Someone Get Me a Bucket

I have awesome, awesome news. I do not have a flare, my MRI results showed no inflammation and only stricturing in my transverse colon, and my blood results were normal. However, the stool tests showed that I have c diff.

Lucky, lucky me. While I'm extremely disgusted as to how I got the bug (it's spread mostly through poor hand-washing, so I ingested someone else's feces-yum) at least I know my GI clinic will take good care of me. In fact, they called me twice in one hour to give me strict instructions to wash my own hands well so I don't pass on the icky critter, strictly forbade me from using any antibiotics for six months unless I absolutely must, and I am, under no circumstances, allowed to drink alcohol while taking the medication, called metronidazol, to kill c diff. I also must take a probiotic and it was recommended I eat yogurt to help replenish my starved "good bacteria".

Wait... no alcohol!? How am I supposed to party now? Actually, lucky for me, my twenty-first birthday isn't for a couple months, and I've never really drank or partied to begin with. I called my GI and asked what would happen if I drank alcohol while taking the medication. Answer? I'd experience severe nausea, vomiting, my skin would turn red, and my heart beat would quicken. From the sounds of it, I'd get trashed really fast, because the side effects already include nausea and vomiting. That sounds fun. I was asked if no drinking would be a problem for me, and while it wouldn't be now, if this just happened to land over my birthday, I think I'd be honest and say I was going to wait until the day after my party to start the treatment. I wonder how many young adults have had to have that conversation or argument with their GI over drinking while taking c diff-killing medicine.

Not that I need to drink to feel super nauseated. Metronidazol is almost as bad as c diff itself. I am so, so nauseated. I can barely sleep, and my stomach churns whether I eat food, don't eat food, lie down, stand up... it's awful. It's that horrible queasy feeling you get when you know you're going to throw up in an hour or so, but my body just won't throw up. I would love to throw up. If I threw up, maybe the queasy feeling would go away. My mouth tastes strongly of metal. My guts haven't settled down yet, so my intestines still hurt on top of it all. I feel really, really sick. I can't wait for in a week or so, when the treatment is done and the c diff is killed. I have lost my appetite completely and have barely eaten or had anything to drink in the last 72 hours. I have to force myself to eat and drink. Everything is tinged with metal and tastes horrific.

In spite of how horrid I feel at the moment, I'm actually thrilled with the news. Once I get finish my round of treatment, I should feel leaps and bounds better. If only my IBD were this easy to treat! For now, I think I'm going to go take a shower and hit my bed. Being nauseated all the time is exhausting.