Josh's (aka jbud70) Case History

[jbud70]

It was the best of times, that turned into the worst of times ... (sorry to all you Dickens fans out there).

I am a 36 year old male, had a clean bill of health, never experienced any major health issues in my life.

Until one faithful day, in May 07, when my dentist noticed one of my saliva glands seemed blocked so he sent me to an oral surgeon to have it checked out. After probing my mouth for a bit, he decided that he went pretty deep so I should take a precautionary antibiotic. "Have any problems with Clindamycin in the past?" he asked. I said not that I can recall ... biggest mistake of my life committed right then and there.

A few days after the 7 day course of Clindamycin, I started to experience a disruption in bowel habits, but didn't think much of it until a week later when a lot of mucus showed up.

Went to my GP, and before I could finish saying "Clinda..." he say, "C. Difficile". He was honest and forthright, saying there is a small chance that I might not get rid of it the first round, but he has never seen that happen in any of his patients. Unfortunately, I was the exception.

Here's my running tally so far ...

06/01/07 - Finish 7 day course of Clindamycin for oral surgery procedure.

06/03/07 - First episode of diarrhea. Over the next two weeks I have loose stools, mucus starts to appear in stools after a week.

06/19/07 - Diagnosed with C Diff, Started 10 days of Flagyl (500mg x 3/day)

06/29/07 - Ended Flagyl

07/04/07 - Relapsed

07/05/07 - Started 20 days of Flagyl (500mg x 3/day), heavy side effects from the Flagyl this course.

07/25/07 - Ended Flagyl

08/03/07 - Relapsed

08/03/07 - Started 10 days of Vanco (125mg x 4/day)

08/13/07 - Ended Vanco

08/19/07 - Relapsed. This one almost sent me to the ER.

08/20/07 - Started 15 days of Vanco (250mg x 4/day) and Bentyl for cramping. Retested for C Diff, results were positive. Wanted to try a Rifampin chaser, but at last minute, he changes his mind.

09/04/07 - Ended Vanco

09/10/07 - Relapsed. This one was very mild compared to the last.

09/12/07 - Started 15 days of Vanco (250mg x 4/day).

09/13/07 - Finally, my GP admits this is out of his league, got referral to ID Specialist.

[jbud70]

Went to the ID Sepcialist on Oct 8th. This guy knows his C Diff stuff. Has authored various articles on it. Plus, he's got a great bedside manner, actually was able to make me laugh about the whole situation.

Since I was on 25 days of Vanco (250mg 4xday) before I saw him, he wanted to try a taper. So I'm doing ...

125mg 4xday for a week
125mg 2xday for a week
125mg 1xday for a week
125mg 1xevery other day for a week
125mg 1xevery third day for a week

Following this with 30 days of Questran.

Hopefully this will finally work, I feel pretty good nowadays. Back to eating more normal foods and have stabilized my weight lose. I lost 50 pounds in 3 months (which is one positive of this as I was overweight to start with at 230lbs).

[jbud70]

Finished the Vacno taper yesterday. Started the Questran today. Stuff is not as bad as I thought, kind of like gritty Tang.

[jbud70]

Had a bad bout of mucus today. Tapered off by the end of the day. No other symptoms as such. No D, everything is solid. Not sure if I'm starting a relapse and the Questran is holding things together for me.

My ID doc wants me to do a quick 5 day pulse of Vanco and follow it up with a ton of probiotics. Not sure if I want to undo any good bacteria build up I have. Perhaps I'll live by the three day rule. Unlike my last relapses (if this is a relapse), this one is livable so far.

[jbud70]

Went into total relapse today, not a bad one, but definitely a relapse. Started back with the Vanco. After discussing it with my ID doc, we decided to get me down to a maintenance dose of Vanco to get me through the holidays and work deadlines through January while he seeks approval for a fecal infusion.

[jbud70]

Well, I've been off Vanco for a month now and no relapse. Been taking Questran daily. Have had a few days with a bit of mucus, but this is probably more to do with all the constipation the the Questran is causing. Going to stick with it until the 6 week mark. Knock on wood.

[jbud70]

6 weeks now, no relapse. Mucus has stopped. Still have a lot of gas and some frequent days. But no D. Tapering off the Questran, will be done within 6 days.

[jbud70]

60 days off Vacno, 2 weeks off Questran. Doing pretty well, more good days than bad days now. Usually only one 'trip' a day, and it's usually normal. Still having gas problems, but it is tolerable.

[jbud70]

80 days off vanco now. Feel normal. Stopped the kefir, and the gas problems stopped.

[jbud70]

Passed the 90 day mark without incident. Have some IBS problems, but it is tolerable. Posting to success stories.