Each day before 6:30 a.m. I have already cooked breakfast and lunch for my husband Michael to take to work. As he leaves each morning loaded with a smoothie full of super foods to sip on as he drives to work; breakfast with some form of gluten-free cereal with fruit and almond milk or a brown rice breakfast quesadilla and a lunch with an amazing salad loaded with new exciting and alive foods; I thank my lucky stars he looks so good and has a smile on his face.
You see in January 2011 when Michael was walking out the door to work I turned around to say goodbye and the next second he was down on the floor in extreme pain with a ruptured colon. We did not know it at the time but had I not gotten him to the hospital right away he would have died from this. Michael had some serious life threatening health issues ahead of him that we could never have foreseen and looking back now I have learned and grown so much but as we were in the middle of such a catastrophic health issue I was foggy, scared, looking for answers and found very few from the medical community. What I really needed was someone to help me sort through finding alternative options for healing. I believe there is always a way to change the outcome and I was not ready to have my husband end up with a permanent colostomy without searching high and low and scouring the internet for answers. To this day he is here because we changed our diet, our lifestyle choices and became consistent with very supportive supplements.
I won’t go into the gruesome details of the next 6 months but they were the scariest times in both our lives and are still fresh enough that we check in with each other many times throughout the day and give thanks for being alive! So with a ruptured colon comes infection in your sterile abdominal cavity. The only way to get rid of infection is with mass doses of hard-core antibiotics. Mass doses of antibiotics for extended periods of time can lead to a host of new problems and within 3 months he endured 3 surgeries with 3 hospital stints each visit lead to more antibiotics……his system was shocked and completely void of any good bacteria that could help him heal and left him open to contracting a host of new problems. This lead to contracting the nasty and antibiotic resistant super bacteria called C Difficile
Now put yourself in a hospital where C Difficile is commonplace, it is easily spread from one patient to the next by the nursing staff or from simply touching a counter top or door knob with the bacteria and your immune system is compromised you are at great risk for contracting different strains of this antibiotic resistant beast and they can take over your body quickly. A new report from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) shows that the rates of infection for this bacteria are at historic highs.
Almost all C Difficile infections are connected to getting medical care! GASP!! Can you believe that!
Its a very lonely and scary place to be because the doctors have limited tools and many of those tools are what lead to this problem in the first place. I think that most of our physicians thought we would sue them and they backed away from us as soon as we were released from the hospital. I’m writing this because as we were going through our battle I could not find any information to help us and I felt like it was Michael and me against the world huddled in our little house trying to find something that would fix him.
There is GREAT news out there and on the other side of our struggle we found success!!!!! We changed our diet immediately once we knew what could help, became a totally bonded couple and found a new way to live our life with products that help your body battle this monster. We also found an environmental physician who I call our Goddess Doctor. She was instrumental in our healing and recover process and is our primary physician for ever more.
Here are links to the products that had a significant impact with combating C Difficile that helped us along with completely removing all gluten, sugar, dairy, most grains even the non gluten ones and paying attention to and removing anything that caused discomfort after eating.
There is so much more to this story. Part two will be our diet shift and foods that help you heal as you go through this journey. You should know that Michael is doing much better a year and 1 month off all antibiotics and he is still healing. This is some pretty tough stuff to battle and had I known how many people die from this annually I think I would have been more scared. The good news is that we are proof of going against the grain and working outside of your “primary care physician” with new ways of healing really has its benefits.
As with all posts be well and if this strikes a chord within and you have issues please send me a message I am here to help. 
Jennifer
Eat….Heal…..Live!
organic urban farm girl 
Hi Jennifer-Love your blog! I can’t wait to see every post! I am currently pniing after the simple life. I found out I am coeliac after giving birth to my beautiful twin boys and have been struggling with it ever since! Then today I had a severe reaction to preservative 220 so back to the specialist I go I hate how much stuff’ is added to EVERYTHING!I dream of my own vege patch and cows roaming around and with three boys a farm would be great! Anyway I shall stop my rant and get back to doing my gluten free baking!Can’t wait to see what you have in store!Erin
Having been there, done that and discovered my eldset was very casien intolerant… wean the gluten. Everything I read at the time recommended doing so. Casien you could cut immediately but not the other. Also, it may take 3mths for a visible change to occur. Unlike the casien which was quick – for us it was less than 24hrs and the nightmares/terrors/diahhrea were gone.
