I didn't read through every post so if someone has mentioned this before sorry for the repeat of information. I'm not a doctor or anything just trying to relay my experiences and hope it can help someone.
I've had atopic dermatitis/psoriasis my whole life. When I moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico which has a very dry, sunny, hot, desert environment to Seattle, Washington which has the complete opposite, my eczema got much worse and I started having reoccurring staph infections with many similar tales as people have been posting here, resulting in having staph for seven years. It took a long time but finally I found a top notch dermatologist in my state and he taught me a lot and remedied this situation for me. You don't have to have atopic dermatitis like me for this to apply also mind you.
Basically, we all get basic staph and strep bacteria on our skin in every day life. It's impossible to keep any of it from getting on you, literally impossible. The thing is, the sunlight's UV rays kill this bacteria so most people would never know. However, take the sunlight out and if you get a break in the skin, the bacteria can get in there and infect you. My dermatologist did the typical--put me on antibiotics and steroid ointments--but then she added a few extra things in my treatment. First, I had to do "wet suit" therapy. This entailed putting my ointments on, putting a pair of cotton pajamas soaked in water on over that, and a jogging suit of sorts over that to keep the moisture locked inside. This was mostly for my eczema so if you don't have actual allergies, autoimmune disorder like eczema etc which involves getting flare ups you can probably skip this. The next thing she'd have me do is bleach baths twice a week (1/2 cup of bleach per full bath tub) and Aveeno Oatmeal treatment baths with Coal Tar shampoo put in to soothe. After the initial fire, flare and dry skin calmed down, she put me into what's called phototherapy. Remember what I was talking about with the sun earlier? Phototherapy is kind of like chemo for people w/skin problems like this only much less harmful and extreme. Basically there are two types of UV rays: A and B. A are the kind that cause your skin to burn and can cause skin cancer through prolonged exposure, etc. B is the "good" rays, the healing ones that kill the staph bacteria on you. Phototherapy takes the band of UVB rays and is usually set up in a kind of tanning booth they have you stand in. All I can say is I've only been doing the phototherapy for about five months and I haven't had staph since; the longest time in seven years now. Any way I hope someone can take something from all this and it helps you. Good luck; it's been a struggle my whole life so I understand the pain and suffering it causes both mentally and physically.
I'm so glad I found this site and thread! I am recently realizing that I have recurring staph too. It started a few months ago with sores on my face. At first I thought it was acne, but it was really itchy, which acne usually isn't. Then I got a few sores on my inner thighs. Same type of sores. As they got worse and in greater number on my face I knew I needed to see a doctor. They looked horrible! They ran a culture and said it wasn't MRSA but "just" staph (don't remember what kind exactly). I took oral antibiotics for 10 days (again, don't remember which) and it went away. Since then I've had a few sores pop up and have yet to return to a doctor b/c it's not "that" bad. What I've been doing is cleaning the sore with hydrogen peroxide and putting an antibiotic ointment on it, and usually covering with a bandaid. At the moment I have a sore on my shoulder and one on my face. The antibiotic cream (like Neosporin or bacytracin) seems to help. I don't like taking oral antibiotics if I can help it. I really liked the suggestions from people on here of using an acne body wash and the phototherapy. The sunlight thing made me wonder b/c I'm usually super vigilant about applying sunscreen (broad spectrum, which blocks UVA and UVB rays), so if I am blocking the UVB rays, and those do in fact kill staph germs, then I'm essentially not letting the sun do the work for me. So I might look into using a sunscreen that's just UVA blocker or something....not sure on that yet, but it's an interesting idea.
Most of all it really helped reading about other people who are experiencing the same thing as me. And like most of you, I'm really a quite healthy person, 33 years old, no other health issues. I did learn that staph is present on all of our skin anyway, and once you get it once, it seems to more easily spark back up. Sucks to live with, but as long as we CAN live with it, I guess it could be worse. I'll keep checking back here and see if anyone finds any new methods to help this. Best of luck to you all! It's always nice to learn I'm not alone. :-)
Even I am suffering from staph aeurus infection. Doctors treated it with several antibiotics for around 6months now and recently I came to know that this is the bacteria after a pus culture. What other tests need to be conducted to make sure it is not MRSA? Have tried many antibiotics prescribed by doctors and the pus culture had shown it is sensitive to many antibiotics. But none of them is able to irradiate it!!.
I went through all the posts and no one has therapy which can cure this. I am really worried. Please help.
These are the antibiotics I have taken till now, they have subsided but they keep coming.
1. Ofloxacin
2. Augumentin
3. Mupirocin ointment
4. Neosporin ointment
5. The latest Azithromycin
Taking bath twice a day with detol and germ fighting soaps.
Keeps reaccuring ..please help.
Check out bee propolis I get mine from swansons and I find it is stronger than the yellow propolis, fyi the drugs/anti's you listed i had tried most as well with little success. Rifampim is much stronger than Azithromycin btw. Propolis is one of natures stongest natural antibiotics
Last edited by poopindookey; 08-05-2011 at 11:22 PM.
Even I am suffering from staph aeurus infection. Doctors treated it with several antibiotics for around 6months now and recently I came to know that this is the bacteria after a pus culture. What other tests need to be conducted to make sure it is not MRSA? Have tried many antibiotics prescribed by doctors and the pus culture had shown it is sensitive to many antibiotics. But none of them is able to irradiate it!!.
