Thx for the info Bryan Can you tell me what the name of it is or is it over the counter? I've heard a few others mention swabbing a cotton ball with peroxide over the new outbreak for a few minutes and seemed to help.
So you don't like Hibiclens or ??? What about Betadine? I've heard that some do 2x Hibiclens then 3rd day Betadine, etc.. This is new to me as well so not sure.
My doc finally called me back today and said that I wasn't a "carrier" since my nasal swab was negative and that I only had the abscess infection or mrsa???? I have no clue what the difference is or if it's truly true, but of course I would love to take his word for it. After reading so many message boards - it's hard to know 110% what's right. I'm sure I'll know if I get another outbreak. I would like to not have to wash with some expensive wash for the rest of my life??
He also said that they're working on a vaccine for mrsa right now. It's just not out yet.
I do know that anytime you get a lesion or outbreak - most have said to immediately treat it (one common option was to put triple antibiotic ointment over it with a bandaid immediately) and that's the biggest thing. Hand washing, etc.
I'll def. keep ya posted on my progress though. Right now the cyst on my back is pretty much healed up, but I'm keeping it covered until I know it's fully closed so my clothes don't irritate it. I have the ointment and gauze over it.
Augmentin or amoxicillin/clavulanate is not exactly the best antibiotic for Staph aureus. It works, but it's not as good as cephalexin or one of the semi-synthetic penicillins like cloxacillin.
You're right that Staphylococcus aureus can infect the bone, but that is unlikely in you. Bone infections with SA do not present as recurrent skin infections; rather, you either have high fevers and a lot of bony pain (when the bacteria gets to the bone via the bloodstream) or you already have a chronic open wound which continues to drain pus and stays ulcerated on a daily basis. In other words, staphylococcal osteomyelitis presents very differently than what you have.
That said, one of the problems is that you may have large reservoirs of the bacteria in your nose and on your skin. SA is a normal constituent of skin flora, but can be significantly increased in number in people who have recurrent skin infections. Have you ever had a decolonization protocol?
Also, just because the SA is susceptible to many antibiotics does NOT mean it's not MRSA. MRSA, though not susceptible to any beta-lactams (other than the new ceftobiprole and ceftaroline) is still susceptible to a wide range of antibiotics including doxycyline (which I suspect is the dermatology drug you were speaking of), septra (or bactrim as you say in the states), clindamycin etc. etc.
Hi Harka and yes my doc put me on septra, bactroban nasal 2% ointment and clindamycin for a week. Well bactroban only 5 days vs 7.
Can you explain to me how I tested negative on the nasal swap test for mrsa, but yet it was mrsa that came out of my abscess on my back??? Does this mean it's in my bloodstream or ??? It's very confusing to have one test negative and one positive.
You seem to be very well versed on the subject matter so I'd greatly appreciate your input.
Laurie - the wash I've been using is made by Perrigo and its simply called Benzoyl Peroxide Wash 10%. I did need a prescription for it. The bad part is that it won't get rid of the staph, just control it (this according to my doctor). However, since you're not a carrier then maybe you won't need to use it continually... not sure how the whole host/carrier thing comes into play in all this, but it sounds like harka might have some good input here.
Also, as for the Hibiclens... it just didn't work for me. I was prescribed to use it a couple times in an effort to de-colonize, but it just wasn't effective for me... not saying it won't work for you or for others though.
Harka - some of the things you noted are basically echoing what my new doctor has been telling me. My doctor put me on this Benzoyl Peroxide wash in hopes of controlling the outbreaks and it seems to be working. After learning of my history with staph, she thought it might be best to avoid further antibiotic use. I think largely because I had been on antibiotics almost contsantly for a year (even better to learn that they were ineffective antibiotics for staph). But she also said that those who are infected with MRSA generally recolonize easily. Meaning that she thought she could get me on some antibiotics that very likely might erradicate the staph, but only temporarily. She said I would almost certainly re-colonize and continue to have problems. So she stuck me on the soap and it seems to be working. Anyway, I only bring this up because I'm curious to get your thoughts on my treatment. Not that I am complaining because the wash does seem to be working and I am very pleased about that. However, it would be nice to just get rid of the staph for good so I wouldn't have to continue with this fairly expensive wash for the rest of my life.
