On Oct 30, 2024, I was a 54 year old guy who enjoyed strength training, walking, and teaching a boxing class for a home school co-op.  Oct 31, I went in for a fistula surgery. In the months leading up to the surgery, I had been given amoxicillin and later Cipro to see if the fistula could be healed that way. It didn’t work, so surgery was scheduled and I was given more antibiotics intravenously.  After surgery, things went down hill fast. By the next week, I was back at the surgeons thinking I had a post-op infection.  I did – I was tested for C. diff and that came back positive.

The Dr. put me on vancomycin and cholestyramine for 10 days.  I wasn’t feeling any improvements after 5 days and found out that cholestyramine shouldn’t be prescribed along with vancomycin as it can bind the vanco.  I got my GP to prescribe me another 5 days of vanco and started doing my research on C. diff.  I found that many people said Saccharomyces Boulardii can help and can be taken at the same time to help reinforce the gut.  I also added probiotics that had some research saying they could help.

I am five days off the vanco and praying this does not come back.  What struck me about this infection is the ignorance of it in the medical profession.  When I went back the surgeon, he said “Could be C. diff, its going around” and then prescribed me a drug that could cancel the vanco out.  I got a pat on the back and shuffled out the door, no instructions, no information.  My GP was a little better, she didn’t hesitate to get me another 5 days of vanco. One thing that struck me was the prescription of antibiotics without any warnings and the inclusion of the antibiotic in with the anesthesia without any consent or warning to me.

Prior to this episode, I had not taken antibiotics for 15 years or so.  In Europe, you are often given probiotics to take with your antibiotics and they are not prescribed so freely.  Japan also has similar policies.  I think every doctor should have to do a class on C. diff, antibiotic overuse, and a protocol to follow to prevent C. diff and what do to if a patient presents those symptoms or tests positive.  So now I have C. diff, have lost 20 pounds, have pulled back from all the things I loved doing, and am living in fear that like so many others, the vanco only gave me a temporary reprieve of feeling almost normal for a few days.