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Trying to recover from a c. diff infection (Clostridium difficile)
I am trying to recover from a c.diff infection. This started with taking clindamycin in mid January and 3 days later I became ill with diarrhea and felt sick, loss of appetite etc...Went to the er twice, tested negative for c.diff on my 2nd visit. The Dr. told me to take imodium to rest my colon since I tested negative. That evening I had diarrhea and took the Imodium. Became constipated with pain lower right side. I went to a GI dr. pleading for help, I did another stool test and it came back positive for c.diff. I tried flagyl but could not tolerate the side effects. Tried vancomycin for 10 days. Did not work. Tested positive again, Went to a new gi doctor who prescribed dificid for ten days. I am 31 days post dificid and I have almost constant gut rumbling and urge to go. My 1st bm in the morning is usually semi normal, but after that they are always either pencil thin and or small pieces (2 to 5 times a day). This has been my routine since the vancomycin. I do not get dull blown diarrhea..... My dr. wants me to have a colonoscopy but I an scared that the cleansing will wipe out all my good flora. I currently take 2 florastor pills and 1/2 vsl3 per day. I eat fermented pickles for the probiotics as well..... I have many food intolerances since this whole mess began (fiber, many vegatables, dairy). I also have a strange taste in my mouth most of the time, have very little energy and fight with depression. My primary gave me Xanax .25 but I only take them at night when I cannot sleep...... Went to a nutritionist who put me on a no wheat, soy, dairy, gluten diet. Does not seem to be helping or hurting. I lost 20 pounds and cannot gain any weight (I weigh 120 at 5'7")... I am thinking it might be sibo, or candida but cannot find a dr. to test for these....I am in the right place for help or advice ? The urge to go is awful and limits my once active lifestyle.....
Thank you, Scott
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oh thats good judy.... i kept so many notes about that, but also my other health issue that now i cant find anything ... personally i would try and branch out a little and try a few other food items, just a little and see how it goes.. i hate yougurt but buy the small Green yogurt andput about 2 tsp maple syrup on and mix it up... however, one book i read said, like many other foods we eat now, processed yougurt isnt the same as he good old fashioned kind.... cant win.. take care my dear, june
Judy from what i can gather i believe there are a lot of people walking around with c,diff and do not even now it.... it took myself in to a clinic as i noticed my usual diarrhea looked odd, and thought i saw blood in.... its odd over the many many years i had ibs-d a docctor NEVER got my feces tested for anything!! i would say to anyone who is concerned, to ask for a fecal test. the dr i saw at the clinic had 2 things to test for, one from .... cant remembr but from bad food; another from infection and had added c.diff at the side, he didnt even mention it tome and i wondered why i had to do 3 vials for testing so i was inshock when my famiy dr phoned with the new... devastated more like it. but then i have spoken to others who didnt over-react, made sure hands washed and got better sooner - but i really think maybe they didnt have any gastro problems before getting it?? Sometimes innocence is bliss! But i am anxious so overdid it. But tell me, how do we know if in a restaurant someone makes us a sandwich and theyhave it and we eat the food...... we got it after we used antibiotics but FROM WHERE???
@lacy2 , @judy75 @acres when I suffered from cdiff years ago I took Metamucil and it helped me a lot. I found eating rice and bananas (not together, of course) very calming for my stomach too. I am so glad I’m over it but my heart goes out to all of you - been there!
I have a gross question regarding c-dif. I tested positive for c-dif, but my stool has been basically soft, but formed. I just go a lot. I end the vancomycin today. Has having a formed stool been anyone’s experience?
@judy75 not sure why i thought of a funny response, as have felt so awful lately , know yu do too, and just home an hour after having largest molar in my mouth taken out... he had a hard time as roots 'very wide" and i had numbing but he broke the tooth up first as full of fillings.... ugh ugh and ugh. i could feel the vibrations of him rocking each root back and forth a lot, to dislodge them..and grind them.... it was brutal but didnt want to leave the tooth and end up on even more anticiotics which gave me c diff in first plant.
regardless: reading your note , and it's NOT funny at all for any of us with bowel issues; but i had ibs-d for years before c diff, had runny diarrhea all during c diff and months of VANCO, and ended up with faecal incontinence; the only thing that saves me 50 per cent of the time is Imodium. Then its like rabbit poo and - this is even more "gross" than your question; sometimes i go to bathroom to pee and there on the floor is a little brown ball; or shower and in the drain is a little brown ball and we have a dog as a pet not a rabbit!!!
I am making a joke of it but it's enough to drive me to drink. i would say in past 2 years i have had may be three times a normal sausage bowel movement and overjoyed and felt like taking a photo - its like a rare siting!!!! So didnt have formed stool before c.diff and havent had since... i have forgotten what its like to have normal bowls.........think i have had too much happen to my bowel and now at 77 i don't want to pursue.... i have other issues with health physical and mental and just cant go through the colonoscopies etc etc etc.
i will say though, had fecal transplant been available to me at age 65 or before i would have had it in a minute with no hesitation... am sure it could not have been worse than the last ten years or more.
Best of luck and on this site there is no such thing as "gross" Take care my dear J.
Hello hope all goes well for you once your are off Vanco. I had c Diff back in June and never had good formed stool after my stool is always formed but very soft. And I still go 2 to 3 times per day. Was told I developed post Infection IBS seems it is common with any colon Infection. How many times do you still go per day? Will you get tested after the vanco?
Hi, I’m off vanco tomorrow and then the Dr wants to retest me next week. Some days I can go up to 5/6 times a day - all formed. Then there are other days when I barely go at all. I had c-dif back in 2019 and can’t remember too much, but it seems I had more diarrhea back then.
Oh my gosh! I can’t imagine! The world of gut problems. You just never know what to expect and the problems have to be the grossest in the body. It takes a very special person to go into gastro medicine. They earn every penny of their income and more.
I agree there are times I want to take a picture of my BMs just to show the dr what’s going on.
You are fortunate to get to the dentist. I need to have dental work done but don’t trust my gut to sit in the chair without needing to use the loo. I don’t want him to be in the middle of a procedure and me having to jump out of the chair to go to the bathroom.
Please take care. It’s time I find my way to bed.
Good luck and hope all turns well for you!
hi @judy75 and all... well, i try and think of my poop/feces as processed food because really that's what it is,with a few things thrown in. I did take a 2 photos when i knew something was wrong in 2018 as so peculiar and looked like bits of blood etc., my dr. was on vacation and i showed to dr. at walkin clinic and he ordered the tests. when my dr. returned and i had diagnosis of c.diff i told him about the photos and went to get them from my purse and he said; i dont want to see them! Around same time i started to go to a naturopath, very nice woman, and at appointment after all this and figuring out what to do, i sold her about photos and what my dr. said and she said; oh show them to me! i am very interested in this !
Honestly, from birth to death we are evacuating food and liquids we intake.... and of course, its not a subject to talk about around the dinner table, but for a doctor not to want to even look a at very extraordinary photo.... and you cant even mention the words; toilet paper, in front of some people, lol....maybe as i have been forced to discuss it over the years, it's just another word in the dictionary - but living the life with it is life changing. By the way, rough time at dentist... 70 year old molar with very wide roots, he had a tough time pulling out and grinding them down,,,, eeek.... and after almost an hour start to finish even my listening to the drill with my tinnitus and hyperacousis, i stumbled out of their office ... Reading about it, apparently man dentists get tinnitus from constantly listening to drills! Wishing you the best outcome (here they do not re-test after Vanco unless still having diarrhea0 - odd, eh? J.