I'm a newby

[bobndix]

I was prescribed clindamycin for a staph outbreak on my side. Within 3 days my stool had turned black and I was in severe pain. I called my doctor and she said to stop the medication immediately. I was tested for blood and that was a positive result. However the pain was still there. I thought, being the holidays and all, it was probably poor food choices. When I finally did call my nephrologist he immediately said it was C-Diff. I had never heard of such a thing. But after some intense research and a considerable amount of anxiety I found out that this disease is becoming more an more prevalent. I was angry with my providers, who first of all knew that I was on stool softeners and never told me to stop them. I was angry that they failed to tell me to stop my aspirin regimen. In fact after a trip to the emergency room and an ultra sound and cat scan and me asking the resident physician if there was any foreign bacteria, they did not know or even indicate that this was a possibility. It was only after I did more research on my own that I found that yogurt could help restore my balance and that I should stop taking these particular medications
Now I am on a mission..... If there is any way that I can get the word out I am going to do just that. Any forum at any time........This is wrong that both Staph infections and C-diff are becoming so prevalent especially in our hospitals. Thanks for listening

[Bobbie]

bobndix,
Your story is common on this site. Clindamycin is the first antibiotic linked to C. diff. Your nephrologist is one smart doc.. I wonder why he would be familar with C. diff. when your other docs. were so uninformed altho. many docs. know little about it.

Hope you have recovered from C. diff. by now. If not read PLS READ BEFORE YOU POST and the info. on the site.

I hope we can count on you to be proactive in an attempt to publicize C. diff. Even though it has reached almost epidemic proportions, it is one of the best kept and little publicized medical secrets -- in many countries besides the US.

[Sheila1]

bobndix,

Glad you've joined the folks who are mad that this disease is being "kept in the closet" in the U.S. - but sorry you had to experience it!

Like you, I and others are extremely frustrated at the lack of knowledge by physicians of such a prevalent and growing problem...even many GI doctors don't seem to have a clue about the recurrent form of disease. Others on the site have contacted media, I've contacted all my local news stations..to no avail. I don't know if they don't feel it's "newsworthy" or are just helping keep a lid on it. I suspect (only suspect) that if they ARE a bit interested and contact a hospital for a little info. before deciding on an article, the hospitals are most likely saying "it's not a problem" - they don't want to be in the news, after all. The only way I see to combat this is to somehow get in touch with local folks suffering cdiff and present the info. as a group to make the news people take another look. Haven't figured out yet how to go about that group-forming thing...

The site has Cure CDiff bracelets you can order to help promote awareness and the money helps maintain the site. Check out the main index "Support Our Site" to order some.

Hope you are well and cured!

Sheila

[Bobbie]

We are planning to do something in 2007 to help publicize C. diff. Any ideas are welcome.