Diane's case history

[Guest]

Ok here is how it all started for me. I went to the doctor for a sinus infection. He sent me home with a prescription for Ceftin.I have never taken this before and told him. He said its a good antibiotic. I don't know why but I had a gut feeling not to take it but after 3 days decided to go ahead. I took it and after 4 days got diarrea and did'nt think anything of it since I ALWAYS get diarrea with antibiotics its one of the side effects so I thought no big deal. I finished my 10 days worth and the 11th day I got loose stools with blood in them. I called the doctor and told him he said you'll be fine call tommorrow. I was sick all night with fowl smelling stools, called the doctor in the morning and he was OUT OF TOWN! So I saw another doctor and he suspected c diff and put me on Flagly 500mg 3 times a day and it made me ill on the 4 th day I could not get out of bed. I was sick and weak! I went back to the doc and he put me on vancomycin for 7 days 250mg 3 times a day. Finished the antibiotic and thought ok things are good. SInce I did not know about this C diff I thought things were ok.. The 4 th day I ended up throwing up and got a 103 fever. I thought I had the flu. I was sick all night. My husband called the doctor in the morning my fever was still 103' the doctor told him to take me to the hospital and he was admitting me. I was very upset about this since I have children and did not want to be away! I spent 4 days in there and it was awful! I had 4 days of watery diarrea uncontrollable. I was miserable. I was put on a 5 week course of vancomycin and decided after the 5th week to taper myself off. I had gotten down to 3 pills a day and it came back strong. I am now on my next round of vanco for 4 weeks. I have been scheduled for a colonoscopy. I will keep you updated. This is a monster and It makes me angry and upset. I don't know what to do!

[Guest]

UPdate........ I did not get the colonoscopy. I did have an upper gi and small bowel that came back ok. I am down to 3 pills a day and am leaving for vacation for 2 weeks so I will continue 3 pills till I get back then taper down to 2 pills. I still have about 4 loose stools a day but thats better than when it was 10- 12 so I won' tcomplain even tho my bottom sometimes hurts. I take Culturelle every day and try to stay away from the foods that make it worse for me. I have to say I can eat alot of things now tho. I have had this for almost 5 months and I am hoping it goes away. I still get the leg aches sometimes really bad. I'm afraid to quit me vanco because the last time I did it was scary and life threatning. We'll see what happens when I get back from vacation

[Guest]

Well went on vacation and ended up getting sick for 4 days. Not fun being in the middle of Orlando with c diff acting up. I had a bad week again this week from some stress and had bad poops for a week hoping to get it better. I had stopped Culturelle but now I am back on it again and will stay on it for a while. I wish this dumb thing would go away. They need to find a cure for this that is for sure.

[Guest]

Well I have had my ups and downs. Here I am 11 months later and I was doing my taper and got to one pill every 4th day and I relapsed. Very discouraging and upsetting. I was doing really well for a couple months and thougth I was going to finally beat this thing. The doctor put me back on vanco and I will try to taper again. Don't know what else to do.

[Guest]

Well here it is May and I still have c diff.. JOy! I am trying to pulse again. I relapsed the first pulse try and so here I am again trying to do it. This is a terrible thing to have. I hope to get rid of it some day. If its not gone by summer I will think of other options <BR><BR>[Guest Posted by: 'Diane']

[diane]

Ok here is is July and I was pulsing everything was going pretty good! I got to one day on and 5 day off. I was so hopeful I was kicking this thing. I woke up today with loose stools that turned to pure water with blood all day. Called the doctor and he is running a stool test , it s only been 3 days of no vanco so it proably will come back negative. I am going to try it again and if the pulse doesn't work this time it is going to be time to take another route.

[diane]

Well here I am a year later from my last update. I have been through alot of trials with the pulse and tapers. I have been doing a taper that I revapped from Laurens and just made it longer. It seems to be doing really good. I have had some really great normalcy these past few months. Don't get me wrong I still have a really bad day now and again. I still don't eat dairy(oh how I would love some pizza!!!) I am on 1 and off for 8 days. I will continue this to make sure it is gone. I am not going to go and relapse in the middle of summer. I hope it will be gone soon. I hope one day when it is I can continue to educate people about it and hope I never get it again!!!!

[diane]

Well a new update since its been 6 months since my last one.. I continued with my revapped pulse and finally got to 1 on and 11 off and decided to go and try to be off all the way. I have been 33 days so far with nothing. I had a couple of really bad scares so far but they subsided with in 24 hours. I am praying that I beat the beast once and for all!!! I pray everyday for it to be gone for good. I will be sure to post when I Hit the 70 day mark if I can get that far!

[diane]

Well here I am finally after 3 years I have hit the 70 days of no vanco!!! I can not believe I was on vanco for 3 years and had so many relapses. I won't fully breath a sigh of relieve till I hit 90 days. Then I will feel its gone. I have to say this is worse than anything because you can not control it, it controls you! That is the worst part beside all the runs to the bathroom. I could not believe how sick I was for so long. I was continually sick for over a year where there was about 20 stools a day on vanco. I believe that long , slow taper had a lot to do with me getting this far. I won't call myself cured just yet, but almost there.

[diane]

Well I can't beieve after 3 years of He## that I finally made it past the 90 day mark!! It has been truly 3 years of my life I will never forget and hope that I never have to repeat or anyone in my family has to go through. I can say this site was a gift to me and I would of not gotten through it with out all of the people on here. I can truly say IT DOES GO AWAY !!!!!!!!! It will when it wants too. C diff is a scary thing. I think that all patients should be informed of it prior to taking antibiotics so they will know the signs should they arrive. I think it is the doctors duty to inform everyone of this horrible thing! I hope to continue to get well and get my life normal. I have to say I have tried to keep it as normal as possible except for the having to know where every bathroom is or else. Keep the faith everyone who is thinking it won't go away. I"m proof it will!

[diane]

WEll I have finally hit the one year mark of being c diff free!!! I am so happy .. I still get leg cramps and have some really bad days but It is nothing like what I wen though for 3 years and can tolerate it... Ihope to keep on counting and being c diff free for alot longer... I am still a big hand washer, I work as a teacher to help kids read and I have my handy dandy lysol bottle that I spray and my clorox wipes to wipe of the desks and teach the kids to cough in their elbow..lol.. so it sticks with you.. lol.. C diff is definately something I'll never forget and this site is the best!!!