Will Difficid work again?

Treatments, possible treatments, unsubstantiated/unproven treatments. Consult your doctor first.
Bear15
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Will Difficid work again?

Postby Bear15 » Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:47 pm

I’m a 33 year old female, got c Diff almost 2 years ago to the day. Had 10 days of bad D and was given Cipro for 4 days then another 10 days. Took over a month and half to finally diagnose me with C Diff. Not sure if that was what I originally had with the D or if the Cipro caused it. Had been in hospital and given an antibiotic for my c section that June for the birth of my daughter.

I went on two rounds of flagyl that didn’t work and 9 months later was cured with Difficid.

Fast forward almost two years to the day. I got a Mastitis infection while breastfeeding my 7 week old baby boy. Tried everything natural but infection quickly spread and worsened, had to take Cipro again.

Had to stop Cipro as c Diff symptoms were returning on day 7. Just sent in my sample and 95% sure it will be positive. Has anyone had success taking Difficid a second time? I’m worried the infections are so close together it may not be effective for me this time :( during my c section this time they gave me iv Vanco which I had an allergic reaction too so my options are very limited. I’m so scared, tried everything possible to avoid this ever happening again.

NanciT
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby NanciT » Tue Nov 28, 2017 7:13 pm

So sorry you are going through this especially with a new little one. I don't know how long you were on Difcid, but I took it for 10 days and then did have a relapse.
I then went on a Taper dose and it worked. If your CDIFF test is positive, I would ask for it again. You may want to talk with your GI about a taper dose especially if this is a reoccurrence two years later.

Take a look under CDI for information on tapers.

Hoping the test is NEgative, you can still get antibiotic induced D and it's possible not CDIFF!

Let us know how you do

NanciT

Bear15
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby Bear15 » Thu Nov 30, 2017 3:16 pm

So I’m shocked, but my sample did come back negative. I’m still getting all of the exact symptoms I had before, gurgling tummy, going to the bathroom after every time I eat, and loosing weight quickly.

Is there any way this could be wrong? I know it can still come up to 8 weeks after taking the antibiotics. Any tips on how to keep it away and fix my issues?

Thank you!

georgina
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby georgina » Fri Dec 01, 2017 6:55 am

Glad you tested negative , what you may be dealing with can be antibiotic associated D that can mimics Cdiff symptoms. Of course not all tests are 100% accurate , false negatives are common especially with the EIA test that determins the toxins , If you had a PCR done it is considered 97% accurate. If you do not trust the results and symptoms don't subside in the next days ask to be retested.

roy
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby roy » Fri Dec 01, 2017 7:27 am

4 out of 5 instances of antibiotic D are NOT c.diff!

Ca5per03
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby Ca5per03 » Fri Dec 01, 2017 8:30 am

How accurate is a gdh test?
30, female
C-diff positive 10/19 tested negative 11/26

georgina
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby georgina » Fri Dec 01, 2017 9:36 am

GDH is considered to be the most accurate 99% , very sensitive but it only determines the presence of CDiff ( both toxin and non-toxin producing strains) so it's not very specific for toxin-producing Cdiff.

roy
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby roy » Fri Dec 01, 2017 10:31 am

If a GDH is negative it's almost certainly correct.

Bear15
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby Bear15 » Fri Dec 01, 2017 2:50 pm

According to the public health website it says they test they “screen all stool specimens that meet the acceptance criteria for glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) antigen and toxins A/B with a rapid enzyme immunoassay. PHOL – Toronto site will screen stool specimens for GDH antigen with an enzyme immunoassay method.”

Does this mean they use the GDH or EIA? Sorry I’m not familiar with these or the difference of the two.

Thank you

roy
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby roy » Sat Dec 02, 2017 7:51 am

GDH is a two part test, first the GDH looks to see if the common marker that all strains of c.diff produce is present in the sample, if there's no marker then there's no c.diff so there's no need to do the second part of the test.
If it detects the marker it means there are c.diff bugs in the sample but around half of the strains of c.diff are harmless and do not produce toxins.
After a positive GDH test they follow up with an EIA test to see if there are toxins.
Results are
GDH negative = no c.diff and no further test needed.
GDH positive but toxin negative = c.diff but harmless and no treatment needed.
GDH positive and toxin positive without symptoms means the patient is carrying c.diff but usually does not need treating as their body is not reacting and it's not causing a disease.
GDH positive and toxin positive with D means it's causing disease and needs treating.

Machaon
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Re: Will Difficid work again?

Postby Machaon » Sat Dec 02, 2017 10:18 am

Much has been learned about C-diff, but there is a lot that is not known.

I relapsed three times, once with flagyl and twice with vancomycin. On August 27, 6 days after a vancomycin taper, I suffered diarrhea and malaise. I felt that I was relapsing with C-diff again, and did not want to take a chance with C-diff further damaging my insides, so I called my doctor and asked for dificid. He sent the 10 day prescription electronically to my pharmacy. He also asked me to send in a fecal sample for a C-diff test.

The test results:
Culture Negative for Clostridium difficile GDH Antigen.
Culture Negative for Clostridium difficile Toxin A and or B.
Culture Negative for Clostridium difficile infection. Do not repeat testing within 7
days.
Collected: 08/29/2017 10:36 AM; Resulted: 08/29/2017 3:04 PM

They called me and told me NOT to fill and take the dificid because I did not have C-diff. They told me to get an appointment with an infectious disease specialist.

I felt very sick and suffered from nasty diarrhea, a combination which only happened to me during C-diff. I filled the dificid and started taking it along with saccharomyces boulardii and other probiotics. My health improved significantly within 24 hours! Now, over two months since dificid, I feel great and can eat whatever I want and potty time is back to normal.

Negative C-diff tests, yet dificid cured me of being very sick and with multiple daily diarrheas. Did I suffer from a toxic C-diff, or something else? I think that it was a C-diff relapse regardless of the negative test results.
Male 77 S.Florida

900 weight lifts 750 knee bends day

Since 1987 had CHF afib asthma

I inhale $6 Flonase nasal spray for asthma :)

Ex C-diff (4/19/17- 9/12/17) after 10 days dificid

Diet:6 meals ~1500 cals 2 eggs 2 steamed broccoli, apple, bagels


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