# Post-infectious IBS? C. diff.



## ChicknLady (Sep 19, 2011)

Hi, I'm new here and relatively new to the whole intestinal-issue thing. I was healthy as a horse and could eat anything without any digestive problems until I got C. diff. after taking Clindamyacin for a tooth-abcess. After a few months of loose stools and diarrhea, I finally took the time to go to the doc, and was positive with C.diff. Went through two courses of Flagyl (that stuff is HORRIBLE), then finally tested negative. This was back in March, but the symptoms didn't improve much; so went to a new doctor recently. Tested negative again for C. diff. (thank goodness), but my gut flora was what the nurse termed "severely depressed".The doctor just told me to hit the probiotics and yogurt again. But, I've been off any antibiotic since March, why hasn't my gut flora improved?? To me, my symptoms appear more IBS-related, which apparently is common after a C. diff. infection. I also have a wheat/gluten problem now which I never had before, been gluten-free for 6+ weeks. This has eliminated the gas and bloating, but the stools haven't improved at all.My symptoms aren't as bad as some I've read about here, but every morning I need to make 5-6 hasty bathroom trips before things settle down. I have an almost-normal stool maybe once a week, and the rest are loose or downright gushing. Nothing I've tried as far as diet seems to have any effect whatsoever. I'm taking Bacid 3x aday, and Saccharomyces boulardii (Brewer's yeast) once a day, as well as yogurt every day, haven't seen any real improvement.Does anyone have any similar experiences or advice? The gut-flora thing is a mystery. I'm never taking antibiotics again!


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## Eugenia Loli-Queru (Sep 14, 2011)

If it's just your gut flora you need to fix, then you're in... luck. Reportedly, this could be fixed with a 3 or 6 months of diet. You simply starve the gut flora out. They usually eat carbs, so if you avoid eating any sugar, starches, grains, potatoes, lactosed dairy, etc, it should come back to normal pretty easily. Especially since this is going on for only a year, so your intestinal lining hasn't been completely destroyed yet (I hope). In two weeks I was able to get better on the SCD diet after 10 years with SIBO/CDiff/IBS.Read the philosophy behind the diet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_Carbohydrate_Diet (read the book's reviews on Amazon too btw and the illegal/legal food list on the book's website -- no need to buy anything, all the needed info is available online).Don't skip the home-made lactose-free 3-probiotic goat yogurt though, because if you kill off most gut flora and you don't replenish it with "good" bacteria, CDiff might wake up from its dormant state, since it would have no competition in your gut (we still have spores in us, we can never completely get rid of CDiff). CDiff is mutated bacteria, so it doesn't feast just on carbs, therefore diet alone can NOT kill it. I know I made the yoghurt mistake already, and I paid it dearly (this goes especially for us with CDiff infection history).


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

There may not be a need to abstain from ALL carbs. Just try a good probiotic like Align etc. You may need to try it for awhile before you see a change. What happens in C-Diff is that the antibiotic can kill off _all_ kinds of bacteria.. not just the ones you were having trouble with the tooth abcess! So you must re-populate the gut with good bacteria via a good probiotic. Why some people have trouble getting the gut bacterai back in balance and others don't?? I have no idea. But like Eugenia said... if it is just your gut flora that's out of balance.. you are in luck! Because Probiotics can actually fix that by adding back in the bacteria we need.Now if you do not have success with one probiotic... try another with different strains of bacteria. I don't know how ling you have been taking the Saccharomyces boulardii but like I said... sometimes it takes time and sometimes it takes different strains.The strain found in Align has been found via research to help.


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## ChicknLady (Sep 19, 2011)

Thanks so much for your replies! What your saying makes alot of sense from what I'm experiencing. I already do low-carb, although not 100% strict, mostly chocolate is my weakness! But the occasional slice of pizza or lemon bar happened too, hence the wheat-discovery. And what you're saying about bad bacteria thriving on a carbohydrate-heavy diet will help maintain my vigilance now







.But can you really replenish a stubborn digestive tract just using yogurt and store-bought probiotics? I've read elsewhere that there are often up to 300 kinds of bacteria in a healthy person's gut, many of which are influenced by that individual's diet. That actually alot of your good bacteria are obtained by "unhygienic" means... not washing hands, eating unwashed vegetables, being around animals, mud, dirt, soil, outside vegetation...I'm definitely sticking to low carb now that I read your posts, and will play around with different probiotics; switch to another when one runs out. Eugenia, you mentioned "lactosed dairy"; what dairy items does that include? Do bad bacteria thrive on lactose? I'm a total cheese-aholic, but have given it up several times in the past year to rule out lactose-intolerance.Thanks so much!


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## Eugenia Loli-Queru (Sep 14, 2011)

ChicknLady said:


> >Eugenia, you mentioned "lactosed dairy"; what dairy items does that include? Do bad bacteria thrive on lactose? I'm a total cheese-aholic, but have given it up several times in the past year to rule out lactose-intolerance.


It's not about casein/lactose-intolerance per se, it's about lactose being a complex sugar, and therefore not easily digested by most humans. Lactose ends up in the gut unbroken by the stomach's enzymes, and there, bacteria and yeast feast on it. For the SCD diet I follow I can't drink any fluid milk. I can only have home-made lactose-free goat yogurt (with probiotics in it), and lactose-free cheese (e.g. most hard cheeses, check the list I linked).My yogurt maker machine is in the mail, I should have it by the end of the week. Until I make my own goat yogurt, I buy the following one, which is the only lactose-free yogurt I found in the Bay Area so far: http://greenvalleylactosefree.com/products/product.php?p=1 It's not ideal for the diet, but it should do for now.


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