Clever doctors

[ClDif]

Yes, I am German. The medical system over here is not bad, definitely many advantages compared to other countries and thankfully not comparable to the NHS.

The last surgeon I saw is the leading Prof of a hospital here in town, the dental clinic has a very good reputation. I don't actually have insuarance cover for treatment through the "chief" unless an in-patient and he still saw me, which is good.

There are different forms of oseto, acute and chronic. This has been going on since September, so it seems to have become chronic. Pain levels vary, in my case and in general wth osteo ;-)...

The chance of IV Vanco alone curing this, without surgery, is limited I think because ABs only reach bone tissue to a limited extent and because the infection has been going on for a while. So, ABs and surgery as a combination would be the way to go. I'll try and get some more opinions on the danger of treating with IV vanco...

[Bobbie]

CIDiff,
Best of luck to you. It's difficult to have several medical problems & once & C. diff. really complicates things.

Is there a lot of C. diff. in Germany? I've read your health system is good.

[ClDif]

No idea what the situation really is like. It's not a media issue over here at all, nothing close to the UK. Most people outside of the health sector have never heard of this. The virulent strain only reached Germany last autumn I think and doctors are slowly waking up to the threat. I know that while I was in the hospital with c diff in December (when I ended up diagnosing myself in the end and only ended up knowing what I had because I insisted to have the stool test repeated) there was a big conference on the virulent strain and what its consequences can and should be for hospitals and GPs. Not that any of these guidelines were then implemented in my case... My GP told me that in the past 10 years or so he had only ever seen 3 cases of C Diff in hospitals he worked and later his practise. So, doesn't seem like it was a big thing in the past.

Saw the gastro/ID doc today. He looked at my blood work and said "One thing is clear and that is that you are seriously ill. This is not just something little, this is big." I was actually happy to hear that - at least a justification for how awful I have been feeling. Will go to his hospital at the end of the month for a few days for a gastro, colonoscopy, an MRI and other things. He thinks it's either an infection, maybe lyme disease or, more likely, an autoimmune something, maybe Crohn's, maybe something else possibly triggered by an infection. He was shocked how high my rheumatoid factor is - and it used to be double as high... Also, he explained that the lactulose breath test he did a couple of weeks ago to test for SIBO was actually not great as I had though. Although the small intestine seems fine, the large intestine was not at all and seems to have a much too high bacterial load. I wonder what it may be, some lovely c diffies maybe? We will see. I am only glad that things are going forward and help is in sight. He promised me that he will do his very, very best. I thought that was lovely and just what I needed. Straight to bed now, today has been a nightmare, have hardly been able to stay on my feet. Thanks for listening guys!