Hi kismet,
I'm glad to hear you're feeling better! I know I don't have to say this, I'm saying it more for anyone else who is reading, but please remember to finish your course of vancomycin. Don't stop it just because you're feeling better.
You asked if anyone who wound up in the hospital had any signs or symptoms weeks before. I had a very unfortunate experience, which I will relate in more detail.
I had a cyst on my upper chest drained by my derm. He prescribed dicloxacillin to prevent infection. This was in 1993 and I knew nothing about the dangers of antibiotics at that time. Had I known, I would have opted to just clean the wound. On day 6 of the antibiotic, I woke up with diarrhea. I thought it was the Chinese food I had eaten the night before. I have a fairly sensitive stomach and usually eat more blandly.
After a few days of diarrhea, I went to my doctor, who prescribed me an anti-diarrheal. This is the WORST possible thing that could have been prescribed because if you have a C. diff. infection, the body is trying to rid itself of the bacteria and its toxins by having diarrhea. An anti-diarrheal keeps all this garbage in your gut, causing an even greater problem. A week after that, I went to another doc, who prescribed me an anti-spasmodic. After this, the diarrhea became more frequent throughout the day and it was starting to change in appearance. For anyone reading, I'm going to get graphic, so stop reading if you don't want to know.
By my third doc, I was pleading with him that something was terribly wrong. This was not "normal" diarrhea if one can even say that. What was coming out of me were green and black flakes. It didn't resemble stool at all. The flakes were actually the waste products and toxins created by C. diff. That's what was coming out of me. I was also crampy.
I next went to a gastroenterologist, who had been highly recommended to me by a close M.D. friend. He said he would "trust his own family's life with" this doc. I was quite sick by this point and was in the bathroom every hour of the day. I pleaded with him to listen to me, I cried, I yelled. He basically brushed me off. I honestly don't remember what he prescribed me. Time was running out, quickly.
It was now about one month later. I was going to see yet another doc the next day, but woke up in the morning doubled over in pain. I got to the hospital, where I was taken in for an exploratory laparoscopy. The surgeon told me afterwards there was so much (abnormal) fluid in my stomach and intestinal area, they had to perform emergency surgery. I had a toxic megacolon, which is the dire outcome of a C. diff. infection. The bacteria had begun eating their way through my intestinal wall and the diseased section had to be removed. The surgeon told me I was within minutes of my colon bursting and likely killing me.
Lesson learned: Antibiotics are not to be taken lightly or used indiscriminately. Also, very important to note, a C. diff. infection can occur weeks or even months after taking an antibiotic, not necessarily while you are taking an antibiotic or right after you have completed a course.
As an aside, about taking a probiotic, I did my research and chose Culturelle over Florastor due to the fact that Florastor contains Saccharomyces boulardii lyo, which is a yeast, as opposed to Culturelle, which contains the bacteria, Lactobacillus GG. I would tell everyone to research your probiotic to make your own informed decision rather than just taking the next person's recommendation for what you should take. In my case, I didn't want to take a yeast, which has its own potential side effects.
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