomicin (Dificid), - which she can start AFTER I obtain the stool sample. I am praying that this can give her some relief - and would love to hear others experiences from this course of medicine - Started with Metronidazole - then Vanco - and now this.....Everything else is good for my mom - blood pressure, glucose levels have never been better - etc - if we can just stop the diarrhea. ALSO - has anyone else experienced not having any (or very little) diarrhea during daytime hours - and then nighttime hits and the diarrhea starts??? We have tried to figure ANYTHING to help this - but have had no luck....THANK YOU TO ALL who provide insights and hope on this site - for people like us so new to all of this.

[roy]

Dificid should kick on within 4-5 days.
What concerns me is that Dificid is only superior if it is used as the FIRST treatment for c.diff.
It kills less gut flora than the other meds so recovery is easier.
Problem is she has already had her gut flora decimated by Flagyl and Vanco so the increased cure rate of it has been negated.
The 10 days on Dificid will allow a small recovery in gut flora but following it with a FMT within 48 hours of finishing it might greatly increase the chances of a cure.
Discuss that with her Dr.
Say that you know the treatment so far has added to the damage to her gut flora and that the FMT can replace the damaged flora that's needed to mop up the remaining c.diff as it vegitates.
I seriously don't like the suggestion of being without treatment if she is still having D.
That's what they did to my mom and she died within a few days.
Roy

[georgina]

Agree with Roy , Dificid is a great drug but the classic ten day course may not be enough for her after all those meds . You can ask your doctor if he can prescribe a longer course , maybe a Dificid taper , the only problem with it is that many people have complained about some of it's side effects but if your mom was able to tolerate Flagyl I'm sure she will tolerate Dificid as well. Or you can do the FMT at the end of this course of meds. FMT has a high cure rate , hopefully her GI can do it for her ( not all GI's do FMT unfortunately).

[cstein]

My mom started the Dificid last night, and took the second pill this morning - 2/day - 12 hours apart. Last night was AWFUL with diarrhea - literally every hour - and it had a different smell. Today she has only had diarrhea twice so far - and it's 3 pm. I have no idea what the diarrhea gets so bad at night?? If anyone has been on Dificid - and you please let me know if your diarrhea continued when taking the first few doses??? I am sure that it takes some time to have the Dificid work - what should we expect???

[overit]

It took me about 2 full days of Difficid before the D stopped. I hope she gets some relief soon!

[georgina]

I'm so sorry she is not seeing any improvement yet , hopefully Dificid will kick in soon! Make sure she stays hydrated , if not , rush her to the hospital to get iv fluids.

[getwellsoon]

I also found Dificid hard to tolerate. I had increased D and the Dr. added in Vanco with it for me. I don't know if this helped or not but I felt better after that. I had taken Vanco many times before. I give my cure to Dificid though in the end. I hope she starts to improve on it and hope this is the cure for her also. Good luck and let us know how she does.

[JewelB]

Hi,

I am new to the group. Since the end of May I was diagnosed with cdiff. I'm a healthy 34 year old who came in contact with cdiff. I initially thougth it was from medication but the doctor said based on the test performed it wasn't that. After unsuccessful efforts with metro (x2) my Dr. now put on the vanco taper method. The Dr. said if this does not work then I will have to go to disease control and take a more powerful medication. I am scared out of my mind because what if that doesn't work. I want to be positive but it's hard when you don't feel yourself. The Dr. even did a CBC and tested me for other things possibly going on and everything came back normal. What's really upsetting is that I don't know if the medication is working because I feel no different. I don't go diarrhea anymore just long, stool twice a day int he morning. My stomach seems to be most upset in the morning too. Today is my last day taking the pill every 6 hours. I will now taper down less. I haven't lost any weight, if anything I have gained more weight. My stomach is bloated (not like I'm pregnant but like I ate too much) and I sort of feel like I have the flu with aches all over my body. I have no blood in my stool, but I did have mucus which is no longer present since taking vanco. In the back of my mind I fear I'm doomed. Is it possible this could never go away and it will kill me even though I am trying every medication possible? Should I start planning for my funeral? If so I will be cremated because there is no way I'm having an open casket looking like a stuffed hot pocket.

I'm really though trying to be upbeat. But its hard when you read all these posts, and look at websites basically saying "Good luck, sucks to be you." Any advice or positive messages would be appreciated.

[beth22]

Welcome to the site and read the first forum regarding posting. You probably should start a new thread for this question so that you will get more feedback, but let me answer you here.

If c difficile were going to kill you, you'd be dead already, so get the funeral and dying out of your mind. It is true that some people have it for a long time, but it seems that you are responding to medication. There are other options available besides Flagyl and vancomycin. There is the newer drug that is specifically for c difficile called Dificid and it has worked well for many. There are also stool transfers that can be done and those have helped many as well. What you are doing now - the vanco taper, has also helped many. So, give this a chance and see how you feel afterwards. The fact that you have not lost weight and that your blood tests were ok is a good sign. Hang in there - it does get better.

[amyc]

I took flagyl twice and was then cured by vancomycin, and I'm not the only long time poster here who had the same experience, so have faith that the vanco will work :).

[georgina]

Jewel
Beth is right , Cdiff doesn't kill everybody. We had alot of posters that had Cdiff for a long time ,some had pseudomembraneus colitis, had every treatment imaginable and they are still alive and they recovered (read Bobbie's case , Beth's case , Christina's case , Skizamii's case etc). Somebody should kick your butt just for thinking that way!!! You won't die , you will get well , hopefully faster. It seems that the treatment is working for you. If vanco doesn't do the trick , you have other options like Dificid tapers or FMT's , and there will be new treaments in the close future so eventually something WILL cure you.

[Bobbie]

When my son had his second bout of c diff (he tested positive) at the age of 10, his ped. GI put him on Questran only. He was very ill bit slowly improved. Next, he developed a rash - had chicken pox. He was ill all summer and could not go to the graduation camp from grade school. His ped said he had never seen such a severe case of chicken pox. He was so upset about missing the camp, it broke my heart.,Later, when he was well, we took him to a Pink Floyd concert to make up for the missed camp.Now, that was an experience!

Both c diff and chicken pox can lower the immune system.

Did the Questran help him? Do not know - by itself if has a low - 10 per cent - cure rate. It is a cholesterol medication.
Be sure and stagger it as far from other meds as possible as it will bind other meds.

Best of luck to you and your mom. You are a wonderful advocate for her.

[TonyG]

Hello,

I’m curious if anyone found an answer to the nighttime bm question posed a few times in this thread? I’m dealing with almost identical symptoms. I’ll be up every 2-3 hours running to the toilet from midnight-8am, but can generally go the rest of the day feeling normal. The lack of a good night sleep is wearing me down.

[NanciT]

TonyG

This is an old thread, I answered your question on the new thread which is the best way to get responses

NanciT