Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Hospital superbugs

Scotsman.com News - Hospital superbugs

Here is a good starting point for looking up what SUPERBUGS can do to you. I almost died due to a C Difficile infection- it took six months to feel human again. I caught it from the hospital and was on antibiotics....and two days later I was so sick I could not stop puking or pooping. When I called my sister she mentioned a SMELL....yeah- how does one actually describe it. It is like death and flowers and sour and sick----whatever it was, I had detected it. A trip back to the specialists office, taken off antibiotics, much pain for almost two months. Had I not had a sister who was a nurse, and who was familiar with the stench of death- I could have died. The rate of death for C Diff after thirty days in some hospitals has been 24%. Un freaking believable- In CANADA!!!!! That is because the nasty buggers take over the colon and wreak such havoc and infection, and some doctors are blithely unaware of this. WHAT??? Thankfully my doctor was not only brilliant, but when I kept having pain she said that she would refer me to a gastr specialist if necessary. Thanks to Lactobacillus, bakers yeast and time- it was not necessary. We decided against Flagyl as it has only about a 30 percent success rate when taken as directed, and Vancomycin is incredibly expensive- and not so effective in all cases either. I had no idea that my fairly minor surgery would almost end up in death. I do not exaggerate here- I thought I was having the flu- not a near death experience- and would not ordinarily have gone running back to the doctor had I not been given a clue. I was off work for two weeks with this minor surgery- I should have only been off five days. Hospital acquired infections are on the rise so be aware and realize that diarrhea and throwing up while on antibiotics is a clear danger signal that something is not right. Run back to your physician.

As a consequence of this, I have not been able to take antibiotics since. I have no idea when it will be safe to do so, as my original surgery site has flared again, and my doctor has advised against using antibiotics- a YEAR later!!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home