Ronnie Valenti
My brother passed away from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Several times when he was in the hospital for pneumonia, he was placed on intravenous antibiotics and sometimes ended up with C. diff. I had no idea about C. diff until he started contracting it.
Last June (2016), I had a diverticulitis and urinary tract infection (UTI) attack at the same time. I was put on Cipro and Amoxicillin. Five days after the end of the dose, I developed a fever and passed out. I was taken to the hospital, and they did a scan of my colon and said I had a bad case of colitis. Because of my brother’s experience with C. diff and antibiotics, I told the doctor that I thought I had C. diff. He looked at me like I was crazy and left the room. He must have then looked at my chart and saw I had just finished two antibiotics, and he came back and said I just might have it and that he would admit me and start C. diff meds right away. He said if the culture came back negative, he would just stop the meds.
I feel that my brother saved me from having an incorrect diagnosis because I was aware of C. diff possibility, and I advocated for myself. I was on vancomycin for three weeks, lost fifteen pounds, and have not gotten over the fear of it recurring. I carry around a list of antibiotics that are high risk for resulting in C. diff. I show it to every doctor who wants to put me on antibiotics.
I feel luckier than many who have struggled with stomach issues and the possibility of C. diff was not addressed by their doctors until other options were tried. C. diff is becoming so widespread and it needs to be one of the first things tested for in patients with the symptoms that could be C. diff.
Other Stories
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Mira
In December of 2019, my husband got sick with C. diff. It was after he was prescribed antibiotics for what they thought was a case of diverticulitis. In hindsight, it’s clear he may have simply had C. diff all along. He was treated with vancomycin… -
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Dr. Melissa Geraghty, Psy.D.
At the start of 2018 I was diagnosed with C. diff. I never really heard much about C. diff outside of people acquiring it in a hospital setting or people of advanced age contracting it. Oh, was I wrong. After being sick for about 8 weeks with w… -
Cassie Padilla
As a nurse for 35 years I thought I knew a lot about C. diff but as a patient I’ve discovered I knew NOTHING about C. diff. I have had 2 episodes of C. diff in my life. The first was in 2017 following (prophylactic) antibiotics after surgery. That… -
Julia
I’ve been suffering from this infection for the past few years. When I was first diagnosed, I was shocked and thought this was something that only the elderly suffered from. It’s been 3 years since my first infection, and I still suffer daily. I’v… -
Sue
I had emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix and was given SO MANY antibiotics in the hospital. I was also given Protonix for the acid reflux that resulted from all the antibiotics. Looking at the list of risk factors for C. diff, I fit every o… -
Howard
While many of us who battle C diff have quick success with the usual antibiotics, the purpose of my entry here is to emphasize the high rate of success of the Fecal Microbiota Transplant. My C diff experience was such that A) a lengthy course of V…
