Superbugs

[Spudz27]

Hey guy's,

Thought I would start a topic about superbugs, in particular c-diff which is becoming more and more virulent in aus everyday. I have been sick for over a year. In nov 11 I had my 4th heart op, but I got an infection in a heamatoma that was in my leg after the op. Anyway I was treated with every med under the sun, then sent home with oral antibiotics. I looked like death and ever since, I do not think a week has passed without me needing antibiotics.

Anyway 7wks ago I got food poisoning symptoms, but it was accompanied by severe pain. The doc said it was the antibiotics and persevere. 2wks later it was worse with bleeding etc, so the doc did a stool test and it was positive for c diff (clostridium difficile). Back on antibiotics for 10 days, only 4days later and on christmas day of all days where I had to drive 350km to see family, it came back. I was put back on the same meds for 10 days and the symptoms got better. Now 5 days on, it is worse than ever. So my doc being as good as he is liased with infectious disease experts on what to do. He even rang me at 10 last night, because he wanted the advice of a consultant not a registrar and the consultant was not on till 9pm. So now I have to go on a 6wk dose of a stronger med and if that fails, we have to look at a fecal matter transplant. Yep you read right, a healthy persons crap is mixed up and injected into the sick patients colon. This forces the body to create all new gut flora and should wipe out the c diff spores.

Now here is the info I want to make people aware of..... c diff is spread by the spores getting on the hand and being transmitted by mouth. Handwash like alcohol based rubs do nothing to kill them. The only thing to do is old school soap and water and even then your just washing them down the sink. It is worse in nursing homes and hospitals and is usually brought on by certain antibiotics killing all the good flora. We can live happily with c diff and never know we have it as it will happily co exist with your gut flora, it isn't until you wipe out the flora that it goes nuts. The spores produce a toxin, in mild cases you might get the runs and then it stops when the meds are stopped, In moderate to severe cases it causes inflamation of the colon, which causes pain, constant toilet stops, bleeding, fever, dehydration etc.

I am now in a case study into how it is spreading throughout aus, and the lady listened to mystory and said I have prob had it for years with the odd 1 day symptoms, but for whatever reason, now my body couldn't keep it at bay. So as you can imagine I am pretty sick at the moment.

I just wanted to make people aware that when you are on antibiotics, probiotics are very important, although I was taking and am taking probiotics and it isn't helping. If you are sick or on antibiotics and you begin getting cramps, runs etc that do not go away when ceasing the meds, get tested immediately. I went 3 weeks before being tested and kept taking antibiotics which made it worse. Now I am struggling to get rid of it. I prob picked it up in hospital and lived happily with it till just now.

Just wanted to inform people about this as it is a superbug, relatively new to aus and does not seem to be portrayed in the media like other superbugs do.

[dave351cid]

wow.. thats not good mate.
i really hope that they can sort it out for you and get it under control again.

nature seems to to be very finely balanced and when we disturb one thing there is always something else waiting to take over.

[supershifty]

Thanks for that post Spud. I'm nowhere near your situation but was recently put on oral antibiotics (flucloxacillin) for what my GP thinks is a bad staph infection after an allergic reaction to ant bites. GP told me to get my *** into hospital if no improvement after two days.

I ended up in hospital and was put on IV antibiotics for two days, I'm at home now and continuing on with the oral antibiotics. My skin has become dry and flaky, I can live with that, but I now have a morbid fear of farting or being any further than 30 seconds away from a toilet. Can't wait to get off the meds.

Thanks for the probiotics tip - I've used "inner health plus" in the past, I'll get some more and check with my GP if it doesn't fix up my guts. That colon faeces transplant idea does not sound very appealing to me. Imagine the little stickers for donors: "Be nice to me, I gave faeces today".

Really hope your situation improves Spud, and big thanks to people like you who are willing to participate in pilot programs that may benefit people you'll never know.

Cheers!

[Spudz27]

Shifty that sucks mate. I know how you feel in regards to fear of farting lol. However for me once the meds kick in, that fear goes away, just the meds are only fixing symptoms, not the bug itself so when I finish the meds, the flare up happens. Your sysmptoms are common with strong antibiotics and in fact apparantly AAD (antibiotic assisted you get the last bit lol) is a mild form of C-diff, which in most cases will clear a few days after meds have stopped. If it does not clear or get's worse, see your GP. Basically until my new round of meds kick in I have cramps that cause cold sweats until I go to the toilet and some other stuff I won't go into lol. I can't wait to get on the new meds and by the weekend I should be symptom free. One upside to all this, I have lost 10kg in 3 weeks and I needed to lose 30 anyway lol. Told the doc the C-diff can stay, so long as the pain buggers off lol, that way I can lose more weight.

[Vincenzo]

Originally Posted by supershifty

but I now have a morbid fear of farting or being any further than 30 seconds away from a toilet. Can't wait to get off the meds.
Cheers!

I am not in the same league as Spudz27 but do have my own problems. The Antibiotics kill off the natural flora in the stomach and intestines which help break down food particles. I found a simple solution for me in Yoghurt with Acidopholos. It is another form of Probiotic. Choose your favourite flavour and give it a go. Usually takes one to two days to work for me.

Hope it helps, Vincenzo

[Dr Jekkyl]

If antibiotic resistance and new antibiotic development continue at current rates then we are in BIG trouble.

[Burnout]

My god...... unable to fart, unless you are handy to a brascko.....
Jesus, my life would be over...over

[Spudz27]

Dr Jekkyl you are right. At the rate we are going, something similar to the plague is on the cards. With modern medicine, we probably would not have the same amount of casualties, but it is only a matter of time.

For me as I have a major heart op, every small thing I get, I am handed antibiotics as precaution. However until my last stint in hospital, I barely got sick. Since my last visit and resulting infection, I am sick all the time.

The meds I began the other day are already working great, just 6 more weeks to go and hopefully I get rid of superbug steve.

[hawkgirl]

FWIW I hear faecal matter transplants are surprisingly successful.

Good luck with your current therapy Spudz

[Vincenzo]

Originally Posted by Spudz27

One upside to all this, I have lost 10kg in 3 weeks and I needed to lose 30 anyway lol. Told the doc the C-diff can stay, so long as the pain buggers off lol, that way I can lose more weight.

As much as that may be great be very careful. A few years back I lost 33kg in 28 days and it took me six months to get back to full strength and endurance. Even 1kg per fortnight is not too bad.

Cheers Vincenzo

[Spudz27]

Yeah mate, I am pretty certain it is muscle mass that has wasted away as my gut and man tits are no smaller lol. However it is spurring me on to change my diet and begin excercising to try and a. look after the ticker, which thedocs have been trying to tell me for 20yrs (until operation 2 I was nice and thin then after op 2 at 11, I gained 33kg in a yr) b. Try and prevent this from happening again. If I look after myself properly and reduce the risk of infections, I reduce the need for antibiotics and hence reduce the risk of Steve always paying me a visit.