Sorry for the long post, but I do have one more question. Is it possible for the tonsils to become colonized with staph in such a way that I would experience these recurring infections? I only ask because even though the outbreaks have been controlled by the wash, I do continue to experience swollen lymph nodes in my throat and jawline. The swelling never goes away completely... basically just differing degrees of swelling. I feel quite normal when the swelling is down and feel pretty terrible when they are inflamed to a greater degree. I only ask about the tonsils because of the proximity to where my lymph nodes seem to be reacting. May be completely unrelated but just curious if there might be a connection there.
Hi Bryan and I'll have to ask my dr. about that this week. I really hope you get better or actually get rid of it for good. I know they're supposed to be coming out with a vaccine for it, but I'm sure it's a day late dollar short so to speak.
I know other threads have always preached about hot compresses (neck) - have you tried that at any time they were inflamed?
I have been experiencing severe staph infections for years. I have never talked to anyone who has had the same problem! Mine start out looking like spider bites with a definite center point but then become huge abscesses. The last one they called an abdominal wall abscess and it did culture MRSA. The one before was on my forearm and cultured Staph Aureus and was "suspected to be MRSA". I also had a a strep A (flesh eating) on my thigh a few years ago. Each time I have been hospitalized and been put on IV Vancomycin and Zyvox and have had to have a surgeon go in and open it up and drain and culture it.
These are so painful and I get really sick with a high fever. They have no idea what causes them. I have been seen by a ID doctor each time and use hibiclens etc but I continue to get them. I have had about 5 on my stomach and have always wondered if they could have anything to do with several abdominal surgeries I have had. One of my doctors mentioned that there has been research on a genetic component but I really didn't understand exactly what she was explaining. Has anyone heard of anything like this? Do yours start out with a center point and are they under the skin or open?
Sorry I am rambling but I have never heard of anyone else who has had this problem!
So sorry to hear about your infection coping - hope you get better or it stays away.
No, I've never heard of any genetic relation. I believe MRSA is just a bacteria that loves to stay around. I don't want to jinx myself, but I haven't had any after that one. There are also alot of home remedies or the homeopathic route such as Kefir (yogurt - where you're feeding your body the good bacteria to help kill the bad, etc..) and other yogurts - try to stay away from the sugary ones though I think. Also Bryan noted the wash earlier??
The one I had (which I believe was caused by my dermatologist yeah go figure) was under the skin and I just kept apply hot compresses (microwaved a wet washcloth over and over) and eventually it started to drain. Just stay with it and take something for your fever. Also alot of vitamin C and garlic. You should google a lot and read MANY so you can weed thru the bad ones. I believe everyone has a different case of it from what I've read or everyone's body reacts a lil differently with diff. technics so you'll prob. just have to try and see what works for you. Some say to stay AWAY from antibiotics.... I'm starting to believe them.
Prayer always works wonders as well. )) Best to you and I hope you get better.
I also have an autoimmune blood disorder and unfortunately this last episode triggered this so my hematologist has a standing order for IV Vancomycin anytime I get any type of skin infection/cellulitis. I tend to get septic easily so therefore I end up in the hospital if we just use oral antibiotics or just try to drain the abscess. I am also now on Cytoxan for my blood disorder which doesn't help!
I have had 2 c-sections and the second one split open and I had to have five surgeries to repair the surgery site and had problems with infections and abscesses. In the back of my mind I keep wondering if this could have anything to do with the recurring abdominal abscesses (that was 20 years ago however). I asked one of my doctors this and she said the question is why did my incision split open in the 1st place-that there must be a piece of the puzzle missing and that is what they need to figure out.
I am lucky to have some wonderful doctors but they obviously all tend to concentrate on their own specialty and so far no one has put the whole big picture together. I would love to find a way to just stay out of the hospital when I get these infections!!
