u/momimatrix

Hi, I'm back again, days later after that hospital visit and still doing poorly. I ate literally one pretzel yesterday and struggled to keep it down if that's any reference for how bad it's gotten.

my most recent blood tests and scan suggest a potential infection (abnormal levels of white blood cells, clear inflammation of the colon), swollen lymph nodes, and diverticulosis. so I asked my PCP (I'm with kaiser, for context, and he's unfortunately the only doctor available near me) for a GI referral, and he's outright refused twice. He states that the GI doctor won't help me in my case.

I'm only getting worse, I've been nagging and nagging, and going to urgent care for IV fluids when the nausea gets so bad I can't even hold down water. every medical professional I've seen, including my doctor, just tells me to drink Gatorade and eat bananas. I can hardly eat, and I'm in so much pain, constant pain in my lower abdomen and back.

What do I do?

unfortunately I woke up at like 5 this morning in a horrible state. vomiting multiple times an hour, terrible abdominal and lower back pain on one side that had me crying so bad.

went to the ER, stayed there for hours and did tests, plenty of anti-nausea meds and Tylenol. went home and after an hour starting having all the same symptoms again, went to the urgent care and got a way more thorough check. the guy wasn't concerned about any sort of kidney infection or stones, nor issues with constipation or any other organs. he thinks I have a stomach bug, or it could potentially be an issue with gastritis bc I've been getting acid reflux too? he thinks the pain is pulling a muscle from vomiting so hard since that kinda lines up with how it happened.

and also weirdly enough? not that deficient based on the blood panel from the ER.

I don't know, I'm at a loss and so scared of a recurrence or needing antibiotics. the pain gets better when I'm in the sun or a warm car, should probably get a heating pad. I had a dream about a raven in my room coming closer and then landing on me the night before this, I was scared when no one else noticed or cared, I'm hoping it's not a sign I'll pass from whatever's going on.

Hi guys, 3 months post vanco here.

Is anyone else just terrified of eating or trying new foods now? I'm currently only capable of eating saltines, plain rice cakes, and liquid IVs.

I tried a new brand of popcorn last week (only had olive oil, salt, and corn in it), and I usually have corn chips with those ingredients and turn out fine. I had a 1/4 of a serving, and the following two days were nightmarish. Vomiting straight stomach acid, like poltergeist levels of it idk how, and watery stool. I'm now constipated in the aftermath and so pissed off and scared about food right now.

Hi, I got to talk to my doctor today about all my issues surrounding my p-ibs, I'm about three months post vanco.

nausea has been my main issue, so I was asking for zofran since eating and drinking has been so difficult that I lost fifty pounds during this. he recommended pepcid instead, although he did give me a script for zofran too.

I'm really nervous about taking an anti-acid like that after having c diff though, especially since I had diarrhea and vomiting two days ago (tried a new food and unfortunately got like poltergeist levels of sick from it). I'm nervous about getting a relapse or something. does anyone else have experience taking this stuff after c diff?

Hi, frequent poster here :(

I was treated with vanco back in May, three weeks after I started showing symptoms. My first week was just CRAZY bad nausea and vomiting, some diarrhea that I managed with Imodium bc I thought it was my usual lactose intolerance.

I got worse from there, which is why I ended up getting tested and everything.

Now, my BMs are back to normal (yay, I had terrible problems with constipation for a while there) but the nausea is killing me. Is it possible that it's back already, even if I don't have diarrhea like last time? I've been meaning to go see my doctor in person because he's essentially refusing to continue with e-visits and wants to see me in office. But I keep having to cancel or reschedule because of how bad my nausea and dry heaving is. I get heartburn every so often too, plus if I ever throw up it's just stomach acid so my throat is just absolutely shot rn.

I'll message my doctor about it anyways, but I doubt they'll test me since my stools are formed. :/ really uncertain here.

TW: for emetophobia btw, you might wanna sit this one out if it's a problem for you.

Post-vanco, I think I developed IBS-M? I deal with constipation pretty bad, it could also be because of my restrictive diet. I recently was able to add saltines and almonds, as well as a vitamin D supplement and ginger tea so we have some improvements when it comes to safe foods.

I usually can get constipated up to a week at a time, to the point where I can't eat from how backed up I am and then end up throwing up stomach acid, it's that bad. At that point I'll take a laxative, thankfully end up getting everything out, and then going back to 1-2 normal BMs a day... Then inevitable constipation.

