C. Difficile and why I still Hate my Mom's Cat

If friends are wondering why I have been absent of late, it is because I have been ill. The story begins with the blog post "Have I Mentioned I Hate My Mom's Cat" in which I received a cat bite which got infected. OUCH! Well, apparently, the antibiotics I was on to heal the cat bite left me vulnerable to another type of infection: Clostridium Difficile (or C. difficile). Here's what the Mayo Clinic website has to say about it:

"C. difficile bacteria are everywhere — in soil, air, water, human and animal feces, and on most surfaces. The bacteria don't create problems until they grow in abnormally large numbers in the intestinal tract of people taking antibiotics or other antimicrobial drugs. Then, C. difficile can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammations of the colon. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year in the United States C. difficile is responsible for tens of thousands of cases of diarrhea and at least 5,000 deaths. And the problem is getting worse. The number of C. difficile infections doubled between 1993 and 2003, with most of the increase coming after 2000."

I am a little miffed at my doctor. I first started having symptoms a week ago Sunday. I phoned her the following Tuesday and detailed my symptoms (including the fact that I had recently been on antibiotics and was having abdominal pain and, well, you know, some other unfortunate symptoms). She agreed I didn't have to come in to see her, but ordered up a lab test. Having not heard anything by Thursday, I demanded an appointment. She had the day off, but her practice partner saw me and immediately put me on antibiotics and ordered me to go to the ER if my abdominal pain worsened.

Fortunately, as with most people under the age of 65, I am responding well to treatment, but I have been able to do little else since last week than lie in bed and try to keep fluids and food in my system. I lost almost 10 pounds (trust me, not a diet plan I would recommend) and have now begun eating small meals and the unfortunate symptoms are almost gone.

Here are some websites about C. difficile that I found helpful. (Some also scared the heck out of me). This infection is apparently becoming an epidemic, mostly for hospitalized patients, but also for anyone who must take antibiotics. The most disturbing "fact" was found on the first site: "It has been reported that clostridium difficile is mostly only contagious from other people through the fecal-oral route." (uhm, EWWW, GROSS!) I knew there was a reason I hated rimming! (Hey, you have to laugh about it, what else are you going to do?)


http://www.cdiffsupport.com/aboutcdiff.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_difficile
http://www.cdiff-support.co.uk/
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/c-difficile/index.html