I do eat yogurt and do skin washes, but I need to reread some of the regimens listed above and try them.
As far as not using antibiotics, how far do you go? I have been through so much with my blood disorder and so many infections that I have kind of lost my judgement on knowing when I need help. The last time I waited a little too long and was really sick and in the hospital for over a week. My doctors were really upset with me, but I wanted to try and stay off of antibiotics and out of the hospital. Does anyone else experience this-pushing the envelope a little too far and not knowing when to call the doctor? I know it sounds weird but when you have reccurring acute illnesses, it is sometimes hard to know when to get help and when to try and get through something yourself!
Hi coping and wow - you've been thru quite a bit. Yes, I'm shocked as well as to why/how your c-section split open?? That doesn't even sound right. Did you ask the dr. how this happened or what was their explanation?
I tested negative in my nose for Mrsa, but did have some sort of staph infection or cyst on my back, but it didn't show up until a dermatologist wanted to cut a very small cyst (from me picking) on my upper back. Long story short - he should've never touched it and it would've healed on its own. Such a shame you can't trust a doctor to do the right thing. Greed!
From the threads I read awhile back - those people had been thru the ringer and had tried everything so I really urge you to read as much as you can. I've reformatted my computer so not sure what the web address was nor am I sure I would even be allowed to post it, but I'm sure you'll find it researching.
As far as the antibiotics go... maybe you should try and see an alternative med dr. just to see what they have to offer. I understand that you may need them anyway, but your body will not be able to fight infections if you keep antibiotics in there all the time or at least that's what they say.
You know your body better than anyone so yes - never wait around for something to get worse, but def. seek out other therapies or treatments.
I wish you the very best with your health. Sounds like you have a positive attitude about everything and that is very important so stay happy regardless.
I have been experiencing a recurring staph infection for several years now. My guess (because these infections were not cultured until about a year ago) is that it all began in college with an infection on my right index finger. This (what I believe to be the initial infection) was actually quite bad. It basically ate away all the skin on my right index finger from the fingertip down to the second joint. Since then I have been subject to recurring staph infections about every 4 to 6 months. However, in the last year they have been happening more frequently... about every 2 months, and even more recently almost once a month sometimes.
Initially they were located only on the fingertips but over time have spread to different areas. It seems now to attack my face almost exclusively. It starts out looking like a pimple or a small spider bite and then progresses into (depending on the severity) anywhere from a dime to quarter size wound. I have had it cultured now several times from several different areas of my body. Each time it tests as staph aureus. It is not MRSA because it is vulnerable to several different antibiotics.
Over the years I have been able to treat outbreaks with Augmentin; however, it obviously does not completely erradicate it. The outbreaks are becoming more frequent, it is spreading to new areas and is really beginning to worry me because my doctor seems to have run out of answers.
We have tried Augmentin 500mg - 10 days, Augmentin 875mg - 10 days, Augmentin 875mg with Rifampin (however you spell that) - 15 days, some dermatology antibiotic for 30 days (i forget the name of this one), and now most recently Augmentin 875mg for 45 days. It is now back after my most recent cycle of antibiotics and I do not know what to do now.
We have tested for just about everything imaginable... hiv, aids, herpes, any other std, general blood tests, etc. According to my doctor I am a perfectly healthy individual. But quite obviously, we are missing something.
After some research I brought up the notion that maybe the infection had gotten into my bone and it is spreading that way. He immediately shot that down suggesting that I would be very ill. I also suggested this to a so-called specialist that I went to. She said the same thing. However, this is about the only thing I can think of... we seem to have tested for just about everything else.
I fear that if immediate measures are not taken to address this, I will find myself hospitalized with this infection. Possibly sometime soon with the way it seems to be progressively getting worse (most notably over the last year).
Can anyone provide some sort of insight? Suggestions of doctors I should see (i am in the Denver, Co area)? Suggestions of treatments I might consider or bring up to my doctor? Anything will help as I am becoming extremely concerned with my health.