I'm getting an abdominal X-ray today, as per my doctor's request. I'm honestly not entirely sure what's wrong anymore. Genuinely, I think a lot of it is in my head. Every bowel movement I've ever had, even before I got c diff, sets off my vagus reaction and my terrible gag reflex, I'm the worst person for an emetophobe to be around. I'm known to need a bucket to puke in even for a completely healthy BM, so I'm low-key terrified of needing to.

People don't talk about how easy it is to get scared of getting sick, then to get scared of certain foods, and then ultimately ending up being scared of eating in general. Which is fucked, since it really screws up your recovery.

I'm two months out from vanco, still dealing with a pretty sensitive stomach and IBS from the infection. I did try IBgard, and it did really help with the painful gas and bloating, but I absolutely need to eat within 30 minutes of it or I get the worst heartburn and christmas burps lmao

Did any of you guys struggle to actually consistently eat enough on the bland diet? And if so, how did you get yourself to ACTUALLY eat something?

All I can have as of right now is banana (sparingly, like two bites a day at most), unsweetened applesauce in moderation, white rice, plain chicken, and gluten free tortilla chips also in moderation. And liquid IV once a day to prevent myself from getting dizzy. I'm gonna try gluten free pasta and gluten free bread soon, when I'm not so scared of new food :/

I'm getting to the point where even the chicken makes me so nauseous I can't even think about it for longer than a second, I only consistently eat more than once a day if I have applesauce since it's easy to get down even if all my options are grossing me out, snacking on the chips is also what's keeping me kicking at this point. I'm craving ice from sonic all the time, that's the only "full meal" I've had in months, I can eat an entire large cup in one sitting.

please help y'all, I'm watching mukbangs all night like a sad dog watching its owners eat all the good stuff

Hi, I've been in recovery for almost two months now, showing no signs of improvement. I'm not getting as bad as I once was, but my stomach is in shambles.

Bland diet constipates me like all hell, one bite of a food I'm not used to gives me stomach pain, mild diarrhea, and a crazy amount of gas for literal days. It feels like I'm sensitive to everything but white rice. I've taken the florastor this entire time, drank plenty of water, tried to get rest, bleached everything, and am in constant communication with my healthcare team. Just no luck so far, and I'm under so much pressure by my boss and family to get better sooner because my illness is an inconvenience to them.

I'm at an actual loss at this point, I'm in constant discomfort and every doctor I've talked to (including my PCP) just says it's normal and I have to wait it out, that it could take months or years. I'm not sure if I'll even be well enough to celebrate my 21st birthday next month. I haven't been able to work and am considering quitting at this point, I've rejected so many invites to important events from friends and family because I just can't. This stupid shit took everything away from me.

Hey guys, I'm about a month post-vanco, or just about. I was dealing a lot with switching between normal bowel movements and an occasional episode of diarrhea for a while, but now I've officially gone a week without a single bowel movement.

I'm taking miralax as per a doctor's instructions and praying that it works lol, no more white rice for me because I think my over dependence on it to calm my stomach+ skipping meals was what caused this.

My temp leave from work is about to end so now I'm just worried about all the gut problems I have now that have left me unable to leave my house for almost two months now. I just want this to end already.

Update one day later: finally had a BM, I'm planning on doing a low fodmap diet after this and just avoiding common IBS irritants. No more only eating white rice.

I'm about two weeks post vanco, still having some occasional tummy troubles, fasting seems to be the only thing that helps. I am taking the generic florastor, have been since the vanco.

I got c diff after being misdiagnosed with a bladder infection and given Keflex. I actually have painful bladder syndrome because of my endometriosis, and need to go to pelvic PT but can't go for the foreseeable future because of c diff.

Because of my painful bladder problems and also a hymenectomy,, I actually haven't been intimate with my partner since April of 2025, I went on the keflex after what felt like hundreds of doctors appointments trying to fix it so I could resume our sex life, now I'm defeated.

I don't know how long we need to abstain, and oral sex just feels like something I can never receive again which really sucks. I guess I'm just wondering if I can ever actually have sex without just immediately fucking contaminating everything? Like I didn't even get to really have it outside of like oral since I needed a hymenectomy, I don't want to be a virgin forever. :( When did you guys go back to your normal sex lives, if ever?

(Also apologies for the long winded post, there's a lot going into why this is so hard for me)

I need to get back to work already, but my stomach is so unreliable these days, it's a bummer. I switch between being constipated and being sick so easy.

