Staph Infections

[Honeybun]

Does any one have any advice on staph infections?

I have been battling them for months. I can get sores/boils come up on my arms, legs, abdo area and chest. The last one ended up the size of a golf ball and has not healed since it erupted two weeks ago and still requires dressings. I have had several courses of antibiotics and creams. I am now on a course of penicillan which upsets my tum. I even had my glands removed under my arms several months ago. They are very painful when they get big and very annoying.

Thanks

Honey

[Whizbang]

Honey,

Early action is the key, all three of my daughters have had (mrsa*) staph infections, my middle daughter was hositalized for 4 days just prior to her 7th birthday...

Typically in the US, they cut open the infection and pack it with a dressing that acts like a wick... I believe they also soak it in antibiotics, and also give you intervenous or oral antibiotics, it does require immediate care to keep from getting out of control...

God bless, and get better...

*- Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

[Chirley]

Honey, I had cellulitis on my l ankle with infection of the Achilles' tendon. There was absolutely no mucking around. It was into hospital for intravenous antibiotics, followed up with intravenous antibiotics via a pump 24 hours a day at home with daily hospital visits for more antibiotics. After a month or so of intravenous antibiotics I was put on oral Dicloxacillan for a further 6 weeks.

Oh, and I also had my ankle incised and drained (without even local anaesthetic....pleasant).

I don't think they should muck around when you have MDS, it should be hit hard fast and long.

Chirley

[Honeybun]

I shouldn't be telling someone from an ex healthcare profession that I ended up lancing it myself I just couldn't take the pain. I wasn;t going to go to emergency as they didn't do anything for it last time.

[Chirley]

Yes, but were you diagnosed with MDS last time? It makes a big difference if they think you can become septic easily.

I wouldn't even consider myself a healthcare professional. I worked in pseudo nursing fields like pathology (assisting doctors with their research by inserting IVs, taking blood tests, giving drug injections etc). I was rarely even totally aware what the research was about. For instance the doctor would consent the patient then give me my instructions. Sometimes it would involve things like inserting an IV, injecting a drug, then collecting blood every hour for the next 24 hours (yes, 24 hours and only me......tiring!) later on in my career it was more data collection and input into already assembled software. That was a lot easier if just a tad boring. I was so far removed from ward nursing it wasn't funny. Last time I did ward work they didn't have automatic BP machines or digital thermometers etc.

When I got sick I had to learn a lot and it was hard because the doctors would see on my chart that I was a Registered Nurse and expect me to know what they were talking about.

I know a lot more now but there is still so much more to learn.

Chirley

[Honeybun]

I don't think I would go to emergency with a boil, I haven't had a temperature with them. My hospital can be very similar too your previous posted girl laying on the floor for hours with appenicitis type. I was triaged at 5 with vision loss a couple of months ago. I was lucky another nurse read my file and upped my triage status in case it was a brain bleed or something. I still lose my sight in one eye occasionally.

I might ask my haemo to write a note in case, that might express me through emergency if it happens.

Honey

[Honeybun]

I have been in pain and limping for 5 days. I went to the doc because I thought I may have been bitten by a spider, as I had a large pinky brown patch come up on the front of my thigh. It felt like bad bruising and felt warm which radiated down to my knee and the inside of my thigh up to the groin area. He said we will watch it, as we both could not find a bite and I was ok with that, as I really just wanted to confirm that I was ok to continue with my knee physio from a trip at work and knee op. Since then another patch has come up in my inner thigh which has some pink streaks running from it about 2 inches long. This is just down from where the previous boil erupted two months ago and is still a purple colour. I heal very slowly. I'm thinking it is just another staph infection now, but have no idea how since I have been on antibiotics for a couple of months.

I looked up cellulitis Chirley and some of the pics look a bit like that but more pink brown than red. Urgh I am so over staph infections and I certainly will not have a SCT until all staph is gone. Not that I am having one soon btw.

Any one else have similar symptoms?

Honey

[Honeybun]

I woke up yesterday with my leg 3 times the size of the other from the top of the thigh to the toes. I went to hospital at about 7am and was sent home with antibiotics and told it was cellulitis, I didn't see the er doc only a nurse, I have no idea why as they were not busy at all, and there were plenty of docs standing around doing nothing. I had already had it confirmed the day before from my gp that it was not cellulitus so went back to the gp after the hospital visit.

The gp had me running around doing tests for the remainder of the day and the end result was a large blood clot (DVT) from my groin down to just above my knee. So back to emergency but a different one from the morning, however had to go back to the morning one, as there was a four hour wait. It was about 1am in the morning by the time I was admitted. A very long day.

Just shows sometimes you have to question your diagnosis. This one may have had a fatal outcome.

Home now resting with the rest of the week off for more tests and injections

Honey

[Chirley]

Honey the same thing happened to my Mum years ago. She had an angiogram done through her groin. The next day she told me she had a sore calf. I had to go to work so I told my Dad that I thought Mum might have a DVT and to take her to the local hospital ED.

I rang later in the day and Dad told me that they'd gone to the ED but the doctor said it was nothing and sent her home. I got one of the doctors I worked
with to write a referral for Mum to gave a Doppler scan. When I got home from work I took her to have the scan privately. Well, you guessed it, she had a DVT.

She ended up in hospital on a heparin infusion then home on Clexane injections then three months on Warfarin.

You have to go with your instinct. If they say nothing's wrong, push harder.

Hope you get better soon.