Michelle's Case

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My name is Michelle D. (I am 20 right now) and I would say that my experience with C. Difficile was quite mild compared to other cases, however, I'm praying that I will not suffer from any relapses of any sort as experienced by some other cases I've been reading so far. <BR> <BR>It was January, 2002 nearing the end of my Freshman year Winter Break of College, and I had developed a not so serious infection with painful swelling in my tooth due to an emerging wisdom tooth. It was obvious that the wisdom tooth was to be extracted so a referring emergency dentist (who wasn't my regular dentist) ordered the tooth to be extracted by an oral suregeon and because of my swollen gums, he put me on the anti-biotic called "Clindamycin" or cleocin.. or Clindamycin Hcl... which I was to take 150mg 2x a day for 7days. <BR> <BR>Two days later an orthodontist performed the extraction and after the successful surgery he asked if I was already on anti-biotics and I told him my current treatment, and he insisted that I double the current dose. <BR> <BR>And, so I did. I returned to College upstate and was healthy as always. Exactly 7 days after the end of my Antibiotic treatment, I woke up with a mucousy diahhrea. I thought it was nothing at first due to eating some old food, until it peristed throughout the day. That same night I developed severe chills with a fever. I thought I had acquired a stomach virus since it's common you can catch anything in an unsanitary College atmosphere. I took tylenol for my fever and it was gone. However, the next day the diahrrea persisted. I didnt know what to do so I went to the Health Services Office and I saw a nurse. She insisted it probably was a stomach virus and to let it pass through the next days and to limit myself to some foods so it wouldn't make the diahrrea worse. However, it did. It seemed that I couldn't stomach any food. Anything as small as <BR>saltine crackers, I would immediately go and diahhrea. My bowel movements increased to about 7-8 per day along with severe abdominal cramping and pains, which was very uncomfortable being alone and away at school. There were times they were so uncontrollable I would accidentally go in my underpants without me knowing or even in the shower. It came to the point where I decided to stop eating, thinking it would stop. I developed nausea at many times however I never vomited, fortunately. I lost about 10 lbs. and the diahrrea persisted for another 6 or 7 days w/out signs of improvement. I was now light-headed, weak, and slightly dehydrated. <BR> <BR>I was a litle scared but a light went off in my head, as I remembered reading one of the warnings of the "Clindamycin" package insert saying to contact a Physician if severe diahhrea was to develop even after the end of my drug treatment. And NOT to treat the diahhrea with non-Rx drugs like Immodium AD or Pepto, so I didn't. I went to a doctor off campus and he seemed very unsure although he seemed to be following whatever I told him and the things I had researched on the internet. The doctor told me to just wait it out a little. I waited 2days, it was now the 10th day and I could not bear it when I thought I noticed blood in my stools. <BR> <BR>I saw my school Health Services and the nurse reffered me to the School Physician who proved to be a very reliable Dr. He seemed quite knowledgeable and helpful of my situation. He suspected it was the toxin, C. difficile, causing my diahhrea and thus ordered a Stool Culture to be done. The positive lab results proved it to be right. He reassured me however that the small amount of blood was not actual blood in my stools but hemmorhaging of my rectum because of it was being overused. The doctor told me of some possible treatments such as more antibiotics (ironically) called Flagyll or Vancomycin, however knowing that the whole illness was caused by an anti-biotic he suggested that I would wait a while to see any improvement before jumping into more anti-biotic treatments. He encouraged me to start eating normally again, trying to push in good nutrition (except dairy products).And so I did, it took 2 more days to see a decrease in bowel movements along with less liquidy stools. After 14 days it had stopped. I was glad and the Dr. scheduled re-checks to monitor my progress. <BR> <BR> The diahhrea stopped, but Ironically a week after I developed Hives which lasted 3 months. The cause was uncertain but there was a chance it could've been a sign that the C.Difficile was leaving my body, according to the doctor. <BR> <BR>I never experienced a "re-occurence" of that episode of diahrrea/stomach cramps, however, when I came home from College at the end of that year, I began experiencing uncomfortable gas and slight "ulcer-like" pains in my stomach which I currently still experience (I've never experienced anything like that ever before). I have no idea whether or not that had anything to do with the C. Diffile but a Stool culture re-test in the summer for the toxin showed it to be absent from my stools. <BR> <BR> <BR>Hopefully, anyone who will read this will maybe see that it might be quite possible to try and let your own body's natural defenses deal with the C. Dificcile by itself (if it ins't too severe) instead of jumping into anti-biotic therapies too soon. If it was caused by an Anti-biotic, You're body's biochemistry has been tampered with, so taking more anit-biotics might simply deplete your body of it's good bacteria and natural defenses that might be able to fight it off, instead. <BR> <BR>Lets hope and pray all of us who have been healthy continue to stay healthy and those who are still battling remain strong and hopeful.