How many of you and/or your clients know about this terrible disease (c-diff)?

Fecal transplant = CURE.

But the FDA, CDC & pharmaceutical companies don't want everybody to know because big pharma would lose millions, if not billions, in antibiotic sales & profits. They want you to think that more antibiotics & antifungals will cure it, but it doesn't. Common sense tells you that if your gut flora has been wiped out with antibiotics, that you don't take MORE antibiotics. The key is getting the normal bacteria back into your intestines. And that is extremely easy to do.

If you are one of the tens of millions of people who have developed this wicked infection, you can do a fecal transplant yourself. It's cheap, easy & a curative measure. Google "fecal transplant enema", and just follow the directions. Try to overlook the obvious "yuck" factor & think about the fact that this is a CURE.

My mother got C diff 2 years ago when she was 90; she contracted it while in the hospital. She was miserable. Vancomycin helped but she was still having problems; she did, and does, take Florastor but I also found the below product (available from other vendors on the web too) Banatrol Plus
http://www.medtrition.com/products/banatrol-plus/
It is banana flakes with prebiotics (prebiotics provide food for good bacteria and help maintain a healthy gut ecology. The good bacteria in probiotics you swallow sometimes don't make it from the stomach to the intestines. Hence why the fecal transplant is more effective. FYI there have been some pilots of putting fecal matter in capsules and swallowing it frozen and that also apparently helps the good bacteria effectively repopulate the gut). Fortunately we did not need to try the fecal transplant route, the Banatrol - which you can take concurrently with an antibiotic - did apparently help my mother kick the C- diff. And as it is basically banana flakes - like in the BRAT diet but it would be very difficult to eat in fresh bananas the equivalent of the dosage of the dried banana flakes in Banatrol -- there are no unwanted side effects, and you don't go to the opposite extreme and get constipated. I found out that dried blueberries are a traditional Swedish remedy for diarrhea, and those seemed to help too, but the Banatrol was more effective and easier to eat - you can add it to juice or applesauce, and it can also even be added to what people get via feeding tubes.

My wife had that while she was receiving IV antibiotics for osteomyelitis. It was quite an ordeal with her being confined to a bed from the accident which left her paralyzed. We're told it was caused from a disruption in the gut flora from the antibiotics and it took awhile to clear up with treatment. After the fact we learned that standard yogurt would have been a good thing to help keep the gut flora in check while she was on the IV and could have prevented the C-dif........thanks for that. You will need to be diligent on hygiene and keeping the surroundings sterile while you fight this which could take a couple months to clear. Good luck

My wife who is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's and experiences nearly continuing Urinary Tract Infections is being treated now due to the large amount of antibiotics she has received treating the UTIs. She was isolated and I had to put on a plastic wrap and plastic gloves to go in. She is nearly over it as her stool is firming up.

My mom had it, she was on Vanco and Flagyl and neither helped. As soon as she started weaning off from it she would relapse. She was then put on Xyfaxan for two doses. After the second round AND starting Florastor probiotics she has been testing negative for a year (she still thinks she has it and we are going to do another stool sample in the next couple of days so I will try to keep you updated) She does still have bowel problems and her Infectious Disease doctor told her that she probably has intestinal damage that causes the loose bowels. We will see what this next lab shows.

This is a nasty disease, the fecal transplant is true. Massachusetts was doing a study (and paying the subjects) for stool samples to use for transplants. It helps reestablish good gut flora to a damaged system. Sounds legit, foals will many times consume their mother's feces which in turn help the good bacteria in their developing systems.

It does make me wonder how treating something that was caused by antibiotics can truly be cured by more antibiotics? I think that the Florastor is what helped my mom. She takes it twice a day, EVERY day now!

And it's not just deadly for the elderly! I had to go out on disability from my career as an RN due to C-diff. Caused by 3 round of antibiotics in two months from a vicious upper respiratory. My Mom had the same URI. We both got C-diff and we didn't live together. I was hospitalized twice and so sick the second time that I was almost in ICU, septic! Dr would not let me go back to work in the hospital for 3 months; told to eat lots of yogurt with active yeast and to ALWAYS eat active yeast yogurt going forward if I had to have any antibiotics! My immune system was so shot, that 3 months after getting over the C-diff I contracted a severe case of shingles....and had 3 recurrences in the next six months. Ultimately, dr told me that I could not work nights anymore, and I should not work 12 hour shifts. There was no accommodation on the unit where I worked, so I had to go out on medical leave. Left now with chronic pain in my lower back and entire right leg from the shingles....called Post Herpetic Neuralgia. Better as time goes by, but still is aggravating at times. Basically, C-diff ultimately ruined our retirement years, due to being on medical leave and using all our savings while trying to qualify for disability.... I would never want to get it again....and I was in my late 50's when it happened to me....and healthy! So, sudden diarrhea that is very foul smelling, especially during or after receiving antibiotics, should alert to an immediate doctor's visit to avoid such complications, especially in the elderly or those with health problems already.

From a previous AC thread, nearly two years old:

https://www.agingcare.com/questions/what-is-c-diff-how-treated-158947.htm

My mom has had recurring c-diff since 2010. She is unable to take any antibiotics unless she also takes vancomycin concurrently. Flagyl works on some patients and is much less expensive but it wasn't successful in treating my mom. You should be sure the person who has had c-diff in the past never takes an antidiarrheal drug such as Imodium (loperamide) because if the diarrhea is caused by c-diff, it could be fatal. Also, more recently, a treatment called FMT was developed and has been very successful in treating patients - here is a link for more information: http://thefecaltransplantfoundation.org/what-is-fecal-transplant/

I had C-Diff 10 years ago after being on a very strong antibiotic. It almost killed me. I went from 120 pounds to 109 and all I could eat was english muffins and drink gatorade. I was put on another antibiotic to deal with the c-diff and that gave me the worst metallic taste in my mouth for months on end. It is a very brutal and difficult disease to treat. Post 10 years I finally have a semi-normal functioning gut. Best wishes to you.

The doctor prescribed Vancomyacin and the patient ended up having to do 2 rounds of it because they doctor didn't explain that it killed all the gut flora, even the good stuff. Did research on our own and found taking raw pro-biotics to rebuild the good flora during the 2nd round fixed the problem and it's never come back. She still takes raw pro-biotics everyday. 10,000 billion active cells - it is kept in the fridge.