Stephanie
As long as I can recall, I have suffered from stomach pain and intense bloating. In 2018, I began my journey of looking for relief to these symptoms which would lead me down the dark road of contracting recurrent, antibiotic resistant C. diff at the young age of 27. I was prescribed several rounds of antibiotics by health care professionals for what they diagnosed as SIBO (whether I actually had SIBO or not, I still don’t know). Due to those antibiotics, I was dealt one of the worst cases of C. diff doctors in the Boston area had ever seen in someone my age. Six months and four rounds of the strongest antibiotics around to try and stop the infection to no avail. My only choice to avoid sepsis would be a fecal transplant (which saved my life). It was the most horrific experience of my life – the C. diff, not the transplant. I would take that fecal transplant 100 times over to stop the absolute misery that is C. diff. God bless whoever it was that donated their poop to little ol’ me.
Those who have never had C. diff find it difficult to understand that while the infection may lie dormant, the trauma is at times unbearable. I feel in a constant state of panic, every time I have a slight upset stomach, that it could be the spore emerging once again to attack my gastrointestinal tract. It is terrifying and life altering. Three years post transplant and I am still scared every time I use the bathroom that it could come back.
Other Stories
-
Mira
In December of 2019, my husband got sick with C. diff. It was after he was prescribed antibiotics for what they thought was a case of diverticulitis. In hindsight, it’s clear he may have simply had C. diff all along. He was treated with vancomycin… -
Beth W.
My story began in 2018 when I went to see a colorectal surgeon for the incision of a thrombosed hemorrhoid. In order to ‘prevent’ an infection, the surgeon prescribed me both Amoxicillin 800mg 2x daily and Vancomycin 500mg 3x daily. Upon completio… -
Mollie Lauck
My Husband and I were expecting our first child. We were so very excited. My Pregnancy was complicated to begin with- I was considered “Advanced Maternal Age” and had Hypertension and Gestational Diabetes. Though it was a labor of love, Pregnancy … -
Ken Fredrickson
I’m 62 and generally healthy, I’ve never had an intestinal issue. I went to the ER on Jan 2, 2023 and a CT scan revealed Diverticulitis. They sent me home with a 2 week course of antibiotics. Four days after completing the antibiotics, I developed… -
Jan
I am a healthy active older woman. On March 1, 2019 I had an explosive episode of diarrhea, out of the blue, no idea what caused it. The smell was indescribable, like nothing I had ever experienced in my long life. That was the beginning of a long… -
Dr. Melissa Geraghty, Psy.D.
At the start of 2018 I was diagnosed with C. diff. I never really heard much about C. diff outside of people acquiring it in a hospital setting or people of advanced age contracting it. Oh, was I wrong. After being sick for about 8 weeks with w… -
Cassie Padilla
As a nurse for 35 years I thought I knew a lot about C. diff but as a patient I’ve discovered I knew NOTHING about C. diff. I have had 2 episodes of C. diff in my life. The first was in 2017 following (prophylactic) antibiotics after surgery. That… -
Julia
I’ve been suffering from this infection for the past few years. When I was first diagnosed, I was shocked and thought this was something that only the elderly suffered from. It’s been 3 years since my first infection, and I still suffer daily. I’v… -
Sue
I had emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix and was given SO MANY antibiotics in the hospital. I was also given Protonix for the acid reflux that resulted from all the antibiotics. Looking at the list of risk factors for C. diff, I fit every o… -
Howard
While many of us who battle C diff have quick success with the usual antibiotics, the purpose of my entry here is to emphasize the high rate of success of the Fecal Microbiota Transplant. My C diff experience was such that A) a lengthy course of V…
