MRSA Resources

260 responses so far ↓

• Esther Kelly // Nov 17, 2006 at 9:28 pm

  I had Surgery three years ago and the Dr. missed and put a staple in the wound and I got MRSA. I had to be put back in the hospital for treatment. I thought that was the end of it. I had surgery three weeks ago and it showed its ugly head again. My question is do you ever get rid of it? Do you carry it with you all your life, and as long as it is treated is there any chance of death from it ? If any one has any info you can give me I would greatly appreciate it. Esther Kelly

• Amanda // Nov 22, 2006 at 10:56 am

  i was diagnosed a year ago my first treatment failed im only 22 and i really scared about this situation

• domonique // Dec 4, 2006 at 5:26 am

  My daughter 21, grandaughter 3, and son-in-law 24, have all been diagnosed with mrsa, I have so many questions I don;t know where to begin, but without follow up care will the mrsa stay ?spread?…….My daughter just found out she is three months pregnant, can this infect the fetus? please help us, none of us ever feels well.

• Sarah // Dec 5, 2006 at 11:38 am

  I was diagnosed with MRSA in my first three days of college freshman year. I do a lot of walking, as my campus is large and rural. I’m also a dancer. It seems that my wound begins to puss with large amounts of moving (the wound is on my leg) and I keep ecountering set backs to healing even though I keep it clean and covered. I can’t give up walking or dance. Is there something I should be doing to take better care of it and help it to heal?

• Elizabeth // Dec 11, 2006 at 10:22 am

  I am 16 and I have MRSA. I was diagnosed with it three years ago. I was infected with it when no doctor’s knew what the hell it was. I suffered from it for eight months before the doctor’s and myself found the medication that puts me back into dormant state. I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I am a preformer (dance, acting, etc) and it effects everything. Whenever I have an outbreak I have to soak in a bath tub to drain the puss. I get large abscesses around my butt and my knees. It even spread to my arms and nose.

• laura // Dec 11, 2006 at 5:46 pm

  I am 28 and was just diagnosed with MRSA and was hospitalized. A week later i find out my five year old daughter has it. All the info I find doesnt seem to answer the questions i need answered. My daughter had no open abrasions on her and still caught it. ?????

• carol // Dec 12, 2006 at 11:38 pm

  My 16 year old granddaughter just got diagnosed today with MRSA. But we can’t seem to get the right answers to our questions. She is an athlete and I woul like to know what specialists should be contacted for answers? She is in a lot of pain, lost of abscesses and we need to know how to what to do.

• Denise // Dec 19, 2006 at 2:36 pm

  My daughter has itching hives from the mersa on a daily basis. The doctors have no answers for it. I know she is itching terribly because I too now have mersa.
  I want to be told a regimine to follow for fewer boil out breakes. My daughtert has had just the one episode three months ago.

• Carlla // Dec 21, 2006 at 6:10 am

  I am 23. I’ve had mrsa for 3 years before doctors could tell me what it was. I have 5 children ages 2 mos, 1, 3, 5, and 8 they also have mersa along with my husband and they’ve been treated, but the mersa keeps coming back. I get it the worst and I’ve been treated with so many different medications (bactrim, rifampin, doxycycline, betasept..ect) nothing seems to work.( I feel like giving up) We are covered in the scares that mersa leaves. I had to quit my job and I clean obsessively. I’ve been living with this problem and having out breaks frequently. Someone please help my family !

• Lauren // Dec 24, 2006 at 9:03 am

  I am 22 years old. I was diagnosed with MRSA about a week ago. I have so many questions that are unresolved. First, what can I do to make someone around here listen?? The doctors treat it as a “headache” and I read online how horrible this desease is. They never even told me about it, I found out only because I work with the healthsystem let alone hospitalize me. I am so nervous my son will catch this. I am totally unsure of what precautions to take at home. Where can I go to find some answers? Do I need to go back and get retested after I am off of antibiotics>?

• laura // Dec 24, 2006 at 9:43 am

  lauren… just to fill you in on the info i found out. my daughter caught it to… luckily it was just one abcess. but i kept it covered and kept her from school. if the abcess comes in contact with sheets or clothes bleach them in very hot water, towels too! (so try to use whites!) and only use things once between washes. that has worked for us. she is off her meds and i am one day away from it. my doctor told me that if neither one of us gets an abcess within a week of being off antbiotics, then were no longer contagious. and lysol should always be used, i used it on everything constantly.

• Gale Hartney // Dec 24, 2006 at 1:02 pm

  I was just diagnosed with mrsa I was in a auto accident 24 years ago had both legs crushed Plates and pins and screws instaled had a infection when I left the hospital ostimilites now it has turned into MRSA now on iv Vancomycin twice a day been on it for 8 days tell you if it works. Have alot of qustions to ask but don’t know who to ask. Gale

• Gloria // Dec 25, 2006 at 5:11 pm

  I have had MSRA for over a year. I have found no way to prevent the misery. I hope that someone develops a vaccine!

  My first breakout came a week after surgery in Aug 05. Since then, I have had several breakouts including a breakout in Oct 06 on the open drainage site from back surgery. I had to be hospitalized again and treated surgically. What a miserable problem we have.

  When I get the dreaded red node, I go to the walk in clinic to get antibiotics - for me it is Augmentin that works right now. (this is the third rx that I have tried) I have taken antibiotic injections for one attack. The boil must become “ripe” and drained. (PAIN)

  My primary care physician had no clue how to treat the MRSA. The doctors at the walk in are familiar with the disease/condition.

• Lisa // Dec 27, 2006 at 3:04 pm

  my dad has alzheimers disease and he was recently diagnosed with mrsa about 6 weeks ago and my mom is devastated as the alzheimers disease is enough to handle as she is the primary caretaker at home. My 1st question is would this mrsa problem be passed onto someone by sharing a hair clipper if the person whom owned it used it for shaving an area with the furnuncles?? The razor was cleaned with rubbing alcohol 91 % isopropyl before using on my dad to whom has alzheimers, his resistance or immune system is low because of the alzheimers anyhow. We are confused and hoping this goes away. He has taken the new experimental anti-biotic linezolid and also the dr. gave them a cream to apply to the nose where the swelling took place.I dont know what to ask here but any tips or helpful hint will help. we are very clean hygeine oriented and have use lysol for disinfecting. Pleas anyone help !!!!

• Pamela // Dec 27, 2006 at 8:44 pm

  I was dx with MRSA two months ago. It started out as, what I thought, was an insect bite. But I was wrong, within two days of getting it, I had to go to the doctors. He told me that it wasn’t a big deal and he was seeing as many as six cases a week with the same dx. He gave me an antibiotic and sent me home. The infection went away about two weeks later. Now here it is two months later and I have another out break, but not on the same leg. Is it possible that it will keep showing up in different places? And is this something that I will have to live with for ever? I have two small boys and the last thing I want is for them to get it. If anyone could advice that would be wonderful.

• Josh // Dec 28, 2006 at 2:23 am

  My brother was dx with MRSA it infected his blood he is on life support and in critical condition his lungs are failing,kiddneys,liver,and even his heart. He is only 24yrs old , has anyone ever heard of this serious of case and the survival rate in someone this young…..family needs answers and prayers

• christina // Dec 28, 2006 at 7:46 am

  Josh, we will keep your family in our prayers - unfortunately what is happening is not as uncommon as one would hope, and is the reason we are here. My husband survived it, and I sure pray that your brother does too.

• Lory // Dec 28, 2006 at 10:09 am

  I have almost EXACTLY the same story as Pamela. I had “spider bites” supposedly onone leg at first, then after the antibiotics they got better. then a few weeks later I got more, then ANother antibiotic and it spread to the other thigh, that happened 4 times before I finally got diagnosed with MRSA and put on the RIGHT antibiotics. it was horrible, I couldnt walk or work. I have 2 small boys and now I’m worried about them as well.

