C. diff affects us all.

As told by her mother, Lindsay I am a first time mom to a beautiful, 5 month old, baby girl, Molly. At the end of August, she was diagnosed with C. diff after a week and a half of constant diarrhea. Her pediatrician at that time told me some babies just have bowel movements after every feeding. My baby was going every hour! After one sick visit and frequent calls to the pediatrician’s office, we were advised to change her formula to soy. I…

Now 39 years old, I suffered from C. diff for two long years before I was diagnosed. After seeing numerous specialty doctors, it was my family doctor that finally ordered a stool sample. I was first diagnosed in September of 2011. I was initially prescribed Flagyl, but the infection came right back. Next, I was prescribed Vancomycin. Unfortunately, the infection came back again after just three weeks. The doctors in my area knew nothing about…

In January 2012, I was diagnosed with a large Uterine Fibroid Cyst at 49 years of age. I was subsequently scheduled for a cystectomy and vaginal hysterectomy in March 2012. Within just a few days of the procedure, I became ill with unknown symptoms and a high fever. I was diagnosed with a Surgical Site Infection and a Strep B Bladder Infection. My condition continued to worsen and I was diagnosed with Pseudomembranous Colitis in April 2012. I…

Contributed by Judy Dexter’s Clan Our mom went to the hospital in December 2012 when she was having difficulty breathing. She was admitted for a lung infection and treated with antibiotics for eight days. Our family was not prepared for the torment that the following months would bring. Three days after being discharged from the hospital, she had uncontrollable diarrhea which resulted in severe dehydration. Her doctor prescribed her a…

At 58 years old, I became ill with Clostridium difficile (C. diff) after having an abscessed tooth. To treat my tooth, I was initially prescribed Clindamycin. However, this made me sick, so I was switched to a different antibiotic, Amoxicillin. I started to feel even worse about a week after I had finished the Amoxicillin. I had diarrhea, nausea, and a fever–which for one night was exceptionally high. The fever broke, but the diarrhea, nausea,…

I was given many antibiotics throughout 2013, as I kept having urinary tract and bladder infections. My Urologist misdiagnosed me. He told me that I had interstitial cystitis, but I actually had a kidney stone. He never required me to have a CAT scan; he only did a cystoscopy. This didn’t even show the kidney stone that I had because the kidney stone was beyond what the cystoscopy showed. After I had the kidney stone removed, the Urologist…

As told by her son, Liam. On Tuesday, April 13, my mom had a root canal, and the dentist prescribed the antibiotic Clindamycin to treat an abscess. The next day, she felt fine. On Thursday, mom came home from work and said she didn’t feel well. Thinking she caught a bug from one of her students, she still went to her class at Touro that night. The following day, though, my mom stayed home from work, which is something she almost never…

I’ve sat to write my C. diff story many times before. I now sit here, only three months past my last dose of another long course of Dificid. I’ve been fighting C. diff for the last nine years of my life–each and every year. I have been sick with or have been treated for a C. diff infection for at least six to eleven months of every one of those years. C. diff, at several points in time, has broken me physically, emotionally and financially. C.…

What is C. diff? C. diff, or Clostridium difficile is a type of bacteria that can infect the gastrointestinal tract. When it infects the colon and is allowed to grow, it can lead to C. diff infection. Antibiotics attack our good bacteria and allow ‘bad’ bacteria to grow. C. diff is embarrassing, confining, terrifying, debilitating, isolating, painful, depressing, humiliating, disgusting…I could go on and on. It is confining because leaving…