yucky stools

[peanut]

hi im new to the site. but not that new to c-dif. this is the third relapse ive had in 6 months. every time it comes back i notice diarreha for a few days and then mucousy and bloody after. yuk! im assuming this is normal protocol for this illness. used to it now. anyone else have mucous and blood stools?

[HEATHER28]

peanut,
First of all welcome to the site and I love your "name" I use to call my baby neice "peanut" she is now 13yrs old!!..lol. Everybodys relapes are different but, you sound like most of us on here. I was one of the "lucky" ones and only relapsed once but, there are alot of people on here that have been batteling this for a long time and I am sure that they will give you some good advice and information on what worked for them. My advice is it sounds like you have a good attitude about things keep it up, Cdiff will go away it just takes time. I hope that you are seeing a good Dr, never heastate to call him or her with any concerns that you may have.

Good Luck and Keep us posted! :0)

[carrie]

Hi Peanut,
I don't have any advice but maybe a little support to offer. I also have now had a few reoccurances since June. Presently I'm trying a pulsing dose and keeping my fingers crossed and my prayers often. My relapses are much the same as you but I seem to have lots of mucous to start and then blood(very scarey to me). I also have loose stools but I have not had the real watery diarrhea that others talk about. My GI has choosen not to do a colonoscopy as he said the treatment would be the same and it would just upset me more if I saw the imflammation. He has scheduled me in for one 2 weeks after the pulsing is finished(just before Christmas,so I'm a little anxious about the holidays). I've only tested positive once out of about 10 different stool samples I've offered.
In the last month I mostly have good to great days(thanks to Vanco) but at least once a week I feel exhausted and that is usually on a day when I've had to spend more time in the bathroom. It doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason.
I don't have any answers for you at this time. I know my GI is willing to do fecal enyma if the pulsing does not work, I would rather of had it first but it seems quit common to try pulsing first. I started with three short rounds of Flagyl during the summer as everyone seemed to be away on holidays and this was what the doc's books told them to do. It kept my symptoms in check but by the third round it made me a bit crazy.
I guess we are on this jouney together hopefully we will both(and many others) get through it SOON. I know reading others information was firstly very frightening to me but now it feels more supportive knowing that I will get through this!! What medications have you tried and what are you on now?

[Christina]

Hi, Peanut. Yes, I have had blood and mucus with every relapse (about 13 or so). My relapses would range from moderate to severe with diarrhea 15-30 times per day. Although the severity would be different each time, the characteristics were almost the same. I could predict in advance when one was coming on. I would start by having extremely loud stomach noises for about 12-24 hours prior then the D,cramps,blood, and mucus would rev up.Even though all of this is normal for C-diff if you haven't contacted your Dr. I would do so just to make them aware.

Carrie,

Hopefully, the round of Vanco will do the trick for you. Sometimes it works better than Flagyl but not all. It seems like you have a really knowledgeable GI which is half the battle. Just knowing he is willing to do the enema's must be a great comfort. Hopefully, you won't need it at all.


I hope both of you are feeling better soon. Although C-diff is difficult, it is beatable. It may just take a little extra time and patience.

Christina

[Jodie]

My vote goes with Christina.......I've had multiple relapses (too many to count) with blood, mucus, pain, exaustion, feeling like I've been hit by a truck (where I am now) and days I just can't get outta bed (like yesterday and the day before)....You just gotta hang on b/c they say it has to end eventually. I know it's scary, but you've got a good support system here.

Jodie

[peanut]

hi all, thank you so much for your responses and kind words. so nice to know we have wonderful support here with people that know what were all going through. glad to know im not the only one that sees blood and mucus. scary thing to see..know what you mean carrie. well this is my 3rd relapse since june. first time i was on a 14 day vanco 500mg. second time came back hard i did a 30 day taper vanco with florastor. now im also trying a pulsing vanco. my doc is trying 500mg day for 7 days then off for 7 days then back on for 7. trying it 3 times so it will be a six week thing off and on. dont know if i totally agree with that treatment but at this point im willing to try anything, ya know..... and thanks to these great people on the site ive learned alot about probiotics and treatments and started taking culturelle and rueteri along with my florastor. had a colonoscopy back in july. everything was clear, except for inflammation of course. i did try flagyl in the start of all this but too many side effects for me. i would love to try the enema thing. my doc doesnt do it. searching for someone that does. i live in pennsylvania so not many here that will do it. hey carrie, what kind of pulsing are you doing? are you doing any probiotics also? christina...13 relapses?? god bless you. have you lost alot of weight. ive lost 40 pounds since june and i didnt have nearly as many bms.

[peanut]

heather, thank you so much for the welcome. its funny you should say that about your neice. i started calling my neice peanut as well when she was born.. ironic!!

[carrie]

Hi Peanut,
my doctor suggested a tapering but I asked if we could do the one mentioned on this site and often referred to as Lauryns pulsing, he said sure but thought 30 days was kind of long to start. It is listed under treatments and pulsing. It starts with 30 days on and then 4 days on 2 days off 3 times and so on. It is outlined really well in the pulsing category, I just printed it off there and made my calender. I'm also taking VSL#3 2 1/2 packages a day. It is very expensive but has lots of research behind it and has 450 Billion live lactic acid bacteria per packet. I also just bought Florastor and will introduce to my system in next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, the waiting is driving me crazy it still seems so long off but given how long others have had to taper or pulse I know I have to be patient. Also I have always felt that I have had control in my life but this has left me struggling with a feeling of no control. Thank God for this site it has helped me feel some sence of understanding but I'm looking forward to the day I can return back to work and a more active lifestyle and hopefully a little less worrying although I'm sure that will be with me until they find a cure. We will get through this unexpected journey and I hope in the future I will be able to help others who have to experience it.