Ben - 2 year old

[Sherry]

My son Ben was first diagnosed with c-diff in January 2009 when he was 2 years and 2 months old. It took about 6 weeks to diagnose because his ped didn't test for c.diff since he was so young and had never been on antibiotics. A GI ped determined it was c.diff and put him on Flagyl for 2 weeks. His symptoms (D with lots of mucus, fever, cramps, etc.) went away quickly.

A few days after finishing his first round of Flagyl he got a nasty cold and ear infection. His ped gave him two antiobiotic shots to the leg for the ear infection and within a couple of days c.diff was back. He went on Flagyl for another 2 weeks.

Again, within a week of finishing his second round of Flagyl, he got a bad cold and double ear infection, followed by a third round of c.diff. We decided not to treat this ear infection, and his GI Ped put him on 10 days of Vancomycin. His c.diff symptoms went away quickly and his ear infection seems to be better (we still need a follow-up appt.)

It has now been 3 days since finishing the Vancomycin and so far so good. I'm keeping him away from other kids to give his immune system a break. I'm also giving him Culturelle and AcidophiKidz every day, sneaking in yoghurt wherever I can, and giving him Echinacea.

[Sherry]

In two days it will have been one month since finishing Vanco and thankfully still no signs of c.diff. For about a week or so after finishing Vanco, he had some D on and off but not enough to cause much concern. He caught a cold this past week, but it went away quickly. Hopefully this is the end!

[Sherry]

It has now been more than 12 weeks since Ben finished his Vanco and I'm happy to say that he is still doing well! A couple of weeks ago we had a scare - he had a bad cold (the first since his last episode of c.diff) and he had diarrhea which smelled like c.diff (but this time with no mucus, which seemed to be the tell-tale sign with Ben). We had the lab slips ready to bring in his stool sample for testing, but then his diarrhea ended! So we didn't bother and he's doing great now. I am hopeful that we are finished with c.diff.

[Sherry]

It is now 3 1/2 years later and Ben is nearly 6 years old. I'm happy to say that Ben's C.diff never returned.

My heart goes out to any parent who has a small child with c.diff. It was a very difficult time. My advice... bleach everything. I ended up hiring someone to help me do a thorough cleaning of his entire room, all toys, and any surface that could have spores. It seems to have helped. I also avoid antibiotics for him whenever possible (e.g., he had ear infections again, but we did not treat them with antibiotics. He rarely gets ear infections now).

Good luck.