C. difficile And diverticulosis

@ciebrown have you tried eating plain Greek yoghurt (you can flavour it with a bit of honey or some fresh fruit) and taking a probiotic? That may help replace some of the good bacteria lost by taking those antibiotics long term.

I've had C. Diff twice. I've also had quite a few episodes of diverticulitis in my life. Every time i have to take antibiotics for diverticulitis, I am deathly afraid the antibiotics will lead to another C. Diff episode. The worse thing I experienced was fear of accidents which made me afraid to leave my house. I also became afraid of food. I went to the grocery store to restock once I felt better, and I got nauseous just looking at all the food. I had become afraid to eat. I lost 19 lbs through the the months I fought it. I am somewhat better now...C Diff is gone, diverticulitis healed....but I still need to take mira lax because if I get constipated, that leads to Diverticulitis. I'm 79 and I have a feeling this will eventually end my life if I have another episode.

After my first diverticulitis episode in my 50's, it took a while to figure it out...I don't run fever...but my GP has a stat lab and the quick white count check had me in the ER quickly. My GP sent a Gastro doc to meet me at the hospital and he saw me annually. but between times, when I had diverticulitis, I went to my GP because the gastro didn't have a stat lab and the GP did. I was treated for 20 years by white count and symptoms. My gastro told me that I should have had a colon resection after three episodes....and I've had at least 15! Now, I'm 79 and I don't want to risk a resection....something is wrong that these docs aren't communicating. My gastro doc retired. I have a new one. I thought I had diverticulitis and the new doc scoffed that the white count meant anything (??!!) when I'd been diagnosed with white count and symptoms for years. This gastro schedules a CT scan if I have symptoms without treating me...So it is a day or two before I can get the cat scan....if you have symptoms on Friday, you get nothing until Monday which is so risky. Then after a week of antibiotics, another rCT scan to see if "i'm well" I'd love to know what others think. This hanging around for ct scans when my family doc has a stat lab makes no sense.

I certainly hope you don’t have C Diff. I had it in 7/2024. After I completed a course of vancomycin I developed post-infectious IBS due to destroyed microbiome. Everything I ate went right through me, I developed fear of food, never left the house and lost ~35 lbs. (Low FODMAP diet helped to find foods tolerable with IBS.) I was told to eat yogurt and drink kefir - which I could not do due to casein intolerance. I was told to take a probiotic, but no one could provide guidance on which one and which potency. A doctor finally recommended ProBio Med (250 billion, expensive, order from their website) within a day of taking that probiotic I felt a drastic change and could start to eat some foods again. I saw a gastro doc who recommended Visbiome (112.5 billion - has to be refrigerated - can get from Costco, grocery store pharmacies over the counter, but they may need to order for you), and Florastor (can order from Amazon). So I discontinued ProBio Med and started the Visbiome/Florastor every day with excellent results. I slowly re-introduced foods one at a time. If I had started this regime of probiotics in the beginning I could’ve greatly reduced the “crap” I went through. I am now 8 months from diagnosis date and almost back to normal (still taking probiotics - doctors disagree on when to stop). Restaurants with questionable food quality are a challenge for me (I seem to be sensitive to msg, other things they put on food now). I do much better with higher end restaurants or just eating at home.

I feel like I now have a terrible disease that is currently in remission, but I am a ticking time bomb because the next UTI will require antibiotics and that will bring C Diff back. 🫤

There should be another gastro that you could consult.