Alexandra's Case History

[Clover05]

I was infected with C. Diff at 18 years old, and almost a year later, I'm still suffering from it. My story started on May 20, 2005 when I was admitted to the hospital with a kidney infection. This was the first time I was ever seriously sick or had been in the hospital. I was treated with IV antibiotics, including Rocephin, Flagyl, and Cipro. My kidney infection subsided within a couple of days, but I developed severe, frequent diarrhea at the hospital. I would have up to 15 small, yellow, completely liquid bowel movements a day. Sometimes they were so bad I couldn't even make it to the restroom. They tested my stool for C. Diff but it came up negative. I was treated with Immodium and was sent home. After my discharge, my diarrhea became increasingly worse. I saw my family doctor and he dismissed my problem as "gastroenteritis." I became even more ill, discouraged, and depressed. I went from at healthy 135 lbs. at 5'8" to 110 lbs. I quit my job and I turned down my acceptance to the University of South Florida. In desperation, I finally saw a gastroenterologist and he preformed a colonoscopy. I was diagonsed with pseudomembranous colitis and presumptive C. Diff. He prescribed Vanco 4x daily at 175 mg. Vancocin has made all the difference. Within days I felt dramatically better. After a month of taking Vanco I was told to taper, but the diarrhea returned. I've tried to taper several more times, but my attempts always fail. It's been 10 months and I'm still exactly where I started. I can't even taper to 3 Vanco's a day. I've taken countless probiotics, including Culturelle and FloraQ. I've also been on binding agents, such as WelChol and Fibercon, but nothing helps. I've since given up on everything but my 4 Vanco's a day. It kills me that I'm 19 and I have to take a pill every few hours. None of my friends understand what's wrong with me or how I feel. I worry constantly now, I worry about getting a new infection, I worry about my insurance company that's always trying to drop my coverage, I worry about not being able to have kids because I'm sick, I worry about everything really. More than anything, I hate going to my gastroenterologist's office and seeing the picture of him and his daughter smiling on her graduation day. I want to be the happy, healthy girl in the picture. But I'm not, I'm the one with C. Diff sitting in his office. I just want my healthy, normal life back but I feel that's never going to happen.