Anyone else have sudden onset? Well to sick as dog?

Since c-diff is a disease of the "lower half", so to speak, we find that many of our members cannot refrain from discussing what comes out the bottom end. If you must do it, please do it here.
Marie
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Anyone else have sudden onset? Well to sick as dog?

Postby Marie » Wed Mar 15, 2017 3:27 am

My stool test came back + Monday morning, but I suspected this five days earlier. How? The odor! Worst I've ever smelled, worse even than giardia. (I used to live in the Adirondacks in NY, on Beaver Lake where it was endemic, locally known as Beaver Fever.) One would have thought someone had eaten a lb. of fresh leeks and lain dead for a day. (Thank God the shared bathroom at work has a large window that opens and a fan.)
This "hit" me very suddenly. I felt perfectly well all day until 10 minutes before quitting time. All at once, despite the almost balmy weather, I began to shiver violently, had goose bumps, chattering teeth, and body aches. I thought it was the flu. After 15 minutes, I had to run you know where! It was explosive, painful, and reeked. I stayed on the throne for nearly 15 minutes until the pain subsided enough to get up. I managed to drive home, find parking, (I live in a city and park on the street.), then I felt so tired I actually fell asleep in the car for two hours. I woke up feverish and managed, just, to walk half a block and climb three flights up to my apartment. There, I spent four miserable nights until realizing I was badly dehydrated and needed to get medical help.
Did anyone else experience a sudden onset like me?
Dr.said likely cause was the precautionary antibiotic I was on for a week and had finished three days before getting c.diff.

Benh
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Re: Anyone else have sudden onset? Well to sick as dog?

Postby Benh » Wed Mar 15, 2017 8:30 am

I think it can present this way. It is such an odd disease in terms of how it impacts each us differently. My relapse was much like you describe. I woke up feeling pretty good, had breakfast and then all heck broke loose and very rapidly escalated with higher fever, chills, pain, and bathroom trips. By mid morning, I was a complete mess and calling the dr for another round of meds (this time a vancomycin taper, which I am in the middle of now). Hopefully, you are now on medication and you should improve over the next couple of days or sooner.

MKW
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Re: Anyone else have sudden onset? Well to sick as dog?

Postby MKW » Wed Mar 15, 2017 6:27 pm

Hi Marie, I've been on this board for several months and one thing I have learned is people's symptoms vary. My first episode had slow onset, but for my three recurrences I went from healthy to severe symptoms within 24 hours. I typically had cramping for about a half day and would feel a little off, then would go from my first loose BM to severe D in about another half day. I never ran more than a low grade fever though despite severe D. Also, you are right - the odor with this isn't like anything else. I developed C Diff a couple weeks after taking Clindamycin from my dentist. Hope you are responding well to your meds. This chat board is great for support and is a wealth of information.

Marie
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Re: Anyone else have sudden onset? Well to sick as dog?

Postby Marie » Fri Mar 17, 2017 2:50 am

I'm glad to know my case isn't weird or exceptional. It seems to be a lot like giardiasis. That, too, hit me very suddenly the three times I had it, but back then, it was so well known as a local hazard, everyone self-diagnosed via their nose. I was given Flagyl back then, too, and, for obvious reasons, had to stay in my quarters at the resort where I worked as assistant cook. After a week, I was good to go. LOTS of staff became sick that summer, but the outbreak seemed to come directly from the waterfront, not from the kitchen. We had the Board of Health there every few days and our kitchen and drinking water came up clean. Those who got sick first and were most ill were the waterfront staff. A lifeguard had to be hospitalized for severe dehydration and a heart problem. Strangely, they never closed the beach. All that was done was to post warning signs about not drinking from natural bodies of water without first boiling, and the symptoms of giardiasis. After a few bouts of it, most people acquired immunity. Since I lived there for some five years, I'm sure I became immune as well. Probably c. diff. is similar. If it does come back, this time I'll know it immediately and won't wait until I need the E.R.

I had my first non-painful, semi-solid bm today, about three hours after eating boiled chicken, rice, and well-cooked zucchini. I also ate half an apple cut in super-thin slices, no peel. I read somewhere that the natural pectin it contains is easier to digest than banana. I'm trying to listen to what you body tells me to eat. If a food is on the recommended list, but doesn't appeal to me, I'm not eating it, and vice-versa. Zucchini is on the NO list, as are peas, but I have a craving for these, cooked until mushy. I normally like my veggies a bit crispy, but I figure there's something in them, a vitamin, trace minerals that I need. I've a friend who is mother to 10 children, all but #1 delivered at home, no complications, whose secret was to listen to her body and eat, rest, or be active accordingly. She's my age and does farm work.

beth22
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Re: Anyone else have sudden onset? Well to sick as dog?

Postby beth22 » Fri Mar 17, 2017 9:43 pm

You can also make vegetable soup. I did that at first, post c diff, when vegetables were hard for me to digest. I used potatoes, carrots, celery and zucchini at times. First I made my own broth by boiling beef bones. I pureed the soup in the blender and it was pretty easy to tolerate. Hope you feel better soon.


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