I had developed a UTI in September of 2021 and I was desperate to get rid of it, but my former primary care physician did not treat me effectively and I was given numerous antibiotics that did not work. I ended up getting a kidney infection from it and by then I had become so frustrated with my former PCP. I turned to a virtual doctor who at first gave me antibiotics that didn’t work, but then finally found one that worked and I took that from November 2021 to January of 2022 as he had diagnosed it as prostatitis by then due to how bad the UTI had become since beginning in September of 2021. A couple of weeks after I finished the last dose, I then started having uncontrollable, green, watery diarrhea that was mushy and I felt very bad rectal pain after each time. I was going 5 times a day to which I went to that virtual doctor again and he gave me vancomycin after diagnosing me with C. diff (how and where I contracted it as I did not visit a healthcare facility in the weeks before falling ill remains unknown.) The vancomycin worked but when I asked him what to expect afterward, he never contacted me again and thankfully I didn’t relapse.

But now in May of 2024, I’ve had several very close relapses since my original infection 2 years ago. I had the flu in November/December of 2022 and then got pneumonia from it and had taken doxycycline for it and nearly relapsed by having yellow oil in my stool and severe stomach pain. I then had steroids in September of 2023 for my allergies and I nearly relapsed then as well. But then in November of 2023, I had a very bad ear infection from allergies and had to take an antibiotic, which also nearly caused me to have C. diff again.

Here in May 2024, I had a stool sample tested at an urgent care facility recently (it was loose, but not green or mushy at the time as I mostly have normal stools) and it came back positive for C. diff antigen, but negative for toxins and fecal lactoferrin. I have no symptoms and my bowel movements are mostly normal otherwise. I truly wouldn’t wish this on anyone and hope that in time I will heal, but since I have IBS and possibly either Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis as well (not from C. diff, but because of an overactive immune system due to allergies), it makes me wonder if I could die if I ever get C. diff again. I have learned so much about it and I encourage others to learn from my story to avoid this nightmare of an illness and I hope for my own sake that I don’t lose my life to this monster of an illness and especially at such a young age (I’m 29 now).