Mom and Baby C dif

[charityt]

Hello to all members.

My son was born on June 18 2008. I ended up with retained placenta peices and an infection after delivery and was hospitalized. I had a D&C and was treated with 3 different intavenous antibiotics. Baby and I had bouts of diarreah but this was put off as side a side affect to the antibiotics. Shortly after I ended up with a kidney infection - agian treated with antibiotics (cipro). The uterus infection came back and I was put onto Clindamycin. In the first week of September I became very unwell. Baby was also not feeling very well. My symptoms were quite extreme. I tested positive for CDif & so did my son. No - one could pinpoint if we contracted it from the hospital or from the antibiotics or both. I was seen immediately by an Infectious Disease Specialist and have been treated with 2 rounds of flagyl - 1 round of Vancomycin and I am currently on pulse treatment with Vancomycin. My son was sent to a Peadiatrician. He was put on Flagyl twice and Vancomycin once. The peadiatrician tried back tracking at this point and looking for other reasons he may have diarreah. He puts him onto probiotics and tells us to call him if he becomes very unwell or starts bleeding. One week later the baby is not feeling well at all and we take him to Children's hospital. He is seen at Children's Hospital and they suggest a second opinion, re-test his stool for CDif and other possible causes. They contact their head of infectious disease and he tells them IT IS IMPOSSIBLE THAT THE BABY HAD CDIF. He tells the Emergency docotor that babies under 1 do not have the same "receptors" as adults, therefor they are not able to have the symptoms associated with CDif. He says that many babies test positive for CDif because it is naturally in their tract. I tried to explain the test he has had as well as treatments and they acknowledge what I am saying but say it is probably a coincidence. We do not agree and express our thoughts and opinions at this point. They give us the name of the ID Child Specialist for us to call and make an appointment. We are given another Lab Rec this time testing for CDif, Paracites, Viruses etc. Our son tests positive for CDif and it is noted that there is white cells in the stoll as well. We give the information to our Doctor and they try for weeks to make an appointment. Finally their daily calls are returned and the ID clinic offers an appointment for the baby for Jan 8 2009 and tells our Doctor it is not Cdif and to look for other causes. We are taking our son back to Childrens tonight. His symptoms are getting worse - diarreah that is now water, cramps, pain, mucous generally unwell. This is the first time I have seen this support group and we are desperate for answers. We live in Vancouver British Columbia Canada. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Does anyone know of any doctors who specialize in children with CDif?

Take Care To Everyone Who Is Unwell!!
Thank you for this site. It has been a wealth of information.
Charity

[feelinghopeful]

Print this out and bring it with you.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... login=true

[feelinghopeful]

Here, this is one has full text without a prescription to site:

http://www.thespec.com/printArticle/451231

[feelinghopeful]

Oops - that's "subscription".

Guess i think too much about illness :(

[Nancy1]

Charity,
Welcome to the group that no one wants to join, for you and your son. Be sure to read All Users Read This First, Dr. Borody's article, Dr. McDonald's article (in the FAQ section under Articles by Experts), and all areas in FAQ that interest you.

Whew, what a rocky time you and your baby are having! It is bad enough to have cdiff, without having to watch your little son suffer as well. You have gotten some good advice and info. I agree that docs should treat symptoms. The FAQ section has info about children and cdiff. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

[Bobbie]

charityt,
Welcome to the site. Read the first forum ALL USERS READ THIS FIRST & its subtopics – especially the announcements: PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST and GUIDELINES FOR POSTING TO OUR DISCUSSION BOARDS. They will guide you in using the site & answer some of the most frequent questions. Read Dr. Borody’s & Dr. McDonald’s articles and some of the topics in FAQ – especially Hygiene, Nutrition, & Testing.

Many people recover with one or two rounds of Flagyl or Vanco. Evidently this is not the case with your or your son. Since antibiotics contributed to your C. diff., be careful about taking them again. (See FAQ-Antibiotics.) Some people can tolerate them without a problem; some develop C. diff. again. (See Dr. Borody’s article.)

Your post illustrate the ignorance many in the medical field have about C. diff. Babies are sometimes born with C. diff.; I am not sure anyone knows "why."

I am not in the medical field. My knowledge of C. diff. is strictly "hands on." My youngest son had C. diff. when he was 4 yrs. old in l979 & again 6 yrs. later. Many yrs. later, I developed C. diff. & had it for 4 yrs. (l993-l997), but there were extenuating circumsances. I had it again 2 yrs. later. Antibiotics were implicated in both our cases.

I understand what you are going through. I would try to find a ped. GI for your baby. Also, see FAQ-Children (inc. infants) with C. diffile.

Since you already have an appointment with an ID Child Specialist, I would call his/her office every 4 or 5 days & ask if there has been a cancellation. In the US. docs' offices sometimes have a wait list, but it still helps to keep on checking.

If anyone else in the medical field doubts your son has C. diff., wave the positive test results in his/her face.

Through the years (over 8) we've had many parents post who have young children, including infants with C. diff. Often, they recover faster than adults do. Culturelle (a probiotic; see Treatments & FAQ) was proven in one test to be more effective in children than adults. I is in capsule form & you can break the capsule & sprinkle the powder in formula. Do check with docs., before doing this however.

I am sure you are terrified. Hang in there, Mom. Things will get better. Keep us posted.

[anlockwood]

I posted this somewhere else but pasted it and copied because I thought it might help. Just pasting exactly what it said before.
Amanda
Hi,
I am sorry to hear you are going through this with a young baby. I too had c diff and my son was 5 months old at the time. Here is what I have learned. Many people have believed that babies have this as a normal flora in there gut. You will hear that alot on here. Unfortunately this is no longer true. I did transfer c diff from myself to my son but he was on antibiotics at the time. I insisted on taking him to a gastro dr and here is what he told me. The study that showed that infants had this in their gut flora normally is an older study. The strains then didn't cause the side effects in infants. This has changed. The strains of c diff we are seeing today are more virrulent(sp?) and they do cause infants to react. Here is the good news, if you baby hasn't been on antibiotics recently the chance of passing it on is little. My husband is deployed so I was the sole caregiver for my son during this. I took to bleach like crazy (1 part to 9 water). I wear gloves during changing him and then bleach the changing table, dispose of the diaper in diaper genie and wash my hands. If his hands make it to diaper area then his get washed to. I also highly recommend bleaching your bathroom and I also wore glove while I used the restroom as extra precaution to make sure he and I didn't continue to pass it back and forth.
Thanks so much!
Amanda