The outlook for UC + C. Diff?

So... I got diagnosed with UC in late 2015 and was managed fairly well, symptoms classified as 'mild' and definitely were not interfering with my life in a major way. I was upset but things were livable.

Fast forward to Jan 2018; I develop severe diarrhea, watery, going every 2 hours at least - with bleeding present. It lasts for 4 days so I go straight to the ER due to worsening dehydration. I only waited that long because I suspected a virus at first (I work as an RN and our unit had a small cluster of norovirus patients). The ER doctors did basic blood tests and after a consult were sure I was just having a UC flare up. I was given a prednisone taper and a GI follow-up.

I improved on the steroids to having 0 symptoms, totally healthy BM's once a day. Of course, as soon as I tapered off and was only taking my normal UC meds, all the symptoms came roaring back even worse--with the added joy of abdominal pain, nausea, and anorexia. This time, I was sure something else had to be wrong, and asked my doctor to test me for C. Diff. Well wouldn't you know it came back positive and I'm being started on Vancomycin (while still taking pred. that he ordered days earlier for the suspected 'flare').

I've been reading studies tonight about the difficulties of treating IBD patients for C. Diff.. needless to say, I face yet another cross-up of on one hand feeling relieved to have determined the source of my awful illness, and on the other, worried almost sicker about what the future holds.

Just how grim is the outlook for this combination? I see so many horror stories about constant relapses that are more and more difficult to treat.. A lot of studies say it's something like 40% for people with underlying IBD.

Has anyone actually had any long-term success in keeping away from this thing after being treated?

Isn't this such a fun, never-ending hell that we navigate?

Post Edited (Sir Egg Benedict) : 3/15/2018 11:53:47 PM (GMT-6)

Thought I'd update.. sometimes I like to know how things went for other people; so maybe someone will get something out of what I'm going through too.

Things were getting really grim for me emotionally. Being forced to be out of work with no end in sight while not getting any income.. it was a new low for me. I was spending 3/4 the day on the toilet and the other quarter just wondering if I should send my wife back to her parents and meet whatever financial ruin on my own.

On like day 4 of the vanco I woke up to several huge bouts of diarrhea that were the absolute worst C-diff smelling things ever.. I was almost gagging. Since then, though, it's been less and less each day, until finally this morning I woke up to passing two normal, formed stools. No more D. All my other symptoms have also long since vanished.

I'm forced to be off again this week anyways.. my Employee Health dept won't let me return to work until I'm finished with my full course of abx for some reason. I'll be missing that money but I guess a little thankful for the extra week to just recover fully.

I'm left now to wonder how much longer this would have gone on had I not basically diagnosed myself. Thinking about asking for a new GI doc but will maybe try to patch things up with this guy first.

I tested positive for C.Diff in February. My GI Doc put me on Flagyl 3x Daily and 50 Bill Probiotics for two weeks. I was in the same boat; nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain that nearly had me waking my husband in the middle of the night to take me to the ER.

My symptoms had gradually gotten better over the course of medication but since I've stopped it; my BM's still aren't normal, or normal for me anyway. I have another follow-up tomorrow but my insurance won't pay for a test to see if I'm negative now. :-/

I was told many different things about it... that I'm now a carrier for C. Diff and that exposure could put me right back in the same boat. That I likely caught it from taking antibiotics (wish I was told I need to be wary of them? What about the Flagyl?)... I caught in the my doctors office, the lab where I get my blood tests, and even at work because we have to clean our own restrooms.

I don't know where I could've picked it up and now I feel like a germaphobe. I won't let my PCP do even routine exams without wearing gloves, I ask them to sanitize their little flashlight before they look in my ears/nose, and I've started washing my hands so much my skin is dry and cracking. It's not an experience I want to go through again.

I am scared it'll return. Especially after reading other folks experiences. I went through the same situation with my job since I work in the food industry. I was not allowed to return until I had a doctor letter stating, "safe to return to full duties." I was afraid that the first round of Flagyl wouldn't work and that I'd miss more work; even be let go. Stress, just a ton of stress.

But I have heard good things. Apparently many people have had success with the FMT deal and some even got rid of it just fine on meds. I'm hopeful.

C Diff is an opportunistic bacteria, and if there is a large die off of other bacteria then C Diff reproduces rapidly and an overgrowth causes the awful symptoms we known and loathe. Sometimes antibiotics trigger this

That's why if you are going to get rid of C Diff thru antibiotics then you should also take probiotics, which are 'good' bacteria, to fill in the vacuum in your gut. One probiotic, Saccharomyces boulardii, is a probiotic yeast and because it is a yeast and not bacteria, it is immune from antibiotics. And it is known to target C. Diff.

BTW, fecal matter transplantation (FMT), which involves extracting healthy bacteria from another individual’s fecal matter and then processing and transferring that bacteria to the infected patient directly. I couldn't believe it either when I first heard about it but this has a very high success rate of clearing out the infection. It is the mainstream treatment of choice in many hospitals. And some have posted here that the FMT not only knocked out their C Diff infection, but put them into remission from UC.