Turns out my flare-up is C-Diff!

The testing part is pretty much what we should insist on when things seem to not respond. It's good you had it done.

No biggie for stopping the pred after 6 days.

I'd suggest fibre supplements with meals and good multistrain probiotics taken at bedtime about 2 hours after the antibiotics.

Hope you feel better soon....keep us updated on how you're doing with the flagyl. I hear that it might play havoc with taste buds....
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Yuck! I battled that for months last year. Flagyl tastes like crud and messes with my appetite, so if that happens to you, just eat what you can and what you feel like eating. In my case I only felt like eating bland- crackers (with PB for protein), plain pasta, plain bagels, etc.

How long are you on the flagyl? Is there a plan to retest after a certain point? Sometimes c diff results can come back inaccurate so I've heard of people testing a few times. If the flagyl doesn't work, they may bump you to the even bigger guns- vancomycin. vanco works really well but costs insurance companies more money, so they always have you try the flagyl first.

Take it easy, and try and feel better. C diff is a bear!!

Thanks for the replies all.

Does anyone know why my doctor has taken me off steroids? I'm only on Flagyl for the next two to four weeks depending how it goes. I'm going away on holidays to Europe in the morning.. Terrible timing! I've been washing my hands relentlessly, have scrubbed down our bathrooms and I'm taking probiotics. I'm going to get some live yoghurt today too.

I'm really anxious now as this is such new territory to me. My UC doesn't do things by halves so I'm paranoid that it's going to be a long road to recovery with C-Diff! Right now I'm 3 Flagyl tablets into treatment, BMs are 6-10 times per day, mainly B&M and the watery loose stool. Is there anything else I should be doing?

Thank goodness for this forum! Thank you !

Goodness folks! Why aren't you telling him that fmt has 100 pct cure rate and can be administered via colonoscopy.

I have probably had it. Endoscopically it looked like it (yellow ulceration) but tests came back negative. The smell was absolutely awful and could hang around for hours after a BM.

You are off steroids because as an immune suppressant they have the potential to make the c diff worse.

Yup, FMT has 90% success rate without the awful side effects of the antibiotics but few places are allowed to use it as first line treatment. There's also controversy as to safety in UC although clinical trials show some success for it for UC alone and not too many adverse events.

Flagyl caused me nausea and sudden weight loss. I suspect that had something to do with lowering the levels of bacteria in my gut that are associated with weight gain. I found it necessary to eat often to keep the nausea away although I could only manage plain crackers like the poster above. I also found ginger helpful, either as tea or in lozenges although it did cause some heartburn on empty stomach.

I would cancel my holiday if it was me until my samples tested clear. It can turn very nasty and you need to rest up and be scrupulous about cleaning down clothes and surfaces with bleach as the spores can survive for a very long time on surfaces. Hand gel does not kill it so if you are traveling about without access to hot water and soap for handwashing it's not good enough if you transfer some to your hands after wiping. If you're needing to eat out when traveling and catch another bug on top of the c diff that would be awful. Also I would think about the risk to others of maybe spreading it in public restrooms where you cannot clean down the toilet properly afterwards.

I didn't bother with probiotics when on Flagyl as I saw it as a waste of money, they'd be killed off. But VSL #3 directly after firmed up my BMs. I used a bit of s.boulardi but it can get out of control in a compromised immune system so kept it to a low dose. I also had a really violent reaction to a probiotic when first ill not knowing that it was an infective rather than the usual colitis.

I had a recurrence 6 months after the bout, although I'd been told after 3 months I should be safe. Flagyl cleared it again but then I went into an almighty flare, which hadn't happened after the first bout and pretty much been in it since so it is really important to get it treated and cleared asap.

Hope you get well very soon.