Clostridia

[Wilma Jenks]

I am told that my girl has very high levels of clostridia. How can that be, when she has never been on antibiotics until recently, and she does not have any diarreah? Any advice? or comments?

[Phasmid]

Wilma, I have to admit that I don't trust the urine tests. Urine tests are not the standard for Clostridium difficile. C. diff. is the most important (besides Clostridium botulinum, which if she had, you would know without a test!) species that she would likely have. The standard test is a toxin assay from stool sample. Diarrhea isn't a required symptom- especially in chronic colonization, which would happen with repeated use of broad spectrum antibiotic (Augmentin, Amox., etc). My son had the opposite. Finally an abdominal xray showed the condition of my son's issue- it was horrible- he was totally impacted the whole length. He ended up having colitis, found at time of scoping. There usually are other signs though, such as frequent lower abdominal pain often upon waking in the morning, or after eating. I don't believe C. diff. can go unnoticed until a urine test- there are usually chronic or acute problems involving the bowel.

 

 

 

 

[Wilma Jenks]

she was only on an abx. once in her life. she has always been very constipated and gassy. my main problem is she is aggressive, agitated and mean. not sure if the clostridia is causing all of this.

[Phasmid]

The only reliable test for C. diff. is a stool toxin test. IF you suspect C. diff., and yes, constipation can be a result too, then ask your pediatrician to send a stool sample and test for C. diff. and other parasites. Even the stool toxin test has false negatives, since the toxin is not always present and detectable, but it is the most reliable. The sample needs to be handled properly for accuracy. Read the lab's notes on that at their website. If she DOES have Clostridium difficile colonization (we all have a few cells in us but they are kept in check by good bacteria), then she should be on Flagyl at least, and vancomycin if that doesn't do it. A chronic infection would make anyone feel horrible and act out. It didn't explain all of my son's symptoms, but his sudden, acute relapse of ocd two years ago was stopped while on flagyl and vancomycin when he was treated finally for C. diff. I don't know, still, if those antibiotics helped in his recovery, or if his recovery was coincidental with his treatment. He had colitis by then from chronic infection. He had all kinds of issues then, but the incontinence was the main issue.

 

 

[philamom]

Make sure the script says C. Difficile Toxin (A and . They need to check for both toxins in the stool.

 

It should read toxin A and B (not smiley face?).

Edited January 31, 2011 by philamom

[Stephanie2]

I just want to say that when my boys get clostridia, sometimes they get green foul smelling stools. But sometimes they do not. The behaviors are always tell-tale however, and vanco or flagyl is a breath of fresh air when necessary.

 

Also, to prevent future clostidia relapses, culturelle and sac. boulardii are very good at specifically targeting clostridia. I am currently giving my boys 3 of each of these per day, on top of their mega dose regular probiotics.

 

Last, the OAT test that you speak of has never been wrong for my boys (meaning if clostridia shows up, then vanco makes a dramatic improvement in bahavior). The only exception is that one time the clostidia marker came back NORMAL, but another seemingly unrelated marker came back elevated. My biomed doc said that based on this other marker and my son's current behaviors he believed that he had clostridia. We started flagyl and within 3 days I had my son back (he had been in very bad shape for 3 months, this was no coincidence). So far for us the OAT test always seems to reflect my own observations and leads us to the proper treatment with intended outcome.

 

I do find it strange, however, that she would have clostridia so bad that it would affect her behavior so bad when she had never been on antibiotics before. I will be curious to see if she responds to treatment.

Edited February 1, 2011 by Stephanie2