Whitney's Case History/ New To Group

[Whit13]

Hello I'm Whitney, 22 years old and I live in Salt Lake City, Utah... I am so happy I found this website I joined a couple months ago but haven't posted my case history, I guess posting it made it to real for me. I've been dealing with C.Diff since March, 17, 2011 I was on Clindamycin for a tooth problem, I had been taking it for about a week when the syptoms hit, and we rushed to the ER thinking it was my Gallbladder, and they did a Stool Sample just in case, and lucky me it came back positive. The Doctors told me that since I was only 21 years old it was very strange that I had gotten it, and to start the Metronidazole, I didn't think anything of it, I have had alot of health problems so I just figured it was another "take this, and do this and you'll be fine" I've already done 6 rounds of Metronidazole each one being 14 days, and every time I would relapse within 4-6 days, except the last round my Doctor thought he would try having me take it for 30 days only doing 3 pills a day at 500 mg. Thinking I just hadn't been on the antibiotic long enough and it still hadn't worked, it took longer for me to relapse but I still did, they finally put me on Vancomycin, and Rifampin. Currently on my Seventh Relapse of C.Diff and taking 250 mg/5 ml 3x a day Liquid Vanco and 300 mg 2x a day Rifampin, they are two very expensive medications when you don't have insurance. The Doctors have had to put me on other antibiotics at the same time as the Metronidazole because I ended up getting Campylobacter, about a month and a half ago they had me on Cipro and the Z-pack with Metronidazole they thought that would also help clear up the C.Diff but no luck... When I saw the Doctor this last time they said that I have Campylobacter again, so the Infectious Disease- Health Department of Salt Lake City is now keeping tabs on me.. lol They said just for Campylobacter but I don't see why they wouldn't want to do that for the C.Diff as well??
Has anyone had any luck with Vanco and Rifampin Combination? So far the Vanco and Rifampin are making me feel really run down, and tired, I can't tell one side effect from another with the two medications, my head feels almost disoriented, like I have a ringing in my hears has anyone had that with the medications?
It's nice to find out that I'm not alone in this :)

[Bobbie]

Re: Whitney's Case History/ New To Group
by beth22 » Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:37 pm

Standard Introduction: Welcome to the site. Read the first forum ALL USERS READ THIS FIRST and its subtopics - especially the announcements: PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST and GUIDELINES FOR POSTING TO OUR DISCUSSION BOARDS. They will guide you in using the site and answer some of the most frequent questions. Read DR. Borody's and Dr. McDonald's articles and some of the topics in CDI - formerly Faq - especially Hygiene, Nutrition and Testing.

The majority (almost 80%) recovers with one to two rounds of Flagyl or Vancocin, but an unlucky small percentage does not and can suffer for months. Everyone eventually recovers, however, unless other factors are involved such as advanced age or severe health problems. If antibiotics contributed to your c diff, be careful about taking them again. (See CDI - Antibiotics). Some people can tolerate them without a problem; some develop c diff again. (See Dr. Borody's article).

I'm sorry you are going through this. I just sent you a reply and somehow it got deleted, so here goes again. By rifampin do you mean Xifaxan or the med used to treat TB? Some people have taken Xifaxan as a chaser to vanco, but I don't know of many who have taken both medications at the same time. Some have taken Flagyl and vanco at the same time. When I took vanco, I had ringing in the ears and I was extremely fatigued. It got better as my body adjusted to the medication when I tapered down. The Xifaxan made me even more tired and lightheaded, but it did help my symptoms, although it was hard to take. I got severe D from it and had to stop. But, after my symptoms were better.

