How long does it take to heal?

Hi Guys,

How long does it take a colon to heal from a bad flare? I have been recovering from a hospitalization during Aug with UC and C-Diff. I have been out 2 months now.I still have major urgency (mostly at night though) but when I go to the bathroom I just have a small discharge about a teaspoon size of unformed waste. I am not bleeding and have semi formed stools once or twice a day. Does this mean I am healing?

I did need a blood transfusion last month. My latest labs show my sed rate is now down to 49 from 115. I have had 3 Remicaid infusions but I am not on any oher meds other than Prednisone. Previously I was on Asacol 12 a day but I guess it did not work for me or made things worse. Should I be on any other meds? Specifically treating it from the other end IE cortifoam or mesalamine enema?

I guess I am just frustrated since I have been dealing with this since April.

I still have a ton of Mesalamine enemas. I see me doctor weekly now since things were so bad. I will ask. But in the hospital they gave me cortifoam. Which is better?

Thanks Quincy,

My GI gave me the green light to taper I was surprised because he said to go to 30mg and not 35 the usuall 5mg per week. Does that sound strange to you?

Socalsd -

Glad to hear that you are on the mend and got the green light to taper the pred. If you are uncomfortable reducing dose by 10mg, tell your doc, and only go down by 5mg. A slower taper isn't going to harm anything.

I am a fellow recovery from cdiff, and it took me a few of months to get over the months of having the infection + time on antibiotics. It took 2 rounds of flagyl, and 2 and a half rounds of vanco to rid myself of the cdiff. Then the relapse a month later, but that went away with one heavy dosage round of vanco. I was never hospitalized, but came close to it for dehydration.

I know it is hard when you are trying to get back to healthy again, but you have to be patient. The fact you aren't seeing any blood and things are forming up again are good signs. You didn't get sick over night, and you aren't going to get better over night either. It sounds like you are on track and your doc is taking decent care of you. Stay the course, and don't get impatient and force things, or stop a treatment prematurely. That will only prolong your illness. Hope you keep getting better.

When I was going through the c diff, I found a site like this one, only for people with chronic c diff infections. People who have had them for years! I found the c diff much worse than my UC flare, so I can't imagine living with the infection...

How much vanco have they got you on? Before I did vanco, my first two rounds of flagyl absolutely wiped me out. I dreaded taking that horse pill in the morning, then again at lunch, afternoon, and before bed. That stuff leaves a horrible aftertaste! When I switched to vanco, I almost instantly felt better. I hope you have good insurance though, very expensive pills.

I assume your doc is taking regular stool cultures to tell if you are making headway with the infection. I don't see anything about probiotics in your signature. I've had two doctors mention Florastor in helping people recover from c diff. I used it successfully. Aside from the yeast in Florastor competing with the c diff for nutrients, the Florastor isn't affected by antibiotics, so you might want to think about taking them, or at least some probiotic that isn't killed off by the vanco. You want to get good bacteria repopulating ASAP.

It isn't totally mind over matter, but keeping a positive attitude helps. Don't worry about a relapse, put your anxious thought power into recovering from what you've got now. You'll get through this. Keep us posted on how your recovery is going.

Beartooth-
I am not sure what the doses of the Vanco were. The liquid kind was in a Little syringe that I squirted in my mouth 3 times a day. I had to chase it with juice. When I got home the pill I took was 3 times a day. I have finished the run now. I have taken a recent stool sample which tested negative for the c-diff. Luckily I have really good insurance I saw how expensive the Vanco and the Remicaid are. My hospital bill was $105, 000.00 for 19 days which included Remicaid, various e-rays, colonoscopy, food, etc. Luckily my co-pay was only $250.00(and I have an HMO in CA) I always heard horror stories about HMO's but I actually had a good experience Aside from being miserably ill. I count my blessings everyday that my job has good insurance I could not get through it with out it. I do have a prescription for VSL-3DS probiotic I got that covered by insurance too, I could not believe how expensive it is.

Meesh- Glad your shaking the Pred side effects It took me a while the first time I took it. I had a huge moon face. Strangely I have not got it this time but I am sleep deprived and have an increased heart beat beacuse of it.

Well from what I found out VSL#3 is never covered by insurance. But VSL#3 DS is the prescription grade which stronger and has 900 billion bacteria in each packet. Talk to your GI, insurance will only cover the prescription grade. It is pricy I think about 600 dollars for a months prescription I think my copay was 3 bucks. I use my flexpay since it was prescribed. I have Blueshield California. Hope this helps it should save you money plus this grade is stronger than the regular.