HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post

CoolBreeze · 11-02-2013, 06:44 PM

Denise, just a warning about the antibiotics, especially Cipro and others in its class - they are very good at wiping out gut flora and causing C-Diff. Which I had. Which I went septic from, which caused me to be in ICU and I was one blood pressure number drop away from having my colon removed.

So please, take some probiotics while you are on Cipro. Florastor is the name brand of the one that shows it can help prevent or fight c-diff, according to my infectious disease specialist. (You can google the generic name) They've done studies on this so it's real. Also, he said culturelle. You can't take it at the same time as your antibiotic but you time it a few hours apart. Also, make sure you eat yogurt and Kafir right now. Anything to bolster the good bacteria in your gut.

With all the things that have happened to me with cancer, C-Diff was the very worst. It took me months to recover too. Not to scare you but I always worry when a cancer patient, with our faulty immune system and hospitalizations, is prescribed antibiotics.

So a little preventative now might possibly save a lot of pain later. Google c-diff and imagine it as ten times harder than anything you've read.

And I have a 16 year old too and no, I am not done raising him. I'll feel more at peace when he enters college and starts his major - he graduates this year. Of course, I'll never want to leave my kids but at least when he's off to college I know I got him to adulthood.

Horrible.

11-02-2013, 06:44 PM	#46
CoolBreeze Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 562	Re: NEDenise Downer Alert! Denise, just a warning about the antibiotics, especially Cipro and others in its class - they are very good at wiping out gut flora and causing C-Diff. Which I had. Which I went septic from, which caused me to be in ICU and I was one blood pressure number drop away from having my colon removed. So please, take some probiotics while you are on Cipro. Florastor is the name brand of the one that shows it can help prevent or fight c-diff, according to my infectious disease specialist. (You can google the generic name) They've done studies on this so it's real. Also, he said culturelle. You can't take it at the same time as your antibiotic but you time it a few hours apart. Also, make sure you eat yogurt and Kafir right now. Anything to bolster the good bacteria in your gut. With all the things that have happened to me with cancer, C-Diff was the very worst. It took me months to recover too. Not to scare you but I always worry when a cancer patient, with our faulty immune system and hospitalizations, is prescribed antibiotics. So a little preventative now might possibly save a lot of pain later. Google c-diff and imagine it as ten times harder than anything you've read. And I have a 16 year old too and no, I am not done raising him. I'll feel more at peace when he enters college and starts his major - he graduates this year. Of course, I'll never want to leave my kids but at least when he's off to college I know I got him to adulthood. Horrible. __________________ http://butdoctorihatepink.com 08/17/09 Dx'd. Multifocal/multicentric IDC, largest 3.4 cm, associated ADH, LCIS, DCIS HER2+ ER+/PR- Grade 3, Node Negative 10/20/2009: Right mastectomy, reconstruction with TE 12/02/2009: Six rounds TCH, switched to Taxol halfway through due to neuropathy 03/31/2010: Finished chemo 05/01/2010: Began tamoxifen, the worst drug ever 11/18/2010: Reconstruction completed 12/02/2010: Finished herceptin 05/21/2011: Liver Mets. Quit Tamoxifen 06/22/2011: Navelbine/Zometa/Herceptin 10/03/2011: Liver Resection, left lobe. Microwave ablation, right lobe - going for cure! 11/26/2011: C-Diff Superbug Infection, "worst case doctor had seen in 20 years" 03/28/2012: Progression in ablated section of the liver - no more cure. Started Abraxane, continue herceptin/zometa 10/10/2012: Progression continues, started Halaven, along with herceptin and zometa. 01/15/2013: Progression continues, started Gemzar and Perjeta, an unusual combo, continuing with herceptin and zometa 03/13/2013: Quit Gemzar, body just won't handle it. Staying on herceptin, zometa and perjeta. 04/03/2013: CT shows 50% regression in tumor, so am starting back on Gemzar with dose reduction, staying with perjeta/herceptin/zometa. Can't argue with success! 05/09/2013: Discussing SBRT with Radiology due to inability of bone marrow to recover from chemo. 06/07/2013: Fiducial placement for SBRT 07/03/2013: Chemo discontinued, on Perjeta, Herceptin and Zometa alone 07/25/2013: SBRT (gamma knife) begins 08/01/2013: SBRT completed 08/15/2013: STABLE! continuing with Perjeta, Herceptin, Zometa 06/18/2014: *** NED!!!!*** continuing with Perjeta, Herceptin, Zometa 01/29/2014: Still NED. continuing with Perjeta, Herceptin. Zometa lowered to every 3 months instead of monthly. 11/08/2015: Progression throughout abdomen and lungs. Started TDM-1, aka Kadcyla. Other meds discontinued. Remission was nice while it lasted. 5/27/18: Stable. Kadcyla put me right back in the barn. I have two teeny spots on my lungs that are metabolically inactive, and liver is clean. I’m beating this MFer. I was 51 when this started and had two kids, 22 and 12. Now I’m 60. My oldest got married and trying to start s family. My youngesg graduates from Caltech this June. My stepdaughter gave me grandkids. Life is fantastic.