My safe foods are really limited: boiled chicken, white rice, plain potatoes, and pretzels. Dairy free yogurt used to be on that list but it recently started making me sick so I had to stop.

As of today, I only had pretzels and that set off my stomach too, so I might be down yet another safe food :/ Currently fasting until my shift tomorrow at 5 pm (currently 1:30 am for me) because I'll be working solo and unable to leave my post to go to the bathroom or anything. Any tips on managing these symptoms?

I'm four days post vanco, was pretty constipated for most of that and on a plain diet, ate a bunch of small bites of different food yesterday tho and now had an episode of diarrhea and nausea again :(

My OCD really wants to jump to worrying about a recurrence already, even though it's still too early to tell. As is, I already have to fight the urge to change or shower every single time I go to the bathroom, even just to pee.

I already wash my hands at least 5 times every bathroom visit, 30-40 seconds each depending on how freaked out I feel 😭 bleaching everything, washing my hands in between every step in the literal shower. If I touch my pants on accident, I'll immediately go wash my hands a few times because I consider my pants to be contaminated no matter what.

I enrolled in therapy though, because my contamination OCD is really getting out of hand atp. I'm quarantining myself again for a couple days, this shit sucks.

I'm sorry for posting here a lot, I just feel super alone in treating this.

I see a lot of really tough cases on here, and it's been really hurting my mental state, I just find myself doom scrolling a lot on here and thinking of the worst case scenarios.

I hope that the one round of vanco will be enough for me, I've been driving myself insane cleaning and increasing my probiotics.

I'm talking to my doctor tomorrow since I finished my vanco today, I can't control the future and I have OCD so I don't do well with uncertainty or lacking control of things. Life just seems super hopeless, and like it ended before it even began since I'm barely 20. I've had to miss a lot of important events with family and being out of work for so long has been causing drama there unfortunately. I guess I just regret basically everything that led me here, in a super dark place.

We all know that this stuff is contagious by now, but how long did you guys continue to isolate during and after treatment?

Today's the last day of my treatment and unfortunately my stomach got messed up again from some blueberries I had :( I'll continue to isolate until my stomach gets back to normal though.

MAJOR VENT WARNING BTW

This is my first time ever having it or being treated for it, I Google stuff about it and am on this subreddit at least once an hour.

I have OCD, being sick and anything contagious makes me spiral like this. I'm about to finish my medicine, my last dose of vanco is on Sunday morning and I still feel absolutely fucked over.

My stomachs okay, I don't have any symptoms and haven't since day four. I've been self isolating since I got the diagnosis, my boyfriend just got prophylactic doxycycline from his doctor because of issues with his insurance not letting him get the ultrasound he needed.

I know I need to stop seeing him for a while (even though I haven't in weeks) because the antibiotics they put him on will make it easier for him to catch stuff from me, and that's really hurting me mentally. I guess this all just feels really hopeless, all I see online about C Diff just makes it sound like a life sentence and like I'll always be contagious.

I bleach everything, wash my hands for 60 seconds (I count) every time with hot water, constantly showering, changing my clothes multiple times a day when I get the urge to. Washing everything in hot water, even got the clorox healthcare wipes from Amazon. Got all the probiotic shit and am taking it three hours after every dose of vanco. Still feels pretty useless.

This shits ruined my life already, how does anyone avoid breaking down multiple times a day over it?

Hey all,

I ordered Florastor just to see that it contains lactose on the package today, I'm EXTREMELY lactose intolerant. Like, very very sensitive to even the slightest bit.

I've been eating a lot of dairy free yogurt that does contain probiotics during my Vanco, and planning to do that alongside a regular probiotic or kombucha afterwards, would that be enough to prevent a relapse? This is my first time ever having or being treated for C Diff, so I'm not sure about a lot of things.

Hi, first post here.

I've been dealing with moderate symptoms for few weeks now after being on Keflex for a UTI. The symptoms were pretty manageable, I just got tested since I had a brief bout of stomach upset after being okay for a week. (I was taking probiotics after the antibiotics to help with the stomach symptoms I got during them, and they helped for a bit)

It was indeterminate on the PCR, but positive for toxins after they tested it more.

I have been on vanco for three days, feeling worse. Struggling to sleep or eat because of the gurgling feeling, stomach cramps, and nausea. I called my doctor and he switched me to Flagyl for 14 days with zofran instead.

Is this going to work or should I continue the vanco and call again for another opinion? He said that the Flagyl should work just as well since I'm otherwise healthy.