Well, I think I’m over it—until the next time. All it took was a very long round of Vanco with an even longer tapering, lots of very good advise from this website and a few others, tons of bleach, a drastic change in diet, a small fortune in probiotics and yogurt, and a lot of luck. I’ll never know for sure if any of these things helped or if I was just one of the lucky ones, but I will do it all the same way the next time.
If I learned anything through this ordeal is that you are what you eat, and that bacteria are both your worst enemy and your best friend. So I will try to stick to my new healthier eating habits for the rest of my life—less alcohol, red meat, fried foods, sugar, and dairy products; more fiber, yogurt, kefir, green tea, acidic foods, etc. I also plan to keep taking Florastor and Reuteri Optima (my favorite probiotic) for a while.
But I also think that the only way to ultimately keep this bacteria from hell under control is by getting our own flora back, so I am doing all I can to encourage the good guys to re-colonize me again. I have stopped using antibacterial soaps and gels that kill the good bacteria I need but not the one I want to kill. I still wash my hands when I go to the bathroom and before I touch anything in the kitchen, but that’s about it--no more OCD. I also roll in the dirt with my dog and cat every chance I get. I pet every strange animal I meet. I don’t wear gloves when I pot plants. In other words, I am going back to the less sterile environment of my pre-CDiff life. It may sound a little crazy but how else do we get any normal bacteria back? Probiotics are great but most are temporary…I want my old guys back! After all, they did a pretty good job protecting me for many years.
Best luck to everyone, and thanks to all!
Good readings:
The Probiotics Revolution by Gary B. Huffnagle (book)
The Sprenkle Anti-CDiff Protocol (under Success Stories ---great help!)
Concepts for Modulation of the Intestinal Flora http://www.nutrition-partner.com/index.cfm?8C23E711C22440CD9115A5788D57CD80#3_4
Probiotics: 'Living Drugs' http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/406975_2
Round One: I win
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maryinflorida
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maryinflorida
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feelinghopeful
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feelinghopeful
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P.S. I just read your case history update and found it inspirational. I am petrified of having to take antibiotics after having had C-Diff for so long and finally being normal again, so knowing that you've taken them on more than one occasion without getting C-Diff back is incredibly comforting to read. That is the one huge residual weight that I still can't shake - fear of getting something that will require antibiotics. I hope that subsides because it alters the way I go about life. I have friends with MRSA (who won't tell me knowing my phobia and out of fear I won't visit, it slipped slipped out in conversation) and friends with C-Diff. Every time I visit them my stomach is in a vice and I must look like I have my eyes on the exit the whole time, but I can't just abandom them so.... I try to keep a respectful distance without making them feel bad. Trying to put myself in their shoes.
Thanks again for the encouraging updates. Do pop in every once in a while for everyone else's sake!
Thanks again for the encouraging updates. Do pop in every once in a while for everyone else's sake!
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Bobbie
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MaryinFlorida,
Congrats. & do as feelinghopeful says: stop by & encourage others. Glad you survived other antibiotics. I take a small dose of Macrobid every day to combat constant UTI's/IC. (See FAQ-Antibiotics.)Ear drops should be OK -- not much absorption.
feelinghopeful,
I would think C. diff. friends would understand your concern. I have a friend with a daughter & grandson who are MRSA carriers. Learned this when I had been close to them while visiting. My friend asked, "Does this bother you?" "Oh, no, I said."
What a lie. This gal has been a wonderful friend & I didn't want to end our visit (she lives in another city & had just had surgery). I was uneasy every moment.
Congrats. & do as feelinghopeful says: stop by & encourage others. Glad you survived other antibiotics. I take a small dose of Macrobid every day to combat constant UTI's/IC. (See FAQ-Antibiotics.)Ear drops should be OK -- not much absorption.
feelinghopeful,
I would think C. diff. friends would understand your concern. I have a friend with a daughter & grandson who are MRSA carriers. Learned this when I had been close to them while visiting. My friend asked, "Does this bother you?" "Oh, no, I said."
What a lie. This gal has been a wonderful friend & I didn't want to end our visit (she lives in another city & had just had surgery). I was uneasy every moment.
Last edited by Bobbie on Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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feelinghopeful
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Hi Bobby,
Sorry to crash your thread Mary but I really would like to reply to Bobby's post.
