Two year check in

[concernedhusband]

It's now 2008. Wife got C.Diff in Jan 2006 after a bout with strep and antibiotics (a second treatment a few weeks later was recommended when she had strep symptoms again, but without diagnosis of strep, docs told her to take antibios, which led to C.Diff. Diag on strep came back negative. Go figure, and it was really just a temporary sore throat.)

The hell (I can say that here right?) ended 4 months later. We beat it with a regimen of flagyl to stop the deathly diarrhea, the BRAT diet (Bannas, Ricebread, Applesauce, and Tea) to make sure the diarrhea would come to an end with the flagyl, and the probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus, from the local organic health food store to prevent recurrence, and when not having diarrhea, would have it with yogurt. In addition we went nuts going superclean - we would spray down the toilet with bleach every time, and wash hands thoroughly for weeks to ensure that sanitation would not be our enemy. The regimen lasted only two cycles over about three to four weeks (she told me she could hardly take flagyl the second, when she had too because her diarrhea got bad again. I told her to fight on, and she could only make it about 6 days, and so she stopped after halfway through the recommended 10 days when her diarrhea was a bit more back under control). It was then she discovered the joys of yogurt, combined with the probiotic acidophilus, she gradually got stronger and stronger and started eating other foods, avoiding restaurant food entirely, when in May after waiting 30 days of no more diarrhea, we celebrated, but she kept up a daily dose of acidolphilus and yoghurt for about a year, and is now (2 years later) just having yogurt every once in a while to maintain her system. It's now been two years, praise God, and no C. Diff recurrence at all, even after we've had a baby in that time (and it was delivered at a *gasp* hospital).

I thought I would post this here, as I see my old posts in 2006 were probably deleted or archived, and I think some people might benefit from knowing how we defeated it. (Being a concerned husband, I was shocked after reading about C. Diff how emotionally stressing it is. She says part of the recovery is also due to my diligence as a husband, and in helping her and being with her as her number one support the entire time, even though many times she felt like she just couldn't fight any more. I kept giving her encouragement every step of the way, telling her that she was going to defeat this together, and I knew that we could, and that each survivor I read on this forum may have their own best treatment plan, and that we would certainly find hers and it would work! And it did work.)

[concernedhusband]

So I guess basically our success story, now two years old, was broken down into this:

Combat re-transmission:
Use bleach to clean everything, at the very least, the toilet, faucet, and door handle.

To end the diarrhea:
Keep away from veggies, especially salads
Get on Flagyl if serious (blood in stool, constant bad diarrhea lasting days)
BRAT diet (Bannas, Ricebread, Applesauce, Tea)
probiotics (mostly acidolphilus)

To enforce prevention after diarrhea:
probiotics (mostly acidolphilus), and yogurt

[Nancy1]

concernedhusband,
Thanks so much for coming back to the site to let us know your wife's success story. And to say what worked for you. Reading Success Stories was so important to me in my early days of cdiff. Congratulations! It's great to hear that she beat cdiff.

[Bobbie]

concerned husband,
You are right -- hell is what C. diff. is for many people.

Glad to hear your wife is doing well. Congrats. to both of you & a double amount for you for being so supportive. Many with C. diff. don't have support, & it is so important, both mentally & physically.

Thx. for posting & giving hope to others. Pls. "stop by" again.

Also, congrats. on the birth of your baby.

[cindym]

Pardon me for being so stupid apparently but who was your wife and what name did she post under? Glad to hear she is now okay! Congrats on the new arrival!