• KIM // Dec 28, 2006 at 10:53 am

  I WAS FOUND OUT THAT I HAVE MRSA LAST YEAR. SOMEHOW IT CAME BACK EXACTLY A YEAR LATER. THIS TIME I HAD TO GET BY BACK LANCED 6 INCHES WIDE, AND 2 INCHES DEEP. I WAS WONDERING IS THERE ANY CURE OF THIS, BECAUSE I’M STARTING TO THINK ONCE YOU HAVE IT, YOU HAVE IT FOR LIFE. IF SOMEONE OUT THERE CAN HELP, “PLEASE DO!!!!!!!!!!!”

• Josh // Dec 29, 2006 at 12:08 am

  does anyone know about the drug XIGRIS? My brother has been on it for a couple of days now the doctors are realy concerned about the condition of his lungs. Last night they had to put a air hose in the side of his bodie to go in to his lung. They said he developed a hole in his lung due to the ventilator?

• Jenna // Jan 1, 2007 at 9:46 am

  Josh, I have seen a case as serious as ur brothers. My boyfriends 17 years old cousin was taken to the hospital because she was starting to swell around her throat and couldnt breath. She had MRSA in her lungs and her blood was infected. She stopped breathing on her own and she was put on a ventilator, but she had brain damage due to lack of oxygen. The doctors had never seen anything like it before and didnt know what to do, and she died 12 hours later. No one knew she had MRSA and it was too late for her. I pray that your brother’s MRSA was detected soon enough and that he will be ok.

• deb // Jan 3, 2007 at 12:41 am

  what’s really interesting is that MRSA can stay dorment for any length of time and still become infectious to any one in contact with it. Where was MRSA before HIV, and where was HIV before HEP C. Ask yourselves this one question?
  When has good old pennicillin ever failed to deliver anibiotic to the body in order to fight off any infection? Only when the germ was put there, and believe me it has been very well , skilled, mastered, tried, and then released to the population. Only the strong survive!!!!!

• andrea // Jan 3, 2007 at 12:46 pm

  to all in dire need - just read that tea tree oil may help fight MRSA viruses.

• Valerie // Jan 3, 2007 at 5:33 pm

  Thank you for all your stories and questions. I have read them all. I have been fighting an infection in my hands since July and it wasn’t untill September it went to my eye and they told me it was mrsa. No other info was provided at the time. After treatments of Vincomycin, which I am now allergic to, my eye healed-not without permanent damage, my hands are still breaking out after treatments of Doxyclycline, Clindamycin, Levaquin, and Zyvox. I am going to the hospital for IV treatment on Fri. Without health insurance I am running out of options, but not hope. I have been supplementing with colloidal silver, stimucell, and enterobiotic S-IGC. So far boils are drying up faster than on drugs. I realize there is much controversy over alternative medicine however for me it seems to be working. I am new at this computer stuff but if anyone would like to write me feel free. I’ll do my best to answer. Just put mrsa under subject. My prayers go out to all of us suffering from this dreadful disease. There has to be an answer somewhere. I would also like to know what to expect in the hospital. Thanks for your help, God Bless All

• Dawn // Jan 4, 2007 at 11:43 am

  My father of 82 has MRSA. He contacted it at a hospital and its been 4months now. He is not doing good. His organs are slowly shuting down due to the Vancomycin.
  Where can one get brochures and pass them around to alert people.
  thanks

• Pamela // Jan 5, 2007 at 3:41 pm

  Well I have just read all the new entries. My heart goes out to each and everyone of you. Maybe the New Year will bring better health to all of us.
  I finished my second round of antibiotics earlier this week. This outbreak wasn’t as bad as the first one. I hope that I’m lucky enough to catch and treat it next time before it enters my blood stream.
  I haven’t had much luck from my doctor on information, that is why I turn to all of you.
  As long as wel have this infection, we are the best source of advertising for it. We need to tell people about it and how dangerous it is. Word of mouth is the best weapon we have right now to fight this. God bless all of you.

• Wendi // Jan 5, 2007 at 6:22 pm

  My husband was diagnosed with MRSA in May 2005 went into his bloodstream caused all of his joints to swell and his doctor sent us to Rheumatologist, which diagnosed him with something called Ankylosing Spondylitis and gave him RX similar to chemotherapy and he is to take this for 3 years. Now I have just been diagnosed with MRSA and I have found that MRSA can cause septic arthritis, symptoms are exactly what Ankylosing Spondylitis is, what should I do. Also I havent slept in days, I have developed OCD about cleaning and fear every second that our 5year old will get this from us..Please help, please?

• Louise // Jan 7, 2007 at 2:20 pm

  I first got this in 2002 and was told it was an allergic reaction from a spider bit when I lived in Fresno. The doctor treated it with a topical and an antibiotic. It crept up again this summer (July) on my right side below my breast. With lancing, antibiotics it cleared up…the doctors said it was MRSA, but didn’t tell me anything about this infection. I been trreated with Keflex, Doxycycine, and others with some success until the reoccurrance. My house has been cleaned to the point of being a sterile lab.

  I’m still breaking out…under my arms, side of my face and neck, sides.

  I have had breakouts months since…usually around my period. I’m having another right now on my right forearm and it is painful and sore but draining with heat.

  I need to know what I can do dietary wise to build up my immune system. Does this thing go “dormant” only to resurface?

  Since childhood, I had “cold sores” that developed in my nose. I thought that was all they were until I started to get educated. Now I am beginning to believe I’ve had this colony for over 40 years.

  HELP!

• Gloria // Jan 9, 2007 at 12:12 pm

  Valerie,
  You mentioned some supplements that you are taking. Would you mind listing them, where you get them and the cost. I hope it is not too imposing.
  I am trying Ester C, Echenachea, folic acid, and B vitamins.

  Wendi,
  I kind of feel obsessed with cleaning. When my grandson lived with me, for over a year, he did not develop mrsa. I used those antibacterial wipes for everything I touch. Found a product called Staph Attack on the internet and ordered it. Now I use that with the antibacterial wipes. I use Antibacterial Body Wash for showers as well as hands. At work, I carry antibacterial wipes for my hands and the desks, etc. I also have the antibacterial hand liquid (over 60% alcohol) for times when I can’t get to soap and water. I change sheets often and wash all my laundry in hot water. Yeah, I feel like a cleaning nut.

• Lisa // Jan 9, 2007 at 4:33 pm

  If mrsa gets into the eyes what happens and how long does it take before symptoms develop? What are the symptoms ?

• mary // Jan 10, 2007 at 10:07 pm

  mrsa in the family-started with a boil-did not have bactroban nasal medication-came down with high fever-pain in leg-leg swelled-red-hot to touch-vancomycin and rifampin-rifampin did it -it got the numbers down- I watched the infection go away with the rifampin-it is going to be a long road back-much needed medicine for a long time -other complications-too many to mention-if you have a boil please keep it clean-go to doctor-get medicine-get the bactroban for in the nose-wash your hands often-warm soapy water-God Bless

• Janice // Jan 12, 2007 at 10:29 pm

  I just found out today that I have MRSA I went to the Doctors for him to recheck my finger after he had done surgery on it this week to drain it and my swollen hand. I don’t think I have had anything that hurt as much as this has. And as I was was getting ready I notice another sore on the very next finger just appeared. It made me sick, at the thought that I would be going though this sicking pain again. and wondering how I got this strain of staph. He also told me that it was not contagious, Because I told him my grandson stays often at my house. So he gave me a new prescription to see how it will work on the new outbreak. After reading all the stories submitted I’m not to happy so if anyone out ther has anywords of incorrigment I would be glad to hear from them.

• Dawn // Jan 13, 2007 at 2:26 pm

  Thank you Pam, I know that everyone on the board is the best advertising. I never knew what MRSA was until my father came up with it. I usually read up on things medically but this..I missed. And I am not suprised, no one wants to discuss it at times. Now AARP had an article on MRSA and I need to find it. It was a 2006 issue. For everyone here that has MRSA, please keep your faith it will help your strength in dealing with this.

