I started on a 14 day treatment of Cipro, but after a week I
got a huge floater in my right eye. I am
not talking about a small floater, it was a ring and some other piece right in
the middle of my vision. Looking this
weird coincidence up on google dredged up a number of people who had floaters
after a treatment of Cipro so I called my doctor and we switched my antibiotic
to Augmentin.
The Sunday after a week of Augmentin treatment I was
supposed to go on a hike, but I kept having to go to the bathroom. It was a massive bowel evacuation. I thought “ok this is weird but I will take a
couple of Immodium tablets and be fine”.
But when I got to my friend’s house to pick her up I knew this wasn’t
normal and I had to go home.
I started having bouts of diarrhea several times an hour, it
was really watery, smelled horrible, wasn’t like “normal” diarrhea at all. I kept
thinking “ok this is what happens when you take an antibiotic it’s normal”, but
I kept getting worse, I started to have fainting spells and I had no
energy. I went back to the doctor’s
office and saw the nurse practitioner who was suspicious because I told her
this was like no diarrhea I had ever had before and I was running a fever. She did a blood test and had me do a stool
sample. I had to wait for the stool
sample results for 4 days. Bad things
started happening. I started having bloody mucous in my diarrhea, had horrible
pelvic pain and I started vomiting. My
appetite went in the dumper and I drank electrolyte water and Pedialyte. In the
meantime my doctor called and said my blood tests were pretty normal and he was
pretty confident I didn’t have c-diff.
Then on the 4th day my doctor called again and
said the stool sample came back positive for c-diff and I needed to start on a
treatment of Flagyl for 14 days right away.
When I was done with the 14 day treatment I should turn in another stool
sample 3-4 days after the last treatment. I have to say I was devastated. My daughter was staying at my house with my
grandson and I was petrified about the contagion. We washed all the towels and my clothes
daily, did thorough hand cleansing, used Lysol in the bathroom and bleached the
toilet.
I had very little energy, slept a lot, did research on
c-diff and was very thankful my daughter was home. Some of the scary things I discovered about
c-diff are: the only thing that will
kill it is bleach, Lysol does nothing; people get c-diff in one of two ways
either by taking antibiotics that kill all the good flora in their gut, or they
are inpatients in a hospital and have immunosuppressed immune systems. The best probiotic for people infected with
c-diff and for people to take if you’re trying to be proactive is
Florastor. There are very few
antiobiotics that will kill c-diff.
Flagyl is the first one that is administered and if that fails patients
are given a course of Vancomycin.
Recurrences are common – ugh!
I dutifully got through 14 days of Flagyl and felt a little
better. The diarrhea abated and I was
hopeful that debacle was over. I turned
in another stool sample 4 days after I completed my Flagyl treatments. The
required four days went by and my doctor called and I said “ok how am I
looking” and he said “the test came back negative!” Oh happy day!
A week went by and I started having pelvic pain, then
massive bowel evacuations. I immediately
went back to the doctor and saw a different physician, by the time I got there
I was running a fever AGAIN! My blood
pressure was low, lost weight (takes an act of God for me to lose weight) and I felt like I was going to pass out. I submitted yet another stool sample. I got through the night but I could tell the
c-diff was back so I called my doctor and said look wouldn’t it be best if I
started on the Vancomycin while we wait the requisite 4 days for the stool test
results because I feel horrible. Only
one pharmacy in my town carried Vancomycin and they had 3 days worth but they
would order more. Within 3 days of taking
Vancomycin I felt a lot better. Then the
stool results came back and they were negative but there was a disclaimer “you
should wait at least 10 days after stopping antiobiotics before taking another
stool test for c-diff because the result could be negative when you actually
still have the bacteria.” I think
physicians should treat patients on their symptoms, especially if they have had
a c-diff infection because waiting for 10 days with an untreated c-diff
infection can lead to horrible complications.
Severe infections can lead to colon resections.
The Vancomycin has worked for me so far and I feel pretty
normal. I am about 6 weeks past my last Vancomycin treatment. I still have pelvic pain if I
eat something hard to digest and I’m staying away from things like nuts, salad,
kale and grains. I drink a Kevita or
Kombucha probiotic drink every day, sometimes two, and adding a little
Pedialyte makes me feel better. One of
my mainstays is white bread, I know go figure, but it’s easy to digest. I also do well with nilla wafers and canned
peaches. I have started exercising and I
don’t have the stamina I want to have but it’s coming back bit by bit.
Key Things to Know about C-Diff
·
It’s everywhere, people may be carriers, but
most people probably have it already. Clostridium difficile spores are extremely hardy, and can survive for long amounts of time in environments devoid of food so it can be in your gut and you wouldn't know it. Most people get C-diff as in-patients in
the hospital because they are immuno-compromised, but if you take general
antibiotics you are also at risk.
·
You need to make sure your gut is populated with
good flora. The best defense against
C-diff is Florastor. There are also good
fermented products such as Kevita and Kombucha.
Bubbies dill pickles contain a lot of probiotic bacteria. Take probiotics every day I don’t think you
can overdo it.
·
Drink Electrolyte water
·
Pedialyte has electrolytes and dextrose that is
easily absorbed
·
If you get a severe infection you will have
colitis and notice blood and mucous with the diarrhea
·
DO NOT wait to go to your doctor. The earlier you get treatment the
better. Some patients have to have their
colons removed because of colitis.
·
The only thing that kills C-diff is bleach
· Once you’ve had a C-diff infection you need to
be really wary of taking antibiotics
