In 2018 I had just started my first year of university. Not even a month went by when I woke up suddenly one morning with the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life. I knew something was wrong when I began to vomit. I went to the hospital, and they told me I was just constipated and sent me home. On the next day, I went to a different hospital and they told me the same thing. On the following day, I celebrated my 18th birthday projectile vomiting for 24 hours with pain enduring, which I have been told is worse than giving birth. I went back to the hospital and that was when they realized I had a bowel obstruction. Sixteen days later I had gastrointestinal surgery where they removed three feet of my small intestine. As soon as I was able to go to the bathroom a week after my surgery, I felt awful.

A year later in 2019, I still felt awful. I did so many tests and visits with many doctors. They all figured “well we removed so much of your intestine its no wonder you go to the bathroom over 10 times a day and it is all water”.

It is February of 2020 now and I have been living with C. diff for more than a year. A month ago I was diagnosed with C. diff from a Naturopath, who has me on so many probiotics and supplements as well as a gluten and sugar-free diet. She’s advised that I will have to be on the medication and the diet for another YEAR and doesn’t know if the treatment will work or C. diff returns after all of this hard work. This is horrible and I am contemplating seeing a regular doctor because I can’t afford to lose another year of my life to C. diff. I am missing out on what should be the best years of my life. I am turning 20 this year and I have been depressed since my bowel obstruction at 18.

I have missed out on so much and don’t leave the house anymore. Every time I leave I fear that I will have to go to the bathroom. I haven’t made any friends at school and my friends at home want to go out and party, and I can’t. C. diff has ruined my life and no one in my life understands the severity of this disease. They think I am anti-social when I have been struggling so much. I’m in pain every day. It is a miracle I am still in school. Every day I am miserable.

I didn’t eat much variety to begin with, but now that I have to eat sugar and gluten-free – I have nothing to eat. Everyone around me is enjoying life, making the most out of their university experience and I spend every day in pain. I just want to be free I don’t know what to do anymore. I wish all of you good luck on your journey, and I hope we can all get through this terrible time <3