ShelleyM's Case History

[Guest]

Hello, <BR> <BR>I am a 24 year old female in excellent health before C. Diff occured. I was being treated for a possible UTI infection and was given Cipro (never take this antibiotic). I noticed I started having strange looking stools, with a lot of yellow. I figured this was the Cipro and ignored it. <BR> <BR>I did not begin having diarrhea until 3 weeks after stopping the antibiotic. After three weeks I woke up one morning and began having terrible, watery almost orange colored diarrhea. It was so watery, it almost felt like I was urinating out of my rectum. And I had to strain to get it to come out - which was odd. The strange thing was is that I did not have much cramping. Only mild cramping when the urgency came. <BR> <BR>I went to work anyway figuring it was something I ate and that it would pass. But the diarrhea continued, I ended up going 10 or more times that day. When I would finish it would feel like I had to go again 5 minutes later. I know this is gross but I even noticed at one point it had leaked onto my underwear and was bright orange. This really scared me, but I stuck it out for the rest of the day (after a change of clothes). <BR> <BR>After two days of persistent diarrhea, I took Immodium AD hoping it would stop the diarrhea. Surprisingly, it did. It did not make the cramping worse, like I have read. My stools were still very odd looking, skinny and swirly...sometimes they had strange orange coatings on them, sometimes a white jelly type substance, sometimes they were almost a reddish orange, and sometimes they were black. But they were mostly solid and that was all I cared about. Boy was I in for a surprise... <BR> <BR>By the end of that week, the Immodium wore off and the diarrhea came back with a vengence. I began having more intense cramping and loud gurgling. I felt nauseated quite often. My stomach throbbed. I had no appetite and could barely eat. I lived off of gatorade! I was convinced I just had a bad stomach virus - everyone at work was suffering with it, so I figured I had just caught it. I began having some rectal bleeding, I'm assuming from the horrible irritation. It was very painful. I felt so tired and fatigued that I could barely hold my eye lids open. <BR> <BR>Finally I went to the doctor, who suspected C. Diff. I did a stool sample and after a week, was diagnoed with C. Diff. I was prescribed 10 days of Flagyl. I had no clue what this infection was! I didn't know it even existed! <BR> <BR>So I began researching on the Internet. This site was incredibly informative and that is where I learned to eat lots of yogurt and take Lactobacillus GG. The Flagyl was a miracle drug -even thought it had unpleasant side effects, fatigue, dizziness, difficulty urinating, an overall "strange, foggy" feeling, & abnormal pelvic pressure. I only had diarrhea once after taking the Flagyl. <BR> <BR>I finished my course and it has been 8 weeks today since my diagnosis of C. Diff. I am hoping this infection will stay away and now I am very reluctant with antibiotics. I have not had a follow-up stool sample to test again for the C. Diff. My doctor is convinced it is gone. <BR> <BR>I do still have some strange things going on with my stomach, such as urgency in the morning, constipation rotating with looser stools, yellow coloring, even green colored stools. I still have minor rectal bleeding. The doctor is not concerned about this though. <BR> <BR>For the most part I have been able to eat anything I want. I do stay away from soft drinks and I drink Ginger Ale if I want something fizzy. I did have fresh vegetables yesterday and noticed today that I did have diarrhea (the first time in 8 weeks). I am assuming I am still in the healing process! <BR> <BR>I am reading to reach my 3 month period. I will update you all again once I reach that time. Bless all of you that are suffering from this illness. I know how terrifying it is. <BR> <BR>Thank you, <BR>ShelleyM <BR>"Friends don't let friends take Flouroquninolones"

[Guest]

Update May 14th 2004 <BR> <BR>The diarrhea I had previously this week has stopped. Thank God I thought it was a relapse. So far so good! I am approaching my 9th week of being C. Diff free!!

[Guest]

Well I reached the 12 week mark for being C. Diff free!! Unfortunately, I have a UTI and I am on Macrobid. Hopefully it will not cause a relapse. I will keep you posted!