Crohns and C. Diff...really scared right now

[DanaD]

I recently diagnosed with crohns colitis (alergic colitis] as the pathology reports. Dr put me on Asacol HD 3200 mg aday. A week later he put me on 49mg of prednisone a day. Was on pred for 6 daysby this past Tuesday & finally saw a " good " day. Wednesday morning i woke up with a fever of 103, couldnt hardly walk from the pain in all my jlints, my back & head was killing me. Went to the ER & my GI Dr admitted me that day. Been here ever since. Theycouldnt figure out the source of the infection& seen that my lymph nodes in my tummy area was enlarged. They broughtin an infectious Dr to find out what is wrong me & he say i am positive for C.Diff antibodies & negative for toxin buthe says i have C.Diff?? The thing that comfuses me is thati read it usually shows up on the pathology report yet it didntshow up on mine. The Dr has meon IV prednisone, Asacol, heprin to keep from getting blood clots, insulin for my highblood sugar due to rhe pred, something to keepfrom getting acid reflux, sleeping pill, and a few otjer things that i dont know what they are. He also has me on flagyl(sp?) 3 times a day :and IV fluids so i dont het dehydrate from all the D. Right now i am so confused and scared. They cant tell me when i am going home but he says it "easy" to get rid of this but everyrhing i read says differently. They have sent offanother stoolsample to find out what strain i have but that takes

kes 2 days, so right now he dont know if he has me on the right antibiotics. Has anyone been throught this? Does itget better or

 

[archie]

Hi Dana that is really rotten for you I hope you start to feel better real soon flagyl is a strong antibiotic (horrid though) but can do the trick!! What is your CRP I had all those symptoms last year I actually thought I had meningitis my neck was so sore but it turned out to be an abscess in the bowel, it was confirmed by CT and I was given IV antibiotics for a week. Do you have any specific pain in your stomach? Other than that my knowledge of c diff is limited I'm afraid I believe you can carry it if your exposed to it and if your unwell or your resources are down you'll suffer from it but the hospital will get it sorted. If your CRP is very high request a CT scan to rule out abscess. Hope u feel better soon x

 

[DanaD]

Sorry for all the mistypes on my original posting, i am on my nook color as i dont have a lsptop right now. Ty Alice for response. I am not sure what my CRPs are but i def going to ask. And now i am really worried that my family will get this C. Diff...i plan on having them not use the same bathroom as me. Btw they did give a CT scan & this is when they sern my swoolen lymph nodes. I guess i am just really scared & want to know that someone has been the same & came alright. I really hope it doesnt take months for me to get back to work cause i cant afford to be out of work.

 

[archie]

CRP are your inflammatory markers which indicate your levels of inflammation, they can become very high over 200 if you have a serious infection etc, unfortunately your more susceptable of picking up infections as you immune system is lowered whilst taking the prednisone. Hopefully the flagyl will kick it in the butt!!! Sorry i'm not more help re c-diff don't know enough about it to comment, ask the doc's. Hope you get well soon

 

[xoxava]

I hope you feel better soon. I had a crohns flare along with c diff earlier this year it was horrible. I was on oral vancomycin and flagyl. I was in the hospital for a week getting treatment and iv fluids. I went hone and my c diff came back when I tapered off the vancomycin. So I had to start over and do the therapy to keep away the spores and trick them to not cone back. It's possible to get rid of and be fine but it could take awhile depending on your body and treatment. Be sure to wash your hands with soap and water and keep everything at home bleached clean so noone else will get it. Good luck keep us updated.

 

[mom2twogr8tkids]

I have Crohn's and was in the hospital for 6wks with C. Diff. From my experience, C. Diff can only be treated with a specific antibiotic (atleast that's what the doctors told me). I had a horrible time with it...but I was also on Imuran at the time so I couldn't fight anything off.
Good Luck to you and hope you feel better soon! God Bless!