I went through all the posts and no one has therapy which can cure this. I am really worried. Please help.
These are the antibiotics I have taken till now, they have subsided but they keep coming.
1. Ofloxacin
2. Augumentin
3. Mupirocin ointment
4. Neosporin ointment
5. The latest Azithromycin
Taking bath twice a day with detol and germ fighting soaps.
Keeps reaccuring ..please help.
Had the same problem.
1) GET PhiSoHEX!!! this is an anti-bacterial body wash that will kill staph
2) disinfect everything in your house, including keyboards, door handles, etc!
3) I had to take MULTIPLE anti-biotics at once! this was years ago but I remember KEFLEX being one of them and Cloxacillin being the other. I took TWO different types of anti biotics at once.
If I were you, Id request multiple anti biotics at once. especially if the staph is as bad as mine was. I had 1 inch circular holes in my body for 6 months straight. you need to keep it up, keep taking anti biotics dont stop when you "think" its gone.. just keep it up.. and NEVER scratch a staph outbreak. I noticed theyre itchy. if you irritate it, it will grow. if you leave it alone, it wont effect you as much.
Bryan,
I too suffer from recurring staph although not in my fingers as you get. I was told staph could reoccur for a number of reasons. 1. certain strains of staph are resistant to certain antibiotics so unless you get the right antibiotic for that staph you will get it back. 2. Staph can hide in your body so although you took antibiotics and it when away it may not have gotten all of it so it reoccurs. 3. Some people such as diabetics (like i am) have a suppressed immune system so we are more vulnerable to developing staph. It was suggested that once a week to take a bath and add 1/4 cup of bleach to the bath water so that it keeps the staph down on your skin. Hopely this will help and I wish you good luck and hope it doesnt return......Good Luck!!
How are you doing now? Is Benzoyl Peroxide still working? I have been getting boils on and off since last 6 months. Antibiotics subside them but they come back again in sometime! I'm thinking of using benzoyl peroxide but couldn't find sufficient evidence about its effectiveness. I see it has been more than 2 years since you started using it. Good time to gauge it's effectiveness. Can you please tell me how are you doing now? Your input would be really helpful. Thank you.
Bryan,
I too suffer from recurring staph although not in my fingers as you get. I was told staph could reoccur for a number of reasons. 1. certain strains of staph are resistant to certain antibiotics so unless you get the right antibiotic for that staph you will get it back. 2. Staph can hide in your body so although you took antibiotics and it when away it may not have gotten all of it so it reoccurs. 3. Some people such as diabetics (like i am) have a suppressed immune system so we are more vulnerable to developing staph. It was suggested that once a week to take a bath and add 1/4 cup of bleach to the bath water so that it keeps the staph down on your skin. Hopely this will help and I wish you good luck and hope it doesnt return......Good Luck!!
Luckily I am out of staph infection now.
After the course of antibiotic never forget to have bath with cleansing agent like detol. I have been using detol soap after the end of antibiotic course and have been giving special attention to cleanliness as I have a pet at home too. Take care.. It should go easily, its just a matter of time.
I have had the same recurring staph infection. The reason why they say to swab the nose with antibiotic cream is because that is where the bacteria has been found to colonizes. If you have this problem try to pay attention to how often you touching your nose with your own hands and fingers. Before it was brought to my attention I would itching and picking my nose several times with out thought. And when I would break out in staph I would itch and squeeze the boils to drain them because they were irritating and painful. I was finally able to get control of my infection by doing these simple steps:
1. 500mg keflix 3 times a day for two weeks (very effective for staph).
2. Do not touch/pick the nose at all, swab 4 times a day with bactrin cream.
3. Do not itch, scratch, rub, drain, squeeze or touch the infected skin/pimples/boils at all!!
4. Shower with Dial or other antibacterial soap at least once a day, and dry your self thoroughly.
After it clears up, you can stop it from coming back remember if you remember to never touch your nose then scratch your skin with the same hands/fingers. I believe most people with this condition have a compulsive habit to pick at or touch their skin,face or nose. There will always be some bacteria present in your nose and in places like your growing or arm pits. Use antibacterial soap and wash your hands always and NEVER pop or drain a boil or zit or pimple without a doctor. When you break the skin to get the pus out you allow the bacteria to enter the blood stream and the staph spreads internally. Most of you who started with one boil squeezed it to drain it because it felt better, but you actually caused it to spread through your blood and on your fingers. If you get a boil or zit just let your body fight it naturally. Let me know if this helps.
I had two staph infections, one on my face, and another on my leg, within a month of each other. I suspect I have HTLV, a virus that suppresses the immune system, giving rise to these abscesses.
When I went to the dermatologist both times, the abscesses were cultured and treated with antibiotics, leaving a scar on my face and leg. The dermatologist told me that these cases have gone up by a factor of ten in the past year, and that people are returning with repeat cases.
In order to ward off future abscesses, I take vitamins (e.g. C and E) and antiviral supplements like Curcumin (Tumeric), Lysine, Eclipta Alba, garlic, etc. Also I take hot baths with a cup of bleach (8 ounces). Taking these preventative steps (I believe) helps me avoid the horror of dealing with these scary infections. Hopefully my approach can help the rest of you as well.
