Any Experience with MRSA, (Staph Infection)... or Known as the "Super Bug"

My husband spent Dec 22-24 in the hospital starting with ER at 1:30 am. He then had intravenous antibiotics for 6 weeks, and is just finishing oral tetracycline for 6 more weeks. The MRSA was inside his shoulder joint. Ouch! there were pretty severe fatigue side effects of the vancomycin (intravenous antibiotic), but he's seeming to be working his way back to 'normal' slowly now.

Neither my daughter nor I have had any problems yet (knock wood and knock wood). In what ways was it manifested in you and your daughter?
A.

Hi, my name is A., I'm 34 and I live in San Diego, CA. I'm a pre-school aide for a local YMCA. My roommate just had a bout of the mrsa infection, and it knocked her out for a few weeks. In her case, she thinks she picked it up from pilates mats, or handling money. But, since it's just out there in the world, the way she actually got it is hard to pin down. She had to wash all of her sheets, clothes and had to disinfect everything that she touched before she knew she had the infection(i.e. the kitchen counter, etc.) For a while she had these raised spots on her body that looked like bad bug bites. But they itched like crazy,she said. We couldn't have skin to skin contact(not even hand shaking). And she washed her hands constantly, which is a given. She took her anti-biotic medicine for the perscribed time, and the spots went away. She says that her appetite still isn't what it used to be, but she doesn't mind that, but, it's different for children, of course. I hope this helps a bit.

I have a wellness center with chiropractic, acupuncture/ herbal medicine, and homeopathy. When a person contracts a disease their body needs to be capable of fighting it. If you start taking drugs to control the symptoms then your body cannot recover on its own because you are weakening its ability to be the self-healing mechanism that it was reated to be. Instead of eliminating symptoms your body needs to rise to meet its challenge of healing by strengthening its immune system. I would be glad to help if your interested. My offfice # is ###-###-####. I am located in San Diego.

Aloha K., Living in Hawaii staph thrives everywhere. Both my daughters had it at the same time one year. Here it gets into the system and every little cut or bug bite (in our case) got severly infected. We were highly encouraged to do antibiotics. Unfortuatly one daughter had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics so we had to discontinue and make a new plan... what worked for us was to get the body "alkaline". When the body is acidic the staph can thrive in the system. We had to change our diet- which we did as a family to support one another. Basically, you can only eat foods that will support the body to be alkaline- then the staph just cant grow in the system.
An alkaline diet looks like grains such as quinoia and brown rice, veggies and or salad...lots of greens... zero sweets at all-even the smallest amount will feed the bacteria- no dairy...no wheat--- even juice is too sweet. Cirtus fruits only.... you have to be careful of condiments that have sweets or wheat such as soy sauce and dressings...
They cleared up in about three days- but we were really strict and cont. on this diet for a while to make sure it was fully gone and stayed away...
You can probaly do a little research to find out about more foods you can eat and foods to avoid- alcohol is a big no no...alkaline diet is becoming more and more popular as it provides many heath benefits ...more than just fighting staph
it's not easy to make these changes but even beyond the staph it is a healthier way to go- alot of other problems cleared up as a result- yeast infections, exzema, any kind of ichy skin stuff...
It is typical to spread between family members- my daughters bathed together and one gave it to the other
good luck

It takes time, diligence and the right medication to rid your family of MRSA. Our family, including our dog, ran through a vicious course of this infection for close to a year and a half. I found a GREAT doctor who prescribed Mupirocin ointment. You apply this topically to the infection, wash hands often and thoroughly of all members of the household and - now here's the key - you apply a thin application of the Mupirocin into the nose of every family member....that's where the infection lives and grows!! That was the only course of treatment that finally worked. GOOD LUCK! I feel for your frustration.

Hi K.,
My 19 year old daughter caught this horrible bug from a friend and has had two recurring bouts with it. Unfortunately, it is something that is in your system, on your skin and is highly contagious. WASH everything in really hot water and bleach if possible. Disinfect everything, doorknobs, toilet seat, toilet handle, faucet handles etc. Keep washing and be mindful of how easily this spreads. It may come back again, but get the prescribed antibiotics ASAP there are two I believe that you need to take at the same time.

Best wishes!
T.

