Negative test but how long is the road to recovery??

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newmum16
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Negative test but how long is the road to recovery??

Postby newmum16 » Thu Apr 20, 2017 10:33 pm

I was blessed to become a mum to a gorgeous healthy baby girl in 2016, however after taking two lots of antibiotics for mastitis, I became quite ill. I was diagnosed with C-diff in early Feb this year and prescribed a course of Flagyl. I was admitted to hospital after 4 days on flagyl suffering extreme dehydration and malnutrition as I hadn't been able to eat and was continuing to breastfeed. My main symptoms included loss of appetite, fatigue, general malaise and worst of all waking everyday feeling as though I had been poisoned. After 5 nights in hospital, I was as discharged as the main symptom of diarrhoea had cleared.

Despite this I struggled to shake the other symptoms and continued to feel unwell for a number of weeks. My Doc ran a number of tests which all came back clear and I was advised that it was just going to take time to get back to normal. I continued to take probiotics and try and eat a bland diet. I was just starting to think I'd past the worst of it when I wound up back in hospital as my symptoms (loss of appetite, feeling poisoned, etc.) had returned. This time I spent 3 nights in hospital - firstly a 2nd round of flagyl was started, then stopped as Drs decided it wasn't a recurrence or relapse (confirmed by negative test). Again I was told it's all likely collateral damage from the original infection and I will get better over time.

It has now been 2 months since I completed the first round of flagyl and whilst I do have some good days, I feel far from 100%. On the worst days I wake feeling like I am being poisoned, extremely lethargic and am unable to eat. As you can appreciate this makes looking after a little bub incredibly challenging and not nearly as much fun as it should be. I have great support from my family, and relative to some people on here, my case is quite mild, however not knowing how long it's going to take to fully recover is still doing my head in.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar and can provide some reassurance that this nightmare will eventually end?

NanciT
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Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2014 12:01 pm

Re: Negative test but how long is the road to recovery??

Postby NanciT » Thu Apr 20, 2017 10:58 pm

Hello Newmum16 and welcome to the site. Please read the first forum for al new posters

I am so sorry you are going through this with a new baby, we have had other new mom's on the site so hopefully they will jump in. As far as recovery, it can take time. Do you have a gastroenterologist you are seeing? When symptoms continue I always recommend seeing a specialist. There are medication that might be possible but if you are breastfeeding the GI and OB would need to work together.
The bland diet is they way to go, but make sure you are taking PLENTY of fluids and I would drink water with electrolytes. I really feel a GI is in your best interest. I will add it can take time but you will get there!! Having anew little one and CDIFF is exhausting!!

Hopefully some new Moms will see this
Take care
NanciT

MKW
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Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:49 am

Re: Negative test but how long is the road to recovery??

Postby MKW » Thu Apr 20, 2017 11:24 pm

Hi, congratulations on being a new mom and your baby girl! I have two daughters, and breastfed. They are 20 and 13 now, but there is no forgetting how exhausting it is having a new baby, and I'm sorry to hear you have had to go through C Diff during that time. I think reading what you are going through, even though you don't have active C Diff infection, you may not have an ideal state of healthy gut flora. You know there is so much research now about how vital healthy gut flora is to the immune system in general and overall state of health. So, I wanted to mention Kefir to you if you haven't tried it. Ever since I started drinking it through all my ups and downs with recurrent C Diff, I have felt better. Some people can't tolerate it digestively, but those who can seem to stay advocates of it. You may want to look at ways you could increase pre-biotic and probiotic foods and see if it improves how you feel.

beth22
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Re: Negative test but how long is the road to recovery??

Postby beth22 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 1:25 am

I think seeing a specialist is a good idea as well and drinking kefir and taking probiotics is good too, although be careful with probiotics and take a small amount to see how you do with them. Some people get more Gi symptoms. I did at first for a long time because I also had SIBO. Are you in the US? If you are, some brands for probiotics are Florastor (which is a yeast) and VSL#3, which is what I take. Florastor did not agree with me. If you are not, then ask the pharmacist for a multi-strain probiotic.

Davidtm
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Re: Negative test but how long is the road to recovery??

Postby Davidtm » Fri Apr 21, 2017 11:49 am

For some people it's a quick recovery and for others it can take a long time if ever to feeling back to normal. After a gut infection some people develop ibs. The stress of having c diff can be overwhelming and take a toll on you emotionally and physically. I can't imagine as a man what that would be like for a new mother but I can tell you that at least every day my wife tells me she feels drugged, exhausted, foggy, been through the ringer, sore, and dehydrated and she is still nursing. She's not getting good sleep because she has to nurse the baby and when she's not feeding her she's pumping so I can feed her. I'm constantly reminding her to drink more and more fluids to keep up and to rest and eat quality foods. She goes from having no appetite to being starved. Take good care of yourself and I hope you start to feel better soon.

kenvh
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Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2018 4:46 pm

Re: Negative test but how long is the road to recovery??

Postby kenvh » Tue May 15, 2018 3:53 pm

Did,u find the cause?
I feel poisoned too a lot!


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