<p>So I am getting alarmed. My D has had staph since she came back from India- which was last year. Didn’t get diagnosed until this year ( cause it looked like mild allergy/rash etc)- not MRSA however can’t get rid of it- she has been on antibiotics since August.</p>
<p>After talking to a friend who has permanent scarring & who freaked me out by it , I checked in with D again & this was her response.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately- she arranged to go see her sister tomorrow - but I am going to try and get her into the naturopath before her train & get in to see her general MD when she gets back.
But I can’t help but feeling there should be something else that could be done?</p>
<p>She ought to see a specialist in infectious diseases, imo. Staph can really pose some big problems even if it isn’t MRSA, and if she’s had multiple courses of antibiotics she needs more help. Your hospital should be able to suggest one. (Most cities of 100K people might only have a couple.)</p>
<p>Thanks- she did go to the travel clinic at the UW before her trip- they are mostly staffed with NPs, but I am going to email them & see if they have any referrals.</p>
<p>I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself- :o</p>
<p>EK: I am finally starting to feel relief from this dreaded infection. It’s been miserable. Three weeks and all sorts of antibiotics, and finally I feel relief. I’ve been on Sulfameth/trimethoprim which helped somewhat which my internist prescribed, just to get me on something. Thinking I had eczema and a bad rash, my dermatologist prescribed minocycline. But I finally got into to see an infectious disease specialist. She gave me a prescription of a nasal bactroban to kill any staph in my nose, which is where they mostly “colonize”. I also dab some on lesions. Sounded awful, but after 6 days of this treatment, I’m finally able not so distracted with the infection. Definitely she should see a specialist.</p>
<p>Emerald, I just saw your note that your DD also has had folliculitis. Apparently, this is a symptom of MRSA. That infectious disease specialist asked if I had any ingrown follicles and while I didn’t, I did mention that my husband did. He may have been the carrier.</p>
<p>O she is such a pill- I told her I was going to take her into the dr tomorrow & she says it can wait.
for a week! I don’t think I should let it go any farther</p>
<p>She has been treated for this w antibiotics since August- many different kinds</p>
<p>Although this is not MRSA (did she get a culture?) this is an antibiotic resistant organism as she hasn’t responded completely with antibiotics. If a culture is done, and she is on a reasonable course of antibiotics (may need 2-3 weeks) of the antibiotic the bacteria is sensitive to, a referral is appropriate. But, I would start with dermatology as an inflammatory reaction may be the problem and not bacteria. There really isn’t much that can be done for MRSA that your primary care provider can’t do.</p>
<p>I treat staph infections all the time. Bactrim or Cipro, Bactroban on the lesions and in the nose (to treat colonization as someone previously mentioned) and having her wash with phisohex is our standard. The problem is, that once a patient gets a staph infection, they are prone to recurrence. For cellulitis, we do a couple of days of IV Unasyn, followed by oral antibiotics. Although your daughter has been on antibiotics for a while, if they are not the right ones, they won’t work. A culture and sensitivity should guide the docs.</p>
<p>dkitty - though the Bactroban to the nose and Phisohex has been common, my understanding that the studies show that it is not helpful and may theoretically lead to more antibiotic resistance. ID in my area doesn’t recommend it anymore.</p>
<p>EK, my heart goes out to you. We have had staph, too and it is a bear. Lots of baths with cider vinegar, then with a little chlorine, then with epsom salts (different baths, each, different days). A&D ointment seems to be best at staving off additional attacks on dry skin (dx was infected eczema). We have also tried Cat’s Claw (herb), and it seems to help.</p>
<p>Alkalize the body is great advice, too - it makes it harder for the bugs to thrive. Google how to alkalize the body. It’s all over the alternative health forums. Oddly, adding lemon, lime and grapefruit (not oranges) de acidifies the blood. Generally, Sugar = bad. Sugar acidifies the blood. One would think calcium would help, but now that the makers of the vitamins have put citrate in the calcium preparations to “help” digestion, we can’t take the stuff as it acidifies our tummies and causes bad heartburn. &^*%$.</p>
<p>Epsom salts has magnesium and is extremely soothing in a bath. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’ll focus on what your daughter can do as she waits for the specialist to make a diagnosis and determine a course for treatment.
She should do everything to boost her immune system- daily exercise, a fibrous healthy diet, super foods like lactobacillus mentioned above, sleep, sleep, sleep, yoga or the like to handle her daily stresses, obtain an ideal weight for her, avoid caffeine and alcohol in excess, anything she can do to turbo charge her immune system.</p>
<p>She just got home last night & looks terrible. Her finals were over a week ago and the apt complex cleared out & she says she hasn’t been sleeping. Originally the plan was for my H to pick her up on the weekend to go skiing, but then he had forced overtime again. If I had known that everyone was gone & that she was still sick, I would have picked her up right away.</p>
<p>i can’t tell if she has lost weight- my H who picked her up said that there was a little food in the fridge, but she has big circles under her eyes & she seems very irritable.
I had gotten her some probiotics a couple months ago, but she said because they had to be kept in the fridge she forgot to take them.</p>
<p>She is also refusing to see a dr until next week ( she has a train ticket to see her sister)- which I suppose will have to do, because she is taller than I am, & even when she was 8 I couldn’t throw her over my shoulder.
I had asked her several times to have the clinic at her school test her blood, but according to her/them, that wasn’t possible.<headbang> She has had several cultures, so presumably they know what kind of staph it is, which makes me wonder if there is something else that is underlying the resistance. </headbang></p>
<p>She hates being home, especially since every time she comes it seems I am trying to get her to do something she doesn’t want to do & she is also insisting that I wouldn’t take her to the dr last year ( funny, I remember trying to get her to go, but she insisted she was fine & she had to go to work at summer camp-)</p>
<p>She generally eats well, but as those on the spectrum often have digestive disturbances , I am wondering if it is causing even more problem with the antibiotics.
We have epsom salts , & I bought some kombucha tea hoping it would help ( I guess I better go back before they pull it from the store)</p>
<p>Im going to call the infectious disease clinic this morning & hope they will get her an appt without having to get a referral from her GP, cause I think he will require her to come in first- even though 4 months ago he denied it was staph. :rolleyes:
deep sigh.
Thanks for the support- I really need it.</p>