Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

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Vernw
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Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby Vernw » Sat Nov 03, 2018 3:53 pm

Hi Everyone, This past Wednesday I was told by my GI specialist that I tested positive for c diff. I’m on Vanco for the next 3 weeks, 4x a day to kill it off. I wanted to get all your thoughts though on my lab results and find out if in fact I’m positive because right now I’m on the fence about my diagnosis. I only have one BM a day, in the morning and it’s semi formed. I have never had more than two BMs a day. There was never B or M in it either. I had nausea and loss of appetite but that had subsided until I was put on the Vanco. Also never ran a fever and my CBC was normal!

My NAA toxin gene came back as positive abnormal with a negative reference interval. The toxigenic c difficile was also positive.

This is all the information I have from my lab results.

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated because I am at a loss here. I’m 31 and have no idea how I would have even picked up this nasty bug.

beth22
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Re: Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby beth22 » Sat Nov 03, 2018 4:28 pm

Hello and welcome to the site. Please read the first forum for information for new posters.

Truthfully, I am surprised that you are being treated with the symptoms you describe. I did not have WD either, but I did have blood and mucus and also a lot of nausea. I too, was put on vanco and it was not a good decision. I wound up worse off with many relapses. Since you already started medication, you will need to continue, but I would ask to taper off rather than stopping abruptly.

roy
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Re: Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby roy » Sat Nov 03, 2018 4:35 pm

Drs are supposed to treat the patient, yours is treating the test result.
A positive test when theres no symptoms does not indicate a disease.
Even a positive toxin test does not mean you need treating!
If you (the host) do not react to the toxins theres no disease.
In a perfect world that's exactly what should happen and is exactly the way immunization works.

Treating asymptomatic c.diff can cause it to become a disease.

roy
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Re: Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby roy » Sat Nov 03, 2018 4:39 pm

Beth
Many Drs now say that the old rule of finishing antibiotics once you start them is flawed.
It's now judged on a case by case basis.
As usual no 2 Drs agree!

Vernw
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Re: Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby Vernw » Sun Nov 04, 2018 2:49 pm

Thank you to all. I called the on-call doctor yesterday and went over my concerns with him. He told me to come off Vanco to see how I would feel. Since I came off Vanco I have been feeling like myself again. I went this morning and the stool was formed. I'm taking Florastor 2x daily and Citrcucel to increase my fiber intake. I feel like I can eat again. I'm planning on calling my doctor tomorrow to discuss my concerns with him. If I feel like I dip in my symptoms I can always have them change my prescription right? At this point, I do not think I even have C-Diff given my non-existent symptoms and Vanco not really showing any improvements in the 4 days I took it.

roy
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Re: Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby roy » Sun Nov 04, 2018 3:38 pm

I would have made the same decision.
Good luck.

Vernw
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Re: Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby Vernw » Sun Nov 04, 2018 4:01 pm

Roy,

Do you think I would have done any damage to my gut with the 4 days of Vanco that I took? If I need to go back on a prescription and it has to be Vanco would I still be able to take it given that I took it already for a short period of time? I just do not want my body to become resistant to it, though it did make me feel really bad.

roy
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Re: Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby roy » Sun Nov 04, 2018 4:13 pm

It's not your body that becomes immune to a medication, it's the bug that's causing the infection that becomes immune!
Medically it's impossible for an antibiotic to stop working because of the reasons your thinking of.
So far theres no known strain of c.diff that's immune to vanco.
(or flagyl but theres other reasons flagyl causes more relapses).

Vernw
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Joined: Sat Nov 03, 2018 3:46 pm

Re: Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby Vernw » Sun Nov 04, 2018 4:16 pm

Thank you! I’m hoping that whatever I might have had or have will resolve itself out with Florastor.

Ril
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Re: Lab Results - Needing Advice ASAP

Postby Ril » Mon Nov 05, 2018 5:22 pm

You may not have had anything! Many people are positive for c diff but that doesn’t mean they have any disease, only that the bacteria exists in their gut.


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