PSP and cdiff

[Lucy602]

My dad in the last week has been staying in bed more and not eating as much. Not even when we bring some of his favorite food to him. I can't even move him from chair to be anymore by myself. It's even difficult with him. Now today I find out that he has cdiff. Anyone know what effect this can have with the PSP? I know it's a horrible infection that can be treated, but I don't what affect it will have with the PSP.

[NannaB]

Poor chap, PSP and cdiff. I don't know what effect it has on PSP but it is a horrible infection so he won't feel very well.

I do hope they manage to cure it soon.

X

[easterncedar]

Not to scare you, but c.diff. can be fatal. (I lost my mother-in-law to it.) Do make sure that his medical team is talking to you and that the situation is being monitored appropriately.

[goldcap in reply to easterncedar]

Feel like an idiot but what's c.diff?

[Lucy602 in reply to goldcap]

It's a nasty and contagious intestinal infection.

[easterncedar in reply to goldcap]

Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that ordinarily lives in your intestines, but is resistant to antibiotics, hence the diff part. When a person takes antibiotics that otherwise clear out all the various native, protective, flora, c. diff can take over and become dangerous. Diarrhea is often the first sign. C. diff. may overwhelm the body's immune response. Sepsis may follow. Fecal transplant is sometimes a solution. People with psp, who often have UTIs or pneumonia that are treated with antibiotics, may be more susceptible to developing antibiotic-resistant bacteria. My mother in law, whose post-cancer immune system wasn't great, had a fall, went into rehab, developed a UTI, was treated and sent home and when she complained of diarrhea was told to take Imodium. Her doctor apologized for that later. It's such a common progression I should have seen it myself.

I still miss her. Our relationship long outlasted the one I had with her son.

[Christine47]

After a course of antibiotics, I give my guy prebiotics and probiotics to restore the good gut bacteria. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/120... This time he was also given Methenamine Hippurate which is supposed to prevent bacterial infections in the urine., not the gut.