Introduction and fighting relapse

[Nat95]

Hello! This is my first post here. I am a 23 year-old female from Canada. I am generally very healthy and eat well. I am a little on the light side, so I have to be careful not to lose any weight. Prior to getting C. diff, I had never even heard of it before. The posts on this forum have been extremely helpful and encouraging.

I had my wisdom teeth removed at the beginning of May. Unfortunately, I developed a recurring infection. My dentist prescribed to me numerous kinds antibiotics within two months. As a result, I developed a severe allergy to penicillin. I had to have a clean-up surgery at the beginning of June to remove the infection, and was given Clindamycin. In hindsight, this is what probably caused my C. diff.

I felt well for a couple weeks after surgery. Everything looked to be healing up nicely. I started feeling unwell on July 7th. Initially, I figured it was just indigestion but after 3 days of constant bowel movements, I realized something was wrong.

Regretfully, I don't have a doctor I go to see regularly. I set up an appointment for the 11th with a new doctor. After hearing my history of antibiotics in the past couple of months, she suspected I had C. Diff. She had me do a blood test and stool sample in addition to prescribing me 7 days of Flagyl. She told me to come back in one week.

My symptoms did not improve at all on Flagyl. I was still experiencing loose stool, dehydration, nausea and low-grade fever. The most alarming thing to me was my rapid heart rate which made me fell dizzy and faint. I went back to the doctor on the 18th as scheduled. My blood came back fine, but the stool sample tested positive for C. Diff. My doctor was unsure how to proceed, so she made a call to the Infectious Disease Research Centre here in the city. The doctor she got a hold of from there recommended 3 more days of Flagyl. (At this point, I did not know 10-14 days was standard treatment.)

Naturally, I had looked up C. diff on the web prior to my second visit. However, my doctor wasn't very interested in answering my questions. I inquired about probiotics, but she was unwilling to suggest whether they would be helpful or not. She told me I "did not look well," and should go to a hospital if I felt any worse. My take-away from the experience is that she was very eager to get rid of me.

The day after I went to see the doctor, I still felt horrible and decided to go to an urgent care centre. The doctor there was extremely helpful. He explained how C. Diff was difficult to shake off, and suggested probiotics and electrolyte drinks. He prescribed me 10 days of Vancomycin. (from the 19th to the 28th of July) Since then, I have taken 2 refrigerated probiotic pills a day. One in the morning with breakfast and one at night with supper.

I was doing very well on Vanco. By the end of the treatment my stools were nearly back to normal and I felt much better. However, 12 hours after my last pills I already started to feel unwell all over again. It started with an extremely fast and hard heart rate which made me feel faint and weak. Then thirst set in, no matter how much I drank.

I felt pretty crummy the morning of July 30th, with five softer bowel movement in two hours and abdominal cramps. I took Imodium and it stopped. By noon I was starting to feel a little bit better. I have no appetite but have been doing my best to eat and stay hydrated. I've upped my probiotic intake to 3 pills a day in the hopes of more good bacteria establishing.

It is now July 31st. I've thankful only had one bowel movement. However, I'm getting low-grade fevers off and on. My heart sometimes races for an hour or so. My appetite hasn't returned, and I'm feeling very nauseous. These symptoms sort of come and go. I’ll be fine for a couple of hours and then suddenly feel sick all over again.

I guess my question is when do you decide it is time to go back to see a doctor? I'm afraid that I'll relapse, but if I go back to urgent care too soon, they might just send me back home anyways. I think the next step would be a tapered treatment of Vanco, considering I did well on it? I'm not sure what else to do other than keep eating, stay hydrated and keeping up with my probiotics. I start back up as a full-time university student in September in a pretty demanding program, and I'm worried that I'll be too unwell to attend. Any insight from others with C. diff is very appreciated!

[NanciT]

Hello and Welcome to the site please read the first thread for all new posters

I want to say right away, do not take Imodium. It sounds like you just finished Vanco, you need to see where things will go from here, absolutely follow up with your MD if you are not feeling well or have symptoms. Any type of weakness or feeling faint should be followed by your doctor. It's very easy to become dehydrated with CDIFF and you may need electrolytes checked. It's also important not to self treat symptoms(Imodium).

I would give the doctor a call especially if the D returns or any of your other symptoms. It can take time to recover, go easy and bland on the diet, continue with your fluids and hopefully you will start to see improvement

Take care

NanciT

[beth22]

Hopefully, you will feel better in time for school. I am on the other side of it - I teach. I did not take time off, but was able to work.

[georgina]

Definitely do not take Imodium , there are other things that can help bulk up your stool that won't stop you transit , such as : Questran , Colestipol. Are you keeping a diet ? What kind of probiotics are you taking? Not all probiotics can agree with you. for example , for me probiotics that contain lactobacillus or bifidobacterium are making me gassy and bloated. The only probiotic that worked for me was the Saccharomyces boulardii yeast.

[AllisS]

It's not clear to me, from your description, that your current symptoms are necessarily due to C. diff anymore. I agree with Nanci that you should follow up with your doctor, but I don't think a Vanco taper would automatically be the answer unless watery D is among your symptoms. Is the refrigerated probiotic that you're taking VSL3 by any chance? That's the only probiotic I'm familiar with that requires refrigeration. I take one capsule per day, though my C. diff infection was years ago. Probiotics are believed by many to be helpful; however, there's a lack of evidence-based studies that back up this theory so far.Three a day sounds like a lot, especially considering that probiotics themselves can cause GI symptoms. Upping your probiotic intake in the hope that this will make a difference in your symptoms is unwise IMO.

I hope you'll report your experience with clindamycin on FDA's website (see link after my post). This is the top-offending drug for C. diff, and it continues to be overprescribed by physicians including dentists. Patients' firsthand experiences are the best hope for an eventual curtailing of this dangerous drug, which only should be used when there's absolutely no other alternative.

Best wishes for your recovery.

Allison

[Nat95]

Thank you all for the replies. I haven’t altered my regular diet other then to avoid dairy products. I don’t know much about probiotics as I’ve never had to take them before. The ones I have are called Double Strength Ultimate Multi Probiotic. Most of the strains listed on the product are from the Lactobacillus family with some Bifidobacterium strains.

[beth22]

That is a multi strain probiotic and should be fine.