Does anyone in medicine have a clue?

[bethjo]

I had c diff for about three months in the summer of 2007. I was tested for it twice, spent $3,000 in medical copays for tests I didn't need and failed two c diff tests before a gastro dr. diagnosed me.

Being sick was awful but the worst part was facing doctors who were clueless and coworkers and friends who assume you're a hypocondriac.

I've managed to avoid antibiotics for a year. But I've had a root canal once and a retreatment once and the tooth is still infected. I talked to my dentist today and I thought we decided to put me on Amoxicillan and Flagyl (the flagyl would be to protect me from cdiff). I got to the drugstore and she'd prescribed Amoxicillan and DIFLUCAN which is for yeast infections. I finally got it straightened out but not without pulling out a bunch of my hair.

If Cdiff is so common I don't understand why doctors seem so clueless. Since dentists perscribe antibiotics so often it seems like it would be something they're familiar with.

I'm petrified with the idea that it might come back.

[feelinghopeful]

I would be petrified, too! You seem to know plenty so just use common sense and do not suffer alone if you start to have problems. Don't do anything you think is unnecessary that could jeopardize your health but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and take the damned antibiotic. I'm living in fear of that day because we all wind up having to take antibiotics for something. I will be thinking of you.

I know what you mean about doctors. I could tell you stories! I'm trying to stay on the positive side at the moment but when I think of the ignorance I've encountered I could scream. My GP told her assistant I DRANK POOP to get rif of my C-Diff!!!!!! I had a transplant that cured me, so far, and this is how she disparagingly refers to it long after I gave her a folder full of information on it to read for future patients. Some of them are ignoramuses. They got a degree, they're not necessarily very intelligent, open minded, humanitarian or curious.

Good Luck

[cindym]

Hate to be so blunt but the mere reason they are so clueless about cdiff is BECAUSE THEIR BOOKS DO NOT TEACH THEM THE FULL EXTENT AND RAGE of this condition. I was told this by a doctor. In med school cdiff is only touched on as a condition that can occur with overkill of antibiotics. They are taught that one or two doses of flagyl or vanco will cure it..........HA HA HA! The books were written prior to broad spectrum drugs in my opinion and the total devastation they can cause. The best thing you can do for yourself is to educated your own self and push it down their throats if need be to get them to understand the seriousness of this condition. However, as times go on more and more articles are being written and YES more doctors are becoming aware but VERY SLOWLY>

[trob25]

Thank god my general practitioner understands the severity of this disease. Before I was even tested he guessed I had c-diff and he was right. He was also very worried and informed me about how serious this condition was, and that people can lose their colons.

Now, he treated me with Flagyl twice, but the GI I followed up with was totally clueless. He thought the Lyme disease I had last year was actually Crohns (I tested positive for lyme three seperate times last year, even by a specialist, and I had lyme before this and knew the symptoms) and wanted to give me a colonoscopy. However, at that point I was near the end of my second round of Flagyl and feeling better. I told him the medication that caused it was Cipro, he didn't believe that. He didn't know the medications I was on and had to look them up! He didn't think taking pro biotics like the acidphilus my General prescribed did anything.

And when I told him I was worried because I lost 25 pounds, he just looked at me quizzically and said "how did you loose 25 pounds?" like it was something I did and not the disease! I also told him I had been on a relatively bland diet, as prescribed by my doc, and he said "why would you do that?"

Lastly he informed me that almost no one gets c-diff more than once, and that I must have reinfected myself because of unsanitary practices. Even though I was bleaching the toilet, washing hands and using gloves, he proceeded to argue with me for 10 minutes over the type of bleach I was using.

Btw, two weeks later this guy almost killed my dad. I warned him not to go, then he had a colonoscopy and the Doc knicked an artery which bled severely (he almost died) and required an emergency colonoscopy to fix.

At this point, I doubt I will ever go to a GI again. So yeah, some docs are idiots. I don't think it matters the type of health care you have in the world, treatment comes down to the competence of the doctor.

[Bobbie]

Many docs. are clueless about C. diff. Although many are caring, they only give you an education, experienced, expensive guess that is not always correct.

Every time I have a new medical problem, I usually wind up with something getting screwed up -- appointments, meds., differences in opinions on diagnoses.

Check, check, and doublecheck everything. Don't be afraid to speak up. "Squeaky wheels get the grease."

Almost everyone with C. diff. is terrified of getting it again. No one who hasn't had it understands what a frightening, uncertain disease it can be.