Potent stuff. I have made a “mind bookmark” to check back for details if I ever need them – let’s hope not. So glad Michael is healing.
I also have c diff. Ive had it for roughly a month now did flagyl with huge side effects and vanco with no relief and some small side effects so I stopped them. It’s miserable Im looking into fecal transplant but in the meantime I ordered on guard to see if it will help. How much did you take and how often? Do I put the oil in an empty capsule? Thanks so much
Hi Sharina I would love to help you with this. Can you email me with your phone number maybe we could have a talk on the phone. jennifer@jennifermacdowell.com.
Wonderful blog and testimony! I also suffered with reoccurring c diff for 4 months. I didn’t know about the oils at that point in my journey, and became better with a fecal transplant. After that horrible ordeal, I found the oils, and I LOVE them!! I’m a nurse and use OnGuard to wash my scrubs. I healed ear and tooth infections with the oils and am still learning about them. I pray I never have to go through that again. I’d be interested in your OnGuard protocol if it’s available.
Blessings!!
Oh I am so thankful to hear of his healing. I have cdiff my self and am scared. Frustrated. Alone. Annoyed. But was also already gluten free so the diet change has been fair. We already use on guard. Love it and all of doterra. However, Oh my, am I a sugar addict. I would love to pick your brain more.
Jennifer, can you tell me how much & how often to use the OnGuard for C Diff?
3 – 4 times a day on the feet is what I did because Michael was so sick. If taking internally I would do it 2 – 3 x day. probably 2-3 drops each time. Super important is the Dr. Ohirahs probiotic is specifically targets c-diff.
Thank you for sharing your story Jennifer. Is there somewhere I can read more about the regimen you and your husband used to treat his cdiff? I’m afraid mine may be recurring and I’m afraid of using antibiotics again.
Can you tell me more about the c diff protocol? I also have SIBO so I need to be careful with the probiotic. I noticed he has a couple varieties on his site. Can you tell me what specific products and amounts you used of each?
Hello! My 20 yr old son was just diagnosed with cdiff for the second time, the first time was 4 yrs ago. He was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease at the age of 14. I’ve kept him off antibiotics ever since he was 14 outside of flagyl for the first cdiff infection. Anytime he’s been sick I always use oils to get him better and they always work. We’ve recently used every onguard product at his apartment and he’s diffusing it as well. I really hate for him to go on this antibiotics, but I’m assuming he needs it asap! Antibiotics and Crohn’s don’t mix. Any suggestions or thoughts before we begin the medication?? Oregano and melaleuca perhaps? Melissa?? He eats gluten free, but not a healthy gluten free. More like udi’s brand stuff. Thanks for any help!
Jennifer, I wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation of you for sharing your story and for providing advice to others suffering. I’m a single mother of two beautiful daughters. I can not definitely pinpoint where and when I contracted C diff; however I was diagnosed with it two months ago. In June I was in the hospital with my daughter who was admitted, and I contracted MRSA; and it was lanced and I was treated with a high potency antibiotic. It came back again in July; they lanced it and gave me 2 high potency antibiotics for it. August I began having symptoms and by the 8th of August I was diagnosed. I was put on Flagyl and just yesterday put on Vancomyacine. Sometimes I do not have an appetite, but when I do I have been eatting yogart and crackers and potatoes for 6 weeks. I was searching to find something healthier. I’m really interested in each one of the items you listed. I was even considering starting to drink smoothies (as you stated your husband drinks)…I am very interested in your recipe. I attempted your link for Dr. Ohirahs probiotic, but the site must have moved. Do you recommend another source? I’m sure you are very busy caring for your family; but I hope if you have time you will respond. Thank you again for your site.
Respectfully,
Janet
Thank you for inspiring information. I’ll be checking back for details as we move forward with healing.
I’m interested in how often/how much to use the oil of oregano and the most effective/recommended brand.Thank you!
Hi!was the onguard taken internally? Also people believe only bleach around the house will kill the spores. I have a toddler. Do you know if onguard will?