The problem with one friend with C-Diff is, she's nearly totally deaf and 79 years old. She's had a very hard life and it suddenly hit her a little over a year ago. When I say hard life, I mean it. And her hospital story is unbelievable - a nightmare. Suffice it to say she got C-Diff somewhere along the way but none of the instutions she was in told the next she had it so she almost died. I don't want to go on too long with that so I'll cut to the quick. When you speak to her she shakes her head like she understands but she really doesn't and it's exhausting trying to explain anything let alone spores, bleach, etc. Forget it. I get a headache trying to get her to understand "HOW ARE YOU?" I have to scream so loud over and over. I tend to sit and listen to her while there - which is fine. She thinks Lysol is adequate. I tell her bleach but it goes in one ear and out the other. It's such a frustrating situation. I love this woman but have visited her less and less because she also thinks she doesn't have C-Diff anymore because she doesn't go constantly (I do think it's on the mend) but when I go there, there's a towel on the couch where she sits, she complains how she has no appetite, is down to a size 6 from a 14 and when I've TRIED to speak with her on the phone (listen to her is more like it) she often has to run to the bathroom. So, she's either in denial or lying to me and can't understand what she has to do to keep the environment safe for others. It's SO frustrating. So now I see her once every few months instead of every few weeks because I can't take the stress. And SHE-IS-STUBBORN! But I love her very much. She's like a second mother to me and her daughter rarely goes to visit. She's lonely. I got a stomach ache yesterday from going there like you wouldn't believe.
The friends with MRSA. Wow, I understand what you're saying. "No, ______ does not have MRSA". This is what I was told over and over. I know he had it in a wound at one point but "That is no more". The other night, after I've hugged and drunk out of glasses that were washed by hand (no dishwasher) and sat, blah blah, it comes out he did have MRSA just a few weeks before and almost died of it. And people wonder why people become germaphobes! I would NEVER not tell somebody something like that. I think it's almost criminal. Let people take proper precautions. Let them decide. I love my friends but the disregard for me is a bit disconcerting, knowing I suffered for nearly two years with something I couldn't shake. I know to wash my hands often and how to protect others and myself because I've put the effort into understanding but I KNOW these particular friends don't watch their environment or themselves this way. So, you love people, you don't want to not see them, let alone abandon them but ... do they love me as much is the question. I think they do but just don't get it. I also think my deaf friend had MRSA in the hospital, btw. She'd been a health care worker so it's no wonder. I'm trying so hard to not get neurotic. I just couldn't take it if I got something else now, though.
"Oh no, it doesn't bother me at all!" What are people thinking?
Sorry to go on, really. Maybe this should be in the venting section.
Sorry to crash your thread Mary but I really would like to reply to Bobby's post.
The problem with one friend with C-Diff is, she's nearly totally deaf and 79 years old. She's had a very hard life and it suddenly hit her a little over a year ago. When I say hard life, I mean it. And her hospital story is unbelievable - a nightmare. Suffice it to say she got C-Diff somewhere along the way but none of the instutions she was in told the next she had it so she almost died. I don't want to go on too long with that so I'll cut to the quick. When you speak to her she shakes her head like she understands but she really doesn't and it's exhausting trying to explain anything let alone spores, bleach, etc. Forget it. I get a headache trying to get her to understand "HOW ARE YOU?" I have to scream so loud over and over. I tend to sit and listen to her while there - which is fine. She thinks Lysol is adequate. I tell her bleach but it goes in one ear and out the other. It's such a frustrating situation. I love this woman but have visited her less and less because she also thinks she doesn't have C-Diff anymore because she doesn't go constantly (I do think it's on the mend) but when I go there, there's a towel on the couch where she sits, she complains how she has no appetite, is down to a size 6 from a 14 and when I've TRIED to speak with her on the phone (listen to her is more like it) she often has to run to the bathroom. So, she's either in denial or lying to me and can't understand what she has to do to keep the environment safe for others. It's SO frustrating. So now I see her once every few months instead of every few weeks because I can't take the stress. And SHE-IS-STUBBORN! But I love her very much. She's like a second mother to me and her daughter rarely goes to visit. She's lonely. I got a stomach ache yesterday from going there like you wouldn't believe.
The friends with MRSA. Wow, I understand what you're saying. "No, ______ does not have MRSA". This is what I was told over and over. I know he had it in a wound at one point but "That is no more". The other night, after I've hugged and drunk out of glasses that were washed by hand (no dishwasher) and sat, blah blah, it comes out he did have MRSA just a few weeks before and almost died of it. And people wonder why people become germaphobes! I would NEVER not tell somebody something like that. I think it's almost criminal. Let people take proper precautions. Let them decide. I love my friends but the disregard for me is a bit disconcerting, knowing I suffered for nearly two years with something I couldn't shake. I know to wash my hands often and how to protect others and myself because I've put the effort into understanding but I KNOW these particular friends don't watch their environment or themselves this way. So, you love people, you don't want to not see them, let alone abandon them but ... do they love me as much is the question. I think they do but just don't get it. I also think my deaf friend had MRSA in the hospital, btw. She'd been a health care worker so it's no wonder. I'm trying so hard to not get neurotic. I just couldn't take it if I got something else now, though.
