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It seems as if C-diff is becoming more prevalent and is a tough one to beat. I see many comments regarding it within the threads of other questions. I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread dealing specifically with the knowledge and experience of caregivers who have dealt with or are dealing with it.

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C-diff is ultimately what ended my 103-yr-old grandmother's life after she went into hospital for minor UTI and came out with c-diff infection. Its institutional, and traded around ALs, NHs, and hospitals. Its practically incurable. Standard treatment is with antibiotics, BUT... if you read/research enough on this, you will find that the most effective - and I would argue its the most "healthy" - treatment is a "poop transplant" where one person without c-diff provides healthy stools to person who is infected... and then the healthy, normal bacteria in the healthy stool begins to attack and kill off the c-diff thats out of control in sick person.

I mention the "poop transplant" very specifically because I found that the local doctors and nurses were unfamiliar - and resistant - against the idea that its a valid treatment... and yet, it IS apparently, because I can read about it online! If I had it to do over again, as soon as my GM was infected, I would've found a way to get some healthy bacteria into her digestive track to kill off the c-diff. She lost 30 lbs in a month and at her age, she just could not recover.
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Very interesting. I did a little research and you are absolutely right on. The FDA got involved in the middle of May 2013 with regulations that we're going to slow the process down substantially. But according to Wikipedia, they have approved the process as of June 17th 2013. In the research done so far, the treatment is very effective.

It seems that it comes under the category of Coprophagy, of which animals eatingtheir own poop, the poop of another individual or the poop off another species is central to their survival. For more information, check it out in Wikipedia.

Thanks, Alison...other folks, other experiences?
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Just to clarify a little, CarolLynn, because you mentioned the eating of stools by animals in their natural habitats... How a "poop transplant" would be done between humans is through a "reverse enema" kind of process.

Our modern, for-profit medical structures are currently set up to deal with disease and its symptoms with (yet another) chemical pharmaceuticals. I would encourage all to research and learn more about any known natural remedies for their loved ones' illnesses - especially if the illness has no known "cure" - and to use those natural remedies as a supplemental regimen.
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C-Diff or Clostridium Difficile http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/clostridiumdifficileinfections.html
My poor dad suffered with this, as well as other issues, for over a year as his doctor bounced him from antibiotic to antibiotic, in an effort to cure him. He lost 32 of his 136 pounds, and had many hospitalizations due to dyhydration and pain. After much prayer, I put my dad on probiotics and yogurt. His doctor told me that I could do it, but that it wouldn't do anything. Shortly after starting this, however, my dad started getting better. He regained his weight, and his health. Since then, I've read about the "poop transplant" and think that it also, would be something to try. C-Diff is NOT to be taken lightly.
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Alison - I wrote you more information and I guess it was in a personal hug but I really should have posted here. Is there anyway you know I was to copy it and paste it here?
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C-Diff just about took my son-in-laws life a week ago. I had never heard of it before but it is a terrible bacteria and very contagious!!
My son-in-law is 33. He was born with Cystic Fibrosis. 4 yrs. ago May 24th he had a double lung transplant. He has had a good 4 yrs. married 5 yrs. to my daughter. This has been his first major set back since the transplant and it was a bad one for sure. He was in the hospital for 3 days about 1 month before he developed the C-diff. So, they think that's where he picked it up. Trying different antibiotics over the course of 2-3 wks. nothing would help until he got a very high temp. and dehydrated. He was diagnosed with C-diff June 1, 2013. Now, granted he is on anti-rejection medications and his immunity was really down. But, it took 2 operations until he turned around. He was having extreme pain in his abdomen area taking strong doses of pain meds. He was unable to eat for most all of his hospital stay. So, he finally had to have his colon removed to get rid of the infection because for some reason the medicine was not getting to the severe part of the infection in the colon. His colon was VERY enlarged and bright red with infection. After 3 wks. of 5 teams of Drs. and lots of prayers he is finally home and recouperating. To make a long story short and any advice for those whom are ill or elderly be extremely cautious of this bug!! *****The nurses said C-diff has been showing up a lot in hospitals lately.
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im just sayin if you leave the c clips out of a general motors differential the axles will walk out and kill bystanders. we each advise to the best of our abilities. differentials are my field of expertise, youre welcome..
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As always, captain, I love your posts. I don't get to spazz out laughing very often... ain't got no time for comedy clubs, so keep 'em coming.

Below is text from CarolLynn she included my Hug: (with the word MESSAGE exchanged for METHODS per 2nd Hug... lol, CLynn, ty!)

Hi Alison, yes, I knew that. I just left it out, although I shouldn't have, because it's so difficult to use my android and say a lot without my voice recognition mucking up the answer. It's good that you clarified it for the board. I did read that the insertion of the donor product sounds like what I think of as a kind of"colinic" but did you read they were also putting a freeze-dried portion in a capsule to swallow and this also worked but the researchers kind of said that the process was too elaborate and took more time than was justified when the enema method was so much faster. Somewhere they are also looking into autologous donation where they would take a sample from me, for example, BEFORE they treat me with something known to cause the C-Diff and if I were to get it, they would do the fecal transplant with what they had reserved from me. Have you heard of this? It seems that the more "sophisticated" scientists get with state of the art modern living through chemistry, the more we have to revert to natural methods to save our bodies. Hmmmm, what a concept.

-End text
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lookingforward1 - thank you for posting your story. Your dad lost down to 104 pounds? Yikes, that is a very low weight for a man! We all have to take lessons from how many of us intervene in the treatment of our patients, who may not have survived if it had just been left up to the medical profession. Truly frightening and the reason to become completely proactive in our charges health decisions. Thanx for the link, I hope each one of us will read up on C-diff from his many sources as we can including this one. I'm glad your dad is doing well. Good job!
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dairywife5 - C-diff, like MRSA & the flesh eating bacteria is, I believe, another of the super infections that is resistant to antibiotics. Plez correct me if I'm wrong. I've heard it said that you can scrape the walls in hospitals and culture most of these nasty germs, hence the old saying: hospitals are no place for sick people. I'm happy to hear that your SIL is much improved. I hope your look into the sequel transplant that Alison has brought to our attention. I read that it is over 80 percent effective, so it is difficult for me to understand why more doctors aren't employing it as a treatment modality.
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correction ... dairywife5, I hope you look into the FECAL transplant...
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captain - and on a lighter note, have you ever seen"My Cousin Vinny"? Fun movie and I think a differential was involved there too. Ha ha ha ha ha.
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