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c.diff stool test was equivocal

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 5/12/2016 1:26 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,
I did a stool test for c.diff , the doctor said it came back positive and prescribed 3 400mg of metronidazole (flagyl) tablets a day . however, he said that the stool was negative for the toxin but they did another screening test and it was positive for c.diff, so he said it was equivocal , which I dont know what it means exactly.I did another stool test before this one for calprotectin which came back as high .

could the high calprotectin be bcs of the c.diff. And are the symptoms that I am having bcs of c.diff and not the uc and that is why the azathioprine and humira not working?

and what can I expect of the treatment he gave me and what should I expect of things to come ? I feel very lost, dont know what the problem really is you know .
btw I am not on prednisone anymore.
thanks
Posted 5/12/2016 1:43 PM (GMT 0)
symptoms of c.diff are often mistaken as UC symptoms.

often c.diff can be treated by antibiotics, and improves in days, with full benefit over a week or so. But often the antibiotics only knock it down and it returns after a few weeks or month. The most effective antibiotic is vanco, but it is kind of toxic itself.

IF you keep getting c.diff after several rounds of antibiotics, you might want to try FMT. Most likely this will mean do it yourself.

c.diff tests are often false negatives, and usually two or three tests a few days apart are really needed to say no c.diff. But even one test positive is pretty reliable. While you had an (indirect) toxin test and a direct c.diff test and they disagreed, I would still assume you had c.diff.

good luck
Posted 5/12/2016 1:52 PM (GMT 0)
Flagyl is not effective in treating severe c diff. Patients with recurrent c diff and UC should be treated with vankomaycin. If that doesn't work one can make a case for fmt but another antibiotic called dificid is an option as well.

I highly discourage at home fmt as the donor stool should be screened.
Many hospitals do fmt for c diff. Get it done right.

C diff colitis can mimic and or trigger UC flare.

Good luck
Posted 5/12/2016 2:01 PM (GMT 0)
C diff tests are notorious for false positives/negatives. Therefore, multiple tests are often run to lessen the odds of a bad result. Thus the multiple tests.

C diff mirrors uc symptoms. C diff is a pathogen that causes intestinal inflammation that results in blood, diarrhea, discomfort and frequent and urgent bms, just like uc does.

We're more prone to getting c diff, especially when on immunosuppressive medications like you're humira and azathioprine. C diff can happen at any time. Therefore whenever our symptoms turn for the worse, it's important to ask for a stool test to rule out pathogenic causes to our symptoms.
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