This hurts - Staph infection

[globey]

Well, today is my 37th birthday and I've never had one of these in my life. I thought it was an ingrown hair or something of that nature until yesterday when my ex-wife said she thought it was a staph infection.

I went to the hospital to find out what she told me is true. To make matters worse, this thing is right on my belt line. So, everything I seem to do, aggravates it. Talk about pain.

The doctor gave me some vicodin and that works real well for the pain...but after it wears off, it hurts like an SOB again. I'm also taking anti-biotics.

I had plans for my birthday to go out to eat with my daughter, but I had to cancel.

Have any of you had one of these and if so, what did you do to minimize the pain? How long will this last?

Yay! Happy Birthday to me.

 

[firemachine69]

Do you know how you got it?

 

[Nyquist]

I got one from a spider bite on my leg a few years ago. These can be very dangerous if taken lightly, so follow your doctor's instructions to the letter.

For me, I had to go back into the office a few times after the initial visit and diagnosis. The first return trip was because the antibiotic wasn't working, and I ended up getting a cousin to Cipro (anti-anthrax) to take in conjunction with the previous antibiotic. The second and third were to have it "drained" meaning they take a piece of gauze, thread it into the infected area, and the puss eventually follows the guaze out of the wound. Both times they didn't give me anything to numb the area, and it was one of the worst pains I've ever felt.

It took about two weeks for me to get rid of it. I still have a scar in the infection area from the bacteria and not the draining procedure.

Remember to drink plenty of water with this if they put you on a hard core antibiotic so your kidneys don't take a beating from the medication. Good luck!

 

[BrianWC]

As long as your doctor has identified it as staph, he's probably got you on the proper treatment. He's probably been cautious and given you a MRSA-fighting anti-biotic.

Just realize that the bacteria are right there on that boil/sore. The more you touch it, the more you risk spreading the infection to any other open spots on your body. Try to be conscious not to touch the sore and then your eyes/mouth/nose. Also not a bad idea to give the house a thorough cleaning/Lysol-ing.

 

[rg200amp]

They should drain it, and give you Bactrium.

You do not want to mess around with staph. I had MRSA, and it was 3 weeks into it. I had it in my blood stream. I had a temp of 104. It took 5 months to kill it. My Doc said if I waited one more week to see him, I would have had a 90% chance of fatality.


It all started as a Cyst on my theigh. Ended up on 3 scripts of bactrium, and a week out of work.


If you feel like you are getting or have a cold, or Flu, get back to the Docs, if not emegency room and have your blood/cyst tested for MRSA.

 

[N3OO]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Get urself a BIG pizza with anchovies on it tonight.....u'll feel better in no time !!!!!!
BOB in Pa.

 

[BrianWC]

Originally Posted By: rg200amp
They should drain it, and give you Bactrium.

You do not want to mess around with staph. I had MRSA, and it was 3 weeks into it. I had it in my blood stream. I had a temp of 104. It took 5 months to kill it. My Doc said if I waited one more week to see him, I would have had a 90% chance of fatality.


It all started as a Cyst on my theigh. Ended up on 3 scripts of bactrium, and a week out of work.


If you feel like you are getting or have a cold, or Flu, get back to the Docs, if not emegency room and have your blood/cyst tested for MRSA.



Yes, I wanted to refrain from giving medical advice but yes, bactrim is the best thing I've seen for MRSA, presuming that IS what you have. Vancomycin is the frontline right now but in my particular experience (kids and I got the stuff over a year ago and the wife treats it all the time in her practice) bactrim is the best thing going.

It's a tricky drug, though, and make sure you report anything out of the ordinary to your doctor, if in fact, you do receive it. With one component of it being a sulfonamide, make sure to stay well-hydrated.

 

[globey]

The Doctor did prescribe Bactrium. It sounds as if some of you had some pretty painful and LONG experiences.

Assuming everything goes well, how long will it typically take to clear up? Best case scenario.

I really don't know how I got this...I know a couple of people who had it last week and are still wrestling with it. Then I started exhibiting symptoms early last week.

 

[globey]

Thanks for all the info. I appreciate it.

N300, thanks for the birthday wishes!

 

[BrianWC]

Well, as you can see, depending on just how bad your infection is and how low your immunity is, it can be a nasty bug! But in my particular experience, it was a 3-4 week ordeal. The wife treated my with vanco for two weeks...that didn't work. Then she switched me to Bactrim (which is what she had treated our then-2 year old with) and it cleared up in 2 or so weeks. Mine started with one large boil on my right knee and I spread it, inadvertently, to my scalp. I had 3-4 places on my scalp that were quite embarassing. I grew my hair out for a month or so while the places on my scalp healed, for fear my barber would send me packing!

But it can colonize ANY skin opening you have. Anything from a scratch to a mosquito bite can turn into a major ordeal.

So keep up the hand washing and buy a couple of cans of Lysol! Are the people you know with it family or co-workers??? If they are co-workers, you might insist the place get sprayed down with a heavy-duty bactericide.

 

[JHZR2]

i get boils now and again on part of my skin that rub. Not sure if that is staph or something else, but it is annoying and once in a while it hurts.

I got them first playing football in HS. They have come and gone, and are worse in the hot times of the year.

