C. difficile – Are your guts ever normal again?

I have been reading for days all of your bouts of infections and treatment plans and have to give you all some information to help you along. The c.diff bug is a sinister bug that always lives in your gut. It is an opportunistic little bug that takes advantage of times when your good bacteria in your gut are not at their best. Meaning, there are not enough of them to fight the c diff bugs to keep them at bay. When you take ANTIBIOTICS...they wipe out ALL OF YOUR good biotics (your microbe) that keeps you healthy and well. The area of 32 feet of gut is a lot of space to cover and your c diff loves to live in it and rule it. The rule of the game then must be finding how to change the game so the the c diff doesn't like to live in this environment. Putting good things in your mouth and stomach begins in learning about what is clean and wholesome for you. First step - learn about your diseases so that you know what is the cause and how you can minimize the effects of them in whatever way that you can. Minimize the use of process foods, dirty foods, fatty foods and soda. Water is essential for your body since it is 80% of what you are made of. Prebiotics and Probiotics can be found in clean foods. Look that up on google or read about it in Anthony William's Book - Medical Medium Life-Changing Foods. I have a c.diff gut and will always have one but I don't let it rule my life. I rarely take my refrigerated probiotics but have them when I need them. I have yogurt on standby. I use lactaid milk because I can't tolerate milk products. Two meals a day for only fruits and vegetables. I start out my day with the celery juice that may seem like a waste and I can't see what it does for me on the outside but boy does it show in the lab values for my diabetes, weight management, and immune systems. I have included cucumbers and parley in my morning drink to jazz it up! My warm water has lemon slices in it that I sip throughout the day. In the morning I have an 1/8 tsp of Metamucil in my tea cup since the bowel are sluggish but the stools are working dandy after years of constipation and GERD. There is a starting point and an end point for everyone but it begins with the first step. Research your journey and find what works and doesn't work - keep track with your GI doc/NP so that you can find the path that will help you look at food as being helpful and not a hindrance to you health.

@nettecook We really do need to read the ingredient labels. I gained back the 10 pounds I had lost from my last Cdiff episode during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Sorry to hear you also have to deal with IBS issues.

hi gang I recently learned of ongoing research at the Melbourne university melb Australia .they announced the results of recent research on CDifficule . they found that the reason it is such a stubborn bacteria to get rid of is due to the fact that antibiotics can knock it down the problem is that CDifficule loves the high sugar diet of westerners and it powers and they multiply and rage on and party on .The result to successfully to get on top you have to reduce sugar and or glucose in your diet look to plain foods until you have successfully gotten rid of it throughout your guts intestines and bowel walls and caecum. I am a bio medical scientist in Australia but my field is in children's cancer and I was reading this research recently .I did contact Lisa Lucier and she was on holidays and just got back and advised me to write this info in this group regards sirgallahad

VERY TRUE. Sugar is the enemy for many of our diseases including all of our cancers. All cancers feed off of the various sugars that can be found in our processed foods, sodas, juices, drinks that have artificial sugars in them... Our gut including the liver, gall bladder, pancreas, spleen and inner workings of the small intestines work hard to neutralize the sugar so that the bacteria/viruses and foods/liquids that we digest can turn out to be the best for us but often the choices are not the best and we feel the effects of that. Reading labels on your food items will show just how much glucose/sugar has been added to our food for the last 30 + years. Instead of salt, they have substituted sugar...or all the different types of sugars - claiming that they are natural and won't harm you but yea.. they are and will and have been for a long time. Especially when you count up every little bit of food item you eat - milk, bread, pasta, meat, - look at anything packaged...it will have sugar in the ingredients. If you eat raw fruits or vegetables - you will be eating natural which is not added sugar and your gut will favor this over any added or un natural sugar. Cancer or any disease doesn't like natural or clean sugar. This is why you look to eating clean foods instead of processed. Even your bottled waters have sugar in them.... Nothing is left off of the list and hasn't...its a shame.