  Blessings to all in ‘07 with better health`

• Harriet Early // Jan 18, 2007 at 10:08 am

  My husband has just been diagnosed with MRSA. He has been dealing with this for about a month and a half because the dermatolagist could figure out what it was. For the past two/three week he has been suffering from back, chest pain. Could this be a result of the MSRA?

• Gale Hartney // Jan 21, 2007 at 6:06 am

  Hi
  I have been on Vancomycin for 6 weeks treatment for Mrsa seams to be working.As the dranage from the wound is drying up. Have two more weeks to go. My infection started out as ostimilites then turned in to mrsa. hope it works.
  If you have any further info please let me know.
  my email is

• Dawn // Jan 21, 2007 at 6:38 am

  Louise,
  Lysine (Walgreens, drugstore) & Vit -C also works with the immune system. Plus, try not to stress out so much as this also lower the immune system and thats proof of a cold sore attack. I take Lysine to prevent the cold sores and it does put the Herpes Virus back into dormant..let us know if this works.

• melissa // Jan 22, 2007 at 12:05 am

  i, my name is melissa i was diagnosed with mrsa last week i have a five year old who had mrsa two and a half years ago and i just got married last month… i am 25 years old and to me i feel like i am just starting my life and i dont know what to expect with this… but my story is a little different see my son did have sores on his butt and on his arm and leg… but i dont have these i have had this gross green stuff come out of my nose that everyone just told me was just a cold and then chronic sinus infections.
  i just recently got my husbands insurance so i did not see a doctor about this until last week and he tested the mucus from my nose which tested positive for mrsa… i am scared even more because i might be pregnant so i the doctor says i cant take my antibiotic which is velaquin. i still don know how i am still alive with that infection in me for who knows how long that stuff has been coming out of my nose for almost nine months now. we were not on any birth control and we had sex while i was ovulating it might be all in my head but it is too soon to take a pregnancy test but i am starting to get really scared the doctor was not any help he was a ent doctor i dont know what kind of specialist to see and i cant get a soon enough appointment do you know if i can just go to the emergency room and say i am not leaving until i am better or i know how to get better?? please any info will help i am clueless i am scared my son will get this again is it possible i caught it from him three years ago almost with out him having any new sores?
  do you know if i am pregnant if it will affect the baby or do you know who i can ask because the doctor would not give me any info…

  thank you so much and may God be with you

  melissa

• judi // Jan 24, 2007 at 10:53 pm

  i had my first mrsa outbreak almost a year ago, but i was not properly diagnosed until about two weeks ago. i went to the doctor with a baseball size carbuncle under my arm that had well over 16 heads. absolutely the grossest and most painful thing i’ve ever experienced. i’ve been put on bactrim as well as mupirocin nasal spray and was given chlorhexidine to wash with. The combination has been miraculous. I’ve also found that tea tree oil is a good antiseptic to use to wash the wound. i’ve have had 5 outbreaks since last may, each one worse than the last. My doctor is optimistic that this treatment will help me get rid of the infection. i hope this helps someone out there.

• Lauren // Jan 29, 2007 at 11:24 am

  Someone please help! I’ve had MRSA for about 2 years now. I’m only 22 and this is not the way or what I want to die from. About a week ago I went to a local infectious disease doctor. He gave me 3 diff RX’s. I’m trying the things he told me to do like clean under my nails, wash everything and start fresh from when I begin the RX which I have. The doctor also told me to use this scrub which is called Chlorhexydine. (it comes it a bluish, green bottle. You use it after your normal shower but before you actually get out. You put it on from your nose to your toes and leave it on for a minute than rinse it off. I’ really sick of these skin boils and they leave scars. They’re ugly! If anyone knows any cures, please let me know. I dont want to live with this forever.

• Sara // Jan 31, 2007 at 2:14 pm

  Hello, My daughter 7 months old was dx yesterday with MRSA. They put her on Sulfamethoxasole w/tmp susp. I was told this staph is very resistant but was also told it can be cured. By reading what everyone else writes it doesnt seem to be. She has had 3 boils in the past month. And its starting to seem she got it from getting her ears pierced. Im not sure though. I dont really know what to think or what to do, like i said, by reading everyones statements on here it doesnt seem like something that goes away.

• mary // Jan 31, 2007 at 5:28 pm

  I know this can be cured-it takes diligence on the Medical Community’s part and on the patient and patient’s family’s part. We alternate bleach-alcohol to clean surfaces-no sharing towels or face cloths-keep numbers down-get the precise medication for pathogen-this is identified by blood cultures-Try Staph-a-septic-look on line-google it and it will tell you where you can buy it near you-tee tree oil-nasal bactroban-keep hands clean always-cover boils and get treated immediately-Infectious Disease Specialist is the way to go-children can get very sick from this-can develop ostomyelitis from this as well as other complications. Eat right and get plenty of rest. Let’s all fight this together-God Bless-Keep the prayers going.

• Sarah // Jan 31, 2007 at 9:39 pm

  MRSA is a terrible infection that no one should have to deal or live with. Unfortunately, some people do have to struggle with it every day, but many people are being and have been cured. I contracted the infection about one year ago. It was not an easy battle, especially as the first site that opened was on my leg and I am a dancer in college. But, with wonderful medical aid, diligent self-care, loving friends, and homeopathy (Echinacea, goldenseal, and other herbs for healing and immune boosting) I am healing. I just want those that join this group to have hope that they can be cured and heal. I truly feel that herbology, feeling loved, and staying positive helped immensely. I suggest that some people look to alternative medicines like herbology along with doctor prescribed anti-biotics. Antibiotics do kill the good bacteria in your intestines along with the bad, so I’ve been taking a probiotic (also found in live-culture yogurts) which has helped my stomach. I’m praying for you all to have faith in your own ability to heal and stay positive.

• Kathleen // Jan 31, 2007 at 11:25 pm

  My husband had to go into a nursing home after contacting MRSA in the hosp. He got it four years ago when he had surgery and now it has reapeared Does anyone have a cure for it He has been in the nursing home three weeks, has to stay there because he is having intervenious antiobotics every six hours, Insurance wont pay for it at home, I plan on giveing him a lot of vitamin C seleium, zinc vitamin D and Probotics when he gets home I welcome any suggestions thanks to all of you for shareing

• Dawn // Feb 3, 2007 at 8:29 pm

  Kathleen,
  Several antibiotics can be used to treat most staph infections, including MRSA. From what my family has been told Vancomycin has been the most effective and reliable drug in these cases, but is used intravenously and is not effective for treatment of MRSA when taken by mouth.
  Give him vitamins and buikd up his immune system. I dont have MRSA but my father contracted it through a hospital and has never been the same. He is 82 and is stable, due to the Vancomycin.
  “Few antibiotics are available to treat more serious MRSA infections. These include vancomycin (Vancocin, Vancoled), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim, Bactrim DS, Septra, Septra DS), and linezolid (Zyvox).”

  This came from this website:

  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007261.htm

• mary // Feb 7, 2007 at 8:55 pm

  so happy to share that my realtive has been to infectious disease specialist today-only one more week of PIC line-going back to school tomorrow-so by next week it will have been 6 weeks on Iv vancomycin-success! Keep fighting this disease-we will win—Prayers to all-Keep the Faith-

• Josh // Feb 7, 2007 at 11:11 pm

  my little brother is still alive but the doctors say that he has a new case of MRSA called necrotizing MRSA pnomonia…… He’s only 24 and he has 6 chest tubes has anyone heard of a strain this serious?

