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Recently diagnosed/Stomach virus outbreak

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 3:40 pm
by slplkaye
I was diagnosed with c. diff. last Wednesday and started taking Vancomycin. My symptoms have improved greatly since the second day of meds. I now just have gas and soft stool. I work in a pediatric healthcare setting and we are having a huge stomach virus outbreak right now. I am terrified that I will catch it and will not be able to tell the difference in symptoms of the stomach virus and a possible c diff relapse. I was already an anxious person and this diagnosis has increased my anxiety level 100 times over. I have bleached until my hands are bleeding. I am washing my laundry separately, will not let my children or husband near my bathroom. I don't even want to hug anyone! I was looking forward to the end of my Vancomycin Saturday morning, but the closer it gets the more nervous I get about a relapse. Would I be able to tell the difference between a stomach virus and c. diff. if I were to catch what's going around? Would a stool sample yield accurate results at this point?

Re: Recently diagnosed/Stomach virus outbreak

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:24 pm
by beth22
If you are on vanco, the stool result would probably not be accurate. If you get symptoms while on vanco, it is probably the virus. I would call your GI and share your concerns.

Re: Recently diagnosed/Stomach virus outbreak

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:58 pm
by NanciT
I agree, give your GI a call. It may be the flu. We all do worry as we near the end of treatment, the fear takes over.
Hopefully it will pass and you will start feeling better .

NanciT

Re: Recently diagnosed/Stomach virus outbreak

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 12:53 am
by georgina
It's quite hard to tell the difference between a stomach virus and a relapse , the only way to know is to test but test will not be accurate until at least two weeks after you finished the course of meds.

Re: Recently diagnosed/Stomach virus outbreak

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 4:38 am
by slplkaye
I do not have a GI and have been told I can't get in to see one until April! Isn't that ridiculous?

Re: Recently diagnosed/Stomach virus outbreak

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2017 10:16 am
by Lisa33
I did not vomit with c-diff. Some posters have, but vomiting is more of the main symptom with the stomach virus. And usually the stomach virus lasts 24 hrs, whereas c-diff can be the gift that keeps on giving until it's controlled with meds.