Has anyone taken care of their loved one that had C-diff at home?

C-Difficil is so named because it is very difficult to get rid of, and requires constant monitoring with strong antibiotics. If it is not put under control orally, the better way to get it under control is an I.V. antibiotic. Unless you are trained to do this, a hospital is the option. (With the caveat that 20% of infections are acquired IN the hospital).

Sorry to hear it. My father in law had c-diff and had a quick procedure called a fecal transplant! You must check it out! It was the only thing that worked and its out patient procedure!!!!

I agree with the other post - they should be in a hospital. Here's what docs don't tell you about c-diff. They give strong antibiotics to kill it, but those antibiotics also kill all the good flora in the gut -- the patient should be taking RAW probiotics in addition to the antibiotics. My spouse had c-diff, went through 2 courses of Vancomycin -- it was during the 2nd course we learned about probiotics (not from a doc, but from research). If your loved one is elderly they really should be in a hospital

SOSDIL 1 - Please tell us more about RAW probiotics. My gastroenterologist told me to take probiotics in addition to medication, and I would like to learn more about what you mentioned. I had C-diff earlier this year. Was in intensive care for 2 days; then in regular part of hospital for a few more.

I have certainly read of others on here who have dealt with this. Try typing c-diff in the site search box.

One other thing, I get our Florastor at CVS, I have a CVS discount card. Many times they have 25% to 30% off coupons and if you sign up for emails you can get other coupons that you can use all at the same time. Florastor is anywhere from $45 to $60 depending on the store, and I have saved up to 30% plus had coupons for $3 or $5 off and they will accept all of them at the same time.

docs thought my husband had C-diff. Hubby was in and out of the hospital and rehab for a few months. They even sent him home twice with severe diarrhea ! A visiting nurse here taught me what to say to the doctors in the ER. I had to make sure they kept him to figure what was causing the problem. He did NOT have C-diff. I wish they had told me to use gloves and a mask, etc. They really thought he had it! No one explained how to prevent others from getting it. But his was polyps they found during a colonoscopy! They removed these and eventually he had no diarrhea! So it is not always C-dif! chris

Had a patient with C-diff that was kept at NH for treatment with everyone in isolation garb. Family had a physician who knew of a new drug "Difficil" & after 2
10 day courses was pronounced "well". Drug is EXTREMELY !!!!!!!!! Expensive.
Most docs either don't know about it or won't use it because it is so expensive & does take 2 courses. Naturally heavy duty probiotics are also very necessary. Do some research about docs in your area knowing this treatment. Good luck...you're in for a long haul with the severity of the disease.

Raw Probiotics are live/active cultures - the bottle stays in the fridge. The dry stuff you can buy in bulk doesn't do anything because the cultures are dead. We take the 100,000 active cultures everyday. It's in a yellow/orange box at the health food store in the fridge

In 2008 at age 82 my mom had 5 occurrences of C-diff. The diarrhea would come, we would go to ER, get a round of antibiotics, it would seemingly clear up, then come back. We ended up on a convoluted, interval round of vancomycin - a last-ditch antibiotic when the others don't work - ta process hat I found online and that the doctor agreed to go along with. I then put her on Dr O'Hira's probiotic - a high-quality probiotic available in many health stores that does not require refrigeration. The dr would probably say it was the vancomycin, but I am convinced it was this probiotic that literally saved her life. She is now 89 and never had a recurrence.

Yes, your mom should be checked out by a medical professional in a dr's office or hospital setting, but unless it is an acute situation, I am a big believer in staying OUT of the hospital, where many of the germs that cause C-diff in the first place are. Good luck!