Ickytummy's Case History

[ickytummy]

Oh I'm so happy I found this site!! I have some questions, but first I wanted to give my whole history....I'm 21/F that never had any health problems until the beginning of '06. In January I had horrible "food poisoning" symptoms, but i was better within a week. Then in May the same thing happened and it took a few weeks but I was better. Both times I just took Imodium and Phengran. Well the end of July I got really sick again and this time I knew I had to push the docs to figure out what was wrong. Well I'm in the military and it takes a lot to get a referrel to a specialist, but after a month of misdiagnosis and ER trips I was allowed to see a GI doc. He scheduled a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy right away while we waited for my first stool samples to come back...and they came back positive for cdiff.

He did the procedures anyway and said I had colitis and very mild gastritis from the bacteria. I hadn't been on antibiotics since I was 5 or 6 so I still don't know how I got it. He put me on Flagyl for 10 days but I only made it through 6 because it gave me a migraines (which i hardly ever get headaches) and I was throwing up a lot. So he switched me to Xifaxan for 7 days. I finished that and then he told me to start Flora Probiotics. Within a day of stopping the Xifixan my gut started hurting again. And I feel naseuous all the time. I haven't had any D yet, but I have had more BM'S a day. I tried to wait a few days before I called my doc to see if I would get better but its not. I started taking Lomatab for the pain. I get to see my doc on Wendsday. Of course all this is happenig while my husband is deployed :( My mom is flying in tomorrow because she's so worried about me. I guess I'm wondering if it sounds to anyone like my cdiff is coming back? It's so hard to tell. But I read about the 3 day rule...and my gut has been hurting for 5 days in a row now. I also went to see a counselor on base today because I was depressed about it. Basically we talked it out and she really thinks its from being sick, which I knew, so she didn't want to give me anything until this is healed. So I'm trying to tough it out. Its hard though cause usually I exercise to make myself feel better....but of course i have no ambition to exercise when my gut hurts!! Sorry for the long post...this is such a great site though and all the positive attitudes help :)

[ickytummy]

I saw my GI doc today. He decided to test me 3 times for c-diff again. He also said I shouldn't take the Loratab (pain killer) because it slows down the digestive tract and just messes with it in general and I think he said if you take it to much it could cause toxic megacolon. He gave me Reglan to help speed up my digestive tract. And Zegerid which is supposed to help with the pain. Well I took both and then ate and felt awful afterwards so I took a nap. I woke up and drank an ensure and again felt horrible...like crying and curled up in pain. So my mom called the on call doc and he put in a presciption for Hyoscyamine which is supposed to slow down the digestive tract, the oppisite of the Reglan. So I took that but it didn't seem to help. So far no medicine has really worked well yet. I'm turning in a stool sample tomorrow so hopefully I'll get results soon. I really just want to get back to normal! So far I've lost 15lbs....most of which I lost the first month...now I'm just trying to maintain. Grrr I hate c-diff!!

[ickytummy]

so i made a descision to only post in my case history or only post in another section if i have a really important question...i decided this because whenever i read something about how someone had this for years i get super depressed :(

An update so far though...I've stopped taking all my medications because none of them were working... I left a message for my dr. on thursday to see if I could just go back on antibiotics before the weekened because my pain and BM's just kept increasing. Well he never called me back so I ended up having to call the on call doc Friday afternoon. He was basically like "well what do you want me to do?" and i told him that i felt better when I was on the Xifaxan so i guess put in a sript for that. He said he would and then he called me back and said he was having second thoughts because he didn't know my history, reactions to meds, or if i was pregnant....thats when i got really mad because its not my fault that my doc didn't call me back...i told him i have to work this weekend and i need something....my hubby is deployed (for 3 months so far) so there was no way i was pregnant...and my "reactions" to the xifaxan was me feeling almost 100% better. ...and that both my stool and colonoscopy showed c diff....so he finally put it in for me.

I've taken 4 doses so far and I'm scared to say it but I'm feeling a little bit better. Still 3-4 BM's a day, but the abdominal pain isn't as bad. So Monday I'm going to get my stool results. Even if they are negative I'm staying on these meds until Friday which is my next appt. My mom leaves in a couple days :( so I'll be on my own again...I can't wait for my hubby to get home! He just feels so helpless over there.....and of course this isn't serious enough for him to get sent home early....lord knows it feels serious enough to me!! Ya all are in my prayers and I hope I'm in yours :) God Bless.

