Pretty sure my son has c. diff for the 2nd time

Is there any way to get rid of c. diff once and for all? I think my son has c. diff again - he had it the first time right after he was diagnosed and starting to taper off prednisone. Everything was perfect, then - practically overnight - all the symptoms came raging back. We had just tapered from 30 mg to 20 mg. Tackled the c. diff, which we thought sent him into a flare, so we started a round of prednisone again.

Now, same kind of thing. Practically perfect (read: normal) blood tests and bowel movements. Tapering off the second round of prednisone, just went from 40 mg to 30 mg and, overnight, all symptoms back - bloody stool, not total diarrhea - loosely formed.

From what I've read, it sounds like he could be in for rounds and rounds of c. diff. Anyone out there ever kicked it for good?

I posted earlier that we're also trying to figure out if maybe he has a sulfa allergy and that's what's causing the symptoms. But, i really feel that it's c. diff again. Will get his stool tested again this weekend.

UC Parent
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Son diagnosed in December 2010 - still haven't quite figured out what's going to work

2nd what subdued said, plus Florastor every single day.

Thank you for the advice - I will look into Florastor and will learn more about fecal transplantation.
I find it fascinating that none of the docs I've spoken with have brought any of this up.
This forum is the best.

And just so your doctors don't try to discount the Florastor as adjunctive and preventative treatment for C difficile infections, Mayo Clinic's protcol for recurrent C diff infections calls for the use of Saccharomyces boulardii (brand name Florastor)....I had my son on 2 per day following his treatment for a C diff infection a year and a half ago, and now have him on 1 per day with good results so far.

Will be sending healing and positive thoughts your way....

Jo

 

This is from the Mayo Clinic site:

By Mayo Clinic staff

The first step in treating C. difficile is to stop taking the antibiotic that triggered the infection, when possible. For mild illness, this may be enough to relieve symptoms. But many people require further treatment.

Antibiotics
In an ironic twist, the standard treatment for C. difficile is another antibiotic. Doctors usually prescribe metronidazole (Flagyl), taken by mouth, for mild to moderate illness. Vancomycin (Vancocin), also taken by mouth, may be prescribed for more severe symptoms. These antibiotics keep C. difficile from growing, which allows normal bacteria to flourish again in the intestine.

Side effects of metronidazole and vancomycin include nausea and a bitter taste in your mouth. It's important not to drink alcohol when taking metronidazole.

Probiotics
Probiotics are organisms, such as bacteria and yeast, which help restore a healthy balance to the intestinal tract. A yeast called Saccharomyces boulardii, in conjunction with antibiotics, might help prevent recurrent C. difficile infections.

Recurrent disease
about one-fourth of people with C. difficile get sick again, either because the initial infection never went away or because they're reinfected with a different strain of the bacteria. Treatment for recurrent disease may include:

• Antibiotics, which may involve one or more courses of a medication, a longer course of treatment or an antibiotic given once every two days
• Probiotics, such as S. boulardii, given along with the antibiotic medication
• "Stool transplant" to restore healthy intestinal bacteria by placing donor stool in your colon, using a colonoscope or nasogastric tube. Although this is rarely done in practice, research has shown stool transplant to be helpful.

Sounds like they give the S. boulardii along with the antibiotic. 

Jo

You are most welcome!

got c diff about a month and 1/2 ago. (antibiotics for possible sinus infection) after being given two different+ antibiotics over about a week and 1/2 (first didn't seem to help sinus) i stopped. had been having some diarhea but didn't connect to antiobiotics at first. i stopped ab on a sunday and tuesday evening ended up at er with all the worst symptoms, horrible, horrible nausea, watery, bloody diareah, dehydrated, etc. was in the hopital 4 days where they started me on the flagyl. i think ten days of flagyl altogether. i started feeling better and having much less diareah and not normal, but closer to normal stools in the morning, didn't go much at all the rest of the day. after about 2 weeks off the flagyl i had a day of c diff diareah. it was the weekend and dr. said if it continues get tested the next day. well, it stopped, and i had a week of what seemed to be getting better again, then the d returned and i knew. when and got tested right away and it was positive. now on vanco. the diareah stopped after two doses and this is my third day now. feeling good, but from reading, know that i'm far from being out of the woods. my dr. recommeded stopping all probiotics whiole on vanco until the 3 day, except the florastor. she said to continue twice a day and try to take it halfway in between my doses of vanco to give it the best chance. i'm a 56 year old woman, no bowel problems previous to this. so mad the dr. didn't at least tell to eat yogurt of something with such broad spectrum antibiotics he was giving me. i went back to my obgyn, she is much more knowlegable then the gp i went to.

Just wanted to pay forward….  My daughter had c diff for eight weeks after an unbelievable set of complications from a gallbladder and appendix removal.  She is only 10 years old!  These multiple serious complications included internal bleeding and a life flight.  The doctors were working in her gut area three times and she was on heavy antibiotics as well as an acid reducer (previcid).  It turns out that the acid reducer significantly increases the chances of getting C Diff when combined with antibiotics.  She came home and didn't recover well.  Blood and mucus were in her stool.  Finally a doctor ordered a c diff test.  She didn't have profuse diarrhea like most do but some new strains of C Diff don't cause much diarrhea.  It still wrecks your intestines just as bad.  Anyway, after eight weeks they finally diagnosed her.  She had been very very active and was now extremely weak, tired, and ill.  She spent hours a day in the bathroom.  She was treated with flagyl but the c-diff came back after 13 days.  So the doctors put her on Vancomycin.  My husband and I did a lot of research on the internet.  We concluded that Florastor and a fecal transplant were our best proven treatments after antibiotics.  We also added Culturelle, Allign and B vitamin.  We were desperate and did the transplant at home using her 13 year old brother's stool.  We started this the day we finished the vancomycin and gave her 7 treatments.  Three in a row and the others about every other day.  Floristor we started two days before the anti biotic ended.  We probably should have done it sooner.  She had 250 mg twice a day, Allign twice a day, and Culturelle once a day.  The b vitamins were once or twice a day when I remembered.  We did this for a full month then we have just tapered it to half.  In a couple of weeks we will probably stop.  We are in week five and she is doing physically pretty good.  No c-diff.  We are now treating her (counseling) for the trauma all this produced.  It has been an awful experience.  We had her treated by the best hospital and doctors in the area.  We were surprised at their gaps in helping her.  None of her specialists recommended Florastor  or other probiotic until we mentioned it.  None of them ever mentioned a fecal transplant.   I am grateful however to those of you who gave us courage to try the fecal transplant.  Few hints...get a hat (plastic bowl that fits in the toilet) from the hospital and put a plastic zip lock bag in it for the donor.  It makes handing things easier.  Remember to take the plastic flow piece out of the enema bottle.  We bought a cheap blender and mixed it with saline solution using a recipe we got off the internet (be sure to use non-iodized salt).  We blended until it looked like a thin chocolate shake, then strained it using a new stainless steel sink strainer and funnel into the enema bottle.  Hold the bottle under warm water if it feels cold.  You want the fluid to be about body temp.  We did the enema at night right before bed and she slept after.  It is all a little messy and yuck....but it has given our daughter 5 weeks!  Good luck to all of you!