Antibiotics to get into remission?

Maybe Flagyl? If it works for her, great! I'm not familiar with that cocktail but it makes sense.

Thanks princesscolon, quincy.

I am pretty sure she has UC (they call it chronic colon inflammation here). Had it for at least 30y. She is currently taking no other medication. She had others in the past, but doesn't really know what she took. Her daughter who is a nurse had to tell me what exactly she is taking now (antibiotics, buscopan, paracetamol, sulpiride). The antibiotics only give temporary relief though. She is flaring every now and then. Her doctor then gives antibiotics for 10 days, max 20 days in some cases.

Antibiotics are what jump-started me into remission from my last flare. However I would be cautious about too many ABX. For one thing many members here are certain that antibiotics are what gave them UC, and for some C Diff, in the first place. ABX are a weapon of mass destruction that kill both good and bad bacteria in your gut so you should use them with probiotics to replenish the good guys.

And I am wary of becoming dependent on antibiotics for remission. Meds have a tendency to work until all of a sudden they don't work anymore. I haven't touched an antibiotic in four years and hopefully I won't need them ever again. But you never know. I still take probiotics every day.

I had a painful perianal abscess at the height of my last flare. I had an in-office procedure to drain it and was prescribed the antibiotic Flagyl. During the next 2-3 weeks each BM session became a torture chamber which felt like I was expelling shards of glass. But Flagyl not only cleared up my abscess, it jump-started me out of my flare and into remission. I took probiotics to help ensure that it would not return. Sitz baths and witch hazel also helped.

Here is my story:
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2176606
During my last flare I was one sick puppy. Drenching night sweats, skin lesions on my arms and legs, eye inflammation, bloody diarrhea 20 times a day. I lost 5 pounds a week for 50 lbs. Crippling arthritis where I could barely climb stairs or make a fist. To cap it off I developed an abscess.

The doctor prescribed a 3 week course of Flagyl for the abscess and that jump-started me into remission. Immediately my diarrhea ended, skin lesions disappeared, my eyes went back to normal and all my arthritis disappeared. So I have no trouble believing that your combo antibiotic treatment is effective.

While I was on the Flagyl I took a probiotic yeast called saccharomyces boulardii which is immune to antibiotics. I did not want to leave any room in my gut for the bad guys like C Diff or anything else to take over again as the bacteria were dying off. When the Flagyl ended I took a diverse set of probiotics including VSL#3DS every day to maintain my remission.

Monitoring my diet and taking supplements like psyllium seed with probiotics seems to work for maintaining remission, but I don’t know if I could have escaped my flare so quickly without taking the antibiotics.

Post Edited (IamCurious) : 6/15/2014 6:29:21 PM (GMT-6)

Thanks everybody! That all makes sense. An other worry that may arise is that the frequent antibiotics use creates some superbacteria in your guts.