A related discussion,
C. difficile, natural remedies was started.
im sorry to hear about your father in law. this is a tough bacteria to treat, i should know. i have taken flagyl 2 times, once for 10 days and then for 14. i have just completed 2 weeks of vancomycin and unfortunately i can still feel the symptoms.
i was reading in the c diff support site and someone has posted a natural remedy that you might want to try, here is the excerpt:
"I am free of clostridium and I did it by taking natural supplements instead of antibiotics. I got clostridium from a salad bar in Feb. One month later it was picked up in a test my nutrionist did. (I thought it was the flu or just my intestines acting up) He put me on 500 mg grapefruit seed oil(50 drops liquid or 500 mg tablets), 5 drops Betain HCL, 5 drops oregano oil, all taken 3 times per day. A month later I was 95% free, now I'm completely free of clostridium. My flora was poor before I got clostridium and it is still poor, now taking a flora supplement called Friends for Life, it's supposed to be very powerful"
maybe this might be worth looking into----good luck
This is an interesting article ,adapted by Russian cosmonauts apparently ,well they cultured healthy cosmonauts gut flora & used it to treat others ,did the trick , Take a look at my post on the 9/16/03 for more on gut flora
"Flora Power"
We have had a positive test result for the C Diff prior to administering the medication. In fact, we had a bout of diarrahea and it took about 5 days before the test came back positive. I believe that was in June.
His weight has contined to come back, he lost about 30 lbs thru the beginnings of this infection, of which he's gained about 15 back. We watch him like a hawk.
Thank you all for your comments.
I had a clostridium difficle infection back in July 1995.
I have some mild inflammatory bowel disease and then took a course of antibiotics for a sinus infection.
By day 3 the symtpoms began.
Initally i was treated with metronidizole and after 2 weeks wasa kind of okay.
The symtoms returned within 5 days of stopping the meds.
Again they used the same treatment, and the same thing happened.
eventually they gave my a 10 day vancomycin.. it resolved for slightly longer, but came back again within 2 weeks.
I then had a second higher dose 10 day course, but still it returned.
More appointments, more pain and finally a 30 days course of high dose vancomycin.
that finally did the trick, but obviously took a lot out of me.
When i was first ill i lost 25% of my bodyweight in 4 days, it took many months before i began to regain weight. I was down to 85lb at one point.
My pain and diarrhea symptoms persisted until the end of the year. Fortunatly i was clear of the infection, but the residual damage to my bowel was a problem.
In the January of 96 i began an 8 week course of steroids, prednislone, and eventually my symptoms resolved.
I would suggest asking for a longer course of vancomycin, and perhaps a higher dose too.
This is one hell of an infection to clear up, adn the consequences can be a nightmare. i avoid all antibiotics now unless i am very ill, and even then i worry so much, watching for any sign of problems.
The bug remains intyour system, only to be activated under certain circumstances, wehn the bodies protective bacteria are unable to work to protect against actual colonisation of this bacteria.
I wish your father all the luck in the world. I hope this maybe helps. Unfortunatly his experience is not that unusual with this difficult to treat bacteria.
There has already been a comprehensive treatment for the C Diff. Relapse occurs in 10 to 25 percent of cases of C Diff. It typically occurs 1 to 2 weeks after completing therapy.
One option would be pulsed antibiotic therapy in the following regimen using vancomycin:
Week 1
just wonder??
did anyone mention that he could have a yeast/fungal infection from taking all these antibiotics??
how do you know it is c diff??