[ickytummy]

Well I have 2 days left on the Xifaxan. I still feel better being on this then nothing, but I don't feel as good as I did the first time I was on it. My stool sample came back negative. I don't know if thats good or not though. It makes me think that maybe something else is wrong with me. I was supposed to see my GI doc and my therapist tomorrow, but both appts got cancelled cause of Hurricane Ernesto. So my next doc appt is on the 7th of September. That will give me about a week of being off the antibiotics again. I had spagetti the other night and that was a huge mistake. My gut hurt for about a day after that. But I was able to eat some eggs and sausage without problems!! Real meat I know! I only had a little though. I've been using one of my antispasmodics about every other day when they pain gets bad. Which I didn't have any ab pain while I was on the xifaxan before...well I guess I could go back and forth on this forever so i guess I'll just do the wait and worry! My hubby is trying really hard to come home early so we'll see. I'm sure he feels worse then me cause everytime he calls I'm crying! I know I would feel worse if our positions were switched. If things get worse before my next GI appt I'm going to my regular doc on base and getting put on quarters.

[ickytummy]

Well I finished my Xifaxan a week ago. The first few days after were the worst, but I kept taking Flora-Q and Culturelle. I also had to take a few Bentyl's....those seem to work the best when my abdominal pain gets really bad. So I saw my doc today and he said that my stool sample came back positive! And I thought it was negative cause I had called a g/f that works at the hospital (turns out she read the results wrong). Well that test was from before my second round of Xifaxan. He said he still wanted to treat it though since I still had ab pains. I haven't had any D yet, but my BM's were still really thin and about 4 a day.

So he said the usual course of treatment is the Vanco, since I've had 2 failed courses. So I'm on that for 14 days starting today. I still have high hopes and I don't really count my other courses as "failed"....cause I was only on the Flagyl for a few days, and nothing is really proven yet with the Xifaxan, so I think this 14 day course will get rid of it. Ecspicially since I didn't feel to bad this past week. I think its slowly getting knocked out!

I was releived that my doc knew about Vanco and I asked him what happends if this doesn't work and he said he does Vanco for longer and a tapered dose. And I told him mostly I was worried that my colitis would get worse inside and we wouldn't really know about it....he said we'd probably do a flex sigmoid? after this course to check it out. So he seems to know his stuff!! And he eased my worries. I asked him if this c-diff was common....and he laughed and said it seems to be common with all his patients. And he said he rarely has to prescribe a longer dose of Vanco. So thats were I'm at! Hopefully I'm better soon! This really couldn't have came at a more worse time!! I missed a lot of BBQ's and a lot of beach fun :( But it will only make me appreciate it all the more next year!!

[ickytummy]

Saw my GI doc and I have one more day left on the Vanco. So far my BM is 1 or 2 a day, which is the most normal they've been in a while....they are still soft and thing though...uck! My doc said if I feel sick again he's going to do a flex sigmoid and a longer tapered dose of Vanco. But I really don't want to do that so I'm going to just keep taking my probiotics for a while. I'm taking 1 or 2 Culterelle a day, and Activia, and a Dannon immunity yogurt drink thing. Hopefully I won't get sick again once I stop this Vanco. I'll probably wait 3 months before I post any kind of success because I want to be sure I'm feeling better. But I'll definetly still be around to offer advice when I can!

[ickytummy]

Well....I've been off the Vanco for a week. And I don't know what to do at this point. In general I've felt ok, but it feels like my ab pain is coming back. I had D earlier this week and Friday I was in sooo much pain I had to take 3 Bentyl's through out the day. My doc said its ok to take those but I don't know. After I took my first one my belly still hurt really bad and I had a low fever. So I made an appt. for Monday. But today has been ok withought the belly pain....just a few cramps. I figure I can always cancel the appt. if I need too. I guess I'll just wait and see. I really really don't want to have to take a long tapered dose of Vanco, I just don't like the idea of "long term" antibiotics. But if it gets worse I guess I'll do what it takes. So far I've been taking 2 Culturelle a day and eating a couple yogurts. I'm thinking of getting some VSL#3 since that is proven to work well too. Well that is my update for now!

[ickytummy]

Well I've been off the Vanco for about a month now. I did end up going to the doctors appt I made about 3 weeks ago. He took 3 stool samples and they all came back negative. He gave me a prescription for Levbid which I took twice a day for a few weeks. And now I am just trying to only take one at night. I think I'm getting better, each week has fewer and fewer bad days. My doc says I probably have a sensitive colon after all this. And he said that my brain is listening to my colon alot more now then before. So I guess I'm just going to get used to it. I pretty much eat whatever I want. Except I had a hotdog on two different days and felt awful. Same thing with seafood. So I'm not going to eat those for awile. I also can't drink very much alchol which sucks cause my husband and I are barely 21. So I'm still on the Culturelle and probably will be for awhile.