19 year old son recurrence?

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Jenjen72
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19 year old son recurrence?

Postby Jenjen72 » Thu Aug 12, 2021 1:36 am

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this! My son had cdiff 2.5 years ago from taking an antibiotic (augmentin). He took one round of Vanco and was clear with no lingering effects. About 2 weeks ago he took a short course of prednisone for a severe case of poison ivy. At that time his girlfriend also came home from a vacation outside of the country and she had diarrhea which lasted for several days. She had stool tests and was negative for everything and she resumed normal BM’s after about 5 days. My son also started with diarrhea about 3 days after she did. He has now had soft/loose stools for 7 days. No pain, other than mild pain right before he goes. No rumbling, appetite is normal, no weight loss, he is a college athlete and has been training with no difficulty. He has loose to soft formed stool about 4 times a day. He is due to leave for college in 7 days and I am freaked out. I talked to his doctor and he does not think he has anything to worry about and said lab will only test a liquid stool anyway. I started him on kefir and yogurt. Today I had him take 2 doses of Pepto. I have been reading lots of posts on this board and I don’t know what to think. He insists he is fine, but does wonder why he still has soft/loose stools. Any words of advice or similar experiences? Thank you. I cannot sleep.

beth22
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Re: 19 year old son recurrence?

Postby beth22 » Fri Aug 13, 2021 1:03 am

Labs only test soft stool for c difficile, but you could still get a culture done for other pathogens. You said his girlfriend tested negative. Did she also test for c difficile? Most likely she had a virus and he may have picked it up. In that case it just has to run its course. But, if he does not get better it may be a good idea to test for not only c difficile, but a culture or even ova and parasites. My doctors usually have run the whole series. Once I had campylobacter and the symptoms were very similar to c difficile. Hopefully, he will be fine in a couple of days. Those of us who have had c diff, usually take longer to heal from GI issues.

georgina
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Re: 19 year old son recurrence?

Postby georgina » Fri Aug 13, 2021 8:16 am

As Beth said,it might be the stomach virus that his girlfriend had ,and it seems he is slowly getting better on his own .If he says he is feeling fine and the only thing to worry about is the loose stool ,there are binding agent that help bulkin the stool up , Questran for example , won't hurt to try it. Maybe it's not such a good ideea to have him on kefir and yogurt (at least not at the same time) because for some people it may create more discomfort and looser stool.

Jenjen72
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Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2021 1:26 am

Re: 19 year old son recurrence?

Postby Jenjen72 » Sat Aug 14, 2021 5:04 pm

Thank you for the responses. I gave him a few doses of pepto and he had 2 days of normal stools. Now this morning they are soft again. Talked to his doctor again (who I work for as well) and he does not think pepto would mask cdiff and that we should let it ride since he is feeling fine otherwise. It is causing me way more anxiety than it is my son.


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