• Monica // Feb 8, 2007 at 2:09 pm

  I’m a 19 year old college student. I was diagnosed with mrsa only one month ago, but I think I’ve had it for close to one year. I was initially treated with the antibiotic Cefadroxil 500 mg and Mupricin 2% ointment. The boils cleared up after being lanced by a dermatologist, but I unfortunately got a new boil this past week. I am now on Doxycycline and using an iodine wash.
  I am allergic to septra and all sulfa drugs, as well as clyndomycin. I am therefore even further restricted in the types of medicines I can use to fight off the infection.
  I live in a dorm room with four other girls, all of whom are very scared to catch what I have. Now that I have an abcess, I have bagged all of my sheets and wash obsessively, but I am unsure of what else I can do.
  The Health Center at my school does not know much about mrsa and was responsible for misdiagnosing me many times throughout first semester. They told me I had scabies, a viral infection, scarlet fever, and many other improbable conditions. I don’t really know if I can even trust their judgment anymore.
  Please, if anyone has any suggestions for me, please let me know. Should I be attending classes? Should I go home? I don’t want to be infecting my campus, but no one seems to be taking it very seriously.
  This is a very scary and confusing thing for me to deal with. I just want to put myself and my roommates at ease.
  Also, if anyone has any other suggestions for medications that I am not allergic to that might work better, please let me know.

• mary // Feb 8, 2007 at 5:03 pm

  Monica, Who diagnosed the MRSA? One suggestion I would have is go to an infectious disease specialist-one who has treated this successfully in the past. Sometimes people need IV treatment-I do not know if you are one of those people, but a blood culture would tell you what you need to know-then the Doctors can treat you more exactly. My relative has been on vancomycin for almost 6 weeks-started with a boil last April-It went away but sort of laid dormant for months-and caused a severe infection. She was in hospital for almost three weeks-then went home on PIC line IV-she is much better-only one more week of the line-but doctors keep testing blood. Best of Luck-I hope you get all better soon. We wash clothes with bleach-surface clean with bleach and alcohol-any cuts are treated immediately-with staph-a-septic, then covered with bandaid., careful washing warm soap and water. Hands have to be kept very clean. Remember the germs like moist warm places to hide like under arms, folds of skin, in between toes, in the belly button. Let’s beat this monster.

• mary // Feb 8, 2007 at 5:17 pm

  to Josh, My relative was in critical condition-has your brother been put on Rifampin? he is still fighting, is he on Vancomycin? Will he have surgery? I will keep him in my prayers. The Rifampin goes directly to the lungs. I had to learn that the hard way. Maybe the doctors can give him Rifampin? It seemed to help the vancomycin work much better whe it was prescribed-I remember waiting all night for the pharmacy in the hosputal to get it to her-but we noticed a difference within hours. I hope this is helpful.

• Kathy // Feb 10, 2007 at 6:09 pm

  I was diagnosed with MRSA on 1/3/07. It was the second time I had a big red welt on my left side. The first one I noticed the week after Thanksgiving, it was on my left hip. I asked the doctor about it and she stuck two needles in and drained it. For the next three weeks I applied hot compresses, kept the wound covered with an antibiotic ointment and a bandaid and took an antibiotic. Then on 12/28 I went back to the Dr. with a new hot red lump. This one a on my left thigh. After a few days on the new antibiotic (bactrim ) this one was getting worse. I went back to the Dr. who got me an appointment with a surgen the following day. He cut the absess open ,dug out the infection and told me it looked like MRSA, but the culture wouldn’t be back for a few days. The culture came back MRSA. He prescribed a cream to put in my nose twice daily and said to continue taking the bactrim. I was also told to wash the wound daily with peroxide and keep it covered until there was nothing comming out. About three weeks later, just as my second lump was healing I found another lump. We started again cut it, drain it, clean it daily with peroxide and keep it covered. This time he prescribed Zyvox which seems to be helping. I feel like I should buy stock in the chlorox company. I spray the shower down after I shower with a mixture of 1/3 bleach and 2/3 water, use chlorox wipes everywhere and lots of hand sanatizer. My MRSA so far has only appeared on the left side of my body.
  I have recently noticed that a few of my teeth are turning black. Has anyone heard of this? At this point every little thing has me wondering if it is connected to the MRSA.

• judi // Feb 10, 2007 at 7:54 pm

  Monica — i’m sorry that you have developed this at such a young age and i’m sure it is very difficult to deal with being in a dorm. i’m 47 and had my first outbreak in may of last year. i was not actually tested for mrsa until last month and the test was positive. i’ve had about 5 or 6 episodes since may. the last dr i went to put me on bactrim and prescribed an antibacterial cleanser (HIBICLENS) as well as a nose spray (CALLED OCEAN SPRAY) which can be purchased over the counter at walmart. also, try putting tea tree oil (also at walmart) on the sores. it really does help to heal them up. best of luck to you, keep us posted.

• Susan // Feb 14, 2007 at 9:31 am

  I was diagnosed with MRSA 2/13/07, Im kinda freaked out about this.I’ve had 3 lumps total. The last lump or abscess was on the left side of my chin, it looked awful and it hurt. My doc put me on Bactrim, March 6th I go back to see if its colonized. What in the world does that mean?

• Kathy // Feb 22, 2007 at 7:42 pm

  I was just informed today 2/22/07 that my culture came back and I do have MRSA. I am not sure how bad it is,but I had both underarms lanced on Monday 2/19/07 and I have been in pain for about a week. My husband says there are different levels of MRSA but I don’t know exactly what all of this means.I do know that I am scared for my health and I hope I can fight this off. I go back to the doctor on Monday,so I guess I’ll know more then. Meanwhile, I’ll just keep taking my medicine and pray that it helps.

• Rebecca // Feb 23, 2007 at 2:11 pm

  My thoughts and prayers go out to all of you. My nephew (7 yrs old) is currently in ICU. He has been there officially for a week. He first went in because he was not able to breath, during transport from one hospital to another he went into cardiac arrest. He is now on an ECMO machine, he has been on it since last Thursday. His lungs, heart, and kidneys are not working w/0 life support. They have drained 1/2 his body weight in fluid from his chest (fluid that is not even in his lungs), they have put tubes in his lungs to drain them as well. His little arms and feet have turned blue (lack of circulation) and he is full of fluids. You can’t even touch him w/o sores forming, because his skin is stretched out from all the fluid retention. The doctors told my brother yesterday that his son has MRSA. We are all in a lot of heartache and pain. They did an EEG on my nephew yesterday because he is having brain seizures and they do not know if he has suffered severe brain damage. They can’t give him an MRI at this time because he is to weak and can’t be put into the MRI with the life support. They are getting very minimal brain wave activity from the EEG tests.
  I’ve never heard of MRSA until now. And we are all dumbfounded as to how he got this. We don’t know if he contracted it in the hospital, or if it was the original cause of his severe sickness.
  When he first got sick his symptoms were fever and very dry cough. The morning my sister in law took him to the doctor they said he had croup, he was in ICU by the following day. That is how fast this took hold of his little body. Since he has been on life-support since last Friday, it seems odd to me that they are just now telling us he has MRSA. I don’t understand why they were unable to identify it last week.
  They have told my brother and his wife that they need to think of taking my nephew off of life support, but at this time they are not going to do that. We refuse to give up.
  Please please please pray for my nephew, he needs all of the help he can get.
  If anyone could share their thoughts with me on this, or let me know if they’ve heard the outcome of these situations please let me know.
  My thoughts and prayers are with all of you as well.

• steve // Feb 24, 2007 at 8:29 am

  Went to infectious disease specialist after my 3rd
  outbreak and 2nd surgical removal.
  I have been recovering for 11 weeks !!
  Each time the anti-biotics were done within 10 days another outbreak.
  I’m now on heavy dose’s of bactrin(4 a day)and wound is healing well. The real test will be when the medicine is discontinued , only time will tell.
  if i had known to see a SPECIALIST perhaps i could have prevented the 2nd & 3rd outbreak, may have saved alot of $$$ and prolonged suffering and pain.
  My advice to anyone is to see your Dr ASAP
  if you have a boil or spider-bite. insist on a NASAL SWAB for lab-testing.
  If MRSA confirmed see a SPECIALIST!!!
  If anyone you know is entering a hospital for ANYTHING, have them request a NASAL SWAB upon admitting and discharge.
  This could save them alot of agony and protect loved ones.

