cdiffdiscuss.org

Hi everyone,

I am a 30-year-old female. I was first tested and diagnosed with C. Diff around the end of February after taking a strong antibiotic for a bad case of strep throat. I was first prescribed metronidazole for 10 days. I got about 85-90% better within the 10 days, but after three days of finishing the pills, my symptoms returned as strong as ever. I was then prescribed vancomycin for 10 days. I got about 95% better within the 10 days this time and was feeling very hopeful. But unfortunately, after about 7-10 days of finishing the pills, my symptoms returned again. That brings me up to the present. I have just been prescribed fidaxomicin for 10 days. I feel like this is my last hope! The prescription is very pricey, but I feel like I have to try it.

At this point, I've basically been suffering with C. Diff issues for a few months and have been pretty miserable. This infection has affected my ability to work, my ability to enjoy time with my boyfriend and family... I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you how debilitating and all-consuming it is.

Anyway, I'm just feeling really discouraged and am looking for some hope/reassurance/advice. Has anyone else followed the same pattern of medication as me before finally being successful? What have your experiences been with fidaxomicin? Is 10 days enough? I am eating yogurt and taking a broad-ranging probiotic, but is there a specific one I should be taking?

Thanks in advance for any support/guidance. I am trying to remain hopeful and optimistic about the fidaxomicin, but I'm terrified it won't work and I will continue to suffer with this.

Hi there, I'm sorry to hear of your struggle. I hope the fidaxomicin works and you make a full recovery. I understand how all-consuming it is. I'm a 34-year-old female, and I was diagnosed 3 weeks ago after taking clindamycin, which is apparently one of the antibiotics that causes c.diff the most.

I relapsed after taking a 14-day course of vancomyin, and I've just started a vanco taper. I heard many good things about fidaxomicin, and it's usually very effective. I hope it works in your case and you can put this all behind you.

Thank you so much for your reply and good wishes. I hope the vanco taper works for you as well!

It's crazy to hear of so many young people with C. Diff these days. I used to think it was something that mostly affected the elderly, but I'm hearing about more and more cases of it in young people. I have a 23-year-old cousin who is also struggling with C. Diff at the moment and is on 14 days of vanco. I'll keep my fingers crossed for all of us!

Thanks again.

PS - for everyone's reference, the antibiotic that caused my C. Diff was cefuroxime.

Hi NS789 and welcome to the site. Please read the first forum that has more information for new posters.

We have had several people who did very well with Dificid (fidaxomicin). Some only took one course and others, like one of our moderators, Nanci, did a taper. Hopefully, it will work for you as well.

Sorry to hear you have C-Diff and Vanco didnt work for you. I have heard Dificid is very affective. My GI doctor 1st prescribed Flagyl for 10 days, but we switched to Vanco after 8 days as the Flagyle wasn’t working. He told me if Vanco didn’t work he will prescribe Dificid... I took Vanco for 10 days and now I am 26 days post Vanco. I am still having many abdominal issues, but my GI thinks it is PI-IBS.

I have heard Mayo Clinic suggests Florastor probiotics for C-Diff infection. I take two pills Florastor in the morning and one VLS3 in PM, but most folks take two bills in AM and two in PM. But I couldn’t tolerate 4 pills, I was having a lot bloating etc. Costco.com sells Florastor

Ugg sorry to hear this, dificid is essentially a true cdiff drug and will hopefully blast it out. Florastor is probably the best probiotic to take. When I had cdiff i started taking it before I sought treatment and it alone almost worked. I took two rounds of metro and luckily it worked but was absolutely brutal.

Ns7896.
I took 10 days of Dificid before my fmt. I was on my 3rd relapse. I had been on flagyl and Vanco. I felt the best while on the Dificid. I wish I would have been able to use it as a taper but I did not get into a GI until after my pcp used Vanco for a taper. In combo with the fmt I was cured of cdiff. Hang in there

Hi,

I was on Vanco twice before finally taking Dificid. Not sure if I’m fully recovered but I’m on day 50+ of no relapses. I was in a similar situation as you, all I can say is to try to keep hope alive. While on Dificid I felt better but after I suffered with Severe IBS likely from all of the antibiotics. If you experience the same thing, try not to conclude that it’s a relapse, follow the 3 day rule because I thought I had relapsed numerous times. For me, eating completely bland and vegan helped so much and taking probiotics helped too until I couldn’t tolerate them anymore. Follow a low fodmaps diet if you can! Make sure to get some B12 and D vitamins because I was super low and couldn’t even move my muscles some days. Trust me it’ll get better, I lost hope for a couple weeks there too but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences and advice. It makes me feel so much more hopeful. Wishing you all good health! xo

NS789 hope the Dificid worked for you. I also followed the same regime as you, I was on Flagyl for 8 days , switched to vanco for 10 days. I relapsed 4 and half weeks post Vanco and now I am on Dificid taper. I am also concern that this might not work. However, he following video gives me a lot of hope

https://www.mdmag.com/peer-exchange/bes ... -infection