Confused From Self-diagnosing/reading

[IChaseFrisbees]

Hey everybody, so my story goes that after I started having symptoms that persisted for a few months I went to a naturopath who ordered a stool test for me to check for bacteria/parasites etc. A week or so later I took a stool test from enterolab to check for gluten intolerance.

I got the bacteria results back, and what it said was that I had 0 good bacteria, I had normal ranges of most of the naturally occurring bad bacteria that we all have, and I had a bad one called C-Diff.

Now me resenting my parents obsession with alternative medicine (an ignorant 18 year old tired of "remedies" and "herbal tinctures" and craving what I thought would be some hardcore western curative medicine) I told my MD that I between the two options the naturopath gave me, which were antibiotic and some sort of grapefruit/garlic/herbal treatment of things the C-diff had tested weak to, I wanted the antibiotic because I though "I'll just nuke that sucker and be good to go."

Boy, do I feel stupid now.

Anyway, I took the course of the antibiotic and didn't get any better, and then when my test results for gluten came back I thought "Ahh! So I killed the C-diff, but it turns out the rel problem was gluten!" So I went gluten free.

I improved mildly, but still had a lot of issues. I followed a food diary and learned to cut out all sugars including fruit, as well as most grains or carby-foods, sort of in the vein of a candida diet. I eat meat, eggs, nuts and veggies. My upper problems got drastically better, less intestinal gas and that "gurgly" feeling and cramps were gone as well as far fewer BM's per day. However, the consistency, smell etc. of the BM's (sorry if this is TMI) isn't better at all.

So now I just want to straighten everything out:

My gluten intolerance was diagnosed by...

Fecal Antigliadin IgA 24 (Normal Range <10 Units)

Can someone tell me what that means?

And then can C-diff cause gluten intolerance, or can it cause some sort of "leaky-gut" syndrome that either causes gluten intolerance or leads to digestive symptoms even when I go gluten free?

Basically I'm wondering if my gluten intolerance is permanent given this set of data, and if it is then why going gluten, carb and sugar free isn't helping. Could the C-diff still be there, could I have some other syndrome like Crohn's, what are the possible scenarios?

Sorry this is a little scattered, thanks a lot just for taking a look and if anyone has experience with this c-diff or any of these situations I'd really appreciate your insight.

Thanks again

[Fiddle-Faddle]

There are quite a few members here who I think do know a lot about C diff.

Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.

But what I would do is do a bit more research and find out if the antibiotic you were given is the correct one for C diff, or if your doctor just gave a basic antibiotic to shut you up (sorry, some docs actually do that, they've been doing it for years with colds and ear infections).

You also might want to look on www.lymenet.com and research Lyme disease--I'm not sure, but I think C diff might be a coinfection of Lyme? Hopefully, some of the resident Lyme experts here will weigh in on that one.

I think you are coming to much more logical questions/answers from your internet research than most people here got from their doctors.

[ravenwoodglass]

C-diff is not something I know a great deal about but I do know that it is hard to get rid of and sometimes needs repeat courses of treatment. Have you had another stool culture done to check if the antibiotic helped? Are you taking any probiotics or eating live culture yogurt or saurkraut on a regular basis. They can help repopulate the gut with the good bacteria that often gets wacked out when they treat the c-diff.

[JodiC]

c diff is extremely contagious so I hope you are protecting the ones around you. Listen to your doctor. Contrary to what you may be told on this site, they are still the ones who know. Of course they put you on the proper antibiotic. Take some probiotics along with any antibiotic. I don't recommend looking on the internet for answers. Not all the info is there...that's why doctors go to school for years. Many conditions can look like Celiac...you need to look at the big picture...that's what doctors do. Sometimes people want answers so bad they are not seeing the forest for the trees. Please stop self diagnosing as you could be missing something your doctor will catch.

[mushroom]

I missed this thread when you initially posted. I had c.Diff many years ago, diagnosed through Great Smokies Lab (now Genova), testing which was ordered by a western practitioner of Chinese medicine. He referred me to an integrative MD for treatment. (I had gone this route since my PCP had no clue what to do.) The Great Smokies report gave treatment suggestions based on their testing as to what it was sensitive to. (By the way, I also had major candida infection after a six-month course of various antibiotics for a resistant sinus infection.) So the treatment suggestions for c.Diff were either a specific antibiotic (can't remember which one now), or a gentian formulation. Naturally I chose the gentian because more antibiotics was the last thing I needed, having created the problem in the first place. I also was given massive doses of all kinds of supplements in addition to cure the candida and repopulate my gut with the good guys. I am happy to report that it all worked! And I know that I no longer have it because I had stool testing done last year by Diagnos-Techs. Interestingly, the c.Diff occurred about the time that my major digestive issues worsened all around, even though the c.Diff and candida were gone, so whether it not it was a major contributor to my gluten intolerance, I don't know. It is interesting to speculate on these things. It sure didn't do my gut any good