Awful (C. Diff, Part 1 of 2)

Antibiotics are not harmless.  

This may come as a shock to some people.  After all, antibiotics kill germs, and germs cause disease. So what's wrong with that?  

A lot, actually.  

For one, the antibiotic you're given may not kill all of your bad germs.  The ones that are left can develop drug resistance (essentially, immunity to the antibiotic) and/or cause an even nastier infection.  

One of the bad infections i've come across is from an organism called Clostridium difficile, which is somewhat affectionately referred to as "C. Diff."  In short, if you've used antibiotics recently and have killed enough good germs in your gut, C. Diff can gleefully step in, take over your colon, and obliterate it.  

One of the hallmark symptoms is diarrhea.  Not just in the soft-and-could-use-a-little-more-bulk-poop kind of way, but in the belly-hurting, toe-curling, run-to-the-bathroom, explosive-and-sometimes-bloody kind of way.  Imagine doing that once after an ill-advised trip to the Chinese buffet.  Then imagine doing it fifteen times in one night.  See what i mean by "obliterate?"  

(Interestingly, when i was in the RP, C. Diff struck me as kind of a semi-mythical beast, like PE (pulmonary embolism), which was only typically talked about in CPCs (clinico-pathologic conferences).  Or maybe i just wasn't exposed enough.)  

Left unchecked, this type of infection can kill not just your social life, but YOU.  So it's always important to talk to your healthcare provider about whether or not antibiotics are really needed for your current illness, or if you can fix it with just rest and fluids.  It's not advisable to press him or her for them "just in case it helps."  

Thankfully, there is a treatment for C. Diff, if not a guaranteed cure.  But ironically, it mostly consists of... more antibiotics.  If however this treatment didn't work (or if you just flat-out refused to take any more antibiotics - which i'm certainly not advocating, since they do have their place), there is another way that is near and dear to my heart.  

TO BE CONCLUDED