I Suspect C Diff...

[rapid_reader]

So if I'm right this has been going on since late July or Early August. I dismissed it at first, I mean blood can be present in stool for reasons besides C Diff. When I started to be more sure I still didn't do anything because we have other things going on in this household medically that take priority to what I've been dealing with. Right now though I'm 98% sure it's C Diff.

A week ago I was all like, "There's nothing to worry about, I have everything under control" and the next thing I know things started to go downhill. Sucks to be stubborn sometimes I suppose. If I would have done something about this a few days earlier I'd already be on something to treat this.

Okay so I didn't contact my GI I went to my primary. I haven't seen my GI in forever and it'd be weird to make contact now, plus my primary will defiantly have the results of my stool samples faster. She plans to treat it just the same as GI would with Xifaxin.

I have to wait until Monday when the lab is open and hopefully not to long after they run tests. I don't wanna wait I want to feel better now!

I'm very apprehensive having had C Diff on numerous occasions in the past. I'm extremely antibiotic resistant when it comes to C Diff. The Xifaxin did work on the past case that I thought would never go away no matter what we tried.

I can't even think of where I would have picked it up from... I have no idea and I dismissed looking for an answer as it would have me researching which ways this could have happened. As a result I would most likely become neurotic at all the potential ways I could have gotten this.

I'm too wiped out from the bathroom trips to make a decent attempt at sanitizing everything that could have been compromised during this last month. I can't recall everything of importance that I've come in contact with these last few weeks. I mean where would I even start and how effective would it be at this point? Also it's not like any of us had known to do this before. I still got better and stayed that way for a while without taking such measures when it came to cleaning.

A few things have me confused this time around. Weight gain for one, it's been inching up since things started. This baffles me because everything I've read about C Diff primarily mentions weight loss.

I have a theory, when I do go to the bathroom it's not a lot just some mucus and blood (occasionally I there's a normal amount, this is rare though) I would assume that with this messing up how I go to the bathroom makes it very possible that there's a lot just sitting there. If this is the case once things are back under control I'd assume that weight would go away. I'm beyond bloated, I mean sure I get bloated, but that usually goes away. The bloating I have been experiencing lately is constant.

Also pain and cramping had been evading me until a few days ago same with the smell. Well I still don't have pain, but the cramping has gotten so bad within the last few days that it's borderline painful. Yesterday started the loss of appetite. Now that all of these things are there, I'm just waiting for the call saying that they called in Xifaxin to my pharmacy and to start it as soon as possible.

I've been blatantly ignoring that gnawing fear of what I'll do if this isn't C Diff. I've come to the conclusion that I'll cross that bridge if I even come to it...

To put it simply this sucks. I didn't go into to much detail about it's progression as I assume that those of you that have ever had C Diff yourselves can recall exactly how quickly it becomes unbearable.



Side note

Alright so I've noticed something, I never go on any of my forums when I'm doing well. I think it just comes down to the fact that when given the ability to just live my life like nothing was ever wrong to begin with, that's what I opt to do. Keeping updated with the forums totally ruins that illusion and the reality of everything then has a way to seep in. Thus why I'm only writing anything now.

Also when I write something I don't do it half way, which is why all of my posts are massive.

 

[SarahAnne]

Wow, I don't even know what to say, I've never had C-diff so I just recently looked it up. It terrified me, now I understand why everyone here who has had it freaks out like they do! I'm having surgery soon and I'm scared I'm going to get it and have complications....I hope this isn't what it is, but like you said, if it isn't....we're just damned one way or another with this disease.

Good luck.

 

[Carrie630]

c.diff can form spores which can go dormant for years, but still be able to infect someone if the conditions are right. c.diff can go dormant for years like this in your intestines and re-infect you later. People can be c.diff carriers without symptoms and never know they are infecting other people with it.

you and a healthy person could use the same sink in a public bathroom, both touch spores, and their immune system keeps it in check while yours doesn't. in short, you can get it just about from anywhere nowadays :/

 

[tishbite]

It looks like everybody is dealing with c-diff right now. I hope you feel better soon!

 

[rapid_reader]

Sucks to here that a lot of people are dealing with C Diff right now. I hope everyone feels better soon. I know how difficult it can become when trying to treat C Diff and get everything back under control. I also know from experience how scary and hopeless it feels when one is not able to get rid of it.

This probably why I find this to be the most devastating out of any news I have ever received medically and let me tell you I've heard a lot.

I've learned not to freak out over these things as the years have passed, still to this day whenever I hear C Diff I always think it would be beyond appropriate to cue dramatic theme music. C Diff truely does make it to my list of top five fears.

I can read up on it and not get freaked out by what I find solely because I once had it untreated for over a year. If none of the extreme effects surfaced during that time then I shouldn't get worked up over the possibilities showing up after just a month.

That said I haven't had C Diff in years and from what I heard it seems C Diff has really evolved since then, I mean there's a type C now! I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole until I get the test results back. I hope to have them by the end of the week, Monday at the latest.

For the time being, not that it would matter anymore at this point, I'm using paper towls when I wash my hands as opposed to using the hand towel in the bathroom. I'll go crazy sanitizing everything else once I'm half way through the course of Xifaxin they'll end up prescribing me once they get the results back.

I'm also adjusting my diet for the time being. I'm cutting out all the sugar that I possibly can as bacteria feeds off of it. I hope that in doing this I'll be less likely to find myself in a situation where the C Diff is antibiotic resistant. Sure it's a long shot, but it' worth a try.

While it's true that anything I eat sets me off these days, there are things that do it to a lesser degree. Off the top of my head the two things that are best for me to eat right now are rice and protein. The low residue diet that GI recommends seems to make things so much worse. So it seems I'm pretty limited in what I can eat at the current moment.

I just have to hold out until my doctor gets the results back. I can honestly say I have never wanted an antibiotic more than I do right now.