Just thinking aloud!

[Christina]

Most of you around here know my very long complicated case history so I need not get into it. If you don't know it and you're interested it's in case histories under "Christina's Case History". I will say I got C-diff from being on Doxycycline for acne consistently for 3 years. At first, yes I was angry at my Dermatologist and I knew nothing about C-diff. I had never even heard of it at that point. Still wish I didn't. Ha! Ha!
Now that I know C-diff very well almost too well, I can't be angry at the Dr. for prescribing me what is considered normal protocol for treating adult acne. This is the same for anyone who may have gotten C-diff from taking an antibiotic for a tooth infection or say an antibiotic for a sinus infection or UTI, etc. It is not the antibiotic per say that actually gave us C-diff as we all know. Somehow, someday we have had to ingested a spore prior to taking the antibiotic. This is not our Dr.'s fault nor our fault but just plain old very bad luck! If I were in the hospital and then acquired C-diff and was never even on an antibiotic then I might be very angry at the Dr.'s but only then might it be their fault if safety measures weren't followed correctly. The only other case were I might be real ticked off at the Dr. is if I got C-diff and really didn't need the antibiotic in the first place. If it were preventative let's say or a false alarm. Recently my vet prescribed an antibiotic for my dog(Amox). Just in case her incision from being spade got infected because it was not healing properly. I took the meds. home and decided it was best not to give them to her as a just in case and if she came down with an actual infection, I then would take care of it. She is fine and her wound finally healed. Had I given her the Amox. and she came down with C-diff and no wound infection I think I'd really be quite ticked at the Vet.
So when your coming down hard on your Dr. for giving you C-diff or on the drug companies who made the antibiotic maybe think about it a bit more. Although the antibiotic set off your C-diff clinical infection, it did not help you to ingest the spore that had to be ingested prior to taking it.
I guess it is time to forgive my Dermatologist although I don't think antibiotics should be given for cosmetic purposes knowing what I know now. C-diff has certainly changed my way of thinking!

Wishing you all a happy day!

Christina

[HEATHER28]

Christina~
I totally 100% agree with you! I have been working in a hospital setting for going on 11yrs and I know that I picked up the Cdiff spore sometime with in that 11yrs. As you know I got cdiff after taking Clindmaycin for proventive measures after I had my wisdom teeth pulled. Yes I was angry with my dentist for giving me a antibiotic that I really didnt need but, I didnt blame him for giving me Cdiff. Dentist have been giving antibiotics for years, he didnt treat me any different then he would any other patient. He had no way of known what was going to happen to me. Cdiff really is just really bad luck as you said, it is really easy to play the blame game but, in the end it really is nobodys fault.

I also agree with what you said about the drug company's. Clindmaycin is a nasty,awful antibiotic...for me (and many others on this site) but, just because it didnt work for me dosent me that others cant take it with success.

Points to remember:
It's not the drug company's fault we got Cdiff
To a big extent it is not the Drs fault
Most of all it is not our fault!!

It just happend and you have to deal with it, keep busy and try and get on with your life! Thinking about the fact that you have Cdiff and letting it over take your life is only going to make it worse. I know that there are going to be some people that dont agree with what we are saying. Please remember that this is only our opinion and everyone has a right to express how they feel.

Wishing everyone good health!

[pam2738]

Agreement from me too.

I took Augmentin that my doctor prescribed for a nip from a cat that was healing just fine. I didn't HAVE to take it when he prescribed it, but I did. Had I known anything about Cdiff at all, I wouldn't have. And as I told him, I will not take anything for bites from now on without priorly doing a lot of self-care & I have educated myself on that.

But also I was set up for Cdiff, not only as Christina has said, by somehow sometime ingesting a spore or two, but because I had been under severe stress for about a year during which my daughter's marriage was breaking up under nasty & sometimes scary conditions. I woke up so many mornings & went through so many days with that cold sick feeling of anxiety & fear in the pit of my stomach. I think that period of time did a number on my immune system so I was just an awful accident waiting to happen. The Cdiff spores were there, my immune system was shot, & then along came the Augmentin.

I can only fault my doctor perhaps for not telling me the risks. Another local doctor that I see always counsels her patients who get antibiotics to take probiotics along with them. Whether this is because of me (this is a village of only 1400 & I MAY be the o nly one here with Cdiff!) or whether she has always done that, I don't know. But doctors should be better educated as to the risks.

Pam