fruity metalic taste in mouth. also C-diff.

Had my lap.rny on 5/28/08. Surgery recoup. went well. Then about 3 weeks out started getting alot of diarrhea. Finally went to my pcp and they did blood work and took a stool sample. Turns out  I had a bad bacteria growing called C-Difficille. I looked this up on internet and it says that is usually gotten from hospital after taking antibiotics it wipes out all the good bacteria. I'm now on an antibiotic called Flagl Yuk. All this had made me so weak. Anyone ever go thru this? Also been having a fruity metalic taste in mouth. It's gross and makes me feel nausous. It's altering the taste of food. Even water tastes bad. Anyone going through this. Thanks for your input. Michele

The metallic taste is the Flagyl.  Sorry to hear about your C. diff  Unfortunate problem that some people develop from antibiotics.  The good bacteria & flora normally found in the gut are decreased by the antibiotic and it give the bad stuff the chance to over grow and take over.  The treatment is Flagyl.  It has side effects as you've found.  Just keep yourself hydrated.  If you get really nauseous, contact your doc and get something for it.  Good luck.

Hello, thank so much for taking the time to respond. Yes the Flagl is nasty tasting. I've tried to cru**** the first time and put it in yogurt. YUK. Now I just cut it in half. I will have been on it now for 1 week tommorrow and I still have diarrhea and am very weak. I'm going to call in sick tommorrow and go back to the Dr. Someone else told me that the fruity metalic taste in my mouth was asidosis (sp?) which is from burning fat which some wls people get. I have reglan for nausea thanks so much. Michele





 

It is really really really important that you stay on top of this C-Diff.  I've never had it, but my Mother died from it.  Yep, she died.  She waited way too long to go to the Doctor and when she did, it was too late.  Flaygl is the cure so you will be fine.  Just have to get through it.  My Mom was not in the hospital, we think she got it from not finishing a dose of antibiotics.

In the future, when you take antibiotics, make sure you eat yogurt or take asodopholis (sp) every day along with it.  And always finish whatever dose of antibiotics you have to take.  It's very rare for someone to die from C-Diff, but it will happen if they don't go to the Doctor.

Get yourself some Skittles, I hear it takes away the metallic taste from chemo...so it might work with this.  Just one at time shouldn't hurt you.

Good luck....

Hugs

Charlie

Hi Charlie, thanks so much for responding. I've been on flagl now for 1 week tommorow. Still having diarrhea and very week. I'm a letter carrier so you can just imagine how hard it's been working in the heat and finding bathrooms on time. I am going to call in sick tommorrow and go back to the Dr. Please send up a prayer for me. Need to get back to work asap. Thanks. Michele

Hospital-acquired C.diff is becoming an enormous problem.  The bugs that are transmitted in the hospital are highly antibiotic resistent, as they are the survivors of multiple rounds of treatment with antibiotics, and there are only two approved drugs for C.diff -- flagyl (metronidizole) and Vancomycin, which as a very powerful antibiotic with significant side effects.  If the version of C.diff you have is flagyl- and vanco-resistent you are literally SOL.  There are some new antibiotics that are being tested for C.diff (I believe they are approved for other infections, but there are still in clinical trials for C.diff) like Xifaxan, and there are new drugs like monoclonal antibodies that neutralize the toxins produced by the C.diff bacteria, but these are experimental and unproven treatments which could result in the same issues later on.

And yes. you can be made VERY ill by C.diff, and yes, you can die from it, especially if you are already debilitated or otherwise compromised.  You can get pseudomembranous colitis, and get a perforated colon and end up with a colectomy and colostomy bag.  DON'T fool around with C.diff.

Moral of the story:  (1) take your FULL round of antibiotics when you are prescribed them; (2) take probiotics to repopulate your gut flora immediately after taking antibiotics, to prevent the C.diff from overgrowing in the absence of the normal bugs.

Hello Diane, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge of this with me. It sure is scary. I had my lap rny on 5/28 and went back for my 1 mo. check up on 6/26. At that time I was having diarrhea and feeling lousy. I thought I was having dumping syndrom due to eating out at a restaurant. Dr. said that dumping did not give you diarrhea. Said I must have the flu and gave me reglan for nausea. Also said I could take pepto bismal and or immodiu. It helped a little and I went back to work. I'm a letter carrier so you can imagine how hard that was, being in the heat and getting to bathrooms on time. I ended up calling in sick after one day of work and going to my pcp. She did blood work and took a stool sample. That's when I found out I had c-diff. She put me on flagl on 7/7/08. It will be one week tommorw and I still have diarrhea and feel weak. After reading your response, I am going to call in sick and try to see her again tommorow. I got another response from another OH member and she said her mom died from this. Yikes. Thanks for taking the time to email me. God bless. Michele