• Jill // Feb 26, 2007 at 5:38 pm

  It all started with a boil on my son’s leg. Eventually, my husband and my youngest son had them too. I was the only one in the house without a rison (spelling?). However, a few months later, I noticed that my nose was quite sore to the touch…very painful. My husband came to the rescue…we thought…pulled out the infected hair…and doctored it with medicine. I had immediate relief. However, the next day, i noticed a red area veining down from the corner of my mouth to my jawline. It was hard and sore to the touch. This was a Wednesday. That same day, while walking out of my office, I was hit with a strange and severe chest pain. It went away as quickly as it came. But, my head begain to hurt. That night, I had a seizure, which was not that unusaul since I suffer from non-epileptic seizures from time to time. For some reason, after having the seizures, I don’t have lasting affects, so when woke up the next morning with really bad chest pain and a bad headache…and this hard veining still there, in my heart of hearts, I knew something was wrong. I called my doctor’s office, but could only see a new physician…However, I knew I didn’t need to wait. He was problem #1. He took my temp…didn’t have one…as my temp runs low to begin with. He told me that I just had myalgia from the seizure. I told him that I did not agree with him…that this had never happened before…and that I could hardly breathe. He then agreed to do an x-ray. Nothing showed up. He came back to me and said, “Again, we have eliminated anything life threatening or serious. The chest x-ray was normal.” I asked him if he thougth we needed to do blood work. He said, “No, it’s just myalgia. If something was seriously wrong, it would show up on the x-ray.” I felt foolish and went on to work. But, as I sat there, I felt my body truly declining. My boss walked by and took one look at me…and instructed me to go home. I went back to work again on Friday…thinking that I was just having muscle pain. I left early again. That night, I was in excruciating pain in my chest. Breathing was almost impossible. I could not sleep. I could not get comfortable. The veining was now very swolen and red. I woke my husband at 6 am and asked him to take me to the hospital. Since my diagnosis had been just muscle pain, he tried to encourage me to take something for pain and try to get comfortable. I knew something was horribly wrong. I was losing it…and losing it quickly. This was Saturday. I remember arriving at the emergency room and being told that the same doctor that diagnosed me with myalgia was on call again. With his arrogance he walked into the room and said to me, “I’ve already told you, we have eliminated anything serious or life threatening.” I didn’t respond to him. Since we had left the kids at home, my husband left me thinking I would be okay…and my mother would join me momentarily…everything would be fine…At this point, I lost consciousness. I only remember waking a couple of times over the several days. I remember screaming in pain when they tried to budge me. I was placed on antibiotic to handle a normal staph infection…and dilaudid for pain. I only got worse. My temp went to 105. The right side of my face swelled to connect with my shoulder. My bottom lip swelled and turned down completely, peeling off and leaving me with permanent swelling and blue discoloration on the lip…and scarring on the side of my face and jawline. The doctors did not make progress, so an Infectious Disease doctor was called in. I do remember him coming into my room. It was as if something supernatural was happening. He came in and saw me…and said, “Oh, my God.” The entire time, I had not been isolated, nurses were coming and going. Family members was coming and going. He then said, “Let’s get her to the Unit.” This was on Tuesday. Somewhere between then and when I woke up the next time, I went into respiratory arrest. At this point of consciousness, I was halluciating. My nurse had purple eyes…Drew Carey was in my room…and there was purple cursive writing on the ceiling, but I couldn’t read it. They found that I had MRSA staph and it had traveled to my lungs. They had to add a steroid for the vancomycin (spelling?) to begin working. I ended up with a tube running out of my back to drain the fluid which had collected, a catheter and feeding tube in my nose. They kept a close watch on my face, as they intended to slice the skin along the jawline, to relieve some of the pressure. For some reason, this really bothered me. I was dying, but when they told me about cutting me, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. This made me cry. After only 3 weeks, I developed a reaction to the antibiotic. I had red-man syndrome, was scalded on the inside and out. I threw up at the mention of food (and if you know me…I LOVE food). I grew severely depressed (and I have OCD) and addicted to the pain medication. They had to take me off of it…which put me through horrible withdrawals. The second antibiotic only worked for a about a week and I had a reaction to it as well. I itched so badly and still could not eat. By then, they had placed me in Long Term Care and had finally taken me off of oxygen. I started physical, respiratory and occupational therapy. I couldn’t walk by myself. Breathing was still quite difficult and extremely painful. The day I left the hospital, I was able to keep a few bites down. By then, I had been free of MRSA for about a week. The left the hospital after 5 and a half weeks…on the Wednesday before Christmas on Monday. I did my Christmas shopping and returned to work the following Tuesday…the day after Christmas. I wanted to get on with my life and move forward. I look back now and wonder WHY?! I pushed myself sooo hard. I still have chest pain from the lung scarring. I still have scarring on my jawline. I still have a blue bottom lip. Medications don’t work like they used to, because of the damage to my liver…and my increased tolerance to drugs. But, every once in a while, I completely stopped in my tracks with the thought of what really happened…how close was I to dying…why didn’t someone tell me. I had no idea during the sickness…the gravity of the situation. Today, I try to find information on CA-MRSA which lead to the lungs, but not much is out there. I really would like to correspond with someone that could give me insight. You don’t always get staph from the hospital………

• Jen // Mar 1, 2007 at 12:13 pm

  Hello, I currently work in the microbiology department of a hospital. And I will tell all of you that MRSA is a very big problem. The major problem is that there are 2 types of MRSA community acquired and hospital acquired. And studies are now beginning to show that the 2 may merge and become even worse. I can tell you that hospital acquired is the better to have. The community acquired is much more resistant. MRSA is a product of overuse of antibiotics. these microbes are adapting in order to survive. MRSA can also be colonized in a person. If this is the case it lives inside you. A nasal swab culture would determine this. If this is than yes more than likely if you get staph infections it will more than likely always be MRSA. Hand washing is the best prevention. When in the hospital do NOT ever let a DR, nurse, or aide touch you without you first personally seeing them wash their hands. When you do get outbreaks that need to be treated it is important to have it cultured. MRSA is getting more and more resistant which means antibiotics that have previously worked may no longer work. Each infection will be different. The more you use a particular antibiotic the greater the chance is that the infection will be resistant to it. MRSA is just the tip of the iceberg. Many other organisms are becoming more and more resistant. I would like to also add that just because someone is colonized or should I say a carrier does not mean it will make them sick. It just means that when an infection occurs it has a higher probablity of being a MRSA infection. There are some body washes available for people with MRSA in other countries I do not know if they are available in the states. The Netherlands has successfully irradicated MRSA. Using the body washes, nasal creams, and when hospital personnel have become carriers they are treated and not allowed to work until they are no longer harborers of MRSA. The US are not doing anything like this. The cost is outragious because it is so prevalent. But I would bet that eventually the whole world will have to do something similiar eventually. Also I would like to add that MRSA skin infections often do start out looking like they are spider bites.

• Mary // Mar 1, 2007 at 5:41 pm

  Jill and all, I am writing again because this disease is so ravaging-it tries to take hold, and unless the doctors are really agressive it becomes severe. I have seen this in a child. It was stopped in its tracks with vancomycin and Rifampin-I believe the Rifampin helped the Vancomycin to work. It traveled to lung-near heart and caused a blood clot that did the worst possible thing-broke off to the lung. Thank God that the monitors were on-they beeped to alert the nurse who had to give oxygen-constant monitoring of temp and oxygen saturation throught the night. Who would think this could all start from a festering boil. Do not allow a boil to fester-keep it clean-have it checked right way you fought the beast Jill, and you won. Hand washing is key-for all of us. This can get down into the bone which it did in our family-muscle and bone-they put a child on morphine for the pain that this caused. I never want to see it rear it’s ugly head again. To God be the Glory. We prayed and put oil on her leg all night. God Bless

• Rebecca // Mar 1, 2007 at 9:22 pm

  If you read my previous post. Please pray for my family. My nephew passed away lassed Tuesday.
  MRSA took his young life.

