LisaB is c. diff free!

[LisaB]

Just wanted to add my encouragement to the list!

I picked up c diff in the hospital following an emergency appendectomy (it burst at the end of a backpacking trip in Baja). They discharged me from the hospital with a fever and D, saying it was just irritation of the colon following surgery in the area. I went home and things worsened to the point where I was going ~40 x/day (I had a log book by the toilet). I was drinking 10-15 liters of electrolyte solution (if you can get it, Gookinade ERG seemed to work well) a day to stay hydrated. The pain that came a few seconds before I had to go--which I assume was everything pushing past the freshly sutured and still inflamed part of the colon--was like nothing I've ever experienced, and I'm a notorious stoic.

A doctor friend finally told me this was not the normal post-surgical recovery for a laproscopic appendectomy, and she diagnosed me over the phone with c diff (apparently it's very common in SoCal, where I am, and she'd seen it enough before). I had to ask my doctor for a test, which promptly came back positive. To make a long story short, I spent a month bouncing in and out of the hospital, unable to make the 15 min drive to my doctor's without an adult diaper, and in the end was on seven different antibiotics (I also developed post-surgical abcesses, so they were titrating treating those non-surgically with letting the gut flora come back and fight).

Ultimately a combination of flagyl (which made everything taste and smell bad) and vanco seem to have done the bugs in. I also ate a lot of yougurt--every weird live-culture kind I could find--and took culterelle (I couldn't find florastor or BioK, two other probiotics I saw recommended here). But things have returned to normal, as far as I can tell, so that five months later I feel (knock on wood) like it's over and I'm back to normal (20 pounds lighter, and a lot weaker, but I was lucky to start out strong and healthy).

I've had a couple UTI's in the interim--I'm guessing because the gut flora aren't the only ones thrown out of whack by all the antibiotics. But other than that, I'm fine. Back to work, getting my hiking stamina back.

GOOD LUCK everyone!!

[Bobbie]

Lisa,
Congrats. You've had a terrible time -- 7 antibiotics; 40 X a day. Gasp! It's a wonderful poem: "Lisa B is C. diff free."

Be careful about taking antibiotics in the future. Check FAQ-UTI's for some ways to prevent UTI's. Macrobid is usually "safe" to take. See FAQ-Antibiotics.

Pls. see info. about our C. diff. bracelets & "spread the word" about this awful disease. Thanks for posting to encourage others.

[bulldog16]

Just wanted to let you know I found Florastor at CVS (if they don't have it in stock they can order it for you). This helped me keep my stomach in check while travelling bc it does not need to be refridgerated (unlike the usual saccromyces I take). I also take Dr. Ohhira's probiotic now which has helped me a lot to get everything back on track, I purchase it online at iherb.com. This also does not need refridgeration so it is convenient.

Best of health to you.