Whole Family Ill, I had C-Diff, Drs. think they had Norwalk

[pomac]

A little over a month ago our whole family: daughter, myself, husband, son and my father (in that order) all fell ill with what we were orignally told was the stomach flu. We all had the same symptoms, my dad and father had them the least severe. My father had come up to stay with us when I got ill to help with the children, if I had known about the C-Diff I would never have had him stay here.

I was the second to fall ill and within 1.5 hours I went from fine to calling 911. The whole thing was traumatic to say the least, I was treated poorly, it was surely the most ill I have ever been in 35 yrs of life. I told them I had been on antibiotics 4 times this fall/winter for sinus problems, last one being Augmentin about 3 weeks prior. My children ad also been on antibiotics twice in two months for strep They did a battery of tests and gave me medicine to stop the watery bowel movements. (Not to be graphic but saw them with my own eyes get the stool sample from a container that had my vomit and BM in it, I had to use the same container becase I couldn't get to the bathrom in time. Don't know if that could cause a false positive on the C-Diff.) They sent me home 7 hours later after two bags of IV.

Over the next two days everyone else got sick, we were back in the ER multiple times with my husband and the children. No one did ANY tests on them- urine, stool, blood nothing. Finally on the 3rd day after I had went to the hospital I couldn't take it anymore and brought myself and the children back to another urgent care closer to home. Shortly after we were admitted the dr. came in and said that the first hospital had tried to contact me but had the wrong number and that I had C-Diff. They scared me to death, quarantined us and the bathroom we used. Told me to call my husband and father in and have them looked at. After we were all there they proceeded to prescibe us all Fagyll for 10 days, even though I was the only one to have any tests done.

The Flagyl was hard on us, especially for myself and my son. He had such bad reactions to it that I took him to the pediatrician. She informed us that she thought that the rest of the family probably had Norwalk and not C-Diff. Said they had similar symptoms. At that point there was no way to know for sure because everyone had been on Flagyll for 3 days and a C-Diff test would not be accurate. The reason she thinks perhaps it was Norwalk for the rest of them was that my husband and father hadn't taken antibiotics in years and they still got sick.

It was a week of misinformation, lack of compassion and just plain stupidity on the part of the ERs involved. Myself and the children are still taking probitiocs (520 billion count per day) and Florastor. Even though I don't know for sure if they had C-Diff. I have been trying to wrap my brain around this and what we can do to stay healthy. There is so much I just don't understand.

I apologise because this is a very convoluted series of events, I was just wondering if any one has experienced their family group falling ill like this. And also if anyone has heard of there being any connection between C-Diff and Norwalk?

[anlockwood]

Wow, it sounds like you and your family have had quite the experience. I am very sorry for everything you went through. You will very soon get the welcome from a moderator. I happy to hear that you all seem to be doing okay now. Thats good news! I would very much question any dr that is willing to through a whole family on a medicine like Flagyl with out positive c diff tests. In your case it was probably the best idea to treat as you tested positive but everyone else should have had tests done before just throwing such a serious medication at them. I can't give you medical advice but my personal opinion would be it is highly unlikely that everyone had c diff. One of my sons and myself had c diff. My other son never got it nor my husband. We did have a scare where my son relapsed with c diff from something like the Norovirus and the very next night my husband started with the watery D. That same night my other son started vomitting. We ended up in the urgent care also very concerned but it ended up just being the Norovirus for everyone, only with my youngest because he had just had c diff it allowed him to relapse. It can be very terrifying have everyone sick at the same time especially when you yourself feel bad. I am glad that it sounds like everyone is doing well now.

Amanda

[Nancy1]

Oh, I hate to read stories like this, where docs mess up so badly!! And probably make things worse!! Arggh! I think Roy and Amanda are right, you all didn't have cdiff, and perhaps none of you had it. Cdiff is not terribly contagious, especially for people who have not been on antibiotics. I was misdiagnosed for a month, and was told by my doc that I did not have a bacterial infection, so I was not very careful about hygiene in our only bathroom. My husband didn't get cdiff.

I will give you the official welcome, just in case: 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, and all areas in FAQ that interest you.

I hope that you all are recovering. Take care and good luck.

