Diarrhea is back :(

[Kindle 8,667]

I was doing so great for a week and now I'm sick again. Same watery diarrhea. But this time I'm running a fever and am achy and fatigued. My PCP is skiing in Colorado, so had a lovely text conversation about my bodily functions with him and his wife yesterday. He called in labs and wanted me to stop in the satellite clinic for a blood draw today. The mountain pass between here and the hospital is closed due to avalanche or I would have gone to the ER last night because I could barely walk without passing out.

So spent 3 1/2 hours at the clinic today. Had super low BP and high HR. (Thus the fainting). Took 4 tries to get a catheter in and got 3 liters fluids until I finally peed. BP went back to normal and I feel MUCH better. They sent in another stool sample to retest for C. diff plus all other bacterial and parasitic things they can. Should have bloodwork results (CBC and chem) by end of day. Made appt with Gastroenterologist for Thursday in case it's not something "simple". Meanwhile sipping a banana Protein Shake and making phone calls to reschedule apps I had to cancel today. Ugh!

[lynn2win 142]

Sending you a big HUG...sorry to hear what is happening to you...boy the low bp is getting people...maybe its the weather...but hope you feel better

[Kindle 8,667]

So the C. diff retest came back positive. At least I know the problem.

As for how I got it, my doc thinks I could be one of the rare "healthy adult" carriers. Although the source of infection is often a health care setting, DNA testing has shown many other species carry the same strain as the one that infects people. I am a vet tech and have been exposed to dozens (maybe hundreds) of Clostridial diarrhea cases in dogs, calves and foals. Not all of these were C. diff species, but a lot of them probably were. So the chances that I picked it up at work sometimes over the last 12 years is probably more likely than having picked it up during my 21 hour surgery stay. It's just the combination of antibiotics (both for surgery and a tooth infection), GI surgery and PPI knocked out enough of my good flora and let the C. Diff take over.