So I started noticing a foul odor in my stool and gas that seemed familiar to me. I kept telling myself that it was probably the ostomy memories, but I knew it wasn't that. Then today it hit me like a ton of bricks: the acid diarrhea, the cramping, the odor. Could it be that I have c-diff again? I got diagnosed with a severe case of c-diff in 2005. I had been diagnosed with UC about 9 mos. prior to that when I was pregnant with my son. It was a really horrible experience and was very difficult to identify it due to the fact that the symptoms are so similar to uc and it has such a high false negative. But I will never forget that smell.
My surgeon put me on cipro this morning thinking that it may be pouchitis and I'm going in tomorrow to my GI's office to rule out anything else. I haven't had a good night's sleep in weeks and nothing seems to be helping. Has anyone else had c-diff after their take down? If so how did it make you feel? How does pouchitis differ? I'm so scared, but feel like I may have stumbled upon the answer and will hopefully get some relief. This whole process has been so frustrating and I'm just ready to move on and live my life, be a great mom and wife, and you know maybe work again so we don't lose our house. I expected to be down for 6 mos. not a year. I'm tired of this being my life.

I'm so sorry to hear about this latest problem. I had bad c. diff infections with my UC also and I agree...you never forget the smell or the feeling. It almost killed me because it went undiagnosed for almost 3 months. I guess the biggest clue would be if you have a fever. I know that whenever I had c. diff I had a raging fever with it.

I haven't had c. diff since my takedown almost 2 years ago, but my surgeon's nurse told me that I'm more prone to them since I had them once. Nice.

I know that with me the only thing that really, really knocked them out was vancomycin. Nothing else touched it. It's really expensive. I know...I didn't have Rx coverage at the time. It cost us $900 for one round and I was on it 3 times.

Hope you get a definative diagnosis soon. It's no fun having ongoing health concerns when you have a life waiting for you. You just want the doctor's appts. and meds to end!! Been there.

Take Care
Susan

Yep, my son also had c. diff before his colectomy and again several years later in the pouch, after being on augmentin for a month. Seems obvious that it was hiding somewhere in his system. Symptoms can be similar to pouchitis. Vanco worked.