I had a scope on March 6, it showed chronic and active pouchitis, not really a surprise given how I felt. They put me on Xifaxin 400mg 3x daily. I did ok until about a week ago. Though no change in output, I didn't have the nasty low back pain anymore, less leakage. However, this past week had constant 'flu-like' symptoms, no fever , just aches and pains like flu. Stopped the xifaxin and I feel fine. Has anyone else had this experience? Xifaxin is not supposed to cause as many side effects. Next we're going to try cipro and flagyl. Needless to say I'm concerned about side effects.Was wondering about the dosage of the xifaxin, what other folks are taking? Any info would be appreciated.
Also was wondering if some of the diarrhea could be from bile....you can develope a chronic diarrhea just from having your gall bladder removed. I ran it past the GI but he brushed that one off. I've had no luck in slowing things down with fiber or immodium. I was wondering about a bile binder like Questran...but my GI isn't.(sigh) Still, I don't know if Questran causes problems either.What if you can't get the pouchitis under control? Can that happen? Then what? Alot of questions, anybody have any thoughts?
LoriP

Lori, I just finished my cipro after my 1st clinical diag of pouchitis. I Had it bad. Now that the cipro has started to work, evidence through a 2nd scope after being on cipro for 8 days, I need something to use for maintance or what some call while in remission. From what my GI told me was that Xifaxan was to be used while in remission and not as an inital treatment. Cipro 2 x 500mg a day kicked it down for me. Now I'm going to start Xifaxax 2 x 200mg a day and/or VSL#3 2 packs a day to try to keep it under control. Everybody is different. But so far, this is what is helping me now. Jack

hey, wow...i am just finding the same thing, i think! my dr. has given me xifaxin in the past for a short term solution when i felt pouchitis-like symptoms. it worked very well. he recently put me on xifaxin at a maintenance dose...200mg 2x a day. but since my ins. doesn't cover it, i've had to make due with samples, which i can't always get. when i start taking it, i feel so much better joint-wise, less tired, and my food is better digested. just like you, frequency is unchanged, but i feel unmistakeably better. but gradually i get the same flu-like aches you mentioned. i can't tell if it's the original joint aches returning, but i don't think so, because this time, when i ran out of samples, the aches improved. i think i'm deciding to take it intermittently. oddly, i'm going to try to measure when to take it by my achiness, not by any digestion clues. i was also surprised, because xifaxin seemed to have no side effects in the short term, and is reputed to have fewer with any kind of use.
ellen

Ehbraun, the other thing that has me puzzled is the dosage....both you and Jack were on similar dosing...200mg 2x daily. I was on 400 mg 3x daily. Seems a bit much.
Lori

lori,
when i took xifaxin for a short term, it was at the higher dose you are taking, and it worked well for me. when i did a search here,"xifaxin", there were lots of others describing the same dosage as well. even now, it's only after a couple of weeks that the benefits are overshadowed by those flu-like aches. i should ask my dr. but i'm afraid it all sounds imagined. i'm kind of a wimp sometimes, about asking when i should.

ellen

Lori,
I'm currently taking 400mg x 3 times daily of Xifaxin along with a low dose of cipro (250mg every other day). Right now i am feeling fairly well with few side effects.

However, in the past when i have been on lower doses of Xifaxin, I have felt pretty bad with flu like symptoms and blamed it on the Xifaxin, but this time i'm not having any side effects. My Suggestion is give it a couple of chances to make sure that it is the Xifaxin that is making you feel this way.