[CoolBreeze]

My infectious disease specialist said I had one of the worst cases of c-diff he ever saw where the person survived with their colon. When I had c-diff I ended up in ICU and in the hospital for 7 days. I got Pseudomembranous pancolitis. They almost took my colon out, and said if my blood pressure dropped one more point they would, but fortunately, I responded to the flagyl and vancomycin they gave me. Good thing too as that surgery only has a 20% survival rate.

It was the worst experience of my life and it took me months to recover.

Now I cannot take antibiotics ever again. Great thing for a cancer patient.

If it ever comes back, I will request the fecal transplant immediately.

People do have it off and on for years, and it is notorious for not showing up in stool cultures. People should have three cultures now, and if any one is positive than you know you have c-diff. It also has that distinctive smell so isn't hard to diagnose.

From now on, do not take antibiotics except vancomycin or flagyl. Antibiotics will wipe out your good gut flora and let the c-diff take over and it turns to poison in your colon Eat yogurt daily, a good yogurt. Eat kaffir. You want to do the opposite of a healthy diet with this - no fiber until your colon heals. You also need to take probiotics - they will put back some of the good flora - I took Florastor and Culturelle. Still take them, actually but one is a yeast so don't do it daily.

If your colon was damaged (as mine was) you would know. I had great pain, swelling, etc.

It depends on the severity how long you will be there. They put me on a no food diet to let me colon heal, then gradually added in liquids. I met with a nutritionist before I left to learn how to eat for c-diff.

When you get home, you need to wash all your clothes and your sheets in hot, soapy water with bleach. Also, you will need to bleach down your house. C-diff is caused by a spore that can live for MONTHS outside the colon. It is killed with hot water and bleach. It is not killed by hand sanitizer. You can re-infect yourself if you aren't careful. You also will now need to be obsessive about washing your hands, for at least six months.

I'm very sorry to hear that you have this terrible disease.

The traditional treatments are flagyl, vancomycin. If those don't work, there is a new one called dificid. And, then fecal transplant, which is gaining traction in the medical world.

Good luck. Lots of us with lowered immune systems get it - it is rampant in hospitals. I got mine shortly after my liver resection. The c-diff was a LOT worse than having my liver removed.