Still have Toxin A two years after getting well!

[pam2738]

Hi all,

I had a GI profile done recently & to my horror, I was told that Cdiff Toxin A was found in my GI tract. I had active Cdiff from October 2006 to spring of 2007 & took my last Vanco after a looooong taper in June of 2007. Have been "well" since. I don't know if Toxin A has always been there or has come back & if so when.

Anyway, I told my holistic doctor about my having taken Florastor, Culturell, VSL#3 & Primadophilus Reuteri during the active phase & he wants me to continue now with the VSL#3 but also to add Biocidin & Olivirex. Has anyone heard of these or taken them? I am to take them the Biocidin for 6 weeks, the Olivirex for 2. Along with Florastor & VSL#3. After the first 2 weeks, I drop the Olivirex & just carry on with the Biocidin & the VSL#3 & Dr Ohira's Essential Formula Probiotics 12+.

And along with all of this, because I have malabsorption, I am to take Betaine Hydrochloride.

Ring any bells with anyone?

Pam

[coneal]

There are a number of possibilities here. The first, and most likely (assuming you're not having any symptoms), is that this is a false positive, and should be retested. The second is that you are a carrier of C. diff. About 5% of the healthy adult population carry C. diff without suffering from any symptoms of infection. Attempts to "clear" C. diff from carriers has generally been unsuccessful. Most will clear it themselves eventually. I am not a medical doctor, but most of the research I have read suggests that if you test positive without symptoms, nobody (but the patient!) worries about it too much. There's no long term damaging effects from this that anyone can see. My wife tested positive for almost a year after being "cured." She tested negative for the first time last week.

[pam2738]

Thanks Coneal,

My lower GI tract has never really been the same in the 2 years since I took my last Vanco (I'm talking about "waste product" here!). I don't know whether that's connected to Cdiff or not.

My holistic doctor wants me to take a product called Biocidin. Here's the list of ingredients:

List of Ingredients: Vegetable glycerin, Bilberry extract (25% anthocyanosides), Noni (fruit), † Milk Thistle (seed), † Echinacea (purpurea & angustifolia), *Goldenseal (root), † Shiitake (plant), † White Willow (bark), † Garlic (bulb), Grapeseed extract (min 90% polyphenols), *Black Walnut (hull and leaf), Beet (root), Raspberry (fruit), Plantain (leaf), Fumitory (herb), Gentian (root), Tea Tree oil (leaf), Galbanum oil (resin), Lavender oil (plant and flower), Oregano oil (plant and flower), Alcohol (potato source)
< 5% alcohol content.
† Certified Organic. * Wild Crafted (Ecologically Responsible).