Combo Antibiotic treatment - PART I

If I were you, I would just wait until the big project is over. I did not have a real problem but it may affect you differently. Everybody is different. Good luck.

Hopeful,

Yes, isn't it nice to have another weapon to use against this stinking lousy disease? Actually 2 if you think about the success people are having with LDN and the antibiotic combo. If we could just get access to FT at the doctors office, I think many of us would be disease free.


Thoreau,

Do you have weekends free? I found days two and three were the worst. If you could take your first doses Friday morning, you could get 3 full days in before having to go back to work Monday morning. It takes a day for the drugs to kick in, so you wouldn't feel the effects most likely until Saturday. One of the antibiotics needs to be taken with food (metronidazole) and another on an empty stomach (tetracycline I think?), so you have to plan things out a bit meal wise while doing the combo.

You could check with the pharmacist who dispensed them, but my pharmacist told me:

Metronidazole: with food
Tetracycline: empty stomach, 1 hour before a meal, or 2to 3 hours after
Amoxicillin: with or without food... doesn't matter

Honestly, I don't think you have to take metronidazole with food for it to be effective, but it is extremely bitter and will really hammer your stomach if it is empty.

Just wanted to say I've been following your progress and enjoy your updates. My UC soap opera lol. Thanks for posting.

Just started this regimen... I hope it doesn't really cause a "gut bomb" by taking all three at once like my Physician's Assistant said it would...

I'll keep you all updated.

Btw: I called the pharmacist and she said all three could be taken with food, Amoxicillin it didn't matter, Metronidazole with food, and Tetracycline with food but not dairy or antacids.

Thoreau,

I think the pharmacist has it exactly right, but with the tetracycline, it's hard to know what food items contain dairy, so I just take it on an empty stomach to be safe.

You have age on your side. I'm 49, so I'm not as tough as I used to be

I'm sure you'll be fine, but don't be surprised if you feel crappy for a few days before you start to feel better.

As for me, I'm on day 12 and starting to feel really good! Only gone 3 times and it is into the evening hours now. I was going 12+ times before the antibiotics. This has really settled my guts down big time.

Best of luck and post some updates if you can.

I'm one day in now, and my colon is behaving pretty well.

Yesterday I did a homemade enema consisting of slippery elm bark, comfrey root powder and marshmallow root powder. One teaspoon each in room temp water that doesn't have any chemicals in it. I made the mix up in a blender and filled two disposable fleet enema bottles. This enema is supposed to help stop bleeding quickly. I learned about it in "Listen To Your Gut" by Jini Patel Thompson.

I had stools that were bloody enough that they looked red yesterday, which is why I decided to start up everything. Today there has been a few little streaks of blood in my two BM's so far, but not anything like yesterday. Both stools were formed, though not huge dense pieces. They are 8-12 inches of stool about an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, that fall apart into 2-5" long clumps.

In regards to the antibiotic treatment, I have not experienced any diarrhea yet. I am taking two VSL3-DS, as well as 10 billion cfu of saccharomyces boulardii per day.

I think I feel a little something from the antibiotics, but I do not yet have any strong tastes or pains. My body just feels like it needs a little rest... which is honestly because I haven't gotten quite enough sleep lately.

I will keep everyone updated. Hope you all are doing okay!

Ended up making 5 trips to the potty yesterday. Felt great all day.

Today (13th day of antibiotics), feel a bit nauseated for some reason. Was a bad boy and had a $6 burger at Karl's Jr. yesterday, plus a frosty at Wendy's. What a dummy. That's what happens when I feel really good, I let my guard down.

I am going to make a concerted effort to avoid simple carbs when coming off the antibiotics as they are known to feed the troublemakers in your colon more than the good guys, and they will be fighting with each other to establish dominance once antibiotics are out of my system.

Well, back to eating healthy today!

On Day 3 now.

Positive Results:
-Much less blood in stools.
-Less urgency in afternoons/evenings. Still need to go often in morning.
-Stools formed up better than before treatment. Have not had one stool that was flaky or mush today... all were formed (have had 5 so far), 3 being normal diameter and two skinny stools.

Side Effects:
-Very slight feeling of something happening. Possible die-off type reaction. Slight head pain and overall feeling of something not being quite right physically. Not very prominent though... maybe a 1 out of 10.

I have felt more able to get out and work instead of needing excessive rest, which is nice. UC symptoms are not playing a huge negative role on my life right now, however, they are also not completely hidden from reality either. After having this disease for eight years I'm definitely just taking this day by day. I hope and pray that this therapy works well for me.

very interesting. so glad to hear that both of you have seen improvement. please keep the updates coming! I've been monitoring this thread closely.

I thought I would post an update that "ThereAreMiracles" posted in another thread about the outcome of her combo antibiotic treatment in case those of you following this thread missed it.

"I'm definetly a lot better! Hardly any blood and not much time needed in the bathroom in the mornings anymore! I know those antibiotics worked for me to some degree. I have energy all day long too! So it helped my lyme's (that's was terrible chronic fatigue) and my UC. I'm not in remission, but I'm so much better!"

So far everyone who has posted about it has experienced either an improvement or outright remission and no one has had their symptoms get worse or come down with c-diff. Tetracycline is known to protect against c-diff. The only person I am not sure about is diaperman. Perhaps he could give us an update?

If you are really interested in the link between antibiotics and ulcerative colitis then check out Hailey's letter:
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=1689855