Nathan's Case History (16 year old)

[natalyjac]

Nathan has always been a sickly kid. Nothing major, but he was born with low IgG and asthma. Sick a lot growing up, missed a lot of school. RSV, pneumonia, asthma, and then constant sinus infections once he was around 10 or so.

I can't count how many times the poor kid has been on antibiotics. He is now allergic to Augmentin. This past December, he was prescribed Keflex for a sinus infection. The infection cleared in a few days, but came back about a week after treatment ended. Went back to doctor (he had a fever of 104 along with sinus problems) and ended up with more Keflex. Everything seemed fine. Then in February, my other 2 kids ended up with bronchitis and got antibiotics, and Nathan followed a few days later. (Again, high fever. He was also wheezing, coughing, etc.) He got a prescription for 10 days of Omnicef, which he has had many times in the past.

On day 8 of Omnicef, the D started. Didn't think much of it, but then he got a fever of 102, and constant D. Of course, it was the weekend, and he seemed to be feeling well otherwise. He had no pain, and was still eating real well. He had no B or M, just a lot of watery D, about every hour. On Monday, we went to the Ped who said a nasty bug was going around (I didn't think he had stomach flu though because his appetite was so strong and he wasn't nauseous), but she sent him to the hospital for rehydration. He got a couple bags of liquid and they tested his stool for rotovirus and C diff. Rotovirus came back negative a couple hours later, and he was discharged that night because he was feeling so good, and the D had abated.

Next day, I called the Ped who said the C diff test had come back positive. I wasn't shocked at all. Got a prescription for 10 days of Flagyl, but the funny thing was, his BMs were already back to normal. Filled it anyway and he handled the Flagyl no problem.

Things were going great, he was symptom free, but the doctor wanted a retest at 6 days post meds. We took in a sample, it came back positive, but they did not treat since he was doing so well. He was also taking S. Boulardi twice a day, taking 1 Culturelle per day and drinking Danactive. He did lose 10 pounds when he was acutely sick and he was continuing to lose weight, despite eating so well. We made it to 17 days post meds when the relapse happened. This time, there was a lot of B and M along with the D, which was disconcerting to me. Called the doc, and got a 14 day scrip for Flagyl. 500 mg/3x a day. We are on day 6 of treatment. Nathan feels great, things are back to normal (for now). I personally wonder if his increase in dairy contributed to his symptoms because he was totally dairy free while being treated and the first 12 days off meds. The odd thing was, through both times he was symptomatic, he never had any pain or cramps, which I was very happy about. He also did not lose anymore weight with the relapse, which was a relief as he is very thin.

We do have a great ID doctor that has a plan for treatment, so that has made a world of difference to my sanity. One good thing in all of this is the ID doctor did a lot of blood work to check on his immune system. His IgG is totally normal, which is fantastic!

We are heading to Florida shortly, and I pray that this round of Flagyl will take care of it. Will be taking meds with us just in case though. Will keep everyone informed...

[natalyjac]

Just a little update...

Nathan took the Flagyl for 14 days, along with 2 S. Boulardii a day and Nature's Way Primadophilus Optima (14 bacteria strains I think, 35 Billion organisms). Stayed off dairy and sugar, and his system was doing great! However, 4 days after the Flagyl ended, things changed like night and day. He went from perfectly normal to repeated bouts of just M in 12 hours. Called the ID doctor and he assumed relapse. Did not test since he was fresh off the meds.

Doctor prescribed a 6 week taper of liquid Vanco. He was going to go with 2 weeks, but since we were going to be in Florida, he decided to go with a longer time span so he wouldn't relapse on vacation. (If he was going to relapse...)

So, we will see what happens. This relapse was thankfully not too bad. No dehydration, no B, so I am just grateful at this point.

[natalyjac]

Just realized I never updated here.

After the Vanco taper, cdiff has stayed away so far. he is 5.5 month post-meds and he is doing great!

Good luck to all out there!