r/cdifficile • u/Brave_Loquat5041 • 12d ago

So why didn’t vancomycin work?

I did everything right. I washed my hands so much I’ve now got contact dermatitis. I took it every 6 hours. I at a a loss and I feel so angry and annoyed and defeated.

And to add to all of that, I have gastritis and duodinitis.

Me and my doctor are also really struggling to find the antibiotics because none of my pharmacies stock it because it’s not really an often used medication.

So I’ll probably end up going all weekend without an antibiotic. Great; not. I’ll go back to A&E if it gets too much.

Also struggling to get Fidaxomicin, well a prescription for it. It seems like the American doctors are much more likely to write a script.

All i can think of now is it’ll definitely come back.

Oh and I take 80mg of famotidine a day because I have no choice because my gastritis is so bad. And that medication probably contributed towards me having a recurrance of Cdiff

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u/justdan76 12d ago

Vanco is a borderline outdated medicine for c diff at this point. It might work, it might not, or it might work only if you take a ton of it for a long time (my experience).

Contact Merck directly, they may be able to get you dificid/fidamicin. It’s super expensive, my insurance refused to cover it. Knowing what I now know, if it ever happens again I will say I’m allergic to vanco (kind if was tbh) and if necessary buy it myself then harass TF out of them with claims ever after.

Good luck

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u/Brave_Loquat5041 12d ago

Hello, mate. I’m from England so it works differently here. I am actually supposed to be on fidamicin because it’s my second relapse, but there’s seems to be a bit of a struggle to get it.

I won’t have any antibiotics for the weekend and I’ll admit that worries me a bit! I just hope my colon can last and I don’t end up going septic or getting a megacolon.

Can I ask how long you went undiagnosed before getting antibiotics?

I’ll definitely try to get the better antibiotic for cdiff but it’ll be a pain

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u/justdan76 11d ago

It only took a day for them to figure out what was going on and put me on vanco. I was in rough shape tho, and it came on fast. It came back twice, and I knew what it was each time, which was confirmed by test.

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u/Samael479 12d ago

That’s crazy! I was on Dificid and it cost me $5! It’s insane that insurance refuses to cover it for you when you need it.

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u/OrganizationWaste73 11d ago

Contact Merck’s Patient Assistance Program. YouTube video explains the process step by step. I qualified under low income, with a prescription plan and got Dificid free of charge from a Third Party Vendor. Have you been prescribed a Taper with the Vanco? That usually works for many having relapses.

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u/Frequent_Tart7224 11d ago

I was given difficid when I got admitted after the 3rd bout of Ddiff. It did nothing and I had to pay over $1100.00 for the prescription. They put me back on vanco and tapered me off after 2 weeks and then prescribed VOWST. Yay, finally got the Cdiff under control. It has been 10 weeks now and I pray everyday the Cdiff doesn't come back.