C Diff - Symptom of a Bigger Problem?

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fiver
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Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:02 pm

C Diff - Symptom of a Bigger Problem?

Postby fiver » Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:40 pm

Hi all,

New to the board - I'm a 46-year old male just discharged from the hospital on Monday after going to the ER on Friday with severe diarrhea and painful cramping. CT scan showed my whole colon and appendix (early appendicitis) were inflamed. I was admitted to the hospital, tested positive for C Diff and spent the weekend on Flagyl drips. I was not taking antibiotics prior to this happening and had not spent any time recently in a health care setting, however I've had chronic mysterious gastro symptoms since early last year. It all began for me with right upper quadrant pain and nausea in January 2017. Gallbladder was the focus initially but ultrasound, hida scan and endoscopy were all normal. Over 6 months I lost almost 30 pounds. By October I was experiencing IBS like symptoms including a banding sort of pressure around my mid section and a left upper quadrant pain to mirror the right. My gastro doc suspected SIBO so I started experimenting with diet, herbal anti-bacterials and probiotics. I've had ups and downs for months with a couple periods where I thought I was improving, then I got clobbered with this escalation. The big question for me right now is: was this a climax or a pit stop? Has anyone battled C Diff only to find out it was incidental to a bigger picture dysfunction? If so, what was it? Crohn's?? UC?? I was sick for months before the c diff (I actually tested negative for c diff in January) so I clearly have some underlying condition that encouraged the c diff to run wild. I appreciate any insight anyone would care to share. It's all just very puzzling to me.

MKW
Regular Contributor
Posts: 392
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:49 am

Re: C Diff - Symptom of a Bigger Problem?

Postby MKW » Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:55 pm

Hi, I’m a 46 year old female that was healthy until a Clindamycin prescription from my dentist. I had recurrent c Diff and was finally cured by an FMT in March of 2017. A couple months after the FMT I started having varying ibs and weird GI symptoms and food intolerances. Finally!!! I was diagnosed with SIBo about two months ago.
Were you tested for SIBO? Or was it just suspected? Have you been tested for Candida? Or had a comprehensive stool analysis done at any point?
Also you said you experimented with herbal antimicrobials. I just went through a failed herbal treatment myself and had a toxic like reaction.
Those herbals are no joke and certainly have the potential to kill off good gut flora or create a state of dysbiosis that could make you vulnerable to develop c Diff overgrowth if exposed to a toxigenic strain.
My most recent GI doc says active c Diff infection occurs due to dysbiosis. Period. That it’s not more complicated than that.
I have had all these problems, but many tests done and no indicators of IBD.
So what I’m getting at is, you could have a bigger problem. But also dysbiosis alone in conjunction with conditions like SIBO and/or SIFO are enough to cause all of these horrible symptoms you had and lead to vulnerability for c Diff.

fiver
New User
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:02 pm

Re: C Diff - Symptom of a Bigger Problem?

Postby fiver » Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:39 am

Hi MKW, thanks for the reply. I never had breath testing done to confirm SIBO, just a suspicion by my GI. He prescribed Xifaxan; my insurance wouldn't cover it so I set out on my own. But you may be right about the herbal anti-bacterials contributing to an imbalance. I was on Candibactin AR and BR for several weeks. We try to do the right things (naturally) for ourselves and end up tilting the boat!

Lisa33
Long Time Contributor
Posts: 2430
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2014 1:45 pm

Re: C Diff - Symptom of a Bigger Problem?

Postby Lisa33 » Thu Apr 19, 2018 10:05 am

Hi Fiver - Welcome to the site. Please read the first forum for all new users on rules of posting, standard intro, etc.

So sorry you have been going through these issues with your gut. The usual cause of c-diff is obviously antibiotic use, being in a hospital or other health care facility, and even PPIs can increase the risk. More and more, c-diff is being contracted right out in the community though. Unfortunately in order to rule out IBD's, most of the time colonoscopies are done. However, given that you are dealing with c-diff now, that's probably not something that you would want to do for some time. I would also talk to your doctor about your concerns of SIBO. I am not sure why they haven't done the breath test for it if they are suspecting it. It seems like once all tests are conducted and things get ruled out, usually the diagnosis comes down to IBS. I had post-infectious IBS for quite some time after c-diff. I didn't have any issues before though like you had. I winded up having stool testing done for all pathogens, h pylori test, breath tests, scans and then finally winded up doing an endoscopy and colonoscopy. However the more invasive ones were done almost 3 years after c-diff. Everything was ruled out, and I was diagnosed with IBS that was brought on by c-diff. It seems that gastro symptoms can be really hard to find causes for sometimes. But right now, you have to get rid of the c-diff, and get your gut back into balance. Something caused your gut to be out of balance.

Lisa


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