Permanent Colon Damage?

[glenda]

Seven weeks ago I had an abdominal hysterectomy, had to be put on Cipro for elevated temp and developed C Diff. I was rehospitalized 2 weeks after going home from the hysterectomy with severe colitis and sent home on Vancomycin. I completed the Vanco and 7 days later I was symptomatic again ( while not as serious ill as I was the first time.) I can only eat baked potatoes, yogurt and oatmeal and I have lost over 20 pounds.

Friday, I had another stool culture and it was negative, but the symptoms continue.

IS this a chronic desease?

[Nancy1]

glenda,
Welcome to the group that no one wants to join. Be sure to read All Users Read This First, Dr. Borody's article, Dr. McDonald's article (in the FAQ section under Articles by Experts), and all areas in FAQ that interest you.

No, cdiff is not a chronic disease. About 80% of people recover after 1-2 rounds of Flagyl or vanco. For the rest of us, it can take some time, but they tell me that everyone beats it eventually. There are many false negative test results for cdiff. We recommend that you wait for 10 - 14 days after stopping Flagyl or vanco to take a sample. Your doc should treat you based on symptoms, not on test results.

Weight loss is very common. I lost 27 pounds. Some people become lactose intolerant due to cdiff, so you need to be careful about dairy products, although most of us can tolerate yogurt. I drank Ensure for a long time. Primadophilus reuteri helped me get my appetite back, so I finally stopped losing weight. I got cdiff after taking Cipro plus levaquin. We will always have to be careful about taking antibiotics again, so as not to retrigger cdiff.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

[jaspore]

What dosage of Vancomycin did your dr have you on?
How many milligrams and for how long?
I know you must be in great pain.......for I have had the laporoscopic hyst and I have recently been endowed with C Diff.
Personally, I'd have the hyst over if I had a pick! ha

Personally, maybe since your immune system is so overwhelmed from the surgery, the anesthesiology, and the bacterial infection, that it is just going to take a higer dosage that tapers? Your body has been through so much!
Rest as much as you can, and unless you're too tiny, I wouldn't worry about the food, your appetite will come back........mine always does!

I find it interesting that your doc put you on Vanco first and not Flagly!
Sounds like you may have a good doc! Flagyl has been a waste on me, and I wonder if I will have this awful taste in my mouth permanently?

Good luck with your recuperation.............just be patient. You will find a wealth of information on this site...........any and all questions just about!I felt so frightened and scared before finding this site..........it helps so much to know there are others, and that there is an end in sight........
It's not terminal!

[klt03301]

I had a hysterectomy (laparoscopic) in late February. Started vanco 4 days after release, took 250 mgs 4xday; relapsed 10 days off; then took 125 mgs 4xday for 10 days. That wasn't helpful at all. No D but still uncomfortable, though I am eating now. Something just isn't right but I've had so many negative tests (the last being just a week ago), so doc will not give antibiotics. I continue to lose weight, though I eat more now than I ever have. I keep telling myself it will improve with time. I am not nearly as sick as I was, so that's something I hang onto. I have some pretty good days, actually, so that's a positive. I agree with the above poster...I'll take the hysterectomy any day over the C Diff!! I was so sick I couldn't even tell I'd had one. You'll get better. I've been there with your diet, which is depressing. You, too, will graduate off that diet and start eating more. Hang in there...we all know how you feel. I hope you have someone helping you!

Karen

[carrie]

Karen
were you on meds after the hysterectomy? My gyne wants me to have the same down the road and thinks my fears are silly. He told me he has done the procedure x amount of times without anyone getting cdiff and then he walked out of the room shaking his head. It was an awfully emotional week last week as I felt so unhears from the specialists. They just don't get the fear component.
Carrie

[klt03301]

Carrie...no, I wasn't on atibiotics after my hysterectomy. I was given a prophylactic dose right before the surgery. Had I known what I know now, I would have refused it. I was discharged a day later with pain meds, which I didn't even need. What they failed to tell me was that the air/gas they used to inflate my abdomen for the surgery would cause a lot of air buildup in my abdomen. It went up to my chest and caused me to feel as if I couldn't breathe when I got home. I took my temp and it was elevated (this was days before the c diff), so back I go to the ER because I couldn't breathe. Well, I was admitted, got more anitbiotics, flagyl being one of them, until a very smart doc figured out what the problem was. They made me lay flat, the breathing got better, the temp went down. The doc explained that the air was pushing on my diaphragm and suppressing my lung function, which can cause an elevated temp. I went home that day, and 3 days later was back at ER, diagnosed with C Diff. I wanted to tell you these things so you'll know about the air/gas problem and know how to handle it. Also, my GI doc told me that has beem a resistant strain going around in our area for a while... Durham, NC. I will never know how I really got the spores. They surgery was EASY and no complications in that area!