Cellulitis and Staph infections

Many people may have never concerned themselves with staph, medically known as staphylococcus aureus. You should be. Staph is a common bacteria that lives on the surface of our own skin, but the amount varies per person. When that common bacteria enters the skin, it can cause a nasty infection. It can enter the skin through any type of break in the skin like a paper cut or an irritated hair follicule.

Why have I brought up the topic of staph? Because I, unfortunately, am currently battling an infection of staph which has caused another infection called Cellulitis. What is that? Well, I have my entire left thigh red, swollen, hot as heck, and blistered, as if I had a severe sunburn. It may have started with an irritated hair follicule. My infection is in a common area, the leg, but cellulitis can be on the face or anywhere else on your body. If I hadn't gone to the doctor two weeks ago, I could be facing potentially life threatening consequenses.

I went to the doctor on April 17 with a rash on my leg that was red and itchy, and seemed to be getting larger. So she took a culutre, which she sent to the lab to check, and put me on an antibiotic. I was told to make a follow up appointment with the dermatologist to check the rash. I went back on April 20. The derm took another culture and sent it to the lab. The first culture came back negative for bacteria. He put me on two antibiotics and told me to stop the first. If the rash were to get worse, Iwas suppossed to call them right away. Well, I didn't. It got worse. By Tuesday, April 25 my leg was swollen and the rash had extended from my hip to my knee, and wrapped itself around my leg. I hoped that it would get better so I didn't go in until my scheduled follow up, April 27, yesterday. When the doctor that saw me the first day saw my leg, she told me to go straight to the hospital. The second culture had come back positive for staph, and I needed an antibiotic through an IV. I'm trembling even now as I type this.

So I spent my Thursday at the hospital for 5 hours with a treatment of vancomycin. Don't ask me what that is becasue I really don't want to know. I did however get a "normal" reaction to the antibiotic, something the doctors call "red man/woman" syndrome. It started with the worst itch I have ever had in my life- starting on my scalp and going down to my chest. At the same time my skin turned sunburnt red. A dose of Benadryl took care of the effect, but knocked me out for 3 hours! Finally I was let home, but with instructions to return for another dose of vancomycin the next day. I was also prescribed a third oral antibiotic, clindamycin. Luckily it seems to be doing the job. The only side affect I am having is slight nausea, and a little light headedness. I will need to have two more days of IV treatment. Besides the IV treatment, I have to take the clindamycin, and I was also instructed to either eat as much yogurt as possible, or buy some acedophilus, to prevent possible yeast infections. Obviously, I am on a combination of two powerful antibiotics that are killing both good and bad bacteria. I'm on a long road to recovery.

The important thing to remember about both staph and cellulitis is that the bacteria staph is the cause of cellulitis. If it is not taken care of immediately, it can be life threatening. A friend of mine was hospitalized for 4 days last year with a severe staph infection. She was quarantined the whole four days, it was that bad. I remember reading about the actress Rosie O'Donell when she had a serious staph infection in her hand, but I cannot remember how long ago it was. This is not something to play around with. My discharge instructions tell me: with antibiotic treatment the size of the red area will gradually shrink in size until the skin returns to normal. This will take 7-10 days. If the infection is on your arm or leg, keep the part RAISED as much as possible. Limit your use of the affected extremity. If the infection is on your leg, walk as little as possible during the first few days of the treatment. That will be extremely hard to do in my household, however I do not want to prolong this treatment.

Please, be extremely careful when you get a scratch. Wash your hands as often as possible, and if you cannot wash, make sure you have an antibacterial hand gel/sanitizer with you at all times. Especially wash your hands (or sanitize them) after you touch your nose, the staph bacteria is most prominently found there. I found more information on both staph and cellulitis on the MayoClinic website. They have a photo that illustrates what cellulitis looks like, and that is exactly what my leg looked like yesterday. Don't take a small scratch for granted- clean it and put an antibiotic ointment on it and cover it as soon as possible. You would not like it at all if it developed into a staph infection. Seriously.