[cindym]

Roy- Not to correct you but many of us have had vomiting in the fight with cdiff. In fact other than the p.colitis the nausea and vomiting were the worst part of my battle. I still deal with nausea but thank goodness with phenergan no vomiting.

It is sad but ER's are meant to help and do help many but sometimes they just overlook vital information in their hurry to get you in and out!

Twice I have had horrible treatment in ER's and the first time it nearly cost me my life and the fact that I was misdiagnosed in the beginning let everything get so bad that so many antibiotics were needed to keep me alive that THEY almost killed me.

Sorry to hear about your horrible experiences! Now with the swine flu bug going around and thought to be the next pandemic flu I will avoid hospitals at all cost if possible.........although that is where I have to go for all this heart business! Geez, isn't life just peachy!

[MaryT]

Sorry for your problems. If I were you, I would, if possible, find myself an infectious disease doctor or GI doctor that knows a lot about cdiff, or specializes in it, and get in to see him/her.

[cindym]

Roy- It truly would be a bit outrageous for all the people in the family to have cdiff. Never heard of that before! I have just recently been told that this new cdiff strain is more violent and deadly than the one from several years back. The doctor told me that nearly everyone who contracts the new form ends up in ICU with fight for life! Scary, he also says this is why more companies are beginning to take notice and get on the bandwagon to produce drugs to fight it! Merck recently entered into an agreement with a company (STOCK SYMBOL: MEDX) to produce meds for cdiff and cancer. I just bought some of the stock! I look for it to be bought out at some point in time.

[pomac]

Thanks so much for the welcome and responses. I've been very anxious about this, every time my stomach twinges I get nervous, so it's comforting to discuss with others.


Amanda,
Yes, I think that really compounded the illness, when everyone else is sick your running on empty trying to care for them. By the time I was on Flagyll I hadn't slept in 48 hrs and eaten anything more than a few crackers in 4 days. I had brief vision loss the first time I tried to sleep while on it amongst other things like anxiety, bad nightmares. I thought I was going off the deep end, truly!

I wondered about the possibility that the Norovirus combined with the antibiotics I had been on over the winter wiped me out and allowed the C-Diff to go crazy. But wouldn't I still have had to pick it up from somewhere, or is it just some people are carriers?

Roy,
Yes, that bucket they took the sample from had so many things that could have contaminated it. I got it from the EMT in the ambulance, he threw a towel in it to help reduce splashing. I touched many surfaces in the ER lobby bathroom, folded the towel, fell to the floor on my hands and knees before they'd actually admit me, etc. I was trying to keep clean but just too ill to worry about that. When they took the sample from it I remember mumbling to them and asking if that was ok and they just ignored me.

Cindy,
I believe you, after what i went through my trust in the ERs ability to save my life if the situation really called for it is greatly reduced. As far as the vomiting, I started out fairly frequent, but by the time I left the hospital the first time it was all watery bm, constant nausea and no appetite, then along with the watery stuff I had almost constant grumbling and painful gas that moved up and down over the next 3 days. I know the fact sheets they gave me listed vomiting nausea as symptoms.

Nancy,
I know, I was so upset when I realized that, we were now all wiping out our bowels of good flora again and had to start from square one. I am probably going to keep up with the probiotics for several months just to be on the safe side. I've learned quite a few lessons and will be extremely conservative in taking antibiotics from now on. Don't like not knowing for sure whether i ever had it, but I know next time if anything like this crops up again i will demand that they test BEFORE being medicated. I also obtained the complete lab and paperwork from the hospital visit.

Mary,
Thanks, I definitely have some questions that I would like to discuss with a specialist. In a few days we are going on a previously planned vacation to Florida for two weeks (talk about nervous that something will crop up!), but after we get back I would like to sit down with a GI who could actually listen and talk to me about this. All the drs. I saw seemed unfamiliar with it to say the least. The pediatrician seemed to have the most physical experience in seeing patients with it.

Again, thanks for the feedback, my eyes have been opened to this! I had never heard of it and my mother who was a nurses aid in two nursing homes 15 years ago had never encountered it back then.

[Mia-Mia]

WOW cindyM Talki about scaring this poor family. WHERE DID YOU GET THIS INFO FROM ?
" The doctor told me that nearly everyone who contracts the new form ends up in ICU with fight for life! Scary,"

My goodness!!!