Been there, done that – persistant C-diff is NO FUN!!. One of the reasons that there often tends to be relapse after Vanco therapy is that Vancomycin is a broad spectrum antibiotic. Therefore, at the same time that it is destroying the offending C-diff organisms, it also is a destroying the other "good bacteria" that inhabit the GI tract … In turn making it easier for C-diff to continue to predominate. Hence, treatment with Vanco can and does sometimes become a rather circular situation of response -- and then relapse.
This is why it is important that you keep ingesting a bacterial product in attempt to try to keep the colon population of good bacteria as high as possible while taking any antibiotic. I tend to believe that a good quality, plain old straight ACIDOPHILUS product to always be a first line defense is dealing with this issue. The yogurts and kefirs, as well as other probiotics products, can come along as augmentation. But one need not be "drowning" themselves in these prducts either.
There is a new type antibiotic which has been in trials: Name: Fidaxomicin. This is a "narrow spectrum" antibiotic which is aimed specifically at the C-diff organism, --- as a opposed to Vancomycin's broad spectrum action. You might ask your Physician to look into this product for you. See if you might qualify in any ongoing trials, or if this product may have made it's way into the market yet.
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