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Recently diagnosed colitis but now also c. diff

Location
Uk
Hi guys looking to see whether there is anybody out there in the same position as me. I have been suffering over the last four months after having food poisoning in Egypt this lead to returning home and going to the toilet up to 25 times a day passing blood and mucus! I saw a specialist who questioned whether I could still have a parasite in my body and gave me tinidazole antibiotic, after taking for 7 days I was still no better so had a flexible sigmoidoscopy which confirmed I had inflammation in my rectum hence colitis diagnosis. I was immediately put on asacol suppositories which seemed to irritate me more so after speaking to my nurse she decided to start me on 45mg of prednisone for 2 weeks then lowering by 5mg per week. This was four weeks ago I then saw another specialist last Tuesday I explained things had got better the bleeding had stopped however I was still having back and abdomen pain and going to the toilet up to 8 times a day. He asked me to do a stool sample which came back on Friday diagnosing me with c. Diff I had stool samples done before but they failed to test me for this infection - slightly annoying!! Now I have had to lower my steroids to 4 a day which seems to be making my colitis worse and they have started me on vancomycin for 10 days. I am feeling so tired from it all. Has anyone been in this situation? The nurse is now questioning the colitis just in case it was c.diff the whole time?! It is all very confusing I am back at the hospital on Tuesday hopefully to do another stool sample that will be all clear. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
Hi there and welcome to the community! It is indeed possible that it was c.diff the whole time. Let's hope that is the case!

Did they take any biopsies or did they diagnose you by visual presentation? And did they ever do a colonoscopy to evaluate if you had any disease higher up in your intestines?

If you do indeed have IBD and c.diff, unfortunately that's not uncommon. Many here experience c.diff at some point in their lives.

Have they educated you about cleaning properly to help reduce chances of reinfection?
 
Location
Uk
Hi David thanks for your quick reply. They took biopsies but I am still yet to get results, they are also sending me for a bowel MRI in December to make sure it isnt further up in my intestines. I haven't actually saw anybody since being told I have c.diff i was diagnosed over the phone so any education would be appreciated. All I have been told so far is not to prepare food and stay away from elderly and babies. Looking online i have read that c.diff can also cause colitis could this also be the case? Thanks again, Charlotte
 
Location
Uk
Also I am a little confused as to how I would of caught c.diff I was a healthy 24 year old up until 4 months ago not been to hospital not even to visit anybody and I hadn't been prescribed antibiotics in over a year.... Could it be tinidazole caused c.diff which suggests it was colitis before as I had all of the symptoms... The specialist wanted me to take the antibiotic as a precaution of any infection I may have had from Egypt... Sorry for all the questions. Thanks
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
I haven't seen any connections between Ulcerative Colitis and c.diff but c.diff can and usually does cause colitis which is inflammation of the colon. As to how you got it, who knows. Immune compromised people or use of antibiotics are the two primary risk factors I'm aware of.
 
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