C-Diff: A Warning on Antibiotic Use

[BrettP]

Well I have not been on this board for quite some time. I sought treatment with a physical therapist again, and was doing well. Living my life and moving on.

After a recent trip to Asia I contracted a CA-MRSA infection which led to repeated doses of antibiotics. The antibiotics I took were Clindamycin, Bactrim, and Doxycycline. I took a lot of them.

A few weeks into my last treatment of antibiotics, I started developing bloody diarrhea. Long story short, after some research I came upon C diff, and my Dr confirmed my suspicions with a test.

C diff is caused by the overuse of antibiotics. It is usually caught in a hospital setting, but sometimes it can be community acquired. In our intestines is a fine balance of both good and bad bacteria. Each one having its own purpose in the gut's ecosystem, and when you take broad spectrum antibiotics, it wipes these good bacteria out. Once the good guys are wiped out, the bad ones then take over, and if you are unlucky enough to carry c difficile, you will end up with a C Diff infection.

This stuff is nasty. I thought CPPS was bad, this has been just magnitudes of times worse.

I have had 4 relapses of c diff. I was first treated with Flagyl (metronidazole) for 20 days, this failed after two weeks, back to the hospital I went. Then I was treated with Dificid (Fidaxomicin, a new "miracle" pill at $140 bucks a pill!) -- this treatment worked well, but eventually, after about 37 days, I relapsed again.

So then we retreated with 2x as much Dificid -- this failed mid treatment! Once again I relapsed. (roughly about 9K worth of Dificid, thankfully covered by insurance).

Tired of relapsing and having my life been completely dismantled, I sought out another treatment -- a fecal transplant -- the idea being that this transplant would help restore the colons bacterial population and control the c-diff. Now beginning to be seen as the gold standard for relapsing C diff.

I just underwent this procedure one week ago, it was done after 10 days of oral vancomycin.

As of now, I feel ok, but I'm definitely not recovered. I am waiting for this to take hold, but still have bad pains in my pelvic region that mimic IBS, and we all know that IBS, pelvic pain and IC are all highly correlated. So this entire time my pelvic pain has been in an uproar due to the swelling of my colon, and the anxiety this intestinal infection is known to cause.

Moral of the story, and the reason I am posting this is to warn people here on the use of antibiotics! I know the story, you go into a Uro's office, he gives you two weeks of Cipro, etc. Well, these pills aren't harmless, they are in fact, dangerous. And unless you want to suffer like I have with this horrible infection, please be careful about your antibiotic use, and if you don't think you have an infection, and its proven you don't have an infection, be very wary of antibiotic use, as this population segment also spends a lot of time in various medical facilities, all places to pick up the spores of C diff, which later germinate into a full blown infection once your guard is down due to antibiotic use.

Your odds of relapsing are 40% now with standard treatment protocols. Its just not worth it. Always ask your Dr. if the pills are truly necessary. CPPS sucks, but C diff can kill you.

Thanks,

BrettP

[webslave]

That's one of the most shocking and alarming warnings about antibiotics I have seen, Brett.

We're holding thumbs that you recover from this. Please keep the thread updated.

[BrettP]

Just wanted to post an update. It is now Mid September and the fecal transplant did work, I no longer have relapsing C difficile colitis anymore. If anyone every gets this disease and the antibiotics don't work (vanco or dificid) don't waste any more time, go and get this procedure done and move on with your life. One less thing to worry about.