  This is a serious disease! Please please please I beg you, if you of someone you know gets sick, has unexplainable symptoms force your doctor to give you a staph test. This staph does not discriminate, it will take the old the young and everyone in between. Americans need to STOP taking antibiotics for every cough and sniffle so that these superbugs and be killed with antibiotics. They have mutated and found a way to survive because we don’t take any responsibilitly for our health. We expect to go the th doctor get a pill and like magic be better. This is not the way to be healthy. And it is killing so many innocent people.
  I know that my nephew is with God, and that is a thought I hang on to dearly. But this could have been avoided. Doctors need to wake up and pay attention to this awful superbug.

  Again, I pray for all of you suffering or having a loved one suffer from this. My love and good thoughts go out to all of you.

• heather // Mar 2, 2007 at 2:30 pm

  my daughter is 3 and has been fighting mrsa for over a year. we were in the hospital for over a week in nov, i thought it was gone and one week after i ended up with my first boil. I have done the protocall 100 times I think, I am a very clean person, I bleach every day now, we bathe in bleach we have done the vank and the bactrum the sulfate drugs the clendomyacin, and now i have been boil free since nov i just had one return what can i do???

• Jill // Mar 3, 2007 at 2:32 pm

  By nature, when I have a catastrophe, I just get up and keep going. I’m always afraid I might miss something. But, this illness shut me down. I had nothing to do but be still and know that I was not in control. In the beginning, I was very unaware of the severity of the problem. I know think that was a blessing, but a part of me wants to go and read my records…find out everything. Why? Because, even today, after beating this disease, I still deal with it both emotionally and medically. I continue to have the chest pain, which I can certainly live with, but the nausea has seemed to become permanent. Each time I go back to the doctor, I’m told that whatever is wrong…is a result of my illness. As a matter of fact, even my medications don’t work the same. My doctor stated that the obsorption in the liver had changed. Why wasn’t I prepared for this? I constantly have sores in my mouth. My hairs texture will never be the same…nor the color. My face aged YEARS. Before my illness, I NEVER had to wear foundation…EVER. I had a smooth complexion. Now, I have age spots all over my face (from the liver?), dark circles under my eyes, pores the size of lakes, eyes that are huge and lines that go on for days. I know this all sounds superficial, but I now know that the outside only mirrors the problems from the inside. That’s why I know I still have problems. Every once in a while…it hits me…I almost died…I should have died…And as I sit here at my desk working on a Saturday, I think I need to perhaps find a way to have more joy…and celebrate the miracle of my life.
  To all of you that are holding on…praying…hoping…needing a miracle…I speak blessings over you and pray for your miracle to come. Mine did. There was a reason for my illness. God doesn’t make mistakes. I just have to stop running…and trying to catch up…and sit still and know that HE is GOD and HE is in control.
  Just this week, my little nephew who is only several months old was hospitalized with a boil on his tummy. We were heartbroken. He was in severe pain. They had to lance it, but he’s now home.
  In my house, we wash at least once a month with Physoderm. At least every month, we swab bactriban (spelling) in our noses, as this is where the virus is carried. But, even still, my husband and son have had a boil each in the past six months. However, they were not MRSA.
  I don’t have any answers, but I truly believe it’s good for me to talk about this…and recognize that although it may be “widespread” the seriousness of the disease is not known by most. And it will never be addressed as long as people walk around with boils uncovered, thinking that they’re not hurting anyone.

• john // Mar 5, 2007 at 2:28 am

  Hi, I am a 23 year old male in the US Navy… I have just gotten back from the doctor for my 3rd case of what i and the doctor believe to be MRSA…I am stationed in Lemoore, California…I had an outbreak of this when I was in a school for the navy in Great Lakes, about a month or two after boot camp…I originally thought that this was a spider bite…my “bites” consisted of one on my left thigh right above the knee cap and one on my right forearm about 8 inches above the wrist…I had the one on my forearm lanced, drained and wicked…while the one on my thigh cleared up on its own after a week or so…I just recently got an extremely infected boil on my right knee…about a year and a half after the incident in Great Lakes…I actually just had it drained and wicked today…The doctor made about two steps thru the door and said that looks like MRSA…He did take a culture of it, I am awaiting the results of now…something the Great Lakes dr. didnt do, so i continued to think it was a spider bite until now…This is some really ugly stuff…just thought i would add my comments to this…As this seems to be a subject of more concern…once you have this does it stay in you? thank you, all comments are very much welcomed…Have a great and hopefully mrsa free day!!!

• heather // Mar 5, 2007 at 7:33 am

  this is how scary this i get a pimple and istart searching websites im glad i found this but in my last post i thought id had a new mrsa spot but thank the good Lord it wasnt!! but I still am scared to death this thing will come back we have bothe been free from it since nov any suggestions people?? i am so scared it will be back!!

• laura // Mar 5, 2007 at 9:35 am

  okay so both my daughter and i had mrsa in the beginning of december and have been fine since. i would like to know if anyone has not had a second outbreak after time. everyone writes in who has had more than one abcess, i think for those of us who have only had one outbreak it would be very reassuring to hear from you.

• Elle // Mar 5, 2007 at 3:48 pm

  I had an abcess, and it was drained and then somehow the MRSA got into both of my kidneys. I was treated in a hospital for 15 days my kidneys were drained, then released and on home care with a PICC line for another 15-20 days. I have had no problems since.

• Rebecca // Mar 5, 2007 at 9:13 pm

  Josh—how is your brother doing? I am praying for him.

• Mary // Mar 6, 2007 at 4:43 pm

  MRSA is a staph infection -(bacterial infection) I think many people think it is a virus-it is resistant bacterium-nasty stuff-wash hands often-warm soapy sudsy water-keep any and all cuts and boils clean and covered. Go to the doctor right away even if you think its a spider bite-which it may not be.I think many of us should check if we are carriers and do the protocal for that. I know I am going to do that. I am going to ask my doctor because I do not want to cause any one to be sick even if I do not get sick myself, I think one can be a carrier. We can only do what we can do.Fight the monster.God Bless all who are touched by this.

• Christina // Mar 6, 2007 at 9:23 pm

  I would just like to say that I am so glad that there are so many other people out there who I an relate with about this situation. For the past 5 months I have been in and out of the Doctor’s office because of this and everytime I’ve been there it has been a different diagnosis. I don’t know if it’s just the Military doctor that doesn’t want the patient’s there all day or what but it has been horrible. I have lost count within the first month of the number of these “bumps” I’ve had….i stopped at 25. I am now pregnant, 3 months and I’m scared that MRSA and any antibiotics I may be rx-ed will have a bad effect on my child. Has anyone else been through this part of it too? Any suggestions?

• Rhoda // Mar 6, 2007 at 11:08 pm

  Hi. I just saw this one. My daughter just found out that she is pregnant, too. Please share anything you learn about CA MRSA and pregnancy and I will do the same! Thanks and Best Wishes,

• carlla // Mar 7, 2007 at 5:30 am

  Christina, I am also involved with a military doctor. I have a four month old I was diagnosed with MRSA while pregnant with her. I could not take the needed medication while pregnant, so we planned to knock it out after I delivered…. I STILL have MRSA and know my 4 month old has been diagnosed. I was told that she could not catch it because she was so young. That was a lie. I have 5 children and we all have it including my husband. I will pray for you and your baby with the hopes that this will not happen to your child. Keep as clean as possible spray lysol daily(4-5 times a day)bleach everything and was your hands every chance you get. take care I hope this works for you