Also, in case it helps. Each time this infection breaks out, the lymph node in my jawline (right side only) gets swollen and tender. Also, there is still a very small lump remaining on my left elbow (the site of one of my outbreaks)... I have also noticed the formation of similar small lumps around my left temple and right eye and my left armpit.
Sorry for such a long post.
Thanks
Bryan
Bryan:
I hope you are well. Have you had any new developments in treating your condition? new explanations, diagnosis?
I am getting worried about my condition, some things you described are similar to my symptoms, no lumps, just itchy spots. I am afraid to find out, but I am planning on scheduling an appointment with an ID specialist. I am not looking forward to the possibility of the time frame to figure out what the heck this "thing" is.
On a brighter side, I have heard success stories about treating skin infections with liquid silver and/or silver gel, can be found at your local health food store. You might research this more.
I feel for all the people who responded to your post, I feel very sad, I pray we all find the answers and the treatment to help our conditions.
I hope you are able to find something that works for you. It was a long road but several different doctors, ID specialists and dermatologists later, I finally did find some preventative treatment that works quite well for me. I finally visited a dermatologist who suggested that erradication was probably not the best option. She gave me a prescription for a body wash usually used to fight acne from what I understand (you can find more detail in post #24 of this thread - there also may be a bit more info on the wash in an earlier post from me as well).
Anyhow, this treatment continues to work very well for me. It's sort of a pain to make sure I always have this soap with me when I travel, and its also pretty expensive. However, its worth it as long as it continues to prevent the nasty breakouts that I used to suffer from.
From reading the posts here and in other places it seems like the treatments that are out there for this sort of thing vary greatly from one person to the next. So, hopefully this helps and if not I hope you are able to find something that does work for you very soon. I would recommend seeing the ID specialist but it was really the dermatologist who helped me the most. If you have not seen a good dermatologist yet I would recommend that as well.
years back i got what was called staph but they didn't do a culture on it (crap doctors) it was on my upper lip and ended up covering my entire lip before i went to the doctor (didn't know what it was). he gave me a course of antibiotics which at the time cleared it up, and since then when i told the doctor that i got it every year they would tell me to wash more thoroughly, well coming from the culinary industry, I was a fanatic about having clean hands and being a clean in general (i wasn't a dirty person like what the doctors were figuring.
Now every year (almost ten years now) when i get sick around flew season i get a infection of the same spot, and have tried everything including rifampim and all the rest it seems. Needless to say i no longer go to the doctor for it. I believe that it stays in your body and the docs really don't know anything about how the bacteria works. Hell its on our coast lines for f-sake.
Using a concoction of tee tree oil and geranium topically applied to the spot helps stop the infection from progressing and it finally subsides with applying it several times a day. In conjunction with the oils I take Bee Propolis 500mg serving 4 times a day or sometimes i take 1000mg 2-3 times a day for my antibiotic for usually about a week to 10 days. Since i have started treating myself with this regimen (3 years now) it clears it up. I make sure that after the bumps have gone down and cleared and then i take the propolis for 4 days more which is usually around 10 or so days. I figured that nature must have some solution to my problem and upon reading up on bee propolis It seemed like my only option, garlic didn't seem strong enough for me and i was steeping about 2 tblspoons of fresh sliced stuff and drinking it several times daily (yuck).
Also, if I wasn't able to catch it before it erupted i would use a concoction of triple antibiotic mixed with bee propolis (just get a small container and add equal parts triple biotic and propolis, it looks a black/brown salve when your done) and i applied it to the area keeping covered as best as possible just to keep the stuff there.
I also take d-3 to keep my immune system up in the winter but at around 8000iu, and i almost never have to call in sick to work anymore.
I've heard of people having success with benzoyl peroxide. That's awesome that it's working for you. The tonsils generally don't get colonized with Staph aureus because there are a lot of oral anerobes and gram negative bacteria which have their niche in the area. They overpower and overgrow Staph. You can have small amounts of Staph, but nothing that's clinically significant.
