Case history - Elvish

[Elvish]

I've been on this board for many months now, but never put up a history, so I figured I might as well do it now.

Basic history: 22 yr old female, diagnosed with c-diff in early April 2011 (when I was 21). I had been on a 10-day dose strong of Amoxicillin (1000mg 2xday)for strep throat in late Feb 2011, then almost immediately after was put on a 10-day course of Cipro (500mg 2x/day) for strep throat + UTI. I felt terrible on the Cipro, but it seemed to clear everything up pretty quickly. However, exactly a week after I finished the Cipro, I woke up with nausea and diarrhea. I thought it was just a stomach bug, but after a week of no improvement and after noticing mucus and a little blood, I went to a clinic where the doctor (thankfully!) ordered a stool sample. He prescribed a 7-day course of Flagyl and Cipro to fight off the suspected infection, but I opted to wait for test results as it seemed silly to me to take the drug that I suspected had caused my symptoms. Later that week, he called to confirm that I tested positive for c-diff, and agreed to change my course of meds to 14 days of just Flagyl (3x day/500mg), and made me a follow up appointment with an Infectious Disease doctor for the next week.

I did not feel great at all on the Flagyl and had no appetite, but the stomach issues seemed to be improving. I had started taking Florastor (2/day) right before they told me I had c-diff, and that helped the D issues a lot. I wish that I had just finished that first course of Flagyl and been done, but unfortunately the ID doctor I went to told me to stop taking the Flagyl (after just over 6 days of taking it) since I told him I had improved. I'm sure he thought I had a mild infection, and he seemed to think that Flagyl would work right away. I did as he advised and stopped the Flagyl (I was only too happy to do this since it made me feel yucky), but several days later the cdiff symptoms were back (and I had never felt completely well to begin with), so I went back and convinced him to give me Flagyl again (he was of the opinion that Flagyl wouldn't work for me since it hadn't "cured" me after 6 days, and wanted to put me on Vanco). He gave me a new Flagyl regimen that consisted of the following:
500mg 3x/day for 14 days
500mg 2x/day for 3 days
500mg 1x/day for 7 days

Ultimately, this is what got rid of the c-diff for me. I was also always taking 2 Florastor/day, and near the end of the Flagyl treatment I was given Prevalite, 1 packet/day, for 60 days. About 40 days into the 60 days I was told to just take it once every other day until it was gone.

My symptoms while on Flagyl (and I'm sure at least some of these had to do with just the c-diff) were pounding heart, heartburn, fuzzy tongue, extreme fatigue/weakness (I would fall asleep while sitting on the couch and could barely walk around), almost total loss of appetite, worsening anxiety/depression, occasional joint pain/achiness, different taste in mouth, hot flushing, stomach pain/gurgling, cramping, general sick feeling, shorter menstrual cycles, nausea, and lethargy (from what I remember!). I also lost about 15 lbs (from about 130 to 115). These symptoms got better as I tapered off Flagyl, and some persisted in the weeks after. I added plain yogurt, and kefir to my diet, which seemed to help things overall, and I found that drinking mint tea throughout the day helped my stomach settle.

As of now (Oct 2011), I'm nearing the 5-month mark of being done with Flagyl, and I feel just about normal (finally!). It's taken months to get to where I can say "I feel normal," even after finishing Flagyl, but I'm feeling much more positive in general about things. I still have had a little trouble gaining weight back (I still would like to gain around 5 lbs as I've been "stuck" at around 122 for several months), but my appetite is back and I feel like I can eat just about anything. I'm also still anxious about having to take antibiotics, and will try to avoid them as much as I can. I feel that, although the Cipro was what really "caused" the cdiff, I've been over prescribed Amox. over the years for strep throat, and that hasn't helped either. I'm not sure how else to deal with a strep throat infection should one come up (besides trying to prevent as much as possible, and maybe opting for a penicillin shot over a course of Amox), but hopefully I won't have to deal with one anytime soon.

I'll end with the words from people in this forum that really helped me - you WILL get over this!

[Elvish]

10/18/11 Update: Started taking just 1/Florastor per day on 10/4. Had an episode of gas/little bit of mucus on 10/12. Took 2 Florastor on 10/13.
Continued taking 1 Florastor until noticed mucus on 10/17 and 10/18. Plan to take 2 Florastor today. No loose stool, just gassiness.

I've been concerned as to what's causing it, whether it be a cold/allergies (lots of post-nasal drip), the cutting down of Florastor, an onset of IBS, a combination of these, or a sign of relapse. Will most likely try to call doctor today.
I don't recall having episodes of gassiness/mucus since the early days of recovery, if not before that.

[Elvish]

11/8/11 update: Today I've been on just one Florastor/day with no real issues. I seem to be doing well overall, and decided to just take 2 Florastor on days that I feel I need to.

[Elvish]

Whoops, meant "1/day for 2 weeks" in previous post!

[Elvish]

12/16/11 - Just a quick update - as of a couple days ago, I've made it 7 months post c-diff! I've been doing fairly well overall; I feel normal most of the time. I've been dealing with a bad cold for the past 3-4 weeks (it seems to be nearly better by now) and am wondering if maybe the c-diff has made it so I take longer to get over "bugs". My husband caught it and was only sick for about 5 days.

I'm still on 1 Florastor/day and my body seems to have adjusted well to that. I take Emergen-C packets and/or gummy vitamins generally for supplements as they seem to be a little more easily digested than multivitamins, although neither contains iron, so that's a bit of a concern. I still incorporate yogurt, kefir, and occasionally kombucha into my diet, though not daily as before.

[Elvish]

11 months out and doing well! Taking 1 florastor every 2 days. Hope to cut back to 1 every 3 days, and then be done by end of next month or so.