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Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile"

Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:44 pm
by jackD
Recurrent Clostridium difficile infection

By Mayo Clinic staff
"Clostridium difficile (klos-TRID-e-uhm dif-uh-SEEL), often called C. difficile or C. diff, is a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Illness from C. difficile most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or in long term care facilities and typically occurs after use of antibiotic medications.

In recent years, C. difficile infections have become more frequent, more severe and more difficult to treat. Each year, tens of thousands of people in the United States get sick from C. difficile, including some otherwise healthy people who aren't hospitalized or taking antibiotics."

Administration of two 500 mg doses per day of S. boulardii (a friendly yeast-based probiotic) when given with one of two antibiotics (vancomycin or metronidazole) was found to significantly reduce the rate of recurrent Clostridium difficile (pseudomembranous colitis) infection. No significant benefit was found for prevention of an initial episode of Clostridium difficile-associated disease.[7]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharomyces_boulardii

http://www.probiotic.org/saccharomyces-bouldarii.htm

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/105956.php

I would like to add that FLORASTOR brand of Saccharomyces_boulardii works to help cure this problem.

I was in the hospital for an episode of extremely high blood pressure.

They gave me massive antibiotics because they presumed I had a lung infection. I got c-difficile which caused mirsa infections. Which was treated with more antibiotics which caused c-diff again. I went through about 5 cycles of this. This resulted in me being the hospital for about 60 days.

I was operated on twice for Mirsa boils. I almost died from severe blood loss when they gave me some blood thining medications by mistake. It is a real fright to wake up in a pool/lake of your own blood!

It was only when I got home (still with C-diff & Mirsa infections that returned after 3 days home) that I found on the Internet that I could cure myself with some FLORASTOR and milder antiobiotics.

jackD

Re: Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 5:23 am
by SarahLonglands
Jack, your experience sounds awful! Its bad enough to wake up in a pool of blood but even worse to discover that it was because of a hospital error.

You are quite correct when you say that c diff is a growing problem and you might think that people on this forum are likely to get it, but it can be easily avoided by taking any probiotic two hours apart from taking antibiotics. Taking this treatment for a total of four years, I was rigorous in doing this and have never had any sort of yeast infection and certainly not c diff.

Sarah

Re: Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 8:09 am
by jackD
It is interesting to note that this probiotic stuff that destroys pathogenic (bad) bacteria Clostridium Difficile is a YEAST!!!

http://www.probiotic.org/florastor.htm

Of course one needs to take a regular good bacteria probiotic also.

jackD

Re: Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile

Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:43 pm
by jackD
I would like to add that after researching my paperwork from the hospital, I have found that the antibiotics that caused my c-difficile were ZOSYN and VANCOMYCIN.

They also give it to me by IV and probably caused me to develope a full body rash(redmans syndrome). They keep me in a coma until it went away which resulted in me losing over 40 lbs. It really messed my mind for a long long time.

I do not know if other more common antibiotics at normal dosing can cause c-difficile.

I am glad I found a cure. I probably still have some of those nasty bugs in my gut. I take some FLORASTOR every two weeks and regular probiotics and yougert almost every day.

jackD

Re: Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 7:30 am
by lyndacarol
Jack – Could the 40 pound weight loss be a major contributing factor in improvements? I wonder since I now think…

Visceral fat –> Cytokines –> Insulin –> Inflammation –> Visceral fat and so on in a circle.

Re: Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:26 am
by SarahLonglands
Jack, as far as I know, any antibiotic can cause c diff but normally only in immunocompromprised people, such as the very old and infirm people in care homes. Here they more likely than not are not given any probiotics to stop it developing.

What I am wondering is, why did the people at the hospital assume that you had a lung infection when you came in with very high blood pressure? Vancomycin is a very strong abx and not to be given lightly.

Sarah

Re: Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 1:34 pm
by jackD
The severe "Redman Syndrom" was probably caused by feeding me the IV antibiotics at TOO FAST A RATE!!

They listed me as allergic to Penicillin in my hospital discharge papers which is false because I just got finished taking a lot of it to cure my Mirsa and other skin infections I got while in the hospital.

