C Diff - Symptom of a Bigger Problem?
Posted: 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.
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.