Wanted to lay my woes at the feet of people who understood. I was felled with a severe case of colitis. I was sent to ER ON 7/16. I tested negative for C. Diff. at that time. However m they said I had sepsis along with the colitis, so was put IV antibiotics for almost 3 days and sent home with 2 weeks of cipro and flagyl.

This whole colitis attack came out of the blue. I had felt fine up until that point. I was having some bowel issues but nothing serious, so I guess that was the start of colitis.

Now I have c. Diff. from the massive amounts of antibiotics I’ve been on. My gastro doc sent me in for quite a few fecal exams and the only thing that showed up was the c. diff. She immediately put me on 2 weeks of vancomycin.

My doc is telling me how contagious this is. I’ve been sleeping n our guest bedroom, using the guest bathroom, I have my own dinnerware and utensils, I’ve e been wearing gloves and walking around with Clorox wipes. I have one more week of the vancomycin. My hands are pretty raw from the constant washing and using the Clorox wipes.

I am missing a trip to IN for my oldest grandsons birthday. Doctor gave me a “absolutely not” on that one.

I haven’t lost weight and thankfully I feel okay and no pains. Thankfully, I’m retired so it’s no hardship staying at home.

I follow up with my doc on 9/3.

From what I’ve read, I’m really afraid of relapse because this quarantine is driving me crazy and I’m depressed. I don’t want to think this is going to keep interfering with my life!

Thanks for listening to my “oh, woe is me” tale.

look to getting probiotics and or yoghurt and also recommended people with C diff go on a low sugar /glucose diet or plain food regime or a vegie diet . recent research as I informed people c diff is powered by sugars and you need to reduce the sugar in your diet also can look at a Mediterranean diet . See a dietitian . discuss with your doc

look to probiotics or yoghurt and a low glucose or low sugar diet or take sugar out of your diet as recommended by Melbourne university .I can tell you that c diff loves sugars and it powers them and you need to take that source away from them . also discuss with a dietitian or a dietitian attached to Mayo re reducing sugars in your diet .your organs and cells still need sugars as well

@patts i feel your pain i was in the hosp the whole time i had cdiff but it finally cleared up after 4 weeks. So life got back to normal when i got home. But ill tell you im not taking any chances. Now when i use public restroom i have my butt pack with clorox wipes and clean prior to use. Hand washing a must. Plus there having me do prevention by taking vancomycin 3 day a week as a maintenance dose. Good luck hopefully it will be over soon.

@patts I know EXACTLY how you feel. Last year, I was going through the same thing you are. I got Cdiff from taking Clindamycin for a sinus infection. Unfortunately I went for almost two weeks thinking I had Ecoli and didn't go to the doctor. The Ecoli scare from eating romaine lettuce was going around at the same time as my first bout. My first bout was in May and my last one was in October. I went through doses of Flagyl, Vancomycin (twice) and even did the pulse and taper of Vanco for 6 weeks and finally took Dificid last October. The Dificid was terribly expensive and I understand why they don't prescribe it first. I had decided a fecal transplant would be my next option. If the Vancomycin doesn't work for you, I would suggest that you try Dificid. I know exactly how you feel as I spent most of the summer in our home or backyard. I cleaned everything in our home from light switches to wiping down handles of everything I touched. I sleep with a pillow between my knees and after my 3rd bout, I tossed out that pillow thinking maybe it was contaminated. I truly became paranoid because of that dreaded Cdiff. Something I had never even heard of prior to May. My gastroenterologist suggested I take Florastor has it has S. Boulardii. Hand washing is key. I was around family members during all four bouts of Cdiff and my husband, daughters and grandchildren did NOT get it. It would be interesting to know if anyone on this site has ever infected other family members. I know it runs rampant in nursing homes because of contact but I've not heard of any cases in individual homes. I was happy I found this site where I could discuss my "woes" with others who truly understand.

You make me smile. I’m on probiotics + natural Greek yogurt. I’m also prob in the top 10% Eating Well Club. 😉 my gastro has always pushed nutrition and I told my husband I always laugh when she gets out the big book on nutrition and I’m basically doing all that anyway. Just conclude sometimes it just happens.