Dr. Phil recently did an entire episode on MRSA. It was very informative and I believe his website still has information up about it.

M.

Hi K.,

Nina is right. A friend of ours had it too. Her husband had it on his elbow. She had to constantly wash their sheets and blankets (everyday) on their bed and her husband lightly wrapped the wound in gauze every night and wore a long sleeve shirt. That also got washed every day in HOT water. You have to keep everything really clean in order to try to keep it from spreading. She said it was so much work and such a pain but she never had such a clean house! It is important too for your husband to keep a light wrap over the area (if he still has it). Same would go for anyone else who has it. It should be light enough to allow the area to breathe. Good luck.

L. H.

Costa Mesa

I had what the doctors first thought was MRSA and was hospitalized in October and December. One doctor later came back and said it was Beta Strep? Just had another "spot" develop but am taking the antibotics so hope it will be gone soon.

Hi K. you are not alone my husband all most died from the MRSA Bug.He was in the hospital for 5 days.He was so sick they let me speend the night with him 24-7.he got a spider bit on his man hood and some how came down with it there.I have never seen such a thing.It was bad.They had to cut him open and when he came home he had a opening like 6in long and 5 in wide I had to pack and change every few hours for about 8weeks.yes We know MRSA. M.

What does your husband do? Does he still have it? There was an out break of staph in LA through out the Police Department & hospital . This was a few years ago, my husband brought it home, luckily I did not get it nor did my children. You really need to get it under control and get your immuninty up. Anyhow, I would wash EVERYThing you all touch, bed sheets until it is gone. If you and your child have it and are going out, you are spreading it everywhere you go. I don't know what your doctors are telling you, our experience was very serious. Throw out all his shoes, socks that had contact with it.

There are only 2 antibiotics that work for MRSA. Your doctor should have advised you to wash or bathe yourselves with a strong bar soap such as Lever 2000 or I believe the other is Dial. I'm sure by now you know it is highly contagious and you should avoid contact with others as long as it's present. Your doctor can also do a culture by swabbing the nose to see if it's present before there is an actual outbreak which may be the reason your family keeps passing it back and forth. If you'd like email me back with the the names of the antibiotics you've been given or if you'd like a referral to a doctor that has treated MRSA with great success.

Our family has met the superbug. My husband and I met it a month after our triplets were born last year. My son met the bug four months later, one of our daughters met the bug last Friday via surgery. We keep hibicleanse on hand as well as another product to keep moisture to a minimum. The bug used to be in the hospital community but has made it into the general population as has become almost a health epidemic. It strikes quickly and is resistant to the run of the mill antibiotics. Time is of the essence if you get this because it can be deadly if misdiagnosed with small children. We were very lucky that my daughter was scheduled for surgery immediately. The surgeon said that he has been loose in Las Vegas.Best of luck to you.

Yes, my daughter had MRSA three years ago & she almost died. I thought it was a boil, What I will recommend to you make sure to tell the doctor to remove it. My daughter have to go to ICU bcos of MRSA went thru the surgery, it is very painful & my daughter went thru alot. What I gave to my daughter in order for the flesh to go back faster is protein drink from Herbal life 3x a day. The doctor was very surprise of the outcome. I also know alot of people who had MRSA & it's not good. MRSA is fatal please make sure to take care of it ASAP. If you want you can eml me directly at ____@____.com & I can give you my phone # or eml me your number so I can talk to you.

Hi K.,

Just wanted to let you know that my 2 children, ex husband and I have all had numerous bouts with staph infections of different varieties. We were living on the Big Island of Hawaii and it seems one of us was always at the doctors on a weekly basis. The worst was when I had to get the 'boil' lanced on my face which is scarred. Yikes! I should have gone to the doctor immediately which is my advice to you when suspecting anything of this nature.

Happily though after one last bout in Kauai, we have not had any recurrences of any kind for the last 3 years. I believe our immune systems were strengthened and all is well. So hopefully for your family you will get past this superbug.