• Jen // Mar 7, 2007 at 8:39 am

  Part of the reason that MRSA is so prevalent is that so many people use antibacterial everything in their homes. Unless someone is sick in your home you do NOT want to do this. Personally I told my daughters kindergarten teacher just recently that I will not nor will my daughter be allowed to use the purell she wanted all the kids to have at the beginning of the year. I want my daughter to keep her normal flora. (the good bacteria that live in and on us everyday) Also I want my daughter to be able to build immunity to germs so she will be better able to fight colds and the flu. Everytime you have a cold or the flu you build immunity and teach your body to fight off stronger things later. By using so many antibacterial and sanitizers we are dooming our children to being sick all the time when they get older. There will be nothing left to use when they truely ill. Nothing will no longer work. We are very close to that point now. By killing off the normal flora in your homes you will become more susceptible to infections because you are not always able to kill off the bad bacteria that adapt in order to stay alive. Also by killing the bacteria that you want you give a breeding ground to these “super bugs” (bacteria like MRSA and others) Yes if you have a cut use antibacterial cream. I’m not saying to not treat your body if you have an injury or if you are colonized with MRSA. To an earlier comment you can be a carrier of MRSA and not get sick. I would bet that at least 70% of health care workers are carriers and don’t even know it. I know that in my area I cannot buy dish detergent that is not antibacterial. These companies are pushing and pushing antibacterial everything these days by using your fears. It is irresponsible of these companies!!!!!! This is a big reason for this epidemic or should I say this pandemic. The other factor is the overuse of antibiotics. If you have a virus antibiotics will NOT help, all you will do is kill all off your normal flora. That is why people get diarrhea from antibiotics. It kills the good flora. And there is alot of bacteria in stool. And really sick people who have been on antibiotics for extended periods have no normal bacteria there and then you have another bacteria to worry about, C-DIFF. I am not saying don’t take antibiotics if you have a bacterial infection, I am saying do not run to the doctor demanding antibiotics for a cold or the flu. There are still alot of doctors out there that do still give antibiotics if the patient says I want one. Also not all infections need antibiotics. If you are otherwise healthy there are alot of infections that do not usually need to be treated. Not all ear infections do however if you have it more than 3 days or if it is severe yes antibiotics is appropriate. And Salmonella in healthy people is eliminated from your body in 3 days. If not then seek treatment. Be careful. To get back to what I was originally going to say. 10% bleach and 90% water is the best thing to use to clean if there is someone in your home with MRSA. But let me tell you if someone is colonized you will NOT be able to remove it from your home no matter how diligent you are unless the carrier is treated and right now the majority of infection control people and doctors are not taking that stand. In the Netherlands they have removed MRSA and continue to fight it. They took drastic steps and pretty much won the battle. But it is VERY expensive to wage the war that the Netherlands did and it is very unlikely the US will be doing it any time soon. There is way too much money to lose. Washing your hands with plain old soap and water is the best thing you can do to prevent the spread. Let me rephrase that put soap in your hands and rub them together while you sing happy birthday when you finish singing it then rinse your hands. Always wash your hands that long especially if you have to pick up a young child and you have MRSA. Everytime before touching or picking up that child. Or touching anything that your child will touch. Especially an infant. They are not born with bacteria. They have no normal flora. But they do begin as soon as they are born. But it takes time they are the most susceptible. HAND WASHING HAND WASHING HAND WASHING with plain old soap (not antibacterial soap) is the BEST thing that can be done to prevent spread.

• Molly // Mar 9, 2007 at 8:53 pm

  We just recently discovered MRSA…unfortunately, it’s all over my back in the form of mini-boils (or large pimples)…

  But we caught it in our children and my husband instantly, applied high-grade melaleuca oil (tea tree) two to three times daily and the sores went away, right away.

  So apparently, when outbreaking, the trick is to get it with melaleuca oil as fast as you can. I recommend a medicinal grade of the oil, not a cheap “aromatherapy” type blend, by the way.

  There are other things we can do to help our bodies fight mrsa. A healthy diet is HUGE—–no sugars (including corn syrups, etc), whole grains, etc. Whole food diet is huge, and since sugar and white flour are both total immune-system DEpressants, they need to be avoided. Get some good cookbooks on cooking with whole foods, do some research and reading (from the library, perhaps), and start eating as HEALTHY as possible (foods that are as close to nature as possible).

  There are many excellent antibiotics provided via nature, too. GSE (grapefruit seed extract) from Nutribiotic is now a staple for us, now that I’ve learned about mrsa’s dangers…you can get pills for those old enough to swallow them, and drops (to mix into juice) for children. It’s very strong stuff, but friendly even for children. (It doesn’t work overnight, but it sure makes for an unfriendly environment for the mrsa to live in…a good way to prevent outbreaks, that’s for sure, at the very least)…

  Another one, though this one burns and is probably too strong for children, is Oil of Oregano. Do a google search on it…it’s expensive, but it’s a killer (of bad bugs). You can take up to 6 drops of it orally, and you can also put it directly on sores. It is a SERIOUS antibiotic, and really does work.

  Also, when the body is in an alkaline state, versus an acid state, that REALLY helps. You can do a google search on that, too, and learn about the foods to eat that promote an alkaline state (which, again, makes it hard for bad bugs to live at all). Lots of green foods help…spinach…liquid chlorophyll…etc…

  Hope this helps…I just want to repeat the encouragement from some of the others on this thread—-don’t ignore the naturopathic/holistic medicine community. There are a LOT of options out there that many regular doctors don’t know of. If you are suffering and have exhausted your resources, please go see a homeopathic or naturopathic doctor and see if they have anything that can help, work on developing a healthy whole-foods diet, and reading up on all of the medicinal powerhouses that are available through nature.

  God bless,
  Molly

• Molly // Mar 10, 2007 at 12:24 am

  I forgot to add a few other natural antibiotic options.

  A very promising one is olive leaf. Type in “MRSA Olive Leaf” into google and you’ll see some interesting things, including hospitals using it on MRSA with good success.

  Obviously, organic is best, as that way you know you’re not drinking pesticides and whatnot… Olive Leaf can come in capsule form but also in tea—-and for those dealing with mrsa in children, kids might not be able to swallow capsules, but will probably like the tea, especially if sweetened with raw honey.

  Speaking of raw honey, that’s another thing that some hospitals are using on mrsa infections and to prevent mrsa infections— honey as a skin salve–but it has to be *raw* honey to be the most effective (the “raw” simply means unheated, which means the medicinal properties are still fully intact). Taking the raw honey internally might be really good too, as I know I’ve read of numerous health benefits from raw honey (another thing you can google if you want).

  And I also forgot to mention garlic… It’s another powerful natural antibiotic…fresh cloves are said to be the best—chop or press and then quickly swallow.

  (I know someone who mixes the fresh pressed garlic into raw honey, which preserves the medicinal aspects of the garlic, and then keeps it stored in a jar in her cupboard [it won’t go bad–just keep it tightly sealed] and that’s how she and her kids all take it).

  ANYways, I figure the best defense is a good offense. MRSA is notoriously resistant to antibiotics, but these natural remedies work in a much different way—-super bugs *can’t* get resistant to them.

  As to how long one must use the remedies, what strength they should be used, and if they will simply subdue the mrsa or eradicate it altogether, I have no idea. But I do know that MRSA will not like any of these things, as they are all decidely UNfriendly to nasty bugs like mrsa.

  Yours in Hope,
  Molly

• Lauren // Mar 12, 2007 at 12:15 am

  Fashion may be some of the problem.
  The majority of clothing is this spandex stuff which is customarily washed in cold water. We need more selections of cotton that can be boiled and bleached.
  This is my unique observation on reasons for the increase in staph infections.

  What is the implication of eating meats that don’t contain antibiotics?

• laura // Mar 12, 2007 at 4:58 pm

  okay so i was diagnosed in december and havent had any abcess’ since. i decided to get my nose cultured, still havent figured out what made me do it, and it came back positive. does anyone have any idea what this means?

• Jen // Mar 13, 2007 at 2:53 pm

  Laura, if you have had a nose culture that grew MRSA that means you are a carrier of MRSA. You are colonized. Depending on where you live and how your DR feels about it will depend on what treatment or no treatment you will recieve. If you are ever hospitalized without being treated you will have to be isolated. Either in a private room or in a room where the other person also has MRSA. Make sure you tell them if you are admitted or you could spread it to someone else. Colonization does not necessarily mean you will be sick from it (But you can spread it) but some people will be severely ill and it can cause death especially in immunocompromized, very young and elderly.