 

[DanaD]

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement. I haven't been able to get on the internwt at the hospital cause too many peole on it so I finally had to use my phone, so I appologize ahead of time for any typos. I am still in the hospital & they can't tell me when I am going home. I felt a lot better after they gave me iron but today, I am feeling really bad, like something is not right in my body. I have been unable to have any BMs the last 2 days & now I am scared I have a blockage. They are sending me for xrays to see what is going on down there. I have been pulled off the IV fluids for now as long as I can keep hydrated. They are giving me a blue pill that helos a lot with the stomach pain when I eat but I have noticed I have started to loose my appetite again & feeling nausous. They gave nasea med to help. I just am so tired of being sick & so scared that now I have a blockage. I am praying it is only constipation. I have decided not to take anymore pain pills cause I understand they slow the gut down & this could be why I haven't done anything in 2 days. I will try to get back on here & keep everyone posted on what's going on.

 

[mom2twogr8tkids]

I hope everything turns out ok and yes, pain meds do slow down your gut. But that's probably why your getting the blue pill. Everytime I'm in the hospital I always get a pill for my gut bc normally if I'm bad enough to be in the hospital then I can't go without the pain meds. I'm stubborn so it takes an act of congress to get me to go anyway. I wish you luck and hopefully your xray will give you a piece of mind. Praying for you!

 

[DanaD]

Dr came in today & said I might get to go home tomorrow. I woke up today in a lot pain in head, neck, back, and stomach & ended up having to take a pain med. Good news is, i finally have soft formed BMs WOOHOO! But i feel so run down still even though my labs look muchbetter. Guess it will take some time to get my strength back. I just really hope I can go home tomorrow, continue to getbetterat home & dontget the c. Diff back . Does anyone know what good supplements i can take to help like probiotics, vitamines, fish oil, etc? Would love to hear what everyone takes to help keep the flares away & the c. Diff.

 

[DanaD]

Finally made it home from the hospital yesterday evening after being there for 10 days. I still feel so tired and run down but my stomach is getting better with the blue pill they give me. And no more D! YAY! I unfortunately got oral thrush because of all the meds and my lab works started going bad again showing infection but they did not warrant me to stay in the hospital. The oral thrush I have is all the way down my throat and into my pipe half way down my chest (I can feel it and it is very painful) but they have me now also on nystatin mouth wash and Diflucan. Hopefully in a few days I will finally get some relief from that cause I can't eat from the pain. I have to force myself to eat and it is only a few bites.

But I am so happy to be home. Hopefully in a few weeks, I will be the same ol same ol me again and can get around with no issues. And I hope that I do not get the C. Diff back. We are wiping everything down with bleach wipes and washing our hands like mad. Mine are now cracking open from all the washing I have done since being sick. I think I might even be slightly a germaphobe now but trying to resist the urge to turn that way.

Oh and is there any CD and C.Diff patients out there that was successful in keeping the C.Diff away with supplements? I really would love to hear what others have done.

 

[archie]

glad to hear your home and on the mend, everytime I take flagyl I get oral thrush its rotten but once you stop it should clear up pretty soon. Keep well and keep bleaching you'll have OCD next with CD and C-diff!!!

 

[McStew]

Ah Dana, I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this! I know EXACTLY what you are going through. I had a very similar experience myself with C-diff, and I've too been told I have Crohn's colitis.

I was put on Vancomacyn, and the steroids through IV, and many other drugs, which I can't even begin to remember. I was hopsitalised for nearly 2 weeks. It definitely took it out of me.

I remember feeling really really tired, woozy, and my stomach just felt plain WEIRD after it all. I'd also get dizzy a lot and just had to sit on the couch all day. When I was out of the hospital, I ate a lot of saltines and drank Ensure. When I was able to finally start getting some kind of appetite, I had a lot of soups, mashed potato, turkey. I consulted my nutritionist and she advised Manuka honey as well. I actually didn't take any supplements immediately out of getting out of the hospital, as I wasn't actually at home when I was ill (was in a different country), so didn't really know what to take, wasn't familiar with everything, and only wanted to chance taking what I was familiar with.

I too was scared, as I heard that it is easy to get a c-diff infection again after having one, but I never did. It did take me a bit of time to recover, but I just tried to take it one day at a time and focus on how I was feeling that day.

You can only go up from here, as I'm sure you've been through the worst. Hope you start feeling more like yourself soon.