C. diff affects us all.

Back in September of 2015, I started experiencing bouts of diarrhea. After five days of nonstop diarrhea, my husband took me to the emergency room. Blood tests were done, but no stool sample was taken. The hospital sent me home with an anti-diarrheal medicine. On and off for the next month, I would have the start of diarrhea, and then take a pill and stop it. During this time I had severe memory loss. On October 26th, I had back surgery. By…

My story is not just a C. diff story, but a story of struggles with being diagnosed. My problem was that I also had gallbladder problems at the same time I had C. diff. I’ll start at the beginning. In April of 2015 I started having severe burning in my stomach/gut. I went to my primary care doctor, and they said it was probably acid reflux and told me to take a proton pump inhibitor. I took that for few weeks, but ended up in the emergency room…

My story is like so many others. After a visit to my Primary Care Provider (PCP) for a possible sinus infection, I was prescribed antibiotics and referred to my dentist for a possible tooth problem. Two weeks later, I saw my dentist who did some dental work and prescribed clindamycin. No sooner than I completed the antibiotics, I woke up in the middle of a Friday night with chills, fever, vomiting, and uncontrollable diarrhea. I thought I had…

I contracted C. diff after taking antibiotics that I was prescribed to kill a parasite I picked up in Cancun, Mexico while on vacation with my hubby. I returned from Mexico with diarrhea, nausea, and horrible pain. I was prescribed Flagyl. Then my symptoms got worse, and I was prescribed Xifaxan. I was then hospitalized and diagnosed with C. diff. Then I was put on Cipro. Things got worse: I had diarrhea up to 30 times a day, I was so dehydrated…

I was diagnosed with C. diff in July 2016 after using antibiotics for my very first UTI. I started to not feel well about a week after finishing the antibiotic. I went to an urgent care where I was told I had a virus. I still wasn’t feeling well a few days after so I went to my primary care doctor. My doctor was not concerned, despite my heart rate being high for a person my age. He refused to run any tests and told me that I had a virus and…

There’s so much more to my story, but this is the quick version. I’m still sick at this moment, and I am at a loss as to who to turn to if my doctor won’t respond to me. I am scared. I have a little boy and feel like—thanks to C. diff—I’ve seen death flash before me. I’m only 36. This is crazy! My name is Jessica, and I have C. diff. I’m honestly not sure if this is the second time I have had it or if I never actually got rid of it the first…

As told by her daughter, Paula I am writing this on behalf of my mom, Josephine Zampardi, who died of C. diff in 2007. My mom was a beautiful, giving woman that was capable of owning and caring for her own home. She had a slight heart ailment, but other than that was a healthy woman. She loved to cook, host dinners and holidays, and most importantly, be a grandma to her two grandchildren ages twenty and fifteen. Her favorite holiday was…

Before getting C. diff, I was a normal twenty year-old—going to college, working, and more worried about my GPA than the possibility of a hospital infection or even dying. After being admitted to the hospital to have a small bowel resection, the night before my release I came down with a high fever of 104, a heart rate in the 160s, and a blood pressure of 160/120 (which was almost double my normal of 80/60). For the next six hours, two nurses…

My story is a warning to ALWAYS take a probiotic or drink kefir when taking an antibiotic. Had I done that, I would not have gotten C. diff. In addition, you must be your own advocate for care. I was prescribed Clindamycin in May 2016 by an oral surgeon. I became ill on June 8, 2016 and was diagnosed on June 15 with C. diff. I took Flagyl for ten days and relapsed five days later, took Vancomycin for fourteen days and was then referred to an…