Anyone kicked C Diff on 1st round of Vanco?

[nolagirl]

I am on 3rd relapse of C Diff. I am about to finish 14 days worth of 125 mg liquid Vanco (4x's a day). Been sick since January 2010.

Just got labs back from doc that I did 3 days ago and it was negative. No big surprise there b/c I am on the Vanco! I know that from reading the posts on this board. I am feeling better. Certainly not my normal self, but I do feel better.

Doctor wants me to finish this round Vanco and I see her on April 6th. She said if I have an attack, of course I call the office immediately, but they are hopeful I will be well after this round of Vanco. If something was to happen over the weekend, there is on call infec. disease doc that will have access to my case history...

Have any of you multiple C Diff relapsers (such as myself) had any success with kicking C Diff on your FIRST round of Vancomycin? If not, how long before you relapsed again?

Thanks in advance for the posts.

[Nancy1]

I didn't kick cdiff on my first round of vanco. I always relapsed between 3-5 days after stopping Flagyl or vanco. (My GI doc told me that most people wait about 14 days before relapsing, but he was definitely wrong about that.) Pulsing vanco is what finally worked for me.

[nolagirl]

I will keep y'all posted. My first day off Vanco is tomorrow. I am nervous as all hell, but keeping a positive attitude. Actually cried yesterday just out of sheer frustration and fear. But, I feel better emotionally today.

This has taken a real toll on me emotionally, as I know all of you understand all too well.

I will keep you posted. I will continue to take my Florastor and Culturelle everyday. When I can tolerate yogurt, I will eat it. I seem to have developed a mild lactose intolerance with the C Diff...never had that before!

Happy Easter weekend, everybody. I pray everyone will have a healthy one, myself included.

[beth22]

Hang in there. I also got lactose intolerant. Have you tried taking a Lactaid tablet with it? At first, that worked for me. This has taken a really heavy emotional toll on me. I am going to ask my GI for some nortryptyline or other anti-depressant when I see him next. The c diff and menopause kind of all coincided at once and it has been two years and I still am not well, although testing negative for c diff.

Hopefully the vanco will keep your symptoms down so that you can enjoy Easter.

[nolagirl]

I enjoyed Easter without incident. I met with my new infec disease doc yesterday. SHE IS AWESOME! She is an expert on C Diff and I was referred to her by a friend of mine. I feel so blessed to have found her.

She wants me back on the liquid Vanco on a taper...the previous doc just did it for 14 days and that was it. I have been off the Vanco for a week as of today and I am feeling alright. I am not 100%, but I certainly can work and drive around...that sort of thing. I pick up my new Rx of Vanco this afternoon...

I did talk to her about about anxiety. I told her I took a Xanax every now and then b/c I would get bad nerves from the "C Diff trauma" as I call it. She said that was fine. I try not to take it often b/c I know it is addictive, so I only take it when I feel absolutely like I am going to burst into tears! :)

She was totally sympathetic and understood the paranoia that comes along with the C Diff. I am going to post her name and information on the Doc portion of the board for others in the Gulf Region of the US who need a C Diff expert.

I will keep y'all posted...WE WILL KICK THIS THING! KEEP THE FAITH! Be positive!

[Mommy23]

I'm a bit confused....if you are feeling okay why on earth would she put you back on vanco? Maybe I missed something in your previous post. Your body is not going to be perfect it may take quite some time. By starting the vanco yet again it kills off ALL bacteria, both good and bad.

I am working with an ID doctor who very well known in the world of cdiff he discovered the bug back in the 70's. His line of thinking is that we need to give this time and allow the body to heal before rushing back on the vanco.
Just my two cents!!! You need to do what is right for you.

[Vikingjeff28]

Just from my own experience. If you are symptom free but just "not the same" I would expect at the very least your doc wait another week then do three stool tests just to see if any toxins at all show up. I know that tests are not perfect but that is the protocol. Now, if you go back to having D and all that goes with it in the meantime then I would jump back on the vanco. I believe the Dr's thinking may be that 14 days was not long enough and wants to make sure that the spores are gone, which is a guessing game until you relapse, you really won't know. If you are currently still having a lot of D and all that goes with it but are just getting out of the house despite it then I understand why but otherwise, not so sure myself. I am getting to the very end of a long taper/pulse and see my GI on the 14th. I keep extra vanco on hand so that if I relapse(and I know when I do for sure) I can start the meds immediately. If your gut just feels iffy and you have one or two weird stools a day, then I considered that a normal part of recovery for me. When my relpases start, I will D every 15-30 minutes along with everything else until meds start working. I hope either way, you just get better!

[nolagirl]

She did not feel that the first course did it's job due to the fact that I am still having some symptoms. I won't go into details here on this thread, as it is not the "too much information" area. LOL. But, due to the fact that those symptoms were still present, she felt that the first course of Vanco was not long enough.

As I said, I feel MUCH better, but I am still having issues related to the C Diff. I trust this doctor.

I will keep y'all posted! Thanks for the advice. :D

[nolagirl]

Jeff, just finished reading your post. I was getting ready to leave the house when I made the last one and didn't read all of the replies...I do have a test that I am waiting on for the results. Hopefully, I will get the results tomorrow. I truly think that she was concerned that due to my symptoms. This doctor is a respected C Diff expert in my area and just headed a study for a new drug to be used to combat C Diff called PAR101. Findings are to released publicly this May. She saw 400 cases of C Diff last year. So, I am confident that I am in good hands.

I truly appreciate everyone's concern and I will certainly let all of you know how things go...