My Daughter Has C.Difficile. Does Anyone Have Experience with This?

M.,
I work on Med Surg at a hospital and it is common for people to get cdiff from multiple rounds of antibiotics. She will be on antibiotics most likely Flagyl and or Vanco (big gun). Hopefully the Flagyl will be all that's needed to treat the Cdiff. Please be very very cautious with any handling of her stool. You should wear gloves if helping her to wipe and or bath her bottom. And always wash your hands with good antibacterial soap for at least 30 seconds. Hand sanitizers DO NOT kill the CDiff spores. Use bleach and water to clean and disinfect anything in the home that could be contaminated esp. toilets. Wash all clothes of hers in hot water. This can be spread so be very cautious and practice good hygiene with her and the whole fam.
Any more questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Trish

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Is your daughter on Flagyl? That seems to be the first antibiotic of choice for C. difficile. The CDC and NIH say that (I think I am remembering the correct source, but google for verification) treatment with SACCHAROMYCES BOULARDI is the intestinal support that works to correct the gut. I found it at Elephant Pharm in Walnut Creek. Talk to your pediatrician first, but these two drugs in combination seem to be the treatment of choice. MAINTAIN GOOD HANDWASHING SO IT DOES NOT SPREAD TO THE BABY. THIS CAN BE VERY SERIOUS.
Good luck!

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I know someone whose daughter had the same thing happen. She decided to use macrobiotics. She had a hard time using something so strong, but it cleared up her daughter's symptoms and now she is much improved. Good luck to you. Remember this time is temporary...the children grow up, health issues improve. Take advantage of the help around you so you stay healthy.

A.:-)

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Hi M.,

My husband had C Diff a few years ago. I'm sorry to hear your daughter is battling this one, however it is treatable!

Based on our experience and what I have read from your current treatment and advice from other folks here, you're on the right path.
The unfortunate thing is anti-diarrhea products just don't work here. It's all about getting back the good flora in her intestines. Pro-biotics should help here.
I just remember for my husband, success was being vigilant in getting that balance of flora right and lots of hand washing!

I hope this is a quick recovery for your daughter. All the best.

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It's actually very common in nursing homes. I worked as a Certified Nurses Assistant for 5 years. I recommend that you bleach changing surfaces, toilets, make sure you wash your hands very well. Or any that come in contact with feces. Wash laundry in warm water with detergent. Bleach your diapers if you use cloth.

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Hi M......my heart goes out to you with a sick little 3 year old girl and a 10 month old baby! So I will start out by saying that I am a nurse and we see this quite often in the hospital because off all the immune-compromised patients who are, of course, all on antibiotics-and LOTS of them! However, I don't know how common it is in the "real" world. I DO knopw it can become quite serious but it sounds like your little girl is under medical care for it, which is good. The most common antibitotic they use for this is Flagyl but I believe there are others they use, as well. There is of course the super-antibiotic, Vancomycin, they use as a last resort when others have failed. My concern is for you all as a family as far as cross-contamination goes, especially with a baby in the house. I hope your M.D. discussed this with you and offered info on thow to prevent this. If he didn't, I would ask more questions and insist on more answers. I will offer that I know alcohol-based disinfectants do not kill C. Diff spores and you must use cleaners containing bleach. And, of course, excellent hand-washing is a must: srub with soap and warm water for 15-20 seconds, rinse and dry thoroughly. Again, antibacterial stuuf will not work on C. Diff spores. I am sure you have looked up stuff on-line but here are a couple decent, basic sites. The first might be a little much but it has some good info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_difficile

The second one is a little basic but speaks in non-medical terms and I liked it:

http://www.cdiffsupport.com/aboutcdiff.html

Anyways, I hope this helped and I hope it wasn't too long-winded. I wish you all the best and happy, healthy children! Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions. Good Luck! :)

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Hi M.,
I don't have any personal experience with C. Difficile infections other than seeing patients who have been treated for it. I am a pharmacist and I thought that I might help ease your fears. Yes, C.Difficile infections can be serious, but they are much more serious if the person who is infected is immunocomromised (their immune system is not working properly). If your child is otherwise healthy (not undergoing chemotherapy, organ transplantation or HIV+) chances are that she will be just fine. Sometimes people even get better without any treatment other than removing the causative antibiotic. Just make sure that your daughter takes the new antibiotic as prescribed, not skipping any doses. I am guessing that her doctor prescribed Flagyl, also known as Metronidazole. The probiotic should be given 2 hours AFTER the antibiotic dose for it to be most effective. There is a second antibiotic that could be used called Vancomycin. However, chances are that the first treatment with Metronidazole will completely get rid of the infection (it is 80-90% effective on the first try). Make sure you let her pediatrician know if she is not getting better or if she is running high fevers. Also, keep in mind that hand sanitizers do NOT kill C.Difficile bacteria so it is important that everyone in the house is washing their hands well with lots of good ol' soap and water. Let me know if I can be of any help!

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Hi M.,

I am SO sorry to hear about your daughter. My mother just went through a bout of c. diff and is still recovering. She contracted it when working as a hospital volunteer and without a doubt, it is very serious. Also, it is becoming more and more common. The best thing you can do is to be informed and educated about what you are dealing with. Don't let your doctor down play the seriousness of this - get informed and get actively involved with the treatment. This is contagious and can spread to others in your household. Be vigilant about proper hand washing procedures, you do not want this to spread to anyone else in the house. Especially your 10 month old. My mom had to take 2 rounds of Vancomycin to get rid of it and we had to have the house completely disinfected.

There is excellent information to be found on the Mayo Clinic website (they are the foremost experts on this) here is the link:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/c-difficile/DS00736

Also, this was just in the news regarding c.diff. on Wednesday the 28th:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080528/ap_on_he_me/deadly_ba...

Don't freak out, but this is very serious and you should be informed. Get active with your doctor and if you feel like he isn't taking this seriously enough - go to a different doctor.
Good luck and take care,
K.

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M.,

As I understand it, too many antibiotics can ruin the digestional flora of bacteria in the intestinal tract and cause C. Difficile to proliferate. Taking in yogurt and things like Flagyl (prescribed antibiotic) to help restore the normal flora of the intestine helped my son. In the meantime, patience and diapers can help to get through things and prevent accidents.

One thing not to look over is how many antibiotics has your daugher taken for the ear infections? My son took quite a bit and it turned out his ear infections weren't that at all, that's why the antibiotics never worked! It was really something more serious brewing in the inner ear canal. I don't want to worry you but please don't overlook the fact that antibiotics may not be working to solve the problem for your daughter and maybe things need to be changed in her therapy for ear infections or other things need to be looked into.

Best of luck with everything.

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I have a severly handicapped child who had c dif several years ago. Unofrtunately, I can't remember the details of treatment but, he did make a full recovery. What I can tell you is be very careful handling her stool, changing diapers or helping her wipe on the potty. You must make sure that your hands get extra, extra clean afterward. My husband managed to contract a terrible stomach sickness himself while my son was sick and the doctors told us it was from changing our son's soiled diaper and not washing his hands thoroughly afterward. A good rule of thumb is to spend as much time lathering your hands as is takes you to sing the entire "Happy Birthday" song.

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This may sound disgusting to you, but here at the cancer center we treat this using the fecal matter from family members. It is collected, treated and put into capsules to take like pills. This is done because if you all live together, then it is highly likely that the natural flora of your intestines contains the proper microbe populations to combat the C. Dificile infection of your daughter. However I don't know if she is capable of swallowing the pills at the age of 3.

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