Husband has C-diff again after 9 months being c-diff free

:-( What can I say, I am just soooo shocked and upset. I thought he got rid of it - since he's been c-diff free without vancomycin for 9 months. Well, last week, he said that his stool quality was just slightly off (not diarrhea, but softer), and also that he had some extra gas, and some tummy discomfort. So we saw his GI, and his GI felt that everything was fine, just a few off color days, but given his history he wanted to be safe, so he ordered a CBC, a metabolic panel, and a c-diff stool test. His blood work came back fine, but his c-diff test was positive!

So he is now back on vancomycin 250mgs 4 times a day. The infectious disease doc feels that this relapse is because my husband is immuno-suppressed by the remicade - but it's the remicade that got him out of the hospital last year, and keeps him healthy I think. And of course, once you stop the remicade you can build antibodies to it, and his GI does not want to take that chance. So, for now, we're going to go with the vanc for 2 weeks, and see how he does, if he can put the c-diff infection behind him . . . again. And see how long he can keep it that way.

I can't believe he has c-diff again, with the yogurt and vsl#3, and florastor. It's very disappointing to say the least. And according to his docs, pretty much he can get an active c-diff infection at any time for the rest of his life, because having crohn's and being immunosuppressed means his immune system pretty much can't get erradicate the c-diff. So, we'll just have to watch for it bascially forever . . . and hope that he'll not relapse often, and hopefully not relapse during an active crohn's flare. Gosh, so hard to think of. Not to mention the fears of Vancomycin resistant enterococcus etc.

At least this time, he recognized the symptoms and we caught it early. He's not in any discomfort, no cramping, no pain, etc. Just a couple of loose movements every day - not even really smelly. So, hopefully this was a superficial infection, and this course of vanc will kick it.

Any suggestions on how to beat the c-diff and still keep him on remicade? Will the SCD do the trick? Is long term flagyl an option? Any ideas will be appreciated.

Thanks, PV

I talked about this option with both his GI and his infectious disease doc, and they are completely against it. I found a GI in Duluth, MN who does this in his office - so I guess if all else fails, we'll go try that. Or maybe we'll take a visit to Australia, and see Dr. Borody. But for right now, I don't know any doc around here who is confident of trying it. And my husband is also wary of it, because of the fact that his doctors are not supportive of it. He's like, what if something nasty comes of it . . . and it makes things worse . . .