Constipation in 5yr old after c-diff - Bowel Disorders Message Board

malleycc · 07-25-2006, 09:24 AM

My daughter was always regular in her bm's until hospitalized with a stomach virus and 2 weeks later blood in stool diagnosed with c-diff. After about 3 months to cure c-diff, she finally stopped diarreah and became constipated. She has gone 8 days w/o bm I have had to give enamas. I have tried Benifiber (seems to make more constipated), miralax (worked 1 or 2 times but stops), now on Milk of magnesia (2-3 tablespoons daily) and is still contipated (just this last week didn't go bm all week so on day 7 I gave suppository) and she went.

Any suggestions! She was on Florostor during her 3 month ordeal with c-diff maybe that messed up her bacteria in her digestive system? I was trying probiotics Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus which someone told me to try (about 2 weeks before this past week and she was still constipted) UGGG!
Also tried papya tablets.

Also my daughter has down syndrome (probably accounts for the slow movement in her bowels). She also doesn't drink much at all (she is part camel). Sorry its so long. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

RetiredDirector · 07-28-2006, 03:12 PM

I'm not sure if the same treatments are used for children as adults, but I wanted to tell you about my experience when I had Clostridium difficile about a year ago.

I was have extreme, uncontrollable diarrhea (I also have IBS) that included having two episodes in public (not bad) and several at night while asleep. I went to my GI doctor who I have seen for several years for my IBS. He did a colonoscopy and took a culture, which came back positive for C. diff. He then put me on the medication Vancomycin, which is one of the two used to treat this condition. The other being Flagyl. A 10 day course of Vancomycin costs approximately $1,200 retail. Over the period of a couple months, I was on four seperate courses of this medication. Vancomycin is the preferred method of treatment over Flagyl, in difficult cases.

When we were unable to clear up the bacteria with the medication, my doctor did what is called a fecal transfer. Although not approved in the US and considered an experimental procedure, he has done several of them. In Europe, I understand, it is done frequently. My wife was the donor, and they took her stool speciman and put it in a cone like apperatus and poured saline over it. The liquid that was recovered was then used in the procedure. It contained her "good bacteria" and during a colonoscopy he inserted some of the liquid (sorry, I don't know how much) about every 10 cm. This treatment cleared up my C. diff and today I take Florastor Probiotic, 500 mg per day. I also eat yogurt. Recently, I have began using Metamucil, twice a day for the fiber.

I hope I have helped you in some way. I would imagine a lot of GI doctors don't know about this procedure in the US, but there is information on it on Net. Good luck with your daughter. I hope you can find a doctor who is willing to help you.

elmhar · 07-28-2006, 06:33 PM

Please make sure that your DD gets a thyroid panel in the near future. Downs Syndrome kids are quite prone to thyroid throuble. Please ask your doc to run levels of free thyroid hormones, free T4 & free T3, not just the TSH screen. Even borderline low T function can make the BMs much worse.

Is there any way you can get her to drink more? Does she like homemade popsicles? (Frozen juice + water). Depending on her level of functioning there may be some way to motivate her to develop better hydration habits.

Best wishes.