Some top medical centers are treating C.diff. with fecal transplants.
@DonnaL, sending healing vibes and hugs that you are over the hump and feeing better soon. Please don’t do anything that might cause a relapse.
No advice—just wishing you a speedy recovery.
DonnaL, rest up, this bug is evil!
I was treated with a cephalosporin antibiotic for a minor infected finger that grew staph aureus.
A week AFTER completing the antibiotic, I became horribly ill.
Because I have ulcerative colitis, the symptoms were misunderstood and the diagnosis of C-diff was delayed.
I think I was given metronidazole first but kept throwing it up and was switched to vanco.
It was weeks till I felt human again.
I work in a clinical lab and C’diff testing is performed routinely on inpatients because it is so easily transmitted nosocomially.
Hope you feel better soon!
Thanks to all of you for your kind words and good wishes. I wish I could thank each of you individually, but I’ve been too exhausted to spend moe than a few minutes at a time on my computer.
I am not going back to work tomorrow. I just can’t, even traveling by taxi. Every time I get up to go to the kitchen, I immediately need to lie down again. My boss was very understanding when I told her, even though I’ve already exceeded, in 2 1/2 months, our annual number of paid sick days (5). I do hope to be able by tomorrow to be able to work from home for at least a few hours.
A couple of people mentioned a concern with contagion, but I’ve been assured that that’s no longer an issue, not after 8 days on vancomycin and being asymptomatic for the last few days – my intestines are functioning normally, at least for someone with my underlying medical issues!
But this has been quite an ordeal. I haven’t been anywhere near this sick since my experiences up in Montreal during the summer of 2009, which a few of you may remember. Remembering how afraid my son was back then that I was going to die, I made very sure in my first email to him this time (he’s been in Germany since October, is in Munich right now taking an advanced German class and doing his Ph.D applications, and won’t be home until early January) that he didn’t have to worry too much or come home. And promised that I was being honest about that. He called me every day when I was in the hospital, and since I got home, and it’s been the best part of each day.
Thank you for an update, Donna. This is just such a vicious bug. Glad to hear that the contagion is over, but please have someone wipe your bathroom with bleach - just in case. The nasty bugger forms spores. Those are like armor, shielding it from regular cleaners. Just don’t try to do it yourself now - don’t wear yourself out. Hugs.
Perhaps you can try to consume probiotic foods (e.g. yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, miso, tempeh, etc.) and/or supplements now so that they can get into your intestines first to reduce the chance that C. difficile gets there first. (Ask your doctor about this in the context of your specific situation.)
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2015/04/how-to-prevent-diarrhea-while-you-take-antibiotics/
https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2014/07/29/how-and-why-to-take-probiotics-when-using-antibiotics
A young mother from my former church battled repeated C. Diff infections for nearly a year. She finally had a fecal transplant, which cured her. @prospect1 is right. Don’t hesitate to ask about this if your infection returns even once.
Just another anecdote-- I know someone who suffered a year also until a fecal transplant was done. She thought it was a miracle.
Just wanted to send my best wishes for a speedy (or speedier!) recovery.
Thanks for updating us, Donna. I’m so relieved to hear you’re being supported in your workplace, and that you are continuing to rest at home. I know you’re a big girl, and this ain’t your first time competing in the Sick As Hell Rodeo, so I trust that you’ll do all you can to recover and remain healthy. Meanwhile, I’ll keep
Before anyone else recommends fecal transplants, please understand that I would be extremely reluctant to do something like that (entirely apart from my visceral distaste at the idea), given that it’s not approved for people with Crohn’s Disease, and has only really even been studied extensively in pediatric patients. After all, it wouldn’t do me any good to treat possible recurrences of c-difficile that way, when God knows what it might lead to with respect to my primary health problem – especially given my long history of extremely strange and eccentric complications from various medications potentially affecting the immune system. As an article earlier this year states: “investigators have found that FMT [fecal microbial translants] appears to trigger symptom flares in about 15 percent of recipients [with Crohn’s]. Although other serious adverse events are rare, some research has identified occasional side effects associated with FMT in adults, including fevers, abdominal tenderness and elevated levels of inflammatory markers.” See https://vector.childrenshospital.org/2017/05/could-fecal-transplants-heal-crohns-colitis-children/. Not something I’d ever take a chance on, without a lot more studies on the risks, and why it works or doesn’t work. It’s complicated!
Part of what makes people so sick with C. Diff is failure to recognize it promptly. The faster the illness gets recognized and treated, the faster the recovery, so just be aware that there’s up to a 3-month window for recurrence. One option for C. Diff.that keeps recurring is a vancomycin taper — you take a course of treatment and then decreasing frequency of medication over several weeks with the goal of killing any spores that may germinate.
So I got interested and found this in a scientific study…
"The concept of FMT for treatment of human intestinal diseases was described in China during 4th century, and human fecal suspension by mouth was used to treat patients who had food poisoning or severe diarrhea.
(now you can have a real visceral reaction!)
Although it was first reported in 1958, it has only recently become popular due to its success in treating refractory and recurrent C. difficile infections (CDI). Recent studies have shown that FMT is an effective treatment in recurrent CDI, with a >90% success rate, and it can be considered as an antibiotic replacement for recurrent and refractory CDI that has relapsed more than three times.
Nothing ever seems to be “new”. ( 4th century!!)
There are now pills for this treatment rather than the usual route that appear to be as effective.
I learned all about this lovely gift given to my elderly mother in the hospital years ago. I had to take care of her and two small kids. I washed multiple times a day as if I was doing surgery.
I wish we’d never agreed to that last surgery. It didn’t matter at all, in the scheme of things. The hospital staff didn’t even treat her. They just left a portable potty next to the bed of a person too weak to get up and use it.
After release, I had to drag her around to doctors in that condition trying to get her treated.
I am so sorry you experienced this.
I think this is what comedian, Tig Notaro had. In the space of a year (or less!), she had C. difficile, lost her mother suddenly, and was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. She wrote about it in her book, I Am A Person. She’s doing alright now!
My mother battled c-diff for a year before getting the transplant and most certainly had a hand in her passing. It is highly contagious and those who have had it are highly susceptible to reoccurences. Bleach is the ONLY thing that kills the spores. You need to be treated by a GI and an infectious disease specialist. As the infectious disease doctor informed us no antibiotics for a year without conference with him. All other family members were exposed living in the same house and likewise had to be exceedingly careful of any antibiotics Vancomycin just a few years ago was thousands of dollars for a week worth of doses. IV formulation is much cheaper at a compounding pharmacy if insurance is a problem. Problem is Vancomycin destroys your hearing among other things and its a last resort antibiotic. Flagyl is cheaper but doesnt neccessarily work. There are certain antibiotics that are known to set off c-diff. Its a brutal infection. I feel for your situation and would not wish it upon anyone.
If fecal transplants are 90% effective, why aren’t they the first treatment of choice?
Rules and regulations dictate how patients are treated. Evidence based medicine. You also need a donor and extensive medical testing on the donor to be approved.
Studies are still being done and the thought of fecal matter keeps a germaphobe population from embracing the idea.
We have a total contradiction–a cure with drugs that get rid of germs and another cure that introduces them.