Living with MRSA

Im 26 and living with mrsa. I've had mrsa since 2009. I get a break out every couple of months. I've done everything from bleaching towels, washing cloths in hot water, cleaning hands constantly. Staying away from hospitals. First break out was on my stomach and I thought it was just a in grown hair or a zit. But it kept getting harder, never came to a head, got really hot and got to the point where it hurt to move. I ended up in the ER because I let it go on for months. It was the worst break out I ever had. I've had more then 10 break outs since then. My doc is so use to me needing the antibotics now. I can now figure out when I'm getting once due to the syptoms I get. I ended up being allergic to the main antibotic Bactrim. I broke out in hives and ended up in the ER. I have no idea how I got this. Could be from a gym, tanning, hot tub, sharing a towel. My doctor and everybody else know very little about mrsa. I hate that its become so common for me that I hardly even think about it anymore. I just go to the doc as soon as I get an out break. I do stay away from people when I get this, keep it clean and covered. I also warn people that i do get it. I feel they have the right to know but i feel like they look at me like i have some horrible disease. My doc told me once u get mrsa, it never goes away. U have it for the rest of ur life. Does anybody else have to deal with mrsa often?

Hi Bbyblueyedcargurl. I don't know much about MRSA, but I wanted to pop in to welcome you to the Chronic Pain forum. I wish I knew more about MRSA. It sounds painful though. I hope that you get the answers that you need.

Hugs,

Flower

Hi bbyblue and welcome to Healing Well's chronic pain forum. I have not heard of anyone getting the community-associated MRSA repeatedly either, wow. What kind of symptoms do you have which each outbreak? MRSA is actually carried in our noses not on the skin, around 25% to 30% people are carriers. We also carry staph under our fingernails from what I had read about it. Does your dr do a wound culture on each outbreak, I sure hope so to insure which strain of staph you have. Staph infections are very difficult to kill the bug out and resistent to most antibiotics. I am surprised that Bactrim is being used and perhaps this is why the bug keeps re-appearing as it is not strong enough to kill it. Another thought is have you ever consulted with an infectious disease dr while having an outbreak? If not this may be something you may want to consider.

If I were you I sure would not be using a public tanning bed thats a perfect place to pick it. Talk about a breeding place for it. I have gone to tanning salons and watched how those beds are not cleaned as they should be because the owner does not want to spend much money on cleaning solutions. You seem to know the tricks on what to do and not to do. Actually there is a lot of info on the web about MRSA if you do a google search.

I sure hope the new year brings you few outbreaks. Take care and keep us posted on how you are doing.

hello, I also use antibacterial soap but I still continue to get mrsa so I dont think thats helping much. I'm pretty good at catching the sores pretty quickly. It is amazing how much more we know then the doctors do. Just goes to show we cant always rely on them for everything. I heard about the colonizing thing. They say it colonizes in ur nose. I will check out the zinc thing, im bad about taking vitamins. I know mrsa also likes to attack u where ur immune system is down so I try to stay healthy :) but sometimes that doesnt even do any good. I'm not sure what the polka dots are?
Is the cream Mupirocin the one u rub in ur nostrils? im at work so not sure on the name but that sounds like it. The first time i got mrsa i was prescibed it but my doc no longer prescribes it. My doc trys to keep me out of the docs office as much as possible. Like I said I feel like i'm treated like i have a horrible disease. I think shes worried about me making others sick. ugh :( Good luck and thank u for the tip :)

i suspected that i have had mrsa for a few years now, and every few months its a pain in the ass. although have not had it tested, i am almost certain because my brother had gotten it while on an extensive hike (of all places!.. he may have gotten it from another hiker), and passed it to me. its kind of a scary thing, but if this is the new staph, wont most of the population eventually get it anyways? i know this post is kind of old but i want to share my temporary cure i found, to help other people find relief in their lives.. here is what works for me

USE WITCH HAZEL as soon as you suspect it may be more than just a pimple. it is an over the counter product, a natural smokey smelling liquid. apply a few times a day. witchhazel is an "astringent" , which basically tightens the skin, and seems to dry up/squeeze out the bacteria. within a couple days you should notice it subsiding, but it still seems to take a week to completely heal. i know it sucks, good luck

MRSA has been around for quite along time, it is like allot of bacterial infections, it has become immune to most antibiotics and thus very very hard to treat.  Back in the mid ninties Vancomycin was the antibiotic of choice to treat it, and at that time it was strictly IV. But now there are strains that are also resistent to that!  Allot of times they will or used  to swap the nasal cavities for people that were MRSA to see if they carried it in there nasal and sinus cavities. Staph is a pretty common bug, and most people will have it at some time in their life, it is just when you get the antibiotic resistent strain that it really becomes a problem, and more and more bugs are becoming that way. Now days when people that get infections they really need to get it checked out, because if it is antibiotic resistent,  it can sometime become a life or death ordeal, because it is so difficult to treat!

White Beard.

i'm very concerned about mrsa right now. i've had it twice and required months of iv antibiotic therapy. i'm awaiting blood and wound cultures right now and i'm afraid i've got it agian! i don't know if my body will tolerate the therapy again because i'm in such a weakened state from illness and surgury. both previous times i've had it have required hospital stays and central line placement, home health care and a lot of stress for my family. i've been told that once you have mrsa you have it for life. does anyone know if this is true or if there is a treatment that can cure this infection? i am so anxious as i wait for lab results....i don't want to go through this again....i'm afraid i won't last through the treatments. all advice is appreciated.

Well, this is going to sound weird. My dog developed an infection after being cut while being groomed and was put on antibiotics. They didn't work so other antibiotics were tried. She has staph, strep, pseudomonas, MRSA, and another infection going on and they all built up a resistance to all the antibiotics available. The vet did everything he could and said he hoped she didn't get worse.

I started scouring the Internet and saw a study in the Netherlands, I think, that showed that probiotics could clear up MRSA and other infections. It made sense since antibiotics kill all bacteria...even the good bacteria we need. I started giving her probiotics made for dogs and it cleared her up! I couldn't believe it and I had spent over $4,000 at the vet.

So, probiotics won't hurt you and they very well could help you...a lot! My dog suffered for several years and I cleared her up in a month or two. I did keep her on probiotics after it cleared up and she never had another problem with I factions.

Sherrine