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Hi Carrie,
My father has had C. diff four or five times now. It’s so persistent and it’s hard to get rid of it for good. I’m new to this forum, but I have a couple of thoughts for you in case you haven’t heard them already from someone else here.
Has your father’s doctor called in infectious disease docs for a consult? C. diff does fall under ID, and we found the ID specialists to be very helpful. Sometimes, for some people, C. diff is resistant to Flagyl and another med needs to be used. One of the times my father had it, they gave both Flagyl and Vancomycin and that worked within a couple of days.
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned to you that beside feeling yucky, C. diff can cause depression. When my father had C. diff, he got really down. I mean very depressed — ready to give up his fight. We found it helped to remind him that he’d be feeling better physically, mentally and emotionally within a few days when the C. diff was under control. And that was always the case.
There are a few other things you can try to treat the C. diff besides meds. My guess is you’ve heard about yogurt and lactobacillus pills, and those may be helpful.
My father’s doctors consulted with a GI specialist, and she recommended a product called DanActive instead. It’s made by Dannon and sold in the grocery store near the yogurts. This GI doc believes in it so strongly, she went out and bought eight bottles of it for my father and brought it to him in the hospital! It’s kind of like a thin milkshake, and it comes in several flavors, all of which taste pretty good. They look like small milk bottles (only 100mL each). Each bottle contains 10 billion active cultures — that’s better than yogurt or lactobacillus. When my father had C. diff, he drank two of these per day, and it really helped. He now drinks one every morning with breakfast, just to keep the good bacteria in his digestive tract. Do I sound like I’m doing a commercial for DanActive yet?
My father’s doctors said they can’t say C. diff is gone until they have three negative tests in a row, and those tests have to be at least a week apart. Once they think it’s gone, they tend to stop the Flagyl. Each time they’ve done that, my father gets C. diff again within three days. They’ve decided just to keep him on Flagyl, and he hasn’t had C. diff since. Our doctor says that for some people, once they have C. diff, they’re lifers on Flagyl. They consulted with ID, and the risks to staying on Flagyl are few compared to the benefits of it.
It sure does sound like you have your hands full caring for both of your parents right now. I care full-time for my father, and I can’t imagine trying to care for my mother in addition. You and your parents are in my prayers.