I also had campylobacter about two months ago. I had been off any meds for c diff for over a year, but still would test positive intermittently. The doctor had me retest for the campylobacter and it did not show up again on culture. He said most of the time, they don't treat it. I am surprised that you were given two medications, Cipro and a Z- pak. Did they do a sensitivity to see which antibiotic your strain was sensitive to? That was the reason that I re-tested - to see what it was sensitive to, but then the test came back negative and so did others after that one. What does the health dept. say about it? Do they always treat? When I took Cipro post c diff for another infection, I got the c diff back right away despite taking vanco the day after I stopped 5 days of Cipro. Cipro is what gave me c diff. I would see what an infectious disease doctor thinks about your c diff and campylobacter combination.

Good luck and let us know how you do


getwellsoon » Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:57 pm
I took Vanco and Rifaximin together. I started the Rifaximin and got bad D so the Dr. added Vanco back. I did well on both and didn't have any side effects. I was off all meds for 3 weeks but unfortunately I started with B and M and nausea so I'm back doing a Vanco pulse now. Dr. said if stools get looser he will add the Rifaximin again. I had the best stools, almost normal right when I finished up the Rifaximin 14 day regimen.

[Thomas41]

Hi Whitney! Sorry to hear about your situation. It will get better just remember that! I was wondering and this is just my curiousity kicking in but 21 yrs old and a tooth problem, would you be a big soda drinker by chance? I'm dealing with C diff at the moment altho all symptoms were after I took a Zpack for a sinus infection so my doctor never tested me for it, just assumed. I write down all the things I eat and drink. Do it, really. If you start noticing a pattern on things your eating and drinking, it might help to stay away from them for a while. I am a notorious Mountain Dew drinker (6pk of 24oz bottles in a day) I've been drinking Gatorade to hydrate as much as possible. I noticed on days I drink 2 bottles of MD I'm feeling the nausua/lightheaded/flush feelings hard. Days I keep the intake on soda low (1 24oz bottle, half in the morning for my caffeine intake and half at night for dinner)....good days.

Just my 2cents

Thomas

[Whit13]

It's the medication used to Treat and Prevent TB, which I thought was odd that they were treating me with it... They said that it's suppose to clear out everything that the Vanco doesn't and it's just a precaution just in cause the Vanco doesn't clear out the C.diff. So far my symptoms have improved greatly, today (8/13) is going to be my last day of both antibiotics, my doctor doesn't have me tapering off the Vanco though, i've heard when you don't taper off of Vanco you can experience some really bad side effects, as if the side effects while taking it weren't bad enough.
As far as I know they didn't do a sensitivity test for the Campylobacter, the Health Department told me that they don't always treat Campylobacter, they only do it when symptoms seem out of hand, they were also surprised when I told them that I had been treated with Cipro and the Z-pack. I'm starting to wonder if the doctors even know what their doing or if they are just throwing random medications at me and hoping one will help in combination with the other. I've been trying to save the money to see an Infectious Disease Doctor since I don't have Insurance but it's been rough, they are pretty expensive. So far everything is pretty normal, more normal than it has been since this whole thing started.
@Thomas41- I'm not to big of soda drinker, I try to stay away from it, my tooth problem was because my gums around one of wisdom teeth was loose and so I got an infection between the gum and the tooth, they thought is was an abscess tooth but when the swelling was gone they figured it out. I'm sorry to hear that you're going through this, I've been hearing that Z-Pack is one of the top causing ones. I've recently started to keep track of everything I put into my body and certain activities that make things worse as, the Health Department asked me to keep track of all the food and how I prepare it so I can let them know everything. I drink a little bit of Coke when the Nausea gets to intense because it helps to calm it down, I drink SO much Gatorade it's not even funny lol and Tea just to stay hydrated.
Good luck to you guys as well I wish you all the best of luck, I will let you know how all this pans out.

[Fire2]

I had excellent results with the Liquid Vanco and Xifaxan combination. The use of Cipro somewhat baffles me since it is one of the most common C-Diff causing antibiotics. To me it's like using gasoline to fight a fire and wondering why you can't get ahead of it. Go to the FAQ section on the site, copy the offenders and take it to your Doctor.

Fire