Becky
I went to the dentist for a toothache. He prescribed clindamycin. When I got home I researched it, as I do any medication I’m prescribed. I called my dentist and told him this antibiotic causes C. diff often, and asked if he could prescribe another. He told me that he’s been prescribing clindamycin for over 20 years, and no one has ever gotten C. diff. He added that “Google doctors” get all worked up over what they see on the internet. So, I took it.
Got my tooth pulled two days later and three days after that, I had C. diff. Went in to the Emergency Room (ER) with abdominal pain and diarrhea. They didn’t test me until the third day for C. diff. Gave me Flagyl for a few days with no improvement. They then started vancomycin, and I started feeling better within hours. I took a six-week course of vancomycin with no further problems.
After that, I was so concerned with getting it again. I was so careful, bleached my bathroom often, always washed my hands after using the bathroom and before cooking or eating. I wouldn’t visit anyone in the hospital. After about five years, my cousin had a baby. I’m really close with her and her other son. I figured since I had been C. diff free for five years, it was finally safe to visit someone in the hospital. I went and visited my cousin and her new baby.
Five days later, abdominal pain. Went to the ER. They admitted me overnight. Throughout the night and the morning, I started having diarrhea. It started to feel like C. diff that morning. When the nurse came in, I asked if I could be tested for C. diff, and she said she’d have to ask the doctor. The doctor came in an hour later. I described my morning to him saying that I thought I might have C. diff. He said it’s against hospital policy to test someone for C. diff that hasn’t been admitted for 72 hours. I explained that I didn’t think I got it from this inpatient stay. He didn’t care. He sent me home saying that if I still think I have it tomorrow, to go see my primary and ask her for a test. He sent me home.
Six hours later I couldn’t take the pain anymore and had to go to the ER again. I tested positive for C. diff. What a waste to have to go home and suffer it out just to have to come back, sit in the waiting room, and pay another deductible.
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