Antibiotics for decolonization are a good thing, but I agree it's not something you want to keep having to do. If there were simple things one could do to prevent infections, I'd be all for it.
There was a study which came out recently showing that people who are colonized with MRSA often have a deficiency of a normal type of Staphylococcus which colonizes the skin called Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus. It might be a wave in the future to actually use BACTERIAL therapy (as opposed to antibacterial) to help prevent further MRSA furunculosis.
10% Benzoyl Peroxide has worked well for me too (thanks Bryan).
My story:
- first major Staph infection (never MRSA) was 4 years ago (large boil on chest, which required medical care and a lot of antibiotics to cure).
- recurring infections happened in chest, arm-pit, arm, nostril, nose, back, behind ear, etc... for the past 4 years.
- oral antibiotics would clear the infection from skin after about a week, and I would usually remain staph free for 2-4 months before another outbreak.
- my first preventative measure was to obsessively wash everything, especially the bathroom fixtures ... often with bleach and/or rubbing alcohol.
- along with the cleaning, I started to apply OTC antiseptic gel to my nostril and arm-pit region on a weekly basis.
- these first two measures didn't prevent the recurring infections
- in January of this year, I had one of my worst infections to my arm (just outside of my armpit). Again, oral antibiotics cleaned that up for a few months...
- in April (as new infections started to appear again) I found this post, and read about Bryan's success with Benzoyl Peroxide, and decided to try this ('Acne' medicine was briefly mentioned to me before by a nurse...so I was slightly familiar with the idea ... but Bryan's details filled in a lot of gaps).
- I went down to local big-box drugstore, who sells 10% benzoyl peroxide soaps and creams (Oxy face wash ... PanOxyl soap -- I've not seen a difference between these...they both have 10% bp).
- I've simply washed with these soaps/creams for over 3 months now...I use them almost every time I shower, washing the problem areas mentioned above.
- I'm feeling very confident right now that the recurrent staph infections that plagued me for the past 4 years are a thing of the past.
Bottom line, buying and washing with acne soap was a pretty simple and inexpensive fix. I wish the 6 doctors who I've seen over the course of 4 years had mentioned benzoyl peroxide.
i know what you are going through. i have had a reoccurring staph infection for a little over a year. and the reason the medicine you always took for staph is not working anymore is because you possibly have become immune to it. my doctor is worried about me becoming immune to bactrim(ask your doctor about this antibiotic to treat staph) i hope i have been of some help.
I to was experiencing severe staff infections. My grandma told me to take a tablespoon of raisins everyday. I have been doing that for 6 months, and I have not had staff yet. They say raisins purify your blood.
I had a bad sore throat, my problem is after eating sugar, I get this reaction, sore throat bronchitis, post nasal drip, after I stop eating sugar it seems to go away. Doctor gives me azitromycin for the sore throat, it helps a lot and clear the infection, they found staph or strep, cannot remember it.
but last time( this week() I also drank apple cider vinegar! not sure if it was the antibiotic or both, it made me feel great. I am not sure if it cured my sugar reaction problem, I need to test it later. but maybe you can try apple cider, I just drink it 2 tablespoons, they say mix it with water, you can do that also.
About the sugar reaction, I used tons of antibiotics years ago for a problem, I think that screw up my system so bad, i started having a reaction to sugar, doctors dont think it is fungus at all, I tried pau de arco, other herbal things, did not help much. So i am avoiding the sugars mostly except on bdays etc. then if i get this reaction and infection which seems to be a bacterial one, why ingesting sugar actives bacteria not sure, and which one? i guess they are somewhere in my throat even though antibiotic kills it, it does not kill it completely.
Or I am totally wrong in my ideas. then I dont know what to say or do against it,
Good luck to everyone, hope everyone here finds a cure.
(suggestion, try to stay away from antibiotics as much as you can if you are just starting to use it, unless you really need it)
Can you tell me what the name of it is or is it over the counter? I've heard a few others mention swabbing a cotton ball with peroxide over the new outbreak for a few minutes and seemed to help.
