question about tapering vanco

[beth22]

I am supposed to try tapering vanco again and wondered how others of you spaced your dosages at 3 pills a day. Did you take a pill with meals, or space them 8 hours apart? If I take a pill with breakfast, lunch, and dinner it is easier on my stomach for sure, but then I would have a 12 hour gap between dinner and next morning's breakfast and I'm not sure if that is ok. The doctor said either way, but I'd rather ask those of you who have done it.

Also, how long did you stay on new dosages? I have been taking 4 pills a day for a week now and am supposed to go to 3 for another week and then go to 2 pills a day for a longer time before tapering to one 250 and one 125, and then 125 x 2, etc. Tapering didn't work for me last year, but I went from 2 x 250 to just one, without introducing the 125mg. I would be interested in anyone's experience who has had success with this method. Thanks.

Beth

[monacat]

i started with 4x250 for 2 weeks was just getting ready to taper down when all the symptoms returned so my doc kept me at the high dose for another 2 weeks (a month total!!), then tapered down to 3x250 for 2 weeks the 2x250 and so on..... total taper 83 days. i worry that 1 week at 4x250 isnt long enough to kill this for you if you have been through this before. hmm....
i always felt it when i tapered down for a few days after (symptoms that would send me into a panic) but they calmed after a few days.

[beth22]

I remember the same thing happening last year when I would taper down. I will probably take the 4 a day for 10 days then. But, when you went to 3 per day, how did you space it, every 8 hours, or one pill with your meals and then again at breakfast the next day???

[monacat]

I was definatly taking them every 8 hours on the nose. I was careful to adhear to that lest it mess up my system (more). If I had to take it at 2 in the morning I would have a peice of toast just before bed and set my alarm. It's a small price to pay for 2 weeks if it gets rid of it. If you did 12am, 8am and 4pm this should be reasonable to have a little bit of food so your tummy doesn't bother you.
I am all about the timing. Why mess around??

[Nancy1]

Just a note from the other side of the coin about timing. (I didn't do much tapering, so I can't answer that part of your question.) Most of my months on vanco I was taking 4/day. I asked my ID doc if I had to take them 6 hours apart, since that would mean getting up in the middle of the night. I was so exhausted from cdiff that the thought of losing more sleep scared me. My doc said that the timing wasn't terribly important. So I spaced my 4 vanco pills as evenly as possible during the day, about every 5 hours apart, and didn't get up at night to take one.

[diane]

When I took 3 pills I did about every 8 hours.. it was like between 7 and 8 then again between 2-3 and then 10-11 then as soon as i got up around 7 or so... I also did a long taper.. I knowI have posted it many times.. I believe i did mine 3 weeks at a time.. look and see if you can find the post if no I will try to find it.

[beth22]

Ok. So yesterday and today I took 3 vanco a day instead of 4 and noticed that I have more colon pain and gas. I'm not sure if this is because I'm not taking the pills with lunch and dinner as before, but rather with a snack in the middle of the afternoon and just before bed. I will see how it goes tomorrow or if the D* comes back. I'm wondering if this is normal when you change doses or if any of you have experienced anything similar???

If it keeps up I can try and take the 3 pills, one with each meal, and then just start over again at breakfast the next day. Then when I go to two, I'll just omit the lunch dose. I don't remember having this problem going from 4 to 3 before, only from 3 to 2, but never had such a bad relapse either.

Suggestions????

[Suezer]

It is normal to experience the discomfort and gas, it is most likely some die off(of the C Diff-which is what you want), as well as a bit of adjustment. I experienced the same things each time I went to a new dosing.

[beth22]

I hope that's all it is. It seems that with each relapse the vanco doesn't work as well. Last time I was on 250 x 4 for longer, so maybe I'll have to go back to that for a while more. It's very frustrating. Monday I see an ID doctor - maybe he will have a better strategy for me. Meanwhile, I feel like I'm just playing a roulette game.

[Bobbie]

Beth,
When I was on Vanco. (4 yrs. lst time), I didn't get up to take it -- figured I needed my sleep -- worked at the time. I spaced the 4 doses as far apart as possible before I went to bed.

Have you considered pulsing? It helped some on this site. See FAQ.

[beth22]

I'm seeing a new ID doctor on Monday and I was planning on asking him about the pulsing. He is also familiar with patients who have had stool transplants, so maybe he can work out something for me that will work. The pulsing sounds logical.

[monacat]

whenever i tapered down i would have 2-3 days of worse symptoms. always felt like i was going down hill. i would panic and post here on the forum and someone would always remind me of the 3 day rule and to always remember that your body needs time to adjust to the new dose. hang in there beth!!