I totally agree with the main culprit being the rounds of antibiotics... AND being around CDiff at work, like I am, AND having a compromised immune system, which I failed to mention in my post... I have been diagnosed with epstein barre, so I do have the immunodeficiency. I do think the antibiotics were the reason for mine... I actually started with an upper resp illness the end of July '04, took one or two rounds of Biaxin (CDiff is a somewhat common side effect of this med)... and then the one or two rounds of flagyl to treat the CDiff, which did NOT work. The illness went on until the end of Sept, actually Sept 28, the day before my 44th b'day... that's when I called the Dr. because I was dehydrated, had become seriously incontinent and knew it was CDiff, and had started having severe cramping and had started a low grade fever and nausea/vomiting. I knew I was sick... so I went in for 3 days of IV fluids, clear liquids and tx of vanco. Did you have to drink the IV vanco? I did, as I found out that it has to go thru the digestive system, so the IV vanco doesn't work on CDiff. The vanc I stayed on after discharge was outrageously priced... as if my illness didn't take away enough pay from me, the vanco tablets were a $900 prescription, $140 co-pay. It was actually LESS expensive to get the IV form and pay for it out of pocket (not running it thru my insurance since it is only indicated as an IV med)... so after I got home I took one round of the pills and the 2nd round of the IV (orally). It's bitter and nasty, but only 5 mL at a time, so I got used to it and it did get me better. As far as CDiff being in our system at all times, I'm not certain... I really don't think so, but that's just my own idea. I do know that the antibiotics kill off good AND bad bacteria, so by killing off the good, it allowed the CDiff to take over. I took it to be a new infection... and actually I think that's right, because in the followup stool specimen, it was negative for CDiff. Anyway, let's pray we NEVER get that again!!! IBS is enough to deal with. ~K~
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Re: Let me introduce myself...
