Recovery.... how long!!! I want my life back!

[Mrsbryan]

Im on my 5th month and im overly exhausted. Im 28 years old and my life has been turned upside down because of c.diff. I had 2 treatments of Flagyl, 2 treatments of Vanco, and 2 treatments of Dificid. When to another specialist and she suggested fecal transplant. I used Openbiome for my fmt. I was a great candidate for the research where you take capsules of fecal. So they had me take 10 pills that were very frozen. Im currently 2 and a half weeks out. I still have fevers, weakness, and really bad cramping. The diarrhea has turned to constipation. I took a c.diff test 5 days after the pills and it said neg. Dr is having me take another stool test tomorrow since i still have symptoms. My other specialist says im just still recovering but why do i still have a fever of 101? This is so exhausting!

[roy]

What do you mean by symptoms?

[NanciT]

Have you been checked for anything else? A fever of 101 consistently should be looked into along with cramps. Call your GI if you still are running a fever.
NanciT

[Lisa33]

Hello Mrsbryan - Welcome to the site, but so sorry for your suffering with c-diff for so long. Please read the first forum for new users on standard intro, rules of posting, testing info, etc.

Given that you have been suffering for so long and on so many rounds of meds, I do think that it will take quite some time for your body to heal and get back to some sort of normalcy GI wise.

Has your doctor checked for other pathogens or anything else that could be causing your symptoms as well? I just say that since you are running a fever. My opinion is that still running a 101 fever is not common, and it may not even have to do with c-diff. But only a doctor can address that. I did not have a fecal transplant, so I do not have any experience to add. If for some reason, the pills don't work, the highest success rate seems to be FMT through a colonoscopy. There are a couple of posters who had really stubborn cases that were cured by lower and upper FMTs done at the same time. The one thing that posters with stubborn cases all have in common is that recovery can take a while. So don't get discouraged if you don't see a rapid improvement.

You are young and really have been through a lot. I hope this treatment does the trick for you once and for all, and you are on your way to recovery.

Lisa

[code3rn]

That's strange that you are still having fevers. If they continue hopefully your doctor can do further testing to pinpoint the source of infection. Maybe blood work or even a CT scan? I'm so sorry to hear that you are suffering. You WILL get better, I'm hoping it is soon for you.

[Mrsbryan]

Thank you so much everyone. I went to the ER today due to blood in my stool and the constant fever plus more extreme cramps. They did a CT scan and more blood work the only thing that show was my white blood cell count is still elevated. They weren't very helpful they said the fecal transplant is causing my pain (they didnt even know what dificid or a fmt is at first) which I know it's most likely not true. I will follow up with the specialist tomorrow. Also doing another stool test tomorrow to see if the C diff is back. Thank you for the support!

[beth22]

If you are doing another stool test tomorrow, ask the doctor to test for other things too - parasites, other pathogens and bacteria. You may have something else.

[Mrsbryan]

Thank you beth22! They tested me the past 6 times i did a stool sample and all came back neg. I will make sure they test me this time as well

[beth22]

Some pathogens, like campylobacter, I was told by a doctor just recently, will not test positive on every sample. It's kind of hit or miss, which may explain why one lab found it and another did not when I had it. I hope you get some answers to whatever is causing this. 101 is not normal for sure!

[hledgess]

I see this is a few months old but I am curious how you were doing