Has anyone with Kaiser gotten them to cover Xifaxin for pouchitis? I have been on Cipro for 14 years. My new gastro. wants to rotate me with Xifaxin in the rotation. Kaiser said no. Is it worth my time and energy to try to get them to do it?
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It depends on the amount of time and energy. When I tried to rotate Xifaxan it simply failed to work for me, but others get good results. It has a better side effect profile overall, but it sounds like Cipro is extremely well tolerated *by you*.
If your new gastroenterologist is a Kaiser doc this shouldn’t really be too hard.
I'd try to get it if I were you. I took it but can't say it helped as I ultimately lost my j-pouch. I could tolerate it better than Flagyl. I was rotating it with another antibiotic. I think rotating antibiotics is good when taking them all the time. It is expensive so can see why your insurance company is making you jump threw hoops. If I remember correctly it is specifically designed to help with gastro problems.
I think the problem is that Cipro may not be working as well as originally. this all happens so slowly, we just adjust. i have high frequency - 5 times a night on a bad one and always 2 times. about 15 times in 24 hours. I hope this new rotation works,
When Cipro stopped working as well as it had originally for me I tried various alternative antibiotics individually. Unfortunately none of them worked for me. Adding a small dose of Flagyl to the Cipro worked wonders, though, and that’s been my solution for 4 or 5 years now. Combination therapy carries a higher risk of side effects, of course, but it’s been very good for me.
I hope the Xifaxan fixes you up!
Try tindamax
Agree with tindamax🙌🏻 Although Cipro was my all time fav! Good luck!
Thanks for the replies. Tindamax sounds interesting. To be honest, this whole rotation thing has thrown my pouch for a loop. I have been almost living in the bathroom ,get horrible spasms, stool consistency varies from diarrhrea to too solid to pass. I have been doing enemas daily just to get the pouch to empty. My new doc, while impressive on the first meet, does not follow through on requests for prescription refills unless called constantly. This has made me rush all over town picking up scripts, taking them and having to wait an hour to get them filled. I asked the nurse to get back to me on my symptoms and have heard nothing. She just wanted to get off the phone. I just want to cry because 30% of the time I am trying not to mess myself.
this rant has made me realize I need to call the doc again and get some action or change docs. Why do we have to fight the hardest when things are the worst?
