caroline – antibiotics for your dad

[patti]

Hi Caroline,

I didn’t want this to get lost in the shuffle so I started a new thread. Although I wouldn’t normally recommend antibiotics on an ongoing basis, one has to look at every situation individually. My sister has been on a prophylactic antibiotic since she was 10yrs old. She’s now 34.

In your dad’s case, I would really recommend that you consider doing this. It doesn’t make much since to have his life miserable when he could be comfortable and at least able to live with an antibiotic. That said, if he does do that, you MUST make sure he takes a good probiotic. The antibiotic will kill off the good and bad bacteria and he needs the good stuff. The best one I know of is called Flora Source. You can find it on the web. It’s spendy. $36 for a bottle of 60 caps. He should take one, three times a day. Otherwise, the next best one is called PB-8. We get it here at Fred Meyers/Kroger. But I would think any health food store or vitamin store would have it. Same thing. One, three times a day. He shouldn’t take it with his antibiotic. Either two hours before or two hours after. Someone mentioned yogurt. That will work. Although it’s not quite as strong or good for someone with c-diff. He might have to eat a lot of it to get the affect he’ll need. Someone said something about a probiotic drink. I think that would be an excellent option if he won’t take capsules.

Karen made an important point about treatment. But I think even if your family decided on no more treatment, I think the antibiotic and probiotic would be compassionate from the standpoint that c-diff makes him so sick. I would consider it to be more comfort care than anything.

My FIL died of Alzheimers almost 3yrs ago. It is a difficult road to take. I feel for you.

Hope this helps. Take care.

Patti

[CarolineG]

Hi Patti, and everyone who responded to my Update on Opa.
I will answer all of you on this post since I am running short of time today. 4 doctors have phoned me so far today. Lots of new information and new ideas. The most important at this point being the idea of giving Dad 2 more weeks of Flagyl and an ongoing remedy of Activa (I think that was the name of it). I asked if it was yogurt in a liquid style and the Internist said yes it was. You are all correct in what you advised me to suggest and I didn’t even have to make the suggestion. Now I feel comfortable that they are doing the right thing to help. Dad loves yogurt of any kind so it will be no problem getting him to eat it. Apparently, they use it alot for C-diff infections that won’t go away with lots of success.
There is also a Geriontologist (?) who is going to start the process of testing Dad for early Alzheimer’s Disease. The family doctor thinks that Dad’s dimentia stems from infection/fever/ongoing medications/immunosuppression. He really thinks that Dad will only have spells when he is gravely ill but he wants to ere on the side of caution anyhow.
That’s it for now.
Thank you for the support. I appreciate your help.

Caroline

[CarolineG]

Patti,

What is a probiotic? Could you explain it to me please?

Thank you
Caroline

[patti]

Hi Caroline,

I’ll try. I’m not sure I’ll get it perfectly, but I think enough for you to understand what I mean.

Everyone’s intestines/stomach have a delicate balance of both healthy and unhealthy bacteria. It is fairly easy for this balance to get “damaged” and the unhealthy bacteria to take over. As in your dad’s c-diff (or the flu, etc.). Probiotics are actually healthy bacteria that are alive when manufactured and encapsulated (or bottled, etc). When a person adds the healthy bacteria back into their intestinal system then that delicate balance is restored again. You will always see something like, “X number (usually in the millions) of living acidophilus (or whatever bacteria they’re using) on the bottle. The brand Flora Source has 16 strains of healthy bacteria. The PB-8 brand has 8 strains of healthy bacteria. Obviously, the more healthy strains that are in the probiotic the better because that gives each of the healthy bacterias in the intestines the opportunity to be balanced properly. I am not sure how many different bacterias exist in our bodies but I know it’s quite a few. 20 strikes me as the number I heard or read sometime ago but don’t quote me on that.

So, I guess to put it short, probiotics are live active cultures of bacteria.

Did I make sense? I’m not very good at explaining these things.

Take care.

Patti

[CarolineG]

Patti.
Thank you. You make perfect sense. I will visit a health food store and look at what selection they have.
Caroline

[riley]

Caroline,

DanActive is a probiotic drink. If Activa is the same as DanActive, and your father will drink the Activa, you may not need to buy anything else. You may want to ask your doctor how Activa, acidophilus and the two brands that Patti has mentioned compare and make sure your father gets whichever is best.

Nicole

[riley]

I just read the DanActive website and it says it contains a blend of three cultures…”S. thermophilus, L. bulgaricus, and a proprietary strain L. casei Defensis™ culture.”

So, I thought, if more is better, then the two probiotics that Patti wrote about might be a better option…16 or 8 strains should be better than 3, I would think.

But then the DanActive site says, “Each bottle contains over 10 billion live and active cultures.”

I don’t know how many active cultures the capsules contain and I don’t know which is more important — the number of strains or the number of active cultures. See what your docs think.

When my father started drinking two DanActives/day, he never had C. diff again. I hope you will find one, whichever it is, that will provide the same results for your father.

Nicole

[riley]

OK, last post.

I just looked a little more at the Dannon website, and Activia is not the same as DanActive.

Activia is a yogurt (not a drink). It contains “Bifidus Regularis™, a natural probiotic culture that can help regulate your digestive system by helping reduce long intestinal transit time*. Bifidus Regularis, available only in Activia, is a live “friendly” bacteria that’s beneficial when eaten daily.”

You and your father are in my prayers.

Nicole

[CarolineG]

Again…Thank You !!!!!

I visited Dad tonight. While I was there I asked him if he has had any yogurt today. He said that after his lunch, a nurse brought him a small tub of white yogurt which he found very tasty. It was not liquid. He used a spoon to eat it but it was not fruit flavoured like regular yogurt, just plain. I explained what I know about Activa and told him to eat any and all that he ever has offered to him and it may keep him from getting so sick anymore. He was very happy to comply. He has his entire mind back and we had a very nice visit. The C-Diff seems to be settling down alot today. He only had one bout all day today. Usually it takes him almost 2 weeks to slow down. We keep hoping for a miracle. Apparently, they are taking away the intravenous medications tomorrow morning and are starting Dad on oral antibiotics. He’s never recovered this fast, especially after the close call he had on Saturday. WHEW !!!

Caroline

[CarolineG]

Nicole…Do you think that the Activia or the DanActive work better? This is getting complicated for me to understand the differences. I suppose I better stay up for awhile and start reading so I know what I am talking about with the doctor tomorrow morning.

Caroline

[riley]

Caroline,

I’m so glad to hear how well your father is doing! That’s great news!

I have no experience with Activia, so I can’t compare it to DanActive. Based on what I’ve read, it looks like DanActive and Activia are both probiotics that just include different cultures, but I don’t know which ones might be better for your father.

From what I’ve seen in the forum, you’ve received recommendations for acidophilus, Flora Source, PB-8 and DanActive. As far as I can tell, they’re all probiotics. Maybe you can ask the doctors how they all compare, just to be sure that your father is on the one that will be best for him. If you learn anything new about probiotics, please keep us all posted.

And definitely please keep us updated on how your father is doing! Prayers continue…

Nicole

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