I ended up going into the ER after being sick for over 12 days from food poisoning in October of 2018. I had gotten tested for bacteria and parasites which came back negative. The doctor told me they couldn’t find out what was making me sick for so long, so he offered me a 3-day dosage of ciprofloxacin and metronidazole or wait it out for a couple of days and come back. Of course, I chose to take the antibiotics because I wanted to get better as quick as possible.

After about a week I got a severe upset stomach with lots of blood that lasted over a week. I took another trip to the ER and they found out that I had gotten Clostridium difficile (C. diff). I was given another 7-day course of ciprofloxacin and metronidazole to try and get rid of it. I had gotten slightly better while I was on the medication. When I got off of it, I had relapsed again shortly after. The next week I went back to the ER where I was given yet another course of ciprofloxacin and metronidazole. During that course, I had heart complications and needed to be taken off of it completely.

By December, I had been to the ER over 4 times with no successful treatment. I was in a great amount of pain physically and mentally. I had lost a lot of weight, my cheeks were sunken in, and I had the darkest bags under my eyes. Depression set in, I was irritable, constantly anxious, and I had multiple reoccurring suicidal thoughts. My body could no longer handle certain types of foods. I couldn’t digest wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, fruits or vegetables. I had pushed friends and family away and I was exhausted of everything. I was in a great amount of pain and saw no end to this infection.

In January of 2019 I had went to the ER for the last time and was prescribed vancomycin for 12 days, which was successful. I had this infection for a total of 4 months, and it was the most pain I had ever been in. It changed me physically and mentally. It’s been 10 months since I beat it. I am feeling way better, but I am not the same as I was before. I had to completely strip my diet for months and rebuild my stomach. It left me with multiple mental complications that I am still battling with today. All in total I had two relapses and 3 different rounds of antibiotic therapy to beat C. diff.