When Will I stop Being Contagious

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LHutz
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When Will I stop Being Contagious

Postby LHutz » Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:31 am

I suffered with C.Diff for 3 weeks. My last dose of Vancomycin was December 20 at about 3 a.m. And so far (nearly 4 days) I have been fine (knocking on wood and keeping fingers crossed .) I’m having bowel movements every other day. Not diarrhea, but not quite the ideal type 3 on the Bristol Chart either. No abdominal discomfort and not even those grumbling noises. If I continued like this for the rest of my life I’d be absolutely fine with it.

I live with my wife and son, who is a year and a half old. I’ve read so much about how contagious this awful infection is and I’ve been terrified of passing it to either of them, and anybody else for that matter. Since being diagnosed I have been spending most of my time in my home office with the door closed and I’ve been using the spare bathroom. I keep the doors to both rooms closed at all times and my wife and son haven’t been in either room since my diagnosis. Unfortunately, before my diagnosis, my son was taking his baths in that bathroom.

I clean my home office desk, laptop and mouse with those Clorox health care products that kill C. Diff. I’ve been cleaning my bathroom with the same stuff. Every night I go through my house and clean every door handle, light switch, drawer handle, cabinet handle, and all other high touch areas in the house.

I’ve been washing all of my clothes and bedding separately on the sanitize setting and using Tide with color safe bleach. I’ve also been washing all my clothes after one wearing

As soon as I leave my office room, I wash my hands. And I wash my hands before picking up my son. I feel like I wash them all day long. And I have only been using paper towels to dry my hands.

If I make a bowel movement I feel like I can’t sit anywhere the rest of the day without spreading C. Diff. The only places I’ve been sitting are my home office chair or the driver’s seat of my car and my wife’s car. I can use the Clorox Health Care products on my office chair, but not in either of our cars.

All of this has been extremely exhausting, both emotionally and physically and I really want to go back to normal.

I’m under the care of a GI doctor and I asked him whether I’m still contagious. He said that I’m less contagious now that the diarrhea is gone, but I could still have spores.

At what point will I no longer be contagious? I just want to breath a sigh of relief and not feel like I’m going to infect my family unless I bleach everything I come into contact with.

Any and all feedback is much appreciated.

AllisS
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Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:52 pm

Re: When Will I stop Being Contagious

Postby AllisS » Mon Dec 24, 2018 2:35 pm

Your main ailment, at this point, is "contagion anxiety." C. diff isn't at all as easily transmitted as you fear it is. The key to preventing spread is to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after bathroom use, before preparing or eating food, and when initially returning home from being outside. You're already doing these things -- and a lot (too much) more.

There is no reason for your wife or son to avoid entering rooms that you use or not to sit in places where you've sat; C. diff isn't spred through sitting on surfaces. Continual washing of bedding and clothes is also unnecessary unless items have become soiled from incontinence (which doesn't sound like an issue in your case), in which unlikely event they should either be laundered with bleach on hot-water setting or discarded. Also futile and unnecessary is repeated, daily cleaning of every "touch" surface in the house. Try to limit yourself to periodic wiping of door handles, etc.

Too-frequent handwashing is actually risky, as the skin can become dry and cracked, which could pave the way for infection, which in turn could lead to the need for an antibiotic.

That some healthcare practitioners, including even doctors, continue to convey the notion of invisible, contagion-depositing "spores" saturating one's surroundings is really a disservice to patients. The spores occur naturally in the environment, and exist inside the gut, regardless of whether or not one has active C. diff; however, normally, people aren't susceptible and they cause no illness. I was told by my then-GI doctor and his nurse, upon being diagnosed with C. diff in 2012, that I should "sanitize" my entire house. This prospect overwhelmed me and added immeasurably to my anxiety. Luckily, I soon switched my care to a C. diff specialist, who basically said to take limited, common-sense measures but otherwise not to worry about massively "sanitizing" anything.

I hope you can scale back your cleaning activity to the point where your anxiety lessens.As someone who has anxiety on a regular basis, I've found that the more I try to protect myself against all manner of potential threats the more anxious I become; it's a self-perpetuating cycle.

If you're unable to get a grip on the anxiety, a professional counselor and/or some short-term anti-anxiety medication could be helpful.
If your illness was preceded by use of a medication, e.g., an antibiotic, please fill out an FDA Adverse Event Report at http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/default.htm

TonyG
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Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 12:21 pm

Re: When Will I stop Being Contagious

Postby TonyG » Sat Dec 21, 2019 11:31 pm

I’m glad to read this post, sounds like we’re very similar in how we approached (over)sanitizing everything. I’ve been freaking out about spores on every surface of my home. Before I learned about Clorox healthcare wipes I had a bucket of bleach solution and cleaned so often I think I ruined some metal faucet fixtures, seems like the Clorox wipes don’t have the same corrosiveness. I was wearing nitrile gloves and bleaching the bathroom every time I had a bm, and bleaching all “high touch surfaces” daily. I even used the wipes on the leather seats of my car, which hasn’t seemed to damage them at all, luckily. I was driving myself and my fiancé crazy.

Alli’s response, and others in this site have put me at ease, at least a little bit. I’ll admit to still washing my hands too much and need to chill so they don’t crack and bleed, opening potential for a new infection.
33 year old male, first diagnosis of C Diff, currently on 1st Vanco regimen.

AllisS
Long Time Contributor
Posts: 1889
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:52 pm

Re: When Will I stop Being Contagious

Postby AllisS » Sun Dec 22, 2019 1:40 am

TonyG, I'm glad that my response on this thread a year ago has been helpful to you. I hope you'll continue to curtail the bleaching and excessive handwashing; both are unnecessary, and, as I wrote earlier, they take on a life of their own the more that you indulge in them.
If your illness was preceded by use of a medication, e.g., an antibiotic, please fill out an FDA Adverse Event Report at http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/default.htm


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