[Strieter2AM]

Good Morning,I wanted to share my story and see if others may have had (or be having) a similar experience.It all started in October, my husband and I were on our Honeymoon in Mexico. Our third day down there I got really sick, D and upset stomach. I called my PCP and they said to stick to basic foods, breads, yogurt, etc. After about 2 days I started feeling better. We returned home andI felt back to normal for about a week, then again with the D, sometimes 5-6 times a day. My PCP ran one stool test, but it took so long I ended up in the Hospital. Unfortunately, they put me on Cipro, little did I know how big of a mistake that would be. I took the Cipro for 7 days, a week after finishing the antibiotic, D came back with a vengance! I waited 2 days, went back to my PCP and they tested me for C.diff, it was positive. I was put on Flagyl for 10 days, after the 10 days were up things were better, but still not back to normal. I was eating some normal foods again. After about 10 days off of flagyl, I thought c.diff was flaring back up, I had a constant pain in my lower right quad area, so we went to the hospital again fearing the worst. They did a stool test and CT scan, both were clear. They put me back on Flagyl, only to make me more sick than I had been all along, 2 days later they ran another stool sample and it was negative, however they wanted my to try Vancomycin for 14 days. A week into taking vanco they did a colonoscopy, everything looked fine, no Chrons, no inflammation or microscopic colitis, no c.diff. I finished the vanco, and for about 2-3 weeks things were back to normal. Every since finishing Vanco it has been a rollercoaster. Some times I will have loose stool once in the morning for about 1-2 weeks, then I will be normal for 2-3 weeks. Each time the loose stool comes back I fear c.diff, I have been tested 10-15 times since finishing Vanco and it has all been negative. My GI recently diagnosed me with IBS-PI, but i'm having a hard time accepting it. I still fear some type of infection because any type of GI cleansing (colonoscopy, upper GI with barium, and CT scan) Things go back to normal....

 

[Kathleen M.]

Even normal colon bacteria, if you have the wrong set, can increase symptoms, and you may need to be tested for SIBO if cleaning out seems to help. (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth--this is NOT an infection or from a pathogenic bacteria, it is just bacteria getting into the small intestine--normal, very normal colon bacteria--when they usually are kept flushed out of there).All the damage from fighting off the infection (and changes in the colon flora from antibiotics and other procedures as any clean out can change which bacteria repopulated) can cause long term IBS problems.That it comes and goes is a good sign, not a bad one. More often than not IBS-PI will tend to resolve in the 2-5 year range. However, anxiety over the condition can for lack of a better term "lock it in" so you may need to work on the reacting to every symptom as if that means a worse case scenario rather than just seeing it as part of the process of healing up and a "this too shall pass" kind of thing.

 

[JackReynolds]

By any chance, do you still have your appendix?

 

[Strieter2AM]

I do still have my appendix. They've checked that a couple of times and say its fine....