I have found that slathering areas that are prone to infection with purell or equivalent hand sanitizer after a shower at night and in the AM takes care of reoccurrence nearly 100%.

Id suggest that, and washing with Dr. Bronner's tea tree oil soap.

Good luck,

MH

 

[Shannow]

You may carry it for ever.

My Dad got a really bad staph infection in his right elbow a day or two after making a blood donation. Spent two weeks in hospital, with an antibiotic drip feeding into the joint.

Doctor (Oz' best infection man) reckoned that it was 50:50 at the time whether it would be treatable with little blood flow in the area.

Few years later, he got stung by a caterpillar mowing the grass...flared up again, and antibiotic injections.

Few year after that bounced off a squash court wall, and back into hospital.

 

[BrianWC]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
i get boils now and again on part of my skin that rub. Not sure if that is staph or something else, but it is annoying and once in a while it hurts.

I got them first playing football in HS. They have come and gone, and are worse in the hot times of the year.

I have found that slathering areas that are prone to infection with purell or equivalent hand sanitizer after a shower at night and in the AM takes care of reoccurrence nearly 100%.

Id suggest that, and washing with Dr. Bronner's tea tree oil soap.

Good luck,

MH


Tea tree oil and Purell will both basically serve as antiseptics. They will help stop the spread but won't do anything for the already-present infection. Careful with tea tree oil, IIRC it can have estrogen-like effects in men.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: BrianWC
Careful with tea tree oil, IIRC it can have estrogen-like effects in men.


It might also turn you into a marsupial!

 

[globey]

Thanks for all the responses. Here's an update on my situation. About Wednesday of last week, I went back to the doctor, because it didn't seem to be getting better. The doctor took me off the Bactrium and prescribed Clindamycin (Cleocin) and gave me a shot of a different anti-biotic in my buttocks. Talk about painful. It was actually two shots, but the dosage was so large, it had to be two separate shots...one in each cheek. LOL.

Before that, he "field blocked" the area with Lidocaine (now that was painful...it hurt so bad, it made me angry) with FOUR shots of Lidocaine around the area. After the Lidocaine started kicking in, he lanced it, squeezed it and packed it with gauze.

After the Lidocaine wore off, I had me one painful situation. Thankfully, I had my friend Darvocet on hand to help me through the tough times.

Now, four days later, the area looks a lot better and seems to be well on its way to healing. They did take a culture, so I'll hear back from the doctor if anything isn't quite right.

Thanks for all the info...I appreciate it!

 

[BrianWC]

Lol, for all it helped! For me, the situation was reversed. Cleocin did nothing and Bactrim dried it right in. Glad you seem to be recovering. Make sure you sanitize things around your house where you can so you don't run into this again!

 

[bluemax1]

What does a staph boil look like?

A few months ago, I had what looked like a spider/insect bite on my ankle. Looked like a small bump with a bullseye with a white dot (the size of the period at the end of this sentence) in the center and a red area about 1/2" around it.

I thought nothing of it and ignored it. Then a few days later, I realized that the white spot in the center was growing (had gotten to about 1/8") and I knew that there was pus under the skin.

Being the kind of idiot who doesn't like going to the doctor, I decided to attempt self-treatment. I used pure tea tree oil and applied a single drop on the area with a cotton swab. There was an immediate burning sensation and a hole appeared in the skin where the white spot was (it seemed almost as though the tea tree oil burned through the skin covering the white spot in the center of the red area).

I continued to apply the tea tree oil 2-3 times a day to the area and the hole began to close within 2-4 days. It's been 2-3 months since and the spot is still discolored (darker than the surrounding skin) but it's otherwise normal. The center of the spot where the hole was is smoother than the rest (like scar tissue) but it's only about 1/8".


Max

P.S. And what's this about cysts? Over the past year, I've developed a couple of cysts that disappeared on their own. They formed over muscle tissue. I would feel a sore spot in the muscle and after feeling around the area, would notice the hard lump under the skin (not very near the surface of the skin). They felt about 1/2 - 3/4", but after 3-4 days, the soreness would fade and after about 3 weeks, the bump would be gone too?

 

[BrianWC]

The issue in the PS almost sounds more like a lymph node. As long as it goes away, it's probably nothing. If it were to stay, by all means have it checked out.

As for the thing on the ankle, fire ant bites do that to me! As long as it didn't spread, I think you're fine!

 

[greenaccord02]

bluemax1,
About your cysts, my grandmother used to say that when you get those, you get a big Bible and hit them with it as hard as you can. I mean H-A-R-D. Sounds retarded, but I've seen it work. I'm sure you could use another book just as well, but she always said the old remedy called for a bible. Talk about your old wives tales, but she was a registered nurse for many years and was 87 years at the time of her death. It beats cutting them out of your flesh. Her theory was that it broke them up into very small peices and the peices were reabsorbed by the body much the same as the purple blood you see under the skin when you get a bruise.

Globey, I just had to get a big shot of pennicillin like that a few months back. I've had it done before, but you never remember it hurting quite as much as it does. That really took my breath away.

 

[Mr Nice]

Happy Birthday Globey, hope get better ASAP.

Do you know how you get the infection....considering that part of your body is covered by clothes ?

I thought staph was usually from a cut/nick in your skin.