M.r.s.a.

[Maulds]

Anyone had to deal with this before? Any advice?

 

[purpledove]

What do you need to know??

I know you should be treated with higher/broader spectrum of antibiotic and culture and sensitivity swabs needed to be done on the affected site after your antibiotic therapy. This is to make sure either you're colonized , cured or continue or shift to another type of antibiotic if the Staph ( bacteria) is resistant to it or not.

it depends on what's affected.

 

[Maulds]

Any advice for controlling the pain would be great.

It erupted right in front of my left pinky toe. Hurts to walk. My doc put me on Bactrim and Doxycycline. In addition to that I have to wash my sheets daily in hot water. Scrub my hands with Hibiclens at least 3 times daily as well as use it as a body wash in the shower and sterilize my nose with Mupirocin twice daily.

In a month I go back and they will swab the inside of my nose to see if I still have it.

 

[Panacea]

Ugh, sorry to hear it, hope it clears away fast. I know my aunt had this, but she seemed to not have painful symptoms.

 

[purpledove]

Pain: i hope it can be relieved with over the counter pain meds either stronger mgs of Tylenol or Ibuprofen. I think Ibuprofen wld work better as it has anti-inflammatory action over Tylenol. If the pain persists then call your MD for a better/stronger pain reliever.

You can also elevate your foot when you're seated or lying down to help increase your blood flow and help relax your muscles on the area---> decreasing pain. That promotes healing too. If it's possible you can maybe buy a splint at the drug store to protect your toe from being hit somewhere while walking. When you take a shower refrain from soaking it too much with water by maybe wrapping with a plastic bag.

Be careful if you have kids or pets at home for them not to touch that affected area and also make sure you properly discard items that has touched your toe as those contain the bacteria and can transmit to other members of ur family. Mrsa as maybe you had been told is highly contagious. Keep maybe a hand sanitizer around ur house and of course proper hand washing needs to be reinforced among all members in your family. Good luck!

 

[Maulds]

I was under the impression the infected area was only contagious if it was open or draining. Do you agree with that ? I have been plenty careful with it anyway.

 

[purpledove]

Ugh, sorry to hear it, hope it clears away fast. I know my aunt had this, but she seemed to not have painful symptoms.

He has pain as aggravated by ambulation and that the toe is part of what they call the 'dependent areas' as it's the lower extremities. Due to our weight( whatever it is-high or low) and with ambulation too- there is lesser circulation on that area hence the pain. Just a sharing

 

[purpledove]

I was under the impression the infected area was only contagious if it was open or draining. Do you agree with that ? I have been plenty careful with it anyway.

That is true! But you didn't indicate if your toe is open, draining or not Due to the hibiclens you mentioned and since that's used for cleaning wounds- I presumed it's open hence I juz generalized too.

Given that's the practice now- I mean Universal precautions- it doesn't hurt to be extra careful eh. You might not be aware that there might be a minute opening by the side of your nail that the bacteria can escape out or something. With inflammation too ( juz in case it is) your skin is thinned out and may easily open even minutely/ seeping of infected body fluid can escape thru that skin ( pores) hence caution is still advised. So just continue with what you're doing to be extra careful :thumbup

 

[Maulds]

It isn't ready to drain yet. Still feels solid. I wish I could drain it now, wouldn't hurt so bad if I could get some pressure relieved.

 

[purpledove]

Didn't the MD say anything about doing an I & D ?? ( Incision and drainage)

Maybe he just wanted it to subside with the antibiotic eh. Aw! I feel your pain

 

[Maulds]

I went to an Infectious Diseases specialist this time. I might go to my regular doc when its ready to drain. This is a recurrence. I had it once before and apparently didn't fully get rid of it. Thats a big part of why I'm asking advice, in case there is something helpful we didn't do the first go round. Last time it was on my left pinky finger and it still hurt a lot.

The first time I had it they did a culture and told me it was MRSA. I seriously hope I can beat it this time, this is awful. There are so many things I should be doing besides sitting on my butt.

 

[purpledove]

Was a culture done on that pinky the last time? Maybe it wasn't cleared all the way? Or it might have been colonized where you still carry the Staph in your system but no symptoms hence when another infection occurs- it will be MRSA positive again.

If it's becoming recurrent make sure you really are very careful now as the Staph can become more resistant. Not to frighten you but if Mrsa is not treated well can progress to VRE ( Vancomycin Resistant) which we have seen on some of our Mrsa patients. The VRE is gonna be harder to treat too

 

[Maulds]

It was cultured last time and they said it was MRSA and that strain was affected by Bactrim.

As for the rest of it, believe me I am trying. I am following his every instruction (the ID spec) to the letter. I never wanna go through this again. I certainly don't want it to get stronger :eek

 

[Staci]

wow! sorry to hear this. hope you feel a little better soon! *hugs*

 

[purpledove]

It was cultured last time and they said it was MRSA and that strain was affected by Bactrim.

I mean was it cultured after the antibiotic therapy? This should be a routine that needed to be done.

As for the rest of it, believe me I am trying. I am following his every instruction (the ID spec) to the letter. I never wanna go through this again. I certainly don't want it to get stronger :eek

Keep up the good work following all instructions :thumbup

 

[PoopaSwoof]

Come on Dude.
Be a man and just cut the foot off.

Seriously though, I hope you beat this completely this time.:nod:

 

[Maulds]

I mean was it cultured after the antibiotic therapy? This should be a routine that needed to be done.



Keep up the good work following all instructions :thumbup

It was not cultured afterwards. I don't think they even mentioned it. I will ask on the next visit.

 

[JoeCool10]

I've had it twice, once on my pinky finger and once on my hip. Since it's on your toe, soak your foot in warm saltwater for about 20 minutes a couple times a day. That really was the best for me with my finger. As far as the pain it concerned? If they gave you a salve, put that on a cotton ball and wrap the cotton ball with a bandage or some gauze to keep it on your toe, it'll help cushion the sore and make it a little less painful. My doc gave me vicodin for the pain, you can do the same with ibuprofen, make sure you take 2-3 every 6 hours. If all else fails, smoke a lot of herb and you won't feel shit.

 

[Maulds]

I've had it twice, once on my pinky finger and once on my hip. Since it's on your toe, soak your foot in warm saltwater for about 20 minutes a couple times a day. That really was the best for me with my finger. As far as the pain it concerned? If they gave you a salve, put that on a cotton ball and wrap the cotton ball with a bandage or some gauze to keep it on your toe, it'll help cushion the sore and make it a little less painful. My doc gave me vicodin for the pain, you can do the same with ibuprofen, make sure you take 2-3 every 6 hours. If all else fails, smoke a lot of herb and you won't feel shit.

No one is gonna believe this but I have never smoked any herb in my life...true story. I'm not opposed to it just never tried it.

I feel ripped off here. Neither doc gave me shit for pain. I just made myself go to DG and buy Ibuprofen. Wearing a shoe for the first time since Fri night was not fun :thumbdown

 

[CRZY72004]

Anyone had to deal with this before? Any advice?

Question is do you really need the pinky toe