Student Athlete Returns to the Field Thanks to Vancomycin

Cynthia is the mother of a PSC patient, and she submitted her daughter’s astounding vancomycin story. Cynthia’s daughter (who’s name will remain anonymous for privacy reasons) started taking 2,250 mg of the ANI Pharmaceuticals brand at age 15. She was in stage one fibrosis at the time and also lives with ulcerative colitis.

She began vancomycin in 2012 and is still taking it to this day in 2021. Read on to see how vancomycin turned Cynthia’s daughter’s life around and allowed her to pursue her dream of playing competitive sports.

Patient Story: Submitted by Patient’s Mother, Cynthia

From 2010-2012, Cynthia’s daughter lived with symptoms of ulcerative colitis, including bloody stool, chronic inflammation in parts of the large intestine. Her ALT, AST, alkaline phosphatase, and GGT were high. She did not respond to typical ulcerative colitis medications and the ursodeoxycholic acid did not normalize her liver enzymes. In fact, her symptoms worsened, and she developed symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and upper stomach pain. That’s when she started vancomycin.

After just two weeks of vancomycin, her diarrhea resolved and her stools became solid. After five months, her liver numbers had significantly decreased. After one year of vancomycin, Cynthia’s daughter’s ulcerative colitis symptoms went away, the progress in both her PSC and UC reversed, her liver numbers normalized, and she gained back a healthy 35 pounds that she lost when her health was at its worst.

With her newfound health, Cynthia’s daughter became a top player at her high school’s and college’s competitive lacrosse teams. She takes medication three times a day (390 pills a month) and gets monthly blood tests and yearly colonoscopies and liver MRIs.

Over the past near-decade, Cynthia’s daughter has experienced a fully healed colon with no polyps, liver fibrosis, bile duct strictures, or cancer!

However, she has been sensitive to changes in vancomycin brand and dose. Lowering her daily dose to 1,000 mg caused a spike in her liver enzymes. Additionally, other brands of the drug (including Akorn and Alvogen) caused loose stools and a rise in liver numbers.

Cynthia’s daughter also experienced loose stools, high GGT, and high calprotectin in mid-2019 when ANI changed its manufacturing facility. She now opens the ANI capsules before swallowing them, and this has normalized her liver numbers and symptoms.

Through some trial and error, she’s found that taking 2,250 mg of the ANI brand and opening the capsules keeps her in remission. Thanks to vancomycin, she excelled in high school and is now playing lacrosse at a renowned university in California.