Posted 4/7/2015 2:09 AM (GMT 0)
I have been reading so much information on c diff and the turmoil it has caused everyone and I totally understand because I started having pain in January 2015 and went to my GYN about it and he determined it was my uterus and fluid buildup from a procedure I had in Aug 2014. He suggested I take Aleve for the pain and see if it didn't help or get better. Well the pain continued and got worse and I kept going to the GYN for help and it was decided I needed to have a hysterectomy but they couldn't get me on the schedule for a month. I was in terrible pain that no medication helped much. The aleve took forever to work and so I started taking Tylenol in between aleve. One morning on my way to work, I was in so much pain I went to the ER instead of going to work. The ER did a CT scan and said I had colitis and gave me 5 medications to take Cipro was one of them and Flagyl. They told me I needed to see a Gastro doctor. I took those meds for 2 days and the pain was the worst pain I had yet, I could barely stand it. I had an appointment with the gastro dr the next week, and she looked at the CT scan and said I did NOT have colitis but that it was my uterus but to be absolutely sure she needed to do a colonoscopy. We scheduled that two days later. I must tell you at this point, I had not had any diarrhea or constipation so she was confused that the ER told me colitis. So I have the colonoscopy on Thursday and by Saturday I had started having diarrhea and my pain was so bad I could hardly take it. I was taking aleve and Tylenol like candy hoping for some relief. Got none. I couldn't sleep due to the pain and abdominal cramps and the diarrhea was getting worse. I went two weeks and just didn't know what to do. I saw my GYN again and still we were waiting for a time to schedule the surgery. I went to my regular doctor and I told him I had been having diarrhea and cramping and pain for two weeks and I also told him that it started AFTER I had a colonoscopy. He called the gastro doctor while I was sitting in his office and got her on the phone and explained what I was going through. She then called me and told me to come to her office to give stool samples so they can test for bacterial infection. So I drove to her office and they had a kit for me to take home (7 vials to fill) and return to them to test. I went home and filled the vials over a couple of hours, stored them as they instructed me to do, and took them first thing next morning to the gastro office and dropped them off. They said it would take 7 to 10 days for results. Great... and I am in severe pain and diarrhea and struggling to work through all of this. So a few days pass I am feeling horrible and having chills and achy all over and can not sleep and missing work. I call the gastro office to see if they have heard anything and was told the samples were not useable, I didn't turn them in to them in time. So NOT true but can't argue with them and I had started crying by this point anyway because I feel horrible like I am dying. SO, I go thru a weekend suffering and Monday morning I take off again, go pick up another stool kit, go home and fill the vials, take them back to gastro office by 1:00 the same day and am told again they can not rush it and it will take 7 to 10 days. I tell them I feel like death walking and that I would like for the doctor to call me. they say okay. will have her call. No call comes of course. I go thru the evening and night with chills, fever, aching all over, diarrhea and can not sleep. I go to work the next morning and can barely stand it. My boss tells me I need to go to the hospital, I am weak and pale and they need to do something that I am truly sick. So I go to the ER and after a few hours they call the Gastro doctor and tell her I am in the ER and they decide that I need to be admitted. they put me on IV Metronidazole 500mg and put me in a room. They take stool sample of my diarrhea and are planning to test it for C diff. I am in pain, can not sleep, having diarrhea and they are giving me IV metronidazole and pain meds. By next morning they have results that I have C diff and now they put me in isolation. I break out in a itchy rash from the Metronidazole so they change the IV to Vancomycin and give me morphine for the pain I am in. My stomach is making noises, gas is horrible, the worst smell I have ever smelled in my whole life and I am bloated and feel like death. I stay in the hospital 3 days and they release me with a prescription of Vancomycin for 10 days and tell me to follow up with a gastro doctor. I read everything I could read about C diff as I had never heard of this before and I also while reading about it find out that many people are coming down with it after having a colonoscopy because the equipment is not being cleaned properly and the scopes are passing bacterial infections and other diseases to otherwise healthy people, one of which I was. So reading I have learned that to fight C diff you need to take Vancomycin, a probiotic pill - I have been taking Florastor twice a day, I have been drinking Kefir probiotic twice daily, I have totally changed my diet. No red meat, no processed foods, no junk, no caffine, only organic vegetables, organic fruits, especially RED grapes, a lot of water and I am beginning to feel a little better after 4 months of horrible pain. The diarrhea finally stopped after I left the hospital. I have lost a lot of weight and I have scheduled to have my hysterectomy next week because while in the hospital they did another CT scan and found that I have Uterine Fibroids and my uterus is enlarged. So in addition to the pain from the C diff I have been having pain from the fibroids. I innocently poisoned myself with the Aleve - my body became toxic to it. I was having joint pain to where I couldn't walk or bend my arms or legs. I have used up all of my vacation/sick time at work and I will be out a couple of weeks with the hysterectomy with out pay but I am so looking forward to finally getting back to my life and no pain and no diarrhea no c diff. I don't know how long I should keep taking the Florastor probiotic so if anyone has any suggestions please respond. I do not want to have another bout of the C diff ever again so I am trying to so everything I can to keep it from returning. By the way, my original Gastro dr that did the colonoscopy NEVER called me with the results of the stool samples. Thank goodness I went to the hospital or I could have died. I will not ever have another colonoscopy though and I hope this will give others some insight and if you have to have a colonoscopy PLEASE make sure you know how the Gastro office you use cleans their scopes and ask about infections etc...