dsmith Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Apparently my fil, who we share a house with, has had diarrhea for 3 weeks. I overheard him making an appt. with his doctor and saying he thought he may have C. diff. He had this a few years ago, before we moved in. Not knowing my fil's sanitary habits except that quite often the toilet seat has evidence of his activities, should I ask that he leave all food prep and dish cleaning up to me until he is better? He doesn't do much with food, maybe cook a steak or burgers occasionally. He is mainly in charge of loading and unloading the dishwasher. I'm assuming we will find out soon if he has it or not, but I don't want to put my son at risk. We generally use a different bathroom than he uses (for reasons stated earlier:001_huh:) but he will occasionally use the one we use. What other precautions should we take if he has it? I've already but spray bottles with a bleach solution in the bathrooms. After the last few months of constant illness it's become apparent that it is very difficult for my son and I to stay healthy when my in laws get sick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMK Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Hi, I just wanted to pop in and offer a :grouphug:! Cdiff is no fun. I have never had it but I am a nurse so I have plenty of experience dealing with the aftermath. Here is a link from the CDC that will give you some more information: http://www.cdc.gov/hai/organisms/cdiff/Cdiff-patient.html What you need to know is that alcohol based sanitizers DO NOT kill cdiff. You must use good hand washing with soap and water to clean your hands. Personally, I would ask FIL to take a break from any help that involves food prep or handling, including emptying the dishwasher. His hand washing may not be up to snuff and you definitely don't want that on your dishes. Best of luck! More :grouphug:!!! LMK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 The reason why c.diff is called that is because it is so difficult to get rid of and tends to recur. My mom had several bouts with it (and was hospitalized several times) until we started her on probiotics as soon as she finished the last course of antibiotics. The theory is that once you populate the gut with healthy bacteria, they provide competition for nutrients for any leftover c.diff organisms that survived the antibiotic treatment. Also, since she was so susceptible, we had to continue her on probiotic treatment for quite a while and resume anytime she had to go on antibiotics. I would definitely keep him away from food prep/clean up as well as remind everyone in the household how to properly wash hands - 20 seconds of lathering and 20 seconds of rinsing. We sing the ABC song twice:). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 SInce he is not a generally clean person, I would have him stay away from any kitchen activities or any food preparation. I have unfortunately had c. diff two times and no one else got sick. But I am a very concsciountess food preparer and I know how good I am because I managed to cook and serve e coli laced beef to my family and no one got sick (I certainly wasn't trying to do so but we were on vacation, bought food and later on found out that the meat we bought had been recalled for e coli). I also only got the illness because I was on strong immune suppressants, then got an infection and was put on strong antibiotics, and then C. diff. and even more antibiotics which did abate the problem but gave me horrible candiasis. The second occasion was when I was hospitalized with an antibiotic resistant infection and they used even stronger antibiotics. In both cases, the true help came with probiotics and I now take probiotics with each antibiotic course and no more re-occurrences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 (edited) My son has had (likely still carries) c. diff. You get c. diff illness when you kill off the protective bacteria in your system. These means that unless someone in your home is on antibiotics when they come in contact with his, well, stool they aren't likely to get sick. That said, it can live almost half a year on surfaces. I'd use bleach on surfaces that might have stool and make sure he washes his hands well after toileting (how you bring that up to a parent....I've no idea). I would have him use a new towel anytime he showers. Sanitizer (alcohol or chemical) does not kill c. diff. Bleach or scrubbing and rinsing off (ie washing hands with soap and water) are the only ways I know of to get rid of it. Everyone should be washing hands after using the restroom and before eating. That said, he's had this a while so it could be anywhere his hands have been. So I would assume I've got c. diff in my home and take precautions if anyone needs to be on antibiotics. Even if someone has picked it up they shouldn't have a problem unless they are on antibiotics. Specifically, purchase some Florastor probiotic (maybe two bottles--it lasts a while) and have it in home. Anyone who needs to be hospitalized or on antibiotics needs to start taking the Florastor immediately. Antibiotics can't kill Florastor like they kill off the rest of the good bacteria in your system and it's great as a c. diff infection protector. Everyone would be good to eat some probiotic foods, or better, take a good quality probiotic now. Acidophilus Pearls are readily available last time I checked and proven to survive digestion. I think some yogurts are proven to survive digestion too. Your father needs to be on the big gun probiotics is possible. While he's being treated for c. diff he can take Florastor. After I would (and do for my son) have him on Florastor and Culturelle (there are others effective...I just don't know their names) daily. My son picked it up in the hospital when he was 3.5. We could not kill it all off in my son but he has never been symptomatic, even when he's on antibiotics, since I started the probiotic care with him. He's 8 now. Edited April 2, 2012 by sbgrace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matrips Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 my dad was sick with this, really sick. In and out of the hospital for months. I was convinced him (via my mom) to take Florastor and he started getting better within the week. Why doctors don't promote probiotics I'll never know! I'd get your FIL on this or something similar. It's pricey, but worth it. I'd keep sanitizer all around the house too in case he isn't much of a handwasher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtney.byrum Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 My preemie daughter got c-diff while in the NICU. She actually came home while she still had it. After antibiotics it still didn't go away for her. I think we did 3 rounds of antibiotics for it and then just did probiotics (Culturelle I think) per the doctor's suggestion. Since then she's had no issues and she's 6 now. She was on a lot of antibiotics prior to getting c-diff as she had non-surgical NEC so I'm sure that contributed to it a bit especially since some were general ones before they figured out what was making her sick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Taking VLS #3 (http://www.vsl3.com/) finally helped him. Costco was the cheapest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 You might want to check out the c diff tag for more threads on c diff and treatment options. Best wishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan C. Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Dh got it from a strong antibiotic. Well, it wasn't diagnosed, but the pharmacist said the antibiotic dh was being prescribed was notorious for giving c-diff. I quickly got dh on a strong probiotic, and got liquid bentonite clay at the health food store (he took both at every 'd' episode). I put him on a bland, dairy-free diet, for a few days it was rice and toast only. We were able to get it to go away. I was scared after reading horror stories about it.... Put grandpa in his own bathroom, don't go in there, and put sanitizing wipes in there for him to wipe everything down (and bathroom wipes for him) before he comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmith Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 Thanks for all the info! I will look into the probiotics. I'm not sure if the doctor recommended them to him. I did some reading up on c.diff today. Some of these bugs are scary! My fil is stubborn and set in his ways so I will have to be creative in keeping him out of the kitchen. Dh, ds and I are rarely on antibiotics, so I think the risk to us is less. (Please correct me if I'm wrong) My mil is on antibiotics all the time and our uncle is medically fragile, so I think mil will probably have to talk with him. I don't think he realizes what he leaves behind on the toilet seat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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