C- Diff

Hi...
I have had UC for almost 19 years....
I am on Lialda, and CBD oil.. and was doing pretty well! Nine days ago,
I attended a baby shower.. ate Caesar Salad.. and about two hours into the party.. had violent cramps.. spent over an hour with severe diarrhea..
It stopped long enough for me to go home..
Had diarrhea for four days until I went to
the Dr. and had a stool culture. Came back
positive for C- Diff. Never was on antibiotics.. put on Vancomycin, which is making my UC worse . C- Diff can be fatal.
Have to continue on Vancomycin.
Has anyone with UC ever have C- Diff...
if so please tell me what else I can do to make my stomach feel better.
Thanks !!!!

I agree about probiotics. All probiotics may help but the one probiotic that actually targets C Diff specifically is Saccharomyces boulardii.

If you can find a facility that supports it, fecal transplants are supposed to be 95 percent effective against C Diff.

Sorry to hear about your C-Diff.

Vanco made my UC worse also, so the last several times I was given Dificid which worked very well for me.
Absolutely with others who suggested taking a probiotic daily. Florastor is a good one but quite expensive. I take Saccharomyces boulardii which was already suggested.
Just had a FMT a few weeks ago, praying it will work well for me.

Might want to eat a light diet for a few days while Vanco starts working just to give your digestive track a break.

I have had C diff. The vancomycin worked for me. How many days have you been on it? I don't think vanco typically makes UC worse, but I guess I don't really know (I didn't have that issue). Are you in pain? C diff was incredibly painful for me. I had to be hospitalized and I was given pain medicine that helped but really barely touched the pain. I was also crapting the bed in the hospital when I fell asleep...good times! I had campylobacter (food poisoning bacteria) at the same time and that reoccurred for two months...also extremely painful and debilitating. The ceaser salad would not have had anything to do with contracting c diff. That is odd you weren't on antibiotics and were not in the hospital recently, I assume? There is not a lot you can do other than continue to take the Vanco as prescribed and if you don't see improvement after a week or two, call your doctor. They will probably then put you on Dificid. I'm not a big believer in the effectiveness of probiotic pills but I do recommend eating food rich in probiotics, like fermented foods or yogurt.

I have been on an FMT study for almost 2 years, these days I get a maintenance dose once a month.
I have never experienced any side effects from the FMT and only have good things to say for it.

I think when I had it (back when I had UC) they put my on Fagyl first bc it was cheaper for insurance to cover, and when that didn’t work, they bumped me up to Vanco which worked like a dream.

I think you should be feeling better already :/ You’re probably dehydrated at this point as well...

As far as how do you get it, anyone can get it. I think since at the time, I was on azathioprine, my immune system was compromised and made me more susceptible to infection. Older people and younger people, who have compromised immune systems are more likely to get it. Other people who may test positive c diff may have it in their body but their body is strong enough to fight it. It’s just one of those fluke things, unfortunately. Bad luck on my part.

I hope they figure it out and you’re feeling better very soon!

Post Edited (Doggiedo) : 10/29/2018 9:41:16 AM (GMT-6)

Thanks for responding. I was put on Vancomycin, took it for six days and it made my UC worse .. switched to Flagyl.. made me sicker. Went back on Vancomycin ,
and am bleeding and very nauseous . Dr. said stop the antibiotics for now.. I don’t think the C- Diff is gone. This has been going on for over 2 weeks . I am very
upset and scared. What is to become of me😂😂😂

You likely have to retest and see where things stand. I guess at this point, your option will be retreatment with one of the drugs you tried, or Dificid, or FMT. I personally wouldn't be scared to do FMT. it can be beneficial to both UC and c diff. I feel like I rarely hear people report adverse results from FMT, I have heard of people not having any result (they were trying to treat their UC with FMT not c diff), but never heard of anyone come back and say they regret doing it. That said, my GI mentioned that it can make UC worse, but I think she was trying to dissuade me from doing it at home. She didn't provide any study that proves anything. I had surgery though, and I am very thankful I did. If FMT did the trick, I definitely would have given it a go before accepting surgery as the answer. At the same time, it's like all treatments, if it works, it might work for a day, or a week, or years, but eventually, a flare up is likely to happen.

To Not So Sickly Girl.. Thanks for responding
FMT.. May be my only option. My UC is so severe thanks to the Vancomycin and
Flagyl ...

I had a horrible case of C-diff. When it started, I went to the ER because I quickly became dehydrated. They didn't order a stool test or anything, just referred me to my GI and gave me steroids, assuming that it was a UC flare.
My GI doc didn't order any studies either and just kept me on prednisone.. effectively muting my immune system and allowing the C-diff to grow uncontrolled for several weeks until the level of toxins in my tract caused some of the most horrible illness I've ever had.. at that point I demanded a full work-up for infections, parasites, etc.. and came back positive for C-diff.

Even with that severe an infection the vancomycin kicked its butt after about 4-5 days.. I was totally normal by the end of the course..

however, it -did- trigger a flare that lingered, going from mild to moderate.. they tried putting me on another taper, steroid enemas.. etc.. basically I've never been the same since. I was placed on Humira not too long ago and another taper.. and things finally seem to be calming down. I was re-tested for C-diff a few times, confirming that it's gone.

C-diff is just evil.

The vanco made me feel kind of messed up and crappy but it did get rid of my c diff after a few weeks (can't remember how long). I hope they re-tested you for c diff and/or did a scope and that you are doing better now. It was hard to know what was causing my symptoms at that time -- infectious causes or UC or both...