Kind regards,
C. L

I unfortunately have had experience with this awful infection. I am so sorry to hear you have to go through it, especially your little one. My brother came home from college very sick with what he thought was the flu and then happened to mention after a few days that he had this "boil" on his leg. I then also got it. My brother was able to get over it after about a year with tetracycline (sp?). One would go away then sometimes a few weeks or months later another spot would pop up. For me on the other hand it was much worse. It took a total of 3 years and many medications to finally get rid of it. I was even put on Retinal A which did help the "boils" not get so large though I still have many scars from the whole experience. My advice is to be very diligent with medication making sure to take it as directed and don't be afraid to ask for something else if it continues to come back. Everyone should have their own towels and they should only be used once, then washed in hot water and bleach if they are white. Clean and disinfect areas that are often touched, such as bath tubs, counters, etc. Make sure everyone washes their hands often especially if they touch an infected area and last but not least drink lots of water. It helps your kidneys with all the meds. which are usually pretty strong with this infection. Good luck and I hope it all goes away soon.

I have been dealing with mild staff infections since I as in middle school. They come and go and aren't usually to severe. Iusually just treat them with a warm compress.
My daughter on the other hand got one when she was 1 yr old nd it got so bad she had to be put on medictaion. It may be best to see a dermitologist to see if there is something your husband or daughter should be taking to help clear it up for good.

If you've had bouts w/this for over a year, I'd be concerned that your doctor is not treating this aggressively enough. This is extremely contagious and as someone else said, you could be carriers, transmitting this to others. Talk to your doctor about this, but you probably need a nasal swab. My dad had this, and is now a carrier. He has to go on IV antibiotics every time he has surgery as a preventative measure. When it flares up, we all wear masks and gloves when we visit him.

Hi K., my youngest daughter, 22 and her little boy, now 17 months, have gotten MRSA thru her boyfriend. He has had it for about 3-4 yrs., and has frequent outbreaks. Mom & her son, not as frequent. I do know that when the two of them have had it, they have had to go to the dr. and actually had to have the sore drained several times before healing. We have tried to research this on line and asking ?s of the dr., but answers have kind of vague with emphasis on the fact that it is so contagious. The boyfriend, who we love and is fantastic with my daughter & her son, while living at home with his family, was able to keep his parents and brother from getting MRSA from him. Drs. have told my older daughter to make sure she disinfects any toys that may have come in contact with Carson, (grandson) since they might have been contaminated by his saliva. While I think this may be a bit extreme, not much is known about MRSA yet. Good Housekeeping had an article about it where a football player picked up the infection in the locker room at his school. So far, no one else in our family has gotten it. Not sure if this helped, but at least you are not the only one. if you ever have questions, feel free to email me, ____@____.com. i may not have the answers, but if you just need to talk, that's ok too. Hang in there & good luck, C. G

yes i have. i had it & took antibiotics 2 or 3 months. mine was in my bresats, both of them, after having a breast lift. i got the flu with chest cold & the bacteria settled in my stitches & infected & thats what it turned in to. (i was healed & stitches ready to be removed when i got sick! darn!) i am o.k. now but they were sore & very red. at 1st my doc thought it was cellulitus but i told him my son, who is 30 had a staph infection in his finger so he treated me for that. he told me it is going around right now. especially in schools. my son is o.k. now too. he also told me to apply a hot compress & it really helped when i did. hope you all beat this soon! it is very stubborn!

I work at a medical clinic and we see a lot of MRSA.
You may want to see a infectious disease specialist.
Some people carry MRSA in their nose . The ID specialist may culture the nose to see if you are carriers and suggest potential eradication with nasal creams and bodywashes. Cover all MRSA active wounds. Do not share towels. Do good handwashing. Try to not touch your nose.
Hope thisis helpful.
The LA County Public Health has information on MRSA on their website.
L

Staff is VERY contagious. You should wash everything your
family has touched. Sheets, towels,clothes,socks. If you threw the socks in a hamper , that needs to be washed too.
Spray the insides of your shoes. Wash your tubs ,sinks toilets with bleach. Just wash everything. You should not be battleing this for a year so I would check all things "touched". Put your husband fee ( kids too, and you ) in a bleach solution. JUst fill a bucket and i say 1/2 cup of bleach.
I know its yucky, but you can get it !!!!!
N.

K.,
I'm so sorry hear your family has been affected by this! I had never heard about this until I watched a Dr.Phil program on it about a week ago.
I suggest you check out drphil.com and try to get a copy of that program. It was very informative!
A.