New twist on Cdiff ? Poly reactive arthritis!

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tthompson
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Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:23 am

New twist on Cdiff ? Poly reactive arthritis!

Postby tthompson » Thu Sep 04, 2014 2:04 pm

I am new to this support group and would like to thank everyone present for their openness and free flowing support. I have been reading through the case histories, but have not been able to read all of them yet. This my first experience with Cdiff . I am 63, female, and prior to April 2014 had a normal active life working full time as a professional librarian, hiking, swimming, gardening, and lots of other activities. In April I had a ganglion cyst removed from the top joint of my left middle finger. It should have been a simple surgery. It was done by an orthopedist who I mistakenly thought had a good reputation. 2 days post surgery the finger was as big as a Hawaiian red banana. In ER the same doc opened up the incision and irrigated it and sent me home with a gaping wound and ordered me to wound care. At that point I was put on Bactrim to take care of the infection. After 3 weeks of wound care it was obvious that there was something more happening and with testing osteomyelitis was confirmed at which point I was put on clindamycin and Bactrim. The osteomyelitis eroded the ligaments and joint in that finger which then necessitated a third surgery to fuse the joint. By this time I put myself in the care of a different orthopedist and the infection cleared up and I thought I just had to go through rigorous PT to regain the use of my hand which by now was a curled rigid hook. Little did I know that this was to be a continuation of what had already been a complicated, painful, dibilitating journey. I had unrecognized symptoms of Cdiff by the second month, but thought it was my gluten intolerance acting up, so I made all normal attempts to correct for that. Meanwhile I was still trying to maintain normal life. By the end of July I was on the floor and had to be transported to ER. The Cdiff still went undiagnosed for another week and I was finally put on Flagyl. By that time I was too weak to care for myself and was admitted to the hospital for six days. The twist is that as a result of the Cdiff I ended up with Poly Reactive Arthritis. Now I am not only weak from a Cdiff reoccurance, but my whole body is racked with painful swollen joints. With this reoccurance of Cdiff and on Flagyl for the second time, I am now on Prednisone and Ibuprofen, I am feeling very low. Has anyone else had an experience with Reactive Arthritis on top of Cdiff?

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