"Oh no, it doesn't bother me at all!" What are people thinking?
Sorry to go on, really. Maybe this should be in the venting section.
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Bobbie
- Administrator
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Vent away.
Know how you feel. My mother has dementia, and is almost totally deaf. Sometimes I have to almost yell when I talk to her. She also has diverticulosis. Many times, I have visited for an hour & she's spent 45 min. in the bathroom She has a hearing aid & a hearing-assisted phone, but the hearing aid doesn't help that much any more, & she always forgets to push the amplifying button on the phone. I visit frequently (am going there today) & sometimes am so frustrated I want to scream but remind myself she can't help it. She is 9l & failing. Lately, whenever I leave, I am in tears.
I think she can (sort of) lip read. When I come she pulls her chair up --almost in my face -- so she can read my lips. I always look at her when I talk to her. At meals, she sits with a couple. The man is deaf. He sits on my left side; mother is on my right. I someitmes feel like one of those "bobbing dolls" as I turn my head from one to the other. She is in an assisted living near me, & I'm trying to keep her there instead of a nursing home. She fell several wks. ago when I was there but didn't break any bones. One more fall, & I am afraid they will make her leave.
Assisted livings/nursing homes are "in it" for the money. Compassion is a rare quality anywhere anymore.
I hate growing old!
Know how you feel. My mother has dementia, and is almost totally deaf. Sometimes I have to almost yell when I talk to her. She also has diverticulosis. Many times, I have visited for an hour & she's spent 45 min. in the bathroom She has a hearing aid & a hearing-assisted phone, but the hearing aid doesn't help that much any more, & she always forgets to push the amplifying button on the phone. I visit frequently (am going there today) & sometimes am so frustrated I want to scream but remind myself she can't help it. She is 9l & failing. Lately, whenever I leave, I am in tears.
I think she can (sort of) lip read. When I come she pulls her chair up --almost in my face -- so she can read my lips. I always look at her when I talk to her. At meals, she sits with a couple. The man is deaf. He sits on my left side; mother is on my right. I someitmes feel like one of those "bobbing dolls" as I turn my head from one to the other. She is in an assisted living near me, & I'm trying to keep her there instead of a nursing home. She fell several wks. ago when I was there but didn't break any bones. One more fall, & I am afraid they will make her leave.
Assisted livings/nursing homes are "in it" for the money. Compassion is a rare quality anywhere anymore.
I hate growing old!
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feelinghopeful
- Regular Contributor
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- Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:14 am
Bobbie,
I just wanted to say how sorry I am that you're dealing with this with your mom - that it brings you to tears really is telling. And thanks for making me not feel so bad about venting. I try not to but it's a rough stretch with so many friends sick and my increased paranoia. I actually think I contracted C-Diff directly after a course of Vanco while visiting my friend in the ER when she first got there. I was told to hold her hand and speak to her. Even though I wasn't family they let me in, seeing how upset I was. Thinking she was dying, and she was, I kissed her, held her hand, etc. Needless to say, I got C-Diff back within a few days. With no gut flora back yet... who knows if it was a relapse or no defense.
Perhaps I'll see if I can find that hearing device and give it to my friend because I do like speaking with her and if I could just get her to understand some things (have considered writing a letter but everytime I start doing so, I feel it's condescending) so I can feel more comfortable there. Her daughter never even got her a phone for the hard of hearing til I told her I was going to do it. She was guilted into it. Terrible.
I hope the situation with your mother somehow improves.
I just wanted to say how sorry I am that you're dealing with this with your mom - that it brings you to tears really is telling. And thanks for making me not feel so bad about venting. I try not to but it's a rough stretch with so many friends sick and my increased paranoia. I actually think I contracted C-Diff directly after a course of Vanco while visiting my friend in the ER when she first got there. I was told to hold her hand and speak to her. Even though I wasn't family they let me in, seeing how upset I was. Thinking she was dying, and she was, I kissed her, held her hand, etc. Needless to say, I got C-Diff back within a few days. With no gut flora back yet... who knows if it was a relapse or no defense.
Perhaps I'll see if I can find that hearing device and give it to my friend because I do like speaking with her and if I could just get her to understand some things (have considered writing a letter but everytime I start doing so, I feel it's condescending) so I can feel more comfortable there. Her daughter never even got her a phone for the hard of hearing til I told her I was going to do it. She was guilted into it. Terrible.
I hope the situation with your mother somehow improves.
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