C. diff affects us all.

It was supposed to be the happiest time of my life. I had a great job and was engaged to be married. My fiancé and I were giddily planning our wedding, and all of life’s adventures stood before us. I nervously sat in the dentist’s chair for a root canal and had no idea everything in my life was about to change. Upon leaving, I was prescribed Clindamycin (a strong antibiotic) in the event I develop an infection. Mild pain and diarrhea soon…

I went to the dentist for a toothache. He prescribed clindamycin. When I got home I researched it, as I do any medication I’m prescribed. I called my dentist and told him this antibiotic causes C. diff often, and asked if he could prescribe another. He told me that he’s been prescribing clindamycin for over 20 years, and no one has ever gotten C. diff. He added that “Google doctors” get all worked up over what they see on the internet. So, I…

I am a 36-year-old woman living in Québec, Canada. I am a nurse. I’m married, and I have a little girl of sixteen months. My spouse has two other children. After my emergency caesarean delivery on May 19, 2016, I had to take antibiotics due to medical complications (I had curettage and a uterine infection). I received antibiotics intravenously, and then I went home with Clavulin for seven days. Diarrhea started after my delivery, and I…

Please let me start out by saying that I am a former national champion gymnast. C. diff and my knee replacement changed my life forever. I got C. diff during a stay at Mercy Hospital in Minnesota for a knee replacement in June 2016. I went undiagnosed for three months. I was diagnosed by my primary doctor and put on vancomycin for ten days. The burning in my stomach and intestines was debilitating. My pain was and always has been right below…

I contracted a C. diff Infection after taking a prescribed antibiotic for a skin infection in 2013. I had NO IDEA what was going on; I was becoming sicker with no explanation or help. I was misdiagnosed for over two months, and I was in very poor health at the time of diagnosis. I did not receive proper medical treatment to address the severity of my health caused by this C. diff infection. I suffered with reoccurring C. diff for two…

As told by her mother. Riley was diagnosed with C. diff on May 10th of 2017 after having an upper GI test done. To celebrate the good news from the procedure, we went to Yellowstone National Park to camp, but sadly something was wrong with her, and she started to not feel well. I cut our camping trip short when she developed explosive diarrhea and couldn’t hold her bowels. Doctors ran tests and said I was crazy and that it was a stomach…

Living the story you want to tell… I have avoided writing about my struggle because it is a reminder of how scary that time was, but I have decided it is time to tell my story. I am hoping it will raise awareness and help others going through their own personal struggles to know they are not alone. Here is my story so far: When I left the hospital with my newborn baby I didn’t expect to also be leaving with a potentially deadly hospital…

As a child, I had always been very sick and required many different antibiotics for various things. In high school I had strep throat 10 times in one year (each time requiring antibiotics) and eventually got my tonsils out in 2013. Even though getting my tonsils out helped the strep throat, the lasting effects of the antibiotics on my gut would stay with me for a while. During October of 2015, I was diagnosed with my first C. diff…

No antibiotics. No visits to a hospital or nursing home. No idea what C. diff was. I was a happy, healthy 22-year-old woman. I tell people that 2018 isn’t my year. It has been months, so let me start from the beginning. As a warning, this will be blunt, honest and may contain gross/graphic language that is offensive to some. In January, I was sick for five days with constant pooping and puking, even with anti-diarrheal medications. I went…