Ok I thought Lyme sucked, and I thought my TIA sucked. But this C. Diff battle is taking things to new heights.
And how ironic is it that I am one of the few Lymies that don't think long term antibiotics is the solution, at least not for myself. So after the first six years of going on them then going off again I took a more natural route and only did homeopathic or alternative treatments.
So skip ahead to my C. Diff experience...
Well about a month ago I went to my cousin's wedding. While I was there I experienced what I call one of my "Lyme episodes." I bent over to kiss my little granddaughter on the head and then the I got a shock like feeling in my head. Everything went gray and then when my vision came back my vision wouldn't "hold still." I can't say vertigo as it wasn't necessarily spinning. You know how when you watch CNN and the news scrolls by really fast at the bottom of the screen and if you try to look away you can still see it? Well it's kinda like that. It's like whatever I am trying to look at is moving, even thought it's not.
So my dad brought me back to the hotel room I was staying at. I sat in one position all night trying not to move, trying to hold my vision still. It makes you really dizzy.
Usually these episodes will affect me for about a day. After a week of not getting better, I asked my son if he would drive me to the ER where they said I probably have an inner ear infection, even though my ear looked clear. They put me on four meds, steroids, Clindamycin, Metclizine and Zofran.
If only I had known then what I know now.
Up to 30% of people who take Clindamycin get C. Diff from it. The doctor had given me a script for seven days. After five days on it I felt "toxic." I just stopped it on my own thinking it was just too strong for me. Please read: Clindamycin Can Cause Disastrous Diarrhea
About two weeks later it started. I started having diarrhea a couple times a day. At the time my little two year old granddaughter that I live with was also having diarrhea and I just thought I had caught a bug from her. A couple days went by and she got better, I got worse.
It got so bad I could not leave the bathroom. There were two nights I literally sat in the bathroom pretty much the whole time from 10pm to 6am. Not easy when sharing a bathroom with three other people. The diarrhea turned from normal diarreha to blood and mucus. The cramps were unrelenting. It honestly reminded me of labor, when you get that pain and urge to push, only there was nothing left of push out. My whole abdomen just endlessly burned and cramped and had a "full swollen" feeling.
I got so shaky and weak that I asked my son to take me back to the ER again. They told me I must have a bug, but my heart rate was high and I was dehydrated so they gave me one iv of fluids, then sent me home. The next morning I called my doctor and asked if she could give me a stool sample test. I thought maybe I had giardia. I didn't' even think about C. Diff at this time as I hadn't taken long term antibiotics or had any long term stays at a nursing home or hospital where I had heard of others getting it.
But the next day my doctor emailed me and told me I had tested positive for C. diff and there was a script of Flagyl sitting at the pharmacy for me. I took the Flagyl and on the third day started to feel some relief. I felt so much better that I was able to go with when my new granddaughter was born. I felt good for about three days after that and though it was all behind me.
But then it hit again. I woke up in the morning and had a stomach ache. I think I was in denial and kept thinking it couldn't be coming back. But by nighttime I knew. I tried calling my doctor but she was gone out of town and had no back up doctor so I headed to the ER once again. They put me on two more weeks of Flagyl.
I am about a week into it and soooo sick. I feel weak, and shaky and foggy and not normal at all. I feel toxic or poisoned.
I am looking into all natural treatments too. I read a bunch of patient forums that have helped teach me about some alternative treatments that doctors would never recommend and I am going to try it. I will post updates here as I go. I know there are a lot of others out there suffering from this too.
The things I'm trying are: Oil of Oregano, vit C, probiotics, kefir, protein drinks with enzymes, charcoal, clay, turmeric, essential oils and barley water.
We are wiping and sterilizing everything with bleach and hospital grade Clorox bleach. For those of you that don't know, alcohol and other disinfectants do NOT kill C. Diff.
C Diff is actually a lot like Lyme. It forms biofilms and spores when faced with antibiotics and waits til it's safe to rear it's ugly head and turn into infecting bacteria again. It can live on surfaces for months, some articles say years. ONLY BLEACH KILLS IT. And even bleach has to be on it for at least three minutes to be affective, some articles I read said six.
If you have been through this and have any suggestions please post them below. Not just to help me but to help anyone reading this. This is one scary disease. Lyme was bad enough, this is making me feel like I'm going to die. I can't eat, I'm so weak, I have horrible anxiety, I can't sleep and I live in fear of giving this to someone else now.
Here is a collection of C. Diff Forums, and alternative treatments that I have collected.