It was a combination of Doxycycline Hyclate and Sulfameth/TMP DS that I took after getting out of the rehabcenter that did the trick and did not generate further c-diff cycles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_man_sy ... n_syndrome

extract below
"Vancomycin must be administered in a dilute solution slowly, over at least 60 minutes (maximum rate of 10 mg/minute for doses >500 mg).[17] This is due to the high incidence of pain and thrombophlebitis and to avoid an infusion reaction known as the red man syndrome or red neck syndrome. This syndrome, usually appearing within 4–10 minutes after the commencement or soon after the completion of an infusion, is characterized by flushing and/or an erythematous rash that affects the face, neck, and upper torso. These findings are due to non-specific mast cell degranulation and are not an IgE-mediated allergic reaction. Less frequently, hypotension and angioedema may also occur. Symptoms may be treated or prevented with antihistamines, including diphenhydramine, and are less likely to occur with slow infusion.[26][27]:120-1
I spoke to a friend who is a intensive care RN and she toke me that when they do "Intubation at OSH, extubation" that they commonly give you the IV antibiotics to prevent infections that occur. My lungs were full of fluid due to extreme high blood pressure which is called Congestive Heart Failure. The proof is to me is that I was taken to my local hospital emergency room FIRST where they did an Xray of my lungs and it showed my lungs were CLEAR except for the fluid and after my release my doctor had me get another Xray at the same local hospital and it showed my lungs were "messed-up", showed "thingies???", that are now almost gone.

I got a $10,000 helicopter ride from my local hospital to the medical center. (I was asleep - morphine drip?)(I only learned about the helicopter ride when I got the bill about a week after I got home.)

My c-difficile was caused by killing-off ALL the good bateria in my gut via the massive sudden administration of these super-antibiotics.

I do not believe my weight loss had anything to with my cure! The excess weight had a lot to with the high blood pressure. It certainly did NOT cause my MS!!!

My discharge papers list that the only thing wrong with me was "HTN" which I guess in just HYPERTENSION. It is hard to explain my 60 day stay in the hospital. It was two visits because I only lasted 3 days in the rehab center before I had to return to the med canter because of more infections. (first say was $160,000 and second was $60,000) this does not include the helicopter ride $10,000 bill.

They also thought I had a "heart attack". They DID "TWO" Catheterizations on me!! I had been there in 1998 and they found a 94% blockage in LAD artery and I had a stent put in, and a 30% and 40% blockage in the other big three heart arteries.

However I had totally cleaned my arteries and they could not believe it!(diet change and suppllements)

My cardiologist(personal doctor -not part of the med center) told me they finally accepted that I was, as he said, "Jack - you are as clean as a whisle!".

Dispite that, they gave massive amounts of blood thinners and the statin Lipitor 80 mg when my cholesterol levels were very low and my HDL was 72!

I started bleeeding eveywhere from the blood thinners and I finally refused to take them unless they cut the dose by 50%. I still almost bleed to death after my butt surgeries because they continued me on them right after the operations.

They even would not let me out of bed nor allow me to get any excercise. In fact for my entire stay I had to sit/lay in the exact center of the bed.

They installed a pressure sensing strip under the sheets on both sides of the bed that set of a loud alarm if I got near the edge of the bed.

This caused me to need two operations to to fix the bed sores on my butt which turned out to be mirsa infections. The infections returned when I got home in about three day and I needed another operation. This time I got it on my hands also. This stuff is nasty (mirsa) because unlike most other infections you do not need a break in the skin to get a sore to form.

Before that "pressure sensor thing" was installed I had this huge guy monitor me. I asked him who he was and he said "I am your sitter!". I had BIG brusies all over my body because during the two weeks I was "kept under" with drugs while I had the total body version of the red rash called "Redmans Syndrom" I guess that I would wake up in severe pain and try to escape!

I had to go to rehab center for two weeks to learn to walk and get back my strength. Since I live alone I needed to be able go shopping for food when I returned home.

The rehab center was GREAT! they served me REAL bacon and REAL eggs and REAL butter!!! I promply gagged on it, and I was fed only mush until I convinced them a few days later that I could eat and swallow properly.

jackD

Re: Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2012 12:11 pm
by MacKintosh
Oh. My. Gosh.
Jack, if you don't sue these people, I'll sue them FOR you.
Outrageous!

Re: Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:08 am
by jackD
MacKintosh wrote:Oh. My. Gosh.
Jack, if you don't sue these people, I'll sue them FOR you.
Outrageous!
I thought of that but I decided to not pursue that path. I just do not need the additional stress in my life.

If I had some lasting damage i.e. I lost my ability to walk, I would do it. Sueing for "pain & suffering" alone -just would not work.

I appreciate your understanding and sympathy for my suffering because of poor medical treatment.

The only BIG problem that ramains is that they made MAJOR changes in my blood pressure medications without telling me why they did it.

I am going to request all my test results and medical reports. I will evaluate everything again after I get them. The really good thing is that I had another episode of extreme high blood pressure that my doctor was able to treat with great results using a new drug that uses the trans-dermal once-a-week patch.

Thanks for your concern.

jackD

Re: Clostridium difficile infection -"c-diff" - "c-difficile

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 12:58 pm
by MacKintosh
Well, you lived to tell the tale, which is a positive. :wink:
And, that's great news about the new med!