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First, a bit of advice: If you have symptoms that concern you, please call your doctor sooner rather than later.

After my VSG, as I transitioned from liquids and "mushies" to solid food during weeks four and five post-op, I thought my bowel movements would become more normal. They didn't. I had VSG rather than a gastric bypass, but since I had problems with dumping before surgery if I ate too much of the wrong foods, I thought it could be dumping syndrome. I started experimenting with my diet, hoping to eliminate any foods that were causing the supposed dumping.

Finally, I realized this wasn't dumping. It was unrelenting diarrhea. At the nine-week follow-up appointment with my surgeon earlier this week, I told him about it. He said I most likely have Clostridium difficile (C.diff) colitis, and he prescribed a targeted antibiotic. The C.diff overgrowth can be caused by the broad-spectrum antibiotics used after surgery.

I'm pretty miserable right now. My tiny tummy doesn't tolerate the antibiotics well, so I get nauseated every time I eat. My guts are still quite unhappy, so I can't stray far from the bathroom. I'm dehydrated because I'm having trouble drinking enough Water. I'm super tired. (Thank you for attending my little pity party.)

If I had called my surgeon a few weeks ago, I might have avoided some of this gastrointestinal misery. :-)

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I definitely feel your pain (and all the other unpleasantness). I got a C. diff infection about 5-6 weeks after my VSG. Mine was a result of the clindamycin my dentist put me on for a tooth abcess, but having a teeny tiny tummy definitely hindered my ability to stay hydrated.

You said you "most likely" have a C. diff infection. Did your doctor test for it? If not, I recommend the PCR test rather than the ELISA as the latter has a higher rate of false negatives. A positive confirmation may qualify you for any number of ongoing clinical trials for C. diff treatments. A was asked to participate in one, but the infectious disease center was located 60miles away and I just couldn't fit that much travel into my work schedule.

Here are the posts that describe what I went through and what I eventually had to do to clear the infection. Good luck, I sure hope you have an easier time than I did. Feel free to ask any questions as I became kind of a C. diff expert.

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/296042-possible-c-difficile-bummer/

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/297327-diarrhea-is-back/

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/300646-calling-all-poop-donors/

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/303173-fecal-transplant-scheduled/

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What antibiotic did he put you on? My first two rounds were metronidazole (flagyl) which made me extremely nauseous. I could barely eat or drink anything.....couldn't even swallow my own saliva some days. Thus, ending up needing IV fluids 3 times for dehydration. I was praying to the WLS gods that I would be perfectly happy to never lose another pound as long as the nausea would go away.

Ironically, that was the month I gained 3 pounds and stalled. As soon as I was switched to vancomycin I doubled my food and Water intake and lost 8 pounds in 1 week!

Keep us posted. Whine all you want. C diff sucks way worse than the preop diet, and that gets lots of whine time on here!

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What antibiotic did he put you on? My first two rounds were metronidazole (flagyl) which made me extremely nauseous. I could barely eat or drink anything.....couldn't even swallow my own saliva some days. Thus, ending up needing IV fluids 3 times for dehydration. I was praying to the WLS gods that I would be perfectly happy to never lose another pound as long as the nausea would go away.

Ironically, that was the month I gained 3 pounds and stalled. As soon as I was switched to vancomycin I doubled my food and Water intake and lost 8 pounds in 1 week!

Keep us posted. Whine all you want. C diff sucks way worse than the preop diet, and that gets lots of whine time on here!

Thank you for letting me know about your experience with C.diff. My doctor put me on metronidazole. It definitely makes me nauseated. :-( I would much rather be in pain than be nauseated. In fact, I just got back from the clinic at CVS, where I was begging for more Zofran to get me through the weekend. I also picked up a probiotic with saccharomyces boulardii.

I'm trying really hard to keep eating and drinking Water, but I know I'm dehydrated. I was still losing half a pound a day until today. I have a feeling it's the beginning of a stall until I increase my intake again.

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I also did the saccharomyces boulardii and Probiotics. Look for the highest count, most multi-strain probiotic you can find. The best are going to be found in the refrigerated section of a good health/whole food store. Mine was 50billion CFU with 32 different strains. Take them at a different time than the metronidazole since the metro will immediately kill the Probiotics if they are in contact with each other.

Hydration is SO hard. Try and make sipping your focus. Go back to all liquid diet with Protein shakes if you have to. Make everything you get in count towards hydration. The crazy thing is, though, the best 3 days out of my 2 1/2 month ordeal were the days I got IV fluids. I actually had several hours where I DIDNT have to try and drink anything. It was heaven.

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Yipe. My heart goes out to you, OP, it's a painful and particularly unpleasant illness. As a nurse, C.Diff is the infectious disease I hate most (I would rather have a patient with the flu, TB, hepatitis, HIV, leprosy, bursting spontaneously into flames, ANYTHING but C.Diff). The hardest part about it is that it can survive for a long time on surfaces, transmits easily (hopefully none of your family or friends get it), and isn't killed by hand sanitizers, only good old fashioned scrubbing with soap and Water.

Unfortunately, hospitals are a common place to contract CD, as well as dentist offices. It's a risk for any medical procedure nowadays. Thanks for the perspective.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 0 replies
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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    • KimBaxleyWilson

      Three months and four days ago... I was in Costa Rica having a life changing surgery! Yesterday we had a followup visit with Dr. Esmeral via video chat and this morning my middle number changed.  I'm down 47lbs and two pants sizes. I can wear a Large tshirt for the first time in like... 14 years! Woot!! Everything is going great. I have zero regrets. I went down to the riverwalk with a friend and walked 2 miles on Monday without even getting fatigued. And no more snoring or chugging pickle juice for crazy leg cramps! I need to go to the gym more... I'm making new shirts next week so that will motivate me. LOL But I'm also just not as TIRED all the time! I have a LONG way to go...but seeing the progress on the scales and in the mirror is a huge motivator!! Thank you all for cheering me on and supporting me!!
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      https://alluniqueguide.com/java-burn-coffee-reviews/
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