6 days post Metronidazole

[ImScared]

Hey everybody!
My last does was Saturday and I’ve felt pretty OK the first few days. I was going 1-3 times in the early AM and seem to have it gotten down to 1x between 3:30-5:30 Am. My GI wanted me to retest 3 days after I was done with my course because I haven’t been well formed, but I asked to wait 10-14 days for the meds to completely clear my system. He keeps telling me “you don’t have cdiff since You tested negative during treatment. you are out of the woods” does this make sense? He pushed a colonoscopy to see what was going on and I told him I wasn’t comfortable with that.

These past two days my urge to go has returned with barely formed yesterday(kind of like the poop emoji) and pudding with no shape today. I’m worried about relapse.
Gi has recommended taking Metamucil and I bought benefiber yesterday but have been scared to take that too.

Still taking my 2 florastor/1culturelle every morning and night with food. Food has been boiled rice and boiled chicken for lunch/dinner and 2 hard boiled eggs and toast for breakfast EVERY DAY. I’m starving for real food but am scared more than ever to add anything into my diet with the recent worsening of poop texture.

Of course the weekend is here and I’m scared of what will happen. GI just tells me, go to the ER they can test you. Didn’t even give me a lab slip for a testing kit to keep at home. Is that normal? Should I have to go to the ER every time I feel it may be a relapse?

[NanciT]

Hello Imscared and Welcome to the site

Typically most GI's or ID's do not retest even after a few weeks. My GI's never tested me until I was months out.
It can take time for the gut to heal, many of us get Post IBS and BM's can be all over the place. For me, it has taken a very long time and I still have off days.
Unless you are having D along with the other symptoms for several days I would be careful not to test.
It can be an issues to "over treat" because these medications are harsh on the gut.
I always had the same symptoms on relapse and new it was back. Give yourself some time heal and continue with your diet adding new foods slowly.
Feel better soon
NanciT

[MKW]

Hey, what your doctor said is wrong based on my personal experience and many posts I've seen on this board. Testing negative does not mean you are out of the woods. I tested negative at about two and a half weeks after Flagyl and recurred about a week and a half later. (Approximately). My first GI specialist told me my C Diff would not recur because I'm not old.... sigh. There is so much you can do to prevent recurrence- prebiotic foods, probiotics, etc. be diligent for 12 weeks to try to restore your healthy flora.

[ImScared]

On day 7 post meds...
I figured something is up with this doctor. I never get any straight answers out of him and he doesn’t seem to know the difference between a PCR and EIA test...that’s scares me.
I told him my primary gave me a script for Dificid and he said don’t take it if I relapse. He said I’m going to breed resistance by taking a stronger drug than Vanco. He said you have to follow the order of strength in medication or after Dificid you have no other option but FMT that could fail also. It seems to make sense, but in the case of a possible relapse I feel like I would want the better drug. Anybody have any resistance from their GI about Dificid???

I would love to add more prebiotic foods to my diet but at this time the probiotics I take with boiled chicken and rice is about all I can handle. Anything new messes me up.
Yesterday I stuck to my same diet and today had been rough. Gone 3 times already with urge (2:30am,6:30am,9:15am) and the last time was WD. I’ll keep an eye out for WD or D for the rest of the day :(

Thank you for taking the time to chat, I hope you are all well.

[MKW]

Hi, it is so frustrating when your doctor tells you conflicting information from what you read in research, etc. Hopefully others who are more knowledgeable than me will answer this question about drug resistance. I have not heard of this. It is my understanding Dificid is more narrow spectrum than Vanco, so common sense would lead you to think it should be prescribed before Vanco. (If they were only considering health and not money). I have not heard or ever read that Dificid has been shown to create drug resistant C Diff. I read about a more narrow spectrum antibiotic in stage 3 trial called Ridinilazole. It is planned to be a first line treatment for initial C Diff infection. But the article I read says this is because it will be less expensive than Dificid. why are all the reasons for our treatment decisions about money? I still have no idea why Flagyl is prescribed first other than a money reason. I took Flagyl twice and Vanco twice, then had a successful FMT. So I have no experience with Dificid.

[ImScared]

Worst part of it is my insurance covers Dificid with no preauthorization required is what they told me. I only have to pay the 25% which is pretty high considering the cost of the drug, but worth EVERY penny if it will cure this horrible problem. I just want my gut back!

[amg]

Dificid is a great drug for c diff, and it has the lowest recurrence rate. Some c diff experts actually think the use of Flagyl is contributing to the rate of relapsing. Initial recurrence rate is somewhere around 20%, but once someone has a recurrence, the rate for a second recurrence goes up to something like 65%. And after that, people can get into a cycle of relapsing that's difficult to break. There are some things which increase the risk of recurrence, like how bad the initial infection was, increasing age, a recent hospital admission for a gastrointestinal problem.

I have never heard anything about resistance from Dificid. My daughter relapsed twice on Flagyl and twice on Vanco - we saw a GI c diff specialist and an ID doc, and neither mentioned this resistance issue. Dificid finally cured her -- she's been c diff free for almost a year. If I were you, and you do have a relapse, I'd go with Dificid and give yourself the best chance to stop it once and for all. And you don't necessarily have to go to FMT next. There's such a thing as a Dificid taper, which is a longer course that people have had successfully eradicate relapsing c diff. That's what did it for my daughter.

And it is definitely worth every penny of your copay if it cures you, considering days of missed work, expensive procedures like FMT, the cost of multiple tests and doctor visits, not to mention your quality of life when you're sick. Good luck and hope you're healthy soon.

[ImScared]

Thanks amg! I was hoping someone would say that. I mean I get the antibiotic resistance and development of these nasty superbugs, but when a drug is made specifically for c diff, why should people have to suffer?
So far today has been OK. Anxiety seems to make things much worse. Still hoping I’m in the one and done category with this...time will tell!

[beth22]

Vanco can cause resistence. My mom got a urinary tract infection after she had taken vanco for c difficile called VRE - which stands for vancomycin resistant enterococci. She had to have a very powerful iv antibiotic to get rid of it. As the others have said, Dificid targets c difficile and spares the most good bacteria.

[georgina]

My opinion is that you should find another GI that knows more about Cdiff. There is no evidence of resistance to Dificid. Dificid is a drug that is engineered to target ONLY clostridia species , doesn't touch anything else , is a great drug and unlike the other drugs to treat Cdiff (vanco and flagyl) this one also stops the sporing process , doesn't allow Cdiff to hide into spore form. If you ask experts , they will all agree that it should be used as a first line of treatment.The only inconvenient is the price , is really expensive , most people can't afford it even with a discount.