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Warning: Clostridium Difficile Bacterial Infection & Antibiotics

TE MarieTE MarieMember
FYI

I had C-Diff with my colon and I've it with my j-pouch. The treatment is Flagyl or Vancomicin. It can be so severe people end up in the hospital in a quaranteed room, like they do with MRSA infections.

We need to only take antibiotics when absolutely necessary. They can kill off the good gut abactera thus opening the door for a C-Diff infection. CIPRO caused it when I still had my colon. I can't remember the names of the antibiotics I took several times after my surgeries, but they were necessary as I had an abcess several times etc.

Yesterday I had to have stiches and a Tetnas shot. My cat got spooked and I had to get stiches above my lip at an Urgent Care Center. The Dr. gave me Amoxicillin/Clavulanic 875-125MG to take twice daily for 5 days. The information sheet that came with it says it may cause Clostridium Difficile (C-Diff)infections. It also stated a C-Diff infection could occur while taking it or in a few weeks or even longer down the road. So it can act like a time bomb devil infection.

Today my Internist told me to stop taking it as the Urgent Care physician gave it to me as a protective measure. I am to check for inflamation and redness around the stitches and scratches elsewhere. If that occurs I'm to take the antibiotic. I'd already taken 2 of the 10 pills. She said to eat more yogurt and take more probiotics. To help with the use of the antibiodic and stave off a infection. I'm going to eat several Greek yogurts and take and extra packet of VSL#3DS for a while.

A C-Diff infection is something you don't want to get. If you are ever faced with a situation where antibiotics are prescribed to keep you for preventive measures, please have a serious discussion with your doctor about this. If Flagyl or Vancomicin will work that's good as they are what kills off C-Diff bacterial infections.

Also, my Internist is very knowledge about IBD, j-pouches, resections, stoma's et al. She is the one that prescribes the VSL for me.
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Jan DollarJan DollarModerator, RN, retired
Yes, this is especially for those who have had C. difficile infections in the past and those folk need to be especially careful. But, sometimes antibiotics are necessary.

It is unclear to me why many GI docs prescribe Cipro as a drug of choice for pouchitis, in these days of increasing worry about C. difficile infections, and increasing resistance of C. difficile against Flagyl and even vancomycin. It is known that it is resistant against most other antibiotics. I guess it is because most of us do not have C. difficile infections.

So, yes, do not take antibiotics unless it is really necessary, and Flagyl should be the preferred antibiotic for a gut infection, unless you are allergic, or cannot tolerate it due to side effects, especially peripheral neuropathy. Long term use should be considered only as a last resort and if you can get by with probiotics, all the better.

Jan Smiler
skn69skn69Member
Jan, Just curious if there is a protocol in the States for antibiotic usage...here there is a 'scale' that says that for this infection you start low and use this antibiotic (usually augmentin) and then if it is resistant you work your way up....Cipro is on the bottom of the list...you have to have a whopping infection that has resisted the other 3 antibiotics first before getting near Cipro.
TE...take care of those stitiches and please put the cat out! Big Grin
hugs
Sharon
TE MarieTE MarieMember
I should have had my tonsils removed when I was a child. I had a doctor that thought it was important to keep them. I took so many antibiotics the summer I was 10 I became anemic. It felt like I had non stop ear and throat infections, that were probably caused by allergies.

Our children both had tubes in their ears and adnoids removed when they had non stop ear infections. This was when they were age 4 and 2.

My daughter's son had non stop ear infections and they discovered allergies plus he had to have tubes in his ears.

Through the generations my family has been decreasing the antibiotics they take.

I had sinus surgery in 2005 as in my adult life I had several infections a year and had developed constant headaches.

That is when my antibiotic use slowed down. Before all I had to do was call my doctor and tell her I had a sinus infection and she'd call in an antibiotic. I usually waited until my teeth started hurting to call her.

My GI put me on a mega antibiotic the day of my last colonoscopy from hell as he sent me for a CTscan. That was the only time he prescribed me antibiotics and it was for the diverticulitis that was also pan colon.

My first case of C-diff was sometime around 2004-6. My first surgery was 11/2/2010. C-diff approx Feb. 2012.

I'm trying to stress that we should not use antibiotics until we know we need them.

Their use is not the only cause of C-Diff but can cause it.
Jan DollarJan DollarModerator, RN, retired
Sharon,

There are recommendations from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), but they are not law or a mandate. Antibiotics have only been around for less than a hundred years, and before that time even a minor infection could wind up being deadly. So, we thought antibiotics were a miracle, and they were. The notion of antibiotic resistance is fairly recent, after doctors got into the habit of prescribing antibiotics on request of their patients or prophylactically, even if they knew they were not necessary or effective. Patients can be pretty insistent.

So, there is a campaign by the CDC to educate medical providers and patients about antibiotic resistance.
http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/an...-use/fast-facts.html

At my local Kaiser, there are posters everywhere reminding us that antibiotics are inappropriate for viral infections. They no longer give out antibiotics at the first sign of an ear infection, bronchitis or a sinus infection. They wait and see if it definitely becomes a bacterial infection (or at least doctors who follow the guidelines do).

They used to say that if you had mitral valve prolapse, you needed antibiotics before you get your teeth cleaned. That notion is now considered questionable.

But, sometimes we are between a rock and a hard place, like Poucho above. Known history of C. diff, but presenting with signs and symptoms that need antibiotic treatment. So, in that case you just have to hope for the best and know to pounce on it if C. diff decides to bloom.

Jan Smiler

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