On January 5, 2016, I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy boy. Two weeks postpartum I got Mastitis (a clogged breast duct) from breastfeeding. My doctors put me on an antibiotic. I took it for a week and a few days, and after the last dose, the diarrhea started. I called my doctor after a few days of awful pain and the never ending visits to the bathroom (which then had put me in the emergency room).

So here we are now on March 30, 2016. I was first put on ten days of Flagyl. I relapsed a few days later, went through fourteen days of Flagyl, and relapsed again. Another few days later, I was put on vancomycin and some nasty stuff I had to drink two times a day. After that, I was stuck with C. diff for a fourth time. I was put back on vancomycin and Xifaxan (rifaximin) two times a day, as well as probiotics twice a day.

The eight-week vancomycin taper unfortunately still did not cure me, and the C. diff came back yet again a few days after completing it. So now we are trying a “pulse” eight-week drug therapy. This consists of: Two weeks of 500 mg of vancomycin per day with three glasses of kefir, then two weeks of 375 mg of vancomycin at once daily, followed by 72 hours off (and so on and so forth), then two weeks of 250 mg of vancomycin once daily, followed by 72 hours off (and so on and so forth). If this does not work for me, the next option will be the fecal transplant. I truly believe that I am in great hands with a doctor at the University of Pennsylvania, so I am trying to stay positive.

Update (November 2016):

I did a taper of Vancomycin while taking kefir for six weeks throughout June and July of 2016, and thankfully it worked; it cured me. After I had finished the Vancomycin, I continued (and still do to this day) drinking kefir three times a day (about a shot size). Supposedly, my doctor said this is the best way to get living probiotics into your body.

I am not going to lie, the three weeks after finishing the medication were extremely scary. I had a lot of episodes of awful stomach pains, and the diarrhea would come and go. So obviously every time I would have diarrhea, I would be afraid the C. diff had returned. But, my doctor assured me it was just my body recovering from the awful bug.

So here we are, and I can truly say I feel great. I am back to eating whatever I feel, the anxiety has gone away, and my body feels back to normal.

I will say this: I am petrified to have to take another antibiotic, and I will only take one if I am in serious need. I hope this brings some positivity to others because I truly didn’t think I would ever recover from C. diff. It was the longest and most awful seven months of my life, but if you find the right doctor, you can overcome it.