Bacterial Colitis

Yeah. Some "bugs" are incurable too. At first I thought my UC was due to the Epstein Barr virus because I came down with Mono at the exact same time I came down with UC. I found evidence showing that some cases of UC are tied to EBV and there is no known way to eliminate EBV from the patient. While this is still possible I have believed now for a number of years that my UC was actually caused by the broad spectrum antibiotics I took in the beginning for my EBV symptoms, before we realized that I did have EBV. There is evidence that the antibiotics I took have caused UC in a small percentage of patients.

There would be two schools of thought if a bacteria was causing UC. One would be that you didn't really have UC at all and therefore had bacterial colitis, which would be theoretically cured if you could destroy the bacteria.

The second school of thought would be that you actually did have UC which the root cause was your immune system's attack on the bacteria, messing up your body's immune response. Your body mounts an unrelenting attack on the bacteria but because the bacteria has muted to a degree, your immune system cannot destroy it and therefore is fighting an endless attack on something that it cannot ever get rid of, causing never ending inflammation in the colon. This process can only be interrupted by taking steroids and other immune suppressing or anti-inflammatory drugs of various kinds.

Tunnel, how did they know you had the campylobacter? Did they find evidence in a scope or did you do a stool test?

I don't think so. People always say c diff makes your UC symptoms a lot worse and i've seen a lot of people mention a specific smell to c diff BMs. I have recently been checked for c diff so I am sure i don't have it. You should do the stool test if you're worried.

Rectal swabbing can determine the bacteria...but they'd have to culture them as they would for stool samples. There are different mediums for certain bacteria I think. but haven't looked that up.

I would also think that biopsies would show what cells/lymphocytes, etc would be clustered to determine what shows up during infection, what shows up from inflammation damage, chronic inflammation, etc.

Regarding c.diff, e.coli...etc, some bacteria will still be in the colon and can be spread through feces and the carrier not have any symptoms after being on meds, or having symptoms acquiesce.
The problem with being on meds, improving symptoms and having residual bacteria....I think it can morph into a more resistant strain.

We can also pick up those morphed strains...through hand to mouth transmission. WE need not have been on antibiotics to create them.

nssg...if you suspect anything or need to have any of your fears alleviated, you should request all those tests from your doctor and have them confirmed one way or another.

When I first had the initial bout of diarrhea almost 3 years before diagnosis, the doctor I had NEVER had me do stool samples. I think that's something that most people should insist on.

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