News - "New Disease Hits Idaho Falls"

[Sheila1]

Feb. 11, 2007 'local' news story on Cdiff

http://www.localnews8.com/story.cfm?av=news&storyID=1005

[jennie]

There is a comment from one of the doctors in this article, that c-diff can cause heart attacks. Do any of us know anything more about this? In an earlier article, we had found a reference to c-diff causing abnormal heart rhythms. Many of us on site, with active infection, report increased heart rates. Do we know any more than that, or why it is?

[Sheila1]

Jennie, I saw that too. I haven't found anything else, so far, exactly related except that severe cdiff is so very hard on the body (the horrible full-body 'heaving' that takes place in severe d.) is hard on the heart, worse than heaving when vomiting - all of which is hard on the heart. When I was in the ER, that sick, my pulse and normally low blood pressure were both very fast and high. Pain, by itself, increases the heart rate too.

I remember thinking, after I learned a bit more, that I simply could NOT imagine being 70 or 80 years old going through this (I still think that)...it was just about more than I could take and I'm 43. It's easy to see where someone predisposed to heart problems already, would really have a serious time of it.

If I find something else related, other than symptom-caused, I'll post it.

[Allison]

Ladies!

Of course cdiff can cause heart attacks. It can also cause kidney failure, respiratory arrest, complete neurological malfunction, comatose state, and death.
...and so can influenza, or pnuemonia, or food poisoning from a variety of bacterias. All of the above can also cause increased heart rate, but that doesn't mean if your heart races from cdiff you are prone to heart attack.
One could truthfully and accurately report a cup of coffee and a stubbed toe can cause a heart attack too.

It's called "cherry picking" and is used by reporters who mean to alarm.
I'm sure this reporter chose those words from a wider range of info from the doc. Or if the statement "cdiff causes heart attacks" was really given by the doc without elaboration...well shame on him.

I'm all for getting the word "out there" about cdiff, but this is a good example of sensationalized reporting if there ever was one.
IMO, the writing is poorly done, peppered with inaccuracies, and who mispells *diarrhea* when writing about cdiff anyway?
It was meant to scare, not inform.

I'm inclined to agree with Sheila, thinking that the threat of heart attack goes with the territory of being that sick with just about anything.
I will guarantee that both of you know more about cdiff than this doc and the reporter combined.

[jennie]

Allison, Sheila1, thanks for replies, points well taken. I am curious, though, if this doctor is referring to patients in extreme situations with c-diff. Perhaps that is what he is talking about. Most of us in here are young, healthy, mainly women; some of us have been in life-threatening situations, to varying degrees, because of c-diff. Few of us, incredibly thankfully, have been in the ICU horror, and because we are given the meds that get us well again. And because we are young and strong, and generally healthy. But, it is worth knowing if c-diff, when it is in full force, affects the heart. I wonder if it is the toxins, which we know cause havoc, or if this is something that happens when c-diff has taken over completely, and when the body is collapsing. It would be interesting to email the doctor and/or the reporter, to ask them what they meant? That doctor must surely have seen someone with c-diff have a heart attack, we would not know if there was an underlying cardiac problem, if it was an ICU patient, how badly sick with it they were?

I feel the c-diff affecting my heart, that is what I am trying to understand.

[Allison]

That's exactly my point...we don't have any other information about the doc's choice to use those words, so no speculation should be made about what he meant. It's a terribly written article. I'm sure many docs have seen people with cdiff have heart attacks...this is not news. It would be news if it started showing up in the medical literature linking cdiff to heart attacks directly.

If you feel cdiff is affecting your heart, address this concern with your doc and or a cardiologist.
You'd be doing yourself a mischief if you'd rather be concerned about some cherry-picked comment made from somebody in Idaho Falls!

[Bobbie]

Jennie,
I agree with Allison & Sheila. "Don't trouble trouble unless trouble troubles you."

Almost anything can be correlated with anything else. When there are several scientific studies (with multiple particpants), I'd become concerned.

Same correlation could be made if you are in a car accident that is your fault. If you weren't paying attention because of concern about C. diff., is C. diff. the cause of the accident?

Many of us who aren't young, strong, and otherwise healthy and those of you who are have had strange health probems after C. diff. Not all of these problems can be attributed strictly to C. diff. although it is often tempting to blame the disease. It's hard on us all -- emotionally, physically, & financially.

If you are concerned about your heart, please see a reputable cardialogist. I know medical care is not great in W. Africa so if you are still suffering from active C. diff., I'd find an expert in another country. I went to both Mayo & the U. of Mich. Med. Center looking for answers when I had C. diff. I know -- it's more difficult (& expensive) to travel between countries, but you might need to do so if you feel it is affecting your general health.

[jennie]

Thanks, Bobbie. To close on this for now, my posts were not intended to discuss my individual concerns, and I not sure how this has happened, but this is not about me feeling I am about to pop off with a blown heart valve. And all else aside, I do live in a place where the first heart ever was transplanted! You guys put people on the moon at about the same time!

I had commented that I have felt an effect on my heart, and have indeed read in some articles that c-diff can affect the heart rhythms. Several of us on site have reported a racing heart, and that it is bothersome, if not weird; is part of the overall nightmare when we are really sick with c-diff, as Sheila has also discussed.

Of far greater interest, to me at least, is if there are new findings, as c-diff shows up in more virulent, more toxic forms.

We are mainly women in here, and we now know that women are at a greater risk of heart disease than was previously thought.

Therefore, it is intuitive to say, this is something we do well to be aware of, to know more about, as medical experts are grappling with it, and their learning curves encompass what c-diff disease can do.

Other superbugs cause damage to the heart. Of course, we are talking about crisis situations.

If I was very ill with it, or had a loved one very ill with it, I'd certainly rather know what else to be aware of.

My comments were in the spirit of asking questions, if this is a concern, and what we know about it, or wish to know.

One incredibly important leaf from your book, heart-wise, is exercise. Many of us complain that we feel so lousy and tired from this bug, it is as much as we can do to get through the day, no way is there energy to work-out. And knowing that it is the best preventative, the best way to be healthy.