C-diff

[lookame]

I was posting below about not feeling well but I got a call today saying my stool sample came back positive for c-diff. I can't take flagl since it makes me vomit a lot so I'll be taking a med that is 1 pill twice a day for 10 days (it starts with a d...can't think of the name). Anyway idk how i got it since I haven't been on antibiotics since my daughters birth 6 months ago and I haven't been to the hospital since then either.

So can someone tell me about c-diff? Is it the horror story that I've read about (super difficult to get rid of, hell to deal with - although I guess i would know since I have it, ect) what is c-diff? Can my family get it from me easily? Just let me know what I'm in for-good, bad and ugly all welcome. (With crohns i have issues with urgency, incontinence, blood and mucous so i guess if c-diff deals with any of that then lol that's me on the daily)

 

[matty]

Hi, and sorry your going through this. I had cdiff awhile back I too throwup. With the flagl pills so had to stay in hospital to get in through intervenes which did help but still felt some nausea but maybe cause I was not eating anything. The first week was bad and I was begging for imodium which they gave me once. But it not good to take, you have to get all that bad infection out of u. You have to wash hands very good after bowel movements and it can speed to others. It took 2 weeks on flagl for me cause the first time he treated for 1 week and it was still there when he let me go, I was still sick at home. I got it from clindamycin antibiotic. Now when I have to take antibiotics I take a probiotic 2 hrs after. Hope u feel better soon

 

[wall2ka]

C-def is horrible I have the onset of it how from taking an antibiotic, I am also taking an probiotic but instead of once a day I take it 3 times a day and I am also eating 3 to 4 yogurts a day. the yogurt also helps calm some of the symptoms with the c-def.

crohns since 1995
full flare with anal strictures
2013 diagnosed with severe crohns
simponi injections, methotrexate injections,
uceris, folic acid, b-12 injection
numerous vitiamins

 

[lisadc1]

I was hospitalized with it twice in the fall...i was first put on Flagyl and Vancomycin and it returned within days after I was discharged. The second time I repeated those in the hospital, along with Difficid, a very powerful antibiotic. It mimics crohns with its symptoms. I, too, had the mucous, bleeding, D, a general sick intestines feeling. I was so dehydrated and my labs were all over the place. I also developed pancreatitis the second time; the Imuran was the cause of that. felt like I was literally dying inside with so much happening all at the same time. I was also given Probiotics....it took weeks after the last time to begin feeling better. I stayed extremely fatigued and working (teaching little ones) was a very difficult task. Because it is very easily transmitted (my family did NOT get it), do be careful and wash, wash, wash...I was in isolation in the hospital both times. Wishing you a quick healing!!!

 

[FrozenGirl]

When I had C Diff it was bad. Really bad issues with urgency, pain,d. The good news is the symptoms you have now are unlikely to get worse. I did 3 weeks of Flagyl, tested clear after just over 2 but did a week more for residual symptoms. No one in my family got it. It is contagious but if no one else is immune compromised or has lots of antibiotic use you should be fine, wash hands and maybe a daily toliet clean. That was about 4 months ago and I haven't got it again.

 

[lookame]

Apparently I'm going to go untreated because my freaking insurance doesn't want to cover any meds.

 

[FrozenGirl]

That is ridiculous! Can you appeal?

 

[lookame]

I've been trying to appeal all day. They are budging so i get to suffer...

 

[lisadc1]

Have you tried Vancomycin? I bet they are fighting it if you are prescribed Difficid because of the cost. My take home Rx was over $6,000...the hospital would not release me until the insurance paid for it because it was a necessity. Don't give up. I am sure your dr. will argue in your defense.

 

[lookame]

Insurance definitely wouldn't cover the difficid, so my doc prescribed vancomycin....insurance is also fighting that. This whole thing really is pissing me off. This is the same insurance who froze all my meds because they decided they were to expensive and wanted my doc to verify i needed each and every drug and how long I've been on each of them and why other "lower tier" drugs aren't working for me.

 

[wild_one353]

You need a Fecal Microbiota transplant(FMT), they are approved for c. diff by the FDA now and superior over antibiotics. Not every hospital or clinic knows how to do them yet though, buts its so simple they can quickly learn. I think there is even a special page on the fda website that helps doctors learn, they would have to fill out an investigational new drug application http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVa...gINDorDeviceExemptionIDEProcess/ucm094309.htm

more info on Fecal Transplants from the FDA on treating C difficile- http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVa...yInformation/Guidances/Vaccines/ucm361379.htm


An FMT could even help your IBD since there is evidence that it can put people in remission. Follow the link below this post for more info. Read the first page, there is even a section that provides two papers by leading experts on how to select a donor. You will need to find someone that is healthy to give a stool sample.

Try and get them to do a nasogastric or nasoduodenal tube Fecal Transplant, there is a good chance it will knock out your c diff and put you into a remission, one women's IBD seems to also be cured. In a way this is your lucky ticket to get a Fecal Transplant, because it's NOT approved for IBD yet. By the way, poop is free!!

If you cant co-ordinate this with your doctors, then DIY is also an option I can help you through it if you like.

 

[lookame]

Alright so i wound up on Flagyl but the generic version...it's different from the pills i had before that made me sick. Remarkably i haven't been sick at all on these pills, not even the diarrhea i have when inantibiotics (they aren't coated though so they taste terribly). I've been on the treatment for 5 days now and I'm starting to feel so much better. The blood and multiple bathroom visits have subsided. Still suffering from incontinence, some urgency, blood clots, and slight stomach upset but I'm not in pain and my apatite is also returning.

I'm hoping I won't have a relapse and that after this round of flagyl is done with I'll be done but knowing my luck I'll get it again...probably with the round of antibiotics I'll receive to get rid of the multiple infections i get (colds aren't colds with me-they are bronchitis, sinus infections, ear infections ect) i guess we'll see though...