Kate's Case History

[kko03001]

I am a 27 year-old-female, unfortunately with a long history of required antibiotics. I had chronic strep throat and bronchitis as a child. When I got to college, I began having UTIs, always coinciding with finals, of course. During my master's degree, I had a case of strep that wouldn't go away, and required IV antibiotics and was placed on clindamycin. I've consistently had UTIs and kidney infections since I was 18, and for the past three years, have been prescribed cipro every time (usually 500mg/2x day for 5 days).
In December 2005, I was diagnosed with a kidney infection. I was unable to see my regular doctor at the university health center, and another doctor prescribed me Cipro 500mg/2x day for ten days. I questioned the doctor at the time about the length of the course of antibiotics--he said that it was serious and I needed to stay on it for the entire ten days. I should have questioned his judgement when the pharmacist told me that he wrote the prescription wrong, but he is the Medical Director of the university's student clinic, so I just went ahead with the course.
After about day seven of the antibiotics, I started having diarrhea, but it went away by day ten. Two days after the last day of Cipro, I began having stomach pain, bloating, and constipation. I went to the emergency room and they diagnosed me with Gastritis because I was not presenting with the most obvious symptom. After seven days of Protonix for Gastritis, I was feeling worse, went back to the university health center, where I was forced to see the same doctor who prescribed me the Cipro. He first said that it was probably in my head because I was stressed out over my Ph.D. exams. I asked him to look at my stomach, which was completely distended despite the fact that I hadn't eaten in days; at that point he suggested that I might be allergic to the Protonix. I begged him to send me to a gastroenterologist, and he did so "as a favor" (his words!).
The GI doc diagnosed me with C. diff, and I was prescribed metronidazole 500mg/3x day for ten days. My GI told me that in about 5% of cases, the patient can present with constipation rather than diarrhea, and I was one of the lucky few. I felt better almost immediately. However, on the last day of the metronidazole, I began having diarrhea (the first time during all of this since day 7 of the Cipro!), and was prescribed another ten days. The following day, I was feeling much worse, so I was scheduled for a colonoscopy, which came out clean and the stool sample was negative. I was told that I didn't have to finish the additional 10 days of metronidazole (by this point I had been on it for fourteen days). I've had lost of digestive issues, but as of now, I've gained back 5 lb. of the 15 lbs. I lost, and no symptoms of the C. diff.
I'm now taking cranberry extract pills for prevention of UTIs, acidophilus, and keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't come back.