Afraid to taper down Vanco. Experiences?

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alj1208
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Afraid to taper down Vanco. Experiences?

Postby alj1208 » Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:47 pm

Hi: My 83-year-old mother has had c-diff three times, including a hospitalization for c-diff-related sepsis that almost killed her and left her very debilitated and compromised in functions of daily living. She has been on Vancomycin, 125 mg., 4 times a day for three weeks. She is home and healing. Eating. Getting stronger. Functional level improving. She was prescribed the vancomycin taper, but we are afraid to taper down. I have kept her on 4 pills a day. Our doctors (including several c diff experts) disagree on the best course of action, which is why I am afraid to follow the taper. One doctor says, go ahead with the taper, but don't go completely off vanco. He says at the end of the taper, she can stay on one pill a day indefinitely. Another doctor says go forward with the fecal transplant. We have an infectious disease doctor who is offering it in pills (capsules). We are afraid to do anything other than keep taking vanco because she is doing well. Her bowel movements are not totally normal, but there are semi-formed and down to 1-3 a day. She is eating like there is no tomorrow and gaining back some much needed weight. Looking for advice.

Bobbie
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Re: Afraid to taper down Vanco. Experiences?

Postby Bobbie » Tue Oct 14, 2014 10:41 pm

I would do what your "gut feeling" suggests. Taper down to one pill a day for awhile and then reconsider. Also, see CDI- Pulsing. It has helped several on this site.

Best my to you and your mother.

sickofthis
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Re: Afraid to taper down Vanco. Experiences?

Postby sickofthis » Sun Nov 09, 2014 11:13 am

I felt pretty good on 4 doses a day as well and I did a taper. Each time I tapered down a pill I felt horrible for a couple of days and then evened back out. It was hard and scary cause each time I tapered down a dose the same thing happened but it did even out after a couple of days each time. I finally got down to one dose a day and felt fine on that dose after a bit and believe me I was scared to death of relapsing when I had to go off the vanco. I was right, after finishing the taper I relapsed again and then did a fmt and have been fine since then (knock on wood).

beth22
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Re: Afraid to taper down Vanco. Experiences?

Postby beth22 » Sun Nov 09, 2014 6:03 pm

I relapsed when I tapered down to one pill a day and my pills were 250mg. I finally had to do an FMT. If you have a doctor who is willing to do the FMT with pills, it may be worth it to look into that. A colonoscopy is obviously more invasive and required anesthesia, but with the pills all you have to do is swallow them. For me, I think I would rather do a colonoscopy because I have SIBO and I don't need any bacteria put into my small intestine. But, it has worked for others.


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