I have only been on flagyl once and I had almost immediate improvement.

If it's not helping after eight days it might be time to switch to Cipro. Most folks see improvement within a couple of days if it's going to work at all.

Agreed. You should have seen improvement within 48 hours. A side effect of Flagyl is diarrhea, but I don't know that really applies to us. Probably for coloned people.

All antibiotics have diarrhea and/or constipation as a possible side effect. This is due to how they may alter the gut bacteria. Plus, most contain lactose as an inactive ingredient. Depending on how sensitive you are to lactose, that can be a factor.

But, bottom line; if you are taking it to treat diarrhea and have no improvement in 2-3 days, it is time to reconsider your treatment. One size does not fit all!

Jan

I was also instructed to start taking a probiotic after the flagyl. Have been taking Align since Sept 2013 and pouchitis has not returned.

Thank for responding everyone. I have been on cipro now for the past 3 days and haven't really seen that much improvement. I take probiotics daily and have been for many years. I really think this help with me not getting pouchitus. However, I'm not certain I have pouchitis...but what else can it be. My surgeon scoped me and said it was mild/moderate pouchitis so I guess it is.
Any help would he greatly appreciated.

I would suggest testing for C. difficile and CTM (cytomegalovirus). Neither one would improve with those antibiotics, except for some strains of C. diff would be suseptible to Flagyl.

Barring that, you are left with ischemic pouchitis (from poor blood flow). Hopefully, it is not that!

Jan

Hi Jan,
What's this C difficile I keep reading about? None of my doctors have ever talked about it or brought it up. I have had UC and/or Crohns for over 40 years.