C Diff

Has anyone here had a test come back positive for C-Diff?  Is this more common with UC or Crohn's?  Any info appreciated

Hello,

My UC conspicuously developed a matter of days after I began taking two different types of antibiotics. Later my UC progressed to my entire colon and I had intense symptoms, and during this time my C diff test came back positive. Since C diff is often the result of antibiotic use I probably had it for many months before my UC progressed. I took 10 days of Vancomycin antibiotic and the next C diff test came back negative, but my more severe UC seems to be here to stay. I think that it is likely that these two diseases are connected. Unfortunately, I was hoping that if C diff was the culprit, and if I treated it, then the UC would go away forever, but that doesn't seem to be the case. As far as any official connection between the two, my doctors tend to shrug it off as me trying to overdiagnose the situation. Good luck!

~Scott G

Most docs will only test for c diff if they think there is a reason that you may have it. I went through two months of tests for everything besides c diff because I had none of the risk factors associated with it and my doc at the time wasn't very imaginative. By the time we found out it was c diff (a different doc ordered the test) my case was resistant to flagyll and I had to do almost three full rounds of vancomycin to get rid of it. Thank heavens for health insurance! Vanco has got to be the most expensive pill I have ever taken!

If you ask your doc to test for c diff, he'll probably comply, but he might also ask you why you think it might be c diff. Be sure to have a nice and thorough description of your symptoms to back up your self-dx.

subdued said...
I don't know whether or not my GI tested me for C Diff when my stool was tested. It is common for GI's to test for this?

I think it was one of the things my doctor tested me for before I was diagnosed with UC, just to rule it out as a cause of my symptoms. I thought it was common to test for this before getting a IBD diagnosis, but I might be mistaken.

Just wanted to pay forward….  My daughter had c diff for eight weeks after an unbelievable set of complications from a gallbladder and appendix removal.  She is only 10 years old!  These multiple serious complications included internal bleeding and a life flight.  The doctors were working in her gut area three times and she was on heavy antibiotics as well as an acid reducer (previcid).  It turns out that the acid reducer significantly increases the chances of getting C Diff when combined with antibiotics.  She came home and didn't recover well.  Blood and mucus were in her stool.  Finally a doctor ordered a c diff test.  She didn't have profuse diarrhea like most do but some new strains of C Diff don't cause much diarrhea.  It still wrecks your intestines just as bad.  Anyway, after eight weeks they finally diagnosed her.  She had been very very active and was now extremely weak, tired, and ill.  She spent hours a day in the bathroom.  She was treated with flagyl but the c-diff came back after 13 days.  So the doctors put her on Vancomycin.  My husband and I did a lot of research on the internet.  We concluded that Florastor and a fecal transplant were our best proven treatments after antibiotics.  We also added Culturelle, Allign and B vitamin.  We were desperate and did the transplant at home using her 13 year old brother's stool.  We started this the day we finished the vancomycin and gave her 7 treatments.  Three in a row and the others about every other day.  Floristor we started two days before the anti biotic ended.  We probably should have done it sooner.  She had 250 mg twice a day, Allign twice a day, and Culturelle once a day.  The b vitamins were once or twice a day when I remembered.  We did this for a full month then we have just tapered it to half.  In a couple of weeks we will probably stop.  We are in week five and she is doing physically pretty good.  No c-diff.  We are now treating her (counseling) for the trauma all this produced.  It has been an awful experience.  We had her treated by the best hospital and doctors in the area.  We were surprised at their gaps in helping her.  None of her specialists recommended Florastor  or other probiotic until we mentioned it.  None of them ever mentioned a fecal transplant.   I am grateful however to those of you who gave us courage to try the fecal transplant.  Few hints...get a hat (plastic bowl that fits in the toilet) from the hospital and put a plastic zip lock bag in it for the donor.  It makes handing things easier.  Remember to take the plastic flow piece out of the enema bottle.  We bought a cheap blender and mixed it with saline solution using a recipe we got off the internet (be sure to use non-iodized salt).  We blended until it looked like a thin chocolate shake, then strained it using a new stainless steel sink strainer and funnel into the enema bottle.  Hold the bottle under warm water if it feels cold.  You want the fluid to be about body temp.  We did the enema at night right before bed and she slept after.  It is all a little messy and yuck....but it has given our daughter 5 weeks!  Good luck to all of you!

Srolfe
What web site did you get the instructions from for the transplant.
Thanks