Allie's Case History

[allie1987]

I have had fairly bad IBS for five years now. However, after going on several years attempting several medications, I found the elimination diet that best kept it under control is a gluten-free/vegan diet. Didn't make it go away, but any improvement was welcomed.

This past June, I started an intensive five year grad school/teaching fellowship program in New York. For two months this summer, I was healthy and happy and doing very well in classes. August was our summer break, so I decided to fly home to California to relax, see my family and friends, and "recharge" for the demanding school year ahead.
About a week after I got home though, I became very sick with flu-like symptoms: fever, nausea, diarrhea, dehydration, sore throat, the works. I spent a majority of a day in the ER on IV fluids soon after I came down with it, which helped the symptoms immensely. Except for the diarrhea. That kept going. It was worse than my normal IBS diarrhea, but not C Diff yet.
I then went back to the doctor to figure this out. Without any stool tests, she decided it was probably an infectious diarrhea, and prescribed Ciprofloxacin. I was on that for a week.
That's when the C Diff diarrhea kicked in hard. I'd never had that kind bowel movement and I knew something was up. So I went back to the doctor who did the stool test this time, which came back positive for C Diff toxins.
I was still at home at the time, and started on Flagyl. For me, this was like a low dose of chemo. I felt queasy and lethargic the entire time I took it. Meanwhile, my roommates in New York read up on this infection, and worried so much about my coming back and getting them sick, that I opted to stay at home another week until I completed the course.
I got back to school and had about two days until diarrhea started again, but it wasn't like the C Diff. I was able to function and go to classes and my get through my school observation hours, but it got progressively worse and worse as the month went on. Early in October, I went to my school's student Health Services. I was feeling miserable and having several bowel movements a day. It was bloody and disgustingly soft. After going in a few times and getting negative cultures back, they referred me to a GI doctor.
I went to see the GI doctor, and was scheduled for an "emergency colonoscopy" the next day, to find out what was wrong. The colonoscopy didn't show a thing, but they did take biopsies.
Biopsies came back positive for C Diff.
So, it's quite likely I never got over it to begin with, but it's hard to say.
SO, mid-October I start on a course of Vancomycin. Around this time, I also started student teaching in a middle school. Four classes = about a hundred students.
The diarrhea continued, but not nearly as bad. Still gross and way too soft though. All this time a characteristic of it has been bleeding and "residue." Not good.
A week and a half into student teaching and almost finished with Vanco, I get an ear infection. This was such a terrible ear infection, it kept me up all night crying in pain. Such a bad ear infection, I could barely keep balanced. I went into my student Health Service's Urgent Care that Saturday, and they prescribed Bactrim.
Four days later, my ear is feeling 75% better, but the C Diff diarrhea hits hard again. By Thursday, I get very, very dehydrated. I was trying to go to class, but I got dizzy and collapsed on the street corner. Some strange teenagers though got me into a taxi and went down to student Health, again. Here, they start me on IV fluids, and then decide to transfer me to the ER at the hospital across the street. I get more IV fluids and anti-nausea medication in the ER, and after speaking to my GI doctor, they opt to admit me that night. While in the hospital, I was on fluids around the clock for two days straight. That's a LOT of fluids there. They start me on liquid Vancomycin (tastes like poison, but worked quickly) and IV Flagyl. Finally by Sunday, I test negative for the toxins, and I was discharged on Monday afternoon.
Still having diarrhea. By this point, I had seen an infectious disease doctor who didn't think I should be working in public schools, for the sake of the students and myself. Suddenly a big chunk of this master's degree (the student teaching) has to be put off for me.
Also by this point, my being sick all semester had caught up with me, and I have definitely fallen behind in classes. My advisor and some professors and advisor at the fellowship program jumped right in to help though, which I'm thankful for. They offered to "make accommodations" as needed.
These I will need, definitely. What exactly they will be, I will find out later.
My mom flies across country the weekend after I get out of the hospital to take care of me. My diarrhea still continued.
This weekend, after she had left, I start feeling a bit sick again.
Then yesterday, bam. Fever at 102, vomiting, nausea, 30+ bowel movements and definitely C Diff again. Idon'tgetit.
Back to the doctor, after having loaded up on Imodium (even though I know this is bad) and Aleve and Promethazine just to subside the symptoms so I could comfortably leave the apartment.
And so today, I was prescribed another round of Flagyl.
This has been plaguing me now for about three months,
made this semester (academically and occupationally) near impossible,
and has certainly affected the quality of life.
I've just felt awful, constantly, for the past few months.
Now the questions are, will get over this soon, or will it become a recurring problem? Will I be able to finish the semester as planned, or even graduate on time in May? If this becomes a chronic colitis or something, will I be able to assume the kind of leadership job that teaching requires? I just don't know. If you have any thoughts, please PM me. Thanks, I need all the support I can get.