Diarrhea for 10 days now

[tomas923]

I developed watery explosive diarrhea 10 days ago. After 5 days I went to my PC doctor and they did bloodwork and a stool sample. The stool sample came back negative for whatever they tested for however my whiteblood cells were very elevated and I was told if it was still bothering me to go to the ER. I went to the ER on day 8 and they again did bloodwork, CT Scan and Urinalysis. All came back fine although WBC was still high. I was sent home with metronitazole, immodium and pain medicine. All the while I have been extremely dehydrated. The ER said it was a probably a stomach virus. So it has now been 10 days with no end in sight! Would a stomach virus lact this long? What else could it be? I have been on a clear liquid/bland diet the last five days and am frustrated with what seem to be generic answers. Please help any advice is greatly appreciated!


This discussion is related to Diarrhea more than 5 days.

[OC5223]

I would go back to primary care; 10 days is way too long.  you should have been hydrating, eating saltines, rice.  Did doctor review prior diet and standard diet for treating your symptoms.  Even stomach flu would start to slow down; if WBC high, see:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/high-white-blood-cell-count.html.

Having a high (how high) is not an illness; simply put, white blood cells can increase (also from antibiotics, stress, etc.) when they have to fight to protect the body from something; so if they are higher than normal (again, how high) what are they fighting?

ER is not there to diagnose an ongoing illness; I have a problem with a physician who advises to go to ER if symptoms continue rather that to contact them again.  Either find a new doctor or get a referral for a gastroenterologist.  Stop fooling around with this.

[tomas923]

The antibiotic was zithromax. I actually had to take the samples back to the lab itself and I took them to the lab as soon as I had them ready which was less than an hour. I started on culturelle about 2 or 3 days ago. I was told to contact my PC doctor on Wednesday if my symptoms had not improved. Just seems like a long time to me for a stomach virus to last.

[michell221]

What was the antibiotic?  Antibiotics can cause C diff to flourish because it wipes out your good bacteria and the bad take over.  

The standard testing for C diff is 3 stool cultures because of high false negatives. Also you should bring in the sample within the hour.  The toxins break down very fast .   Did you do that?  

I also had this testing before and found my drs office was letting it sit out all day before the labcompany picked it up.  I told the young girls in the lab they should have froze it until the lab came because it breaks down.  They did not realize this and looked it up and were like wow you are right.  Then the dr had me take it straight to the hospital next time to get it tested there.  


Also,  it would not hurt you to start on a good probiotic such as culturelle and align.  You can find these at drug stores.  They will at least help get some of the good bacteria back  in your system to balance it out.  Always take these with antibiotics to help prevent yeast and c diff.  A lot of GIs recommend these.  They are pricy but do help.  

If I was you I would go ask for more cdiff tests and then if negative then more types of stool cultures for parasites and infections.  If your symptoms are real bad you should go back to ER since you cannot keep having this horrible diarrheah.  

[tomas923]

I had been on antibiotics the week previous to this starting. I had to do two different samples in two separate containers. I know they tested for C. Diff as my doctor specifically mentioned that due to the antibiotics, but they said it was negative.

[michell221]

hmm have you been on antibiotics in the last few months?  What did they test for with stool samples?  There is a parasites test, and infectious organism test and c diff test.  This would be 3 stool samples in different containers.  Did you do 3?

I am wondering if they suspect c diff since they gave generic flagyl which is used to treat that. But if C diff you would not want to take immodium because that will keep the toxin in you longer or infection if you have an infection.