• Charles R. Marshall // Mar 16, 2007 at 10:27 am

  My cousin has MRSA and gets frequent MRSA Sorer/Boils. We have been told by a MD the hydroden peroxide under the scab is the most effective way to kill off the sores. However being and RN myself, I decided to fill a syringe with proxide and inject under sore with Proxide with the Permission of our MD. Immideatly the Peroxide will kill all active infection in the sore keeping the sore from growing and promiting it to heal.

• Rhoda // Mar 17, 2007 at 11:55 am

  I, too, was tempted to try this since I know there have been reports of this working on squamous cell carsinoma tumors. Good job! Please keep us posted on any more attempts with this if there is a recurrence!

• DS // Mar 17, 2007 at 8:07 pm

  I had a collasped lung December 26, 2006 and was in the hospital with a chest tube in place for about nine days. I got the chest tube taken out and thought things were going to be fine. I no more got home for just a few short days and my right lung collapsed again. Back to the hosptial and more x-rays. It had collasped a second time. The blow out was due to Blebs and COPD and my emphsemia. I had to have another chest tube put in my chest. It was left to heal and this went on about 14 days. My lung was still leaking air badly so a team or surgens were called in. I met with them and they deceided surgery and it was going to be a big major surgery on my right lung. I had this done and the pain was overwhelming it was the worst thing I had ever experienced in my entire life. I came out of surgery with two chest tubes in my right lung. I was very unconfortable to say the least. I was in surgery for my right lung to be patched due to Bleb disease and the next morning they had me blowing in a little machine to expand my lungs and it blew again I was now leaking air in the two chest tubes in place. I keep leaking air even when I was moved to step down unit and this went on and on. Until one day when the Lung Doctor came in and noticed I might should not need to be blowing in the little machine. So he finally haulted the blowing in the machine and slowly for the first time since surgery my right lung started to get less on the air leak. This was the first improvement made since the surgery when I blew the lung up again using the machine after the surgery. Now you could say there was a big miscommunication on the part of my Doctors who seemed to never talk to each other one ordered one thing and the others disagreeded. Finally they took one of the two chest tubes out. Now you would think when the one left in stopped leaking the Doctors could all agree to take the second one out. But NO that did not happen thanks to the surgen who deceided to let me take it home. I went on with a chest tube in my chest. It was still very painful time in my life. Not knowing the effects of all the pain medicines they had me on in the hospital. I went home and the surgen nurse practiner ordered the homehealth nurses NOT to change my side dressing only to re enforce the dressing where the chest tube was at. They noticed drainage and within a few days I could smell infection and it about made me sick. I felt sick to my stomach and could not eat much if anything. I was rushed back to the hospital and it was found that I had staph it was MRSA in the wound and in the bloodstream I was very sick and the drainage coming out of the chest tube looked like thick mud it was awful looking and smelled terriable. I was put on antibotices and many test were done. I had a lot of serious reactions to the medicines this time. During this time a pik line was put in for the second time. A peg tube was alot put in because they did not feel I was eating enough food. Now I had two more sites for possiable MRSA to develope and I really did not want the risk. The doctors were like GODS and you did as you were told to keep the peace. Soon they wanted to put me a 54 year old male in a Skilled Nursing Home I put my foot down this time and refused to go I wanted to go home even if it might be to die. It was not the fault of homehealth care it was the fault of the surgen who said do not change the dressing. Well finally I got sent home again this time I was home only a few hours when about 3:45 one morning my chest tube came out in my home bed. Holding the open hole with a glove over it I was on my way to the hospital again. They did not put the chest tube back in but did think about it. Now the Lung was still NOT leaking air. So after awhile they sent me back home again. I was after about a week back again this time however my mind was foggey and I was thinking things that had not happened. I was out of it. I had never had this Kind of problem in my entire life. I was told the hospital doctors had gotten me addicited to pain medicines. That I was suffering from DT’S.The hospital is Maury Regional Hospital in Columbia Tennessee. I got the staph in this hospital and had ran a fever everyday after my operation. I think they would like to pertend I am not now in the shape I am in. I went for IV antiboties everyday for 18 days and I am on a antibotic at home two times a day by mouth. I think my Peg tube is infected but getting them to listen is not going to happen. I hear I am getting the pick taken out tomorrow after my last day of IV antibotic therepy. I wish I had never used Maury Regional Hospital in Columbia, Tennessee biggest mistake of my life the hospial where few wash hands, etc……

• Kathy // Mar 18, 2007 at 1:52 pm

  I’m now on outbreak number 4. The doctor prescribed vancomyicen (not sure how to spell it) this time. I go back this week so he can look at the wound. All of my outbreaks have been on my left side and from the first site to the last maybe a foot in total distance. Has anyone else experienced this?

• Rhoda // Mar 19, 2007 at 1:37 pm

  I have yet to see two MRSA victims attacked in the same way. It is odd that it chooses your left side but I bet your right side is happy about it! Best wishes to you and I hope the Vancomycin gives you reprieve from this.

• L // Mar 19, 2007 at 3:17 pm

  I am a newby as of last week. I had surgery 11 months ago on my neck. However, MRSA is on my legs. I had a sore that was healing; however a razor spread it. I was cultured and am on tetracycline, hibiclens and a topical antibiotic. I had plain staph about 15 and 20 years ago. One time I used domoboro soaks which worked. What are we supposed to tell other doctors whom we visit as to our status? I was told that my MRSA is from the community. Is there a blood test to find out if it is carried in our blood stream?

• Rhoda // Mar 21, 2007 at 4:00 am

  There are tests for MRSA as well as tests to se if you are a carier of MRSA.

• Melissa // Mar 21, 2007 at 11:56 pm

  I have a boil on my neck and have been aware of MARSA for some time as a co-worker is battling the disease, right now as well. I am not sure if this is a simple staph infection of MARSA but I went to the doctor, he confirmed it was staph. My coworker has not been at work for over a year but another coworker goes to her house to help her on a weekly basis (she has no symptoms) but at work we sterilize everything with wipes, phones toilet seats…So, we are doing everything we can to make sure no one else gets sick. I was away on vacation (had been gone for more than a week) when the first sore appeared but it was very small and healed with no problem, so I let it go. I had been doing demolition on a poorly tiled shower (during my vacation) so I am wondering if it is a simple Staph infection from that project. Does anyone know how long it takes from exposure to infection occurrence? The second sore, in the same spot appeared just the other day and I immediately realized it was staph, started taking copious amounts of garlic orally, covered it and went to the doctor. he affirmed it was staph, not a bite, when the first sore appeared it really felt like I had been bitten or stung by something a pinch and then a radiating burning sensation (is this consistent with anyone else’s immediate reaction?) So, I told my Doc about the MRSA at work and he agreed that there was absolutely no sense in doing the usual graduated antibiotic crap, so he started me on Doxycyclin. In addition to this I am treating the area with raw crushed garlic (crush it and then let it sit for 7 minutes, it a chemical thing) applied directly to the sore (I just put it on a band-aide and leave it) in less than two days this treatment has completely reduced the swelling stopped the pain and caused the sore to stop oozing pus (now just clear healthy looking sanginous fluid is weeping from it). It does burn quite a bit when you first put it on, but I am old school and if you feel it working then it is working so it isn’t that bad really. My hands are dry as heck from all the washing but I just wanted to share the garlic tip with people. I have been on the antibiotics for the same amount of time but as a medical person I know it has probably not reached therapeutic levels to clear the sore on the surface of the skin that fast, so I know the garlic is working too. it is a great natural antibiotic, that has been shown to kill even MARSA because it acts in a totally different chemical way than standard antibiotics. though I am told that the internal garlic (in pill form) does not have a good antibiotic systemic effect because the digestive enzymes kill the good stuff in it. Though I am not convinced of this because I have completely eradicated a strep infection, without any other antibiotics, with it before and as long as it doesn’t interfere with the antibiotics (I take them at least an hour apart) I am going to keep taking it. If this sore does not go away and no other sores appear in the next few weeks I was thinking I would not have the culture done, but the more reading I do the more I think I just need to suck it up (uninsured) and get the culture done. Thanks for being there and cross your fingers that it is simple staph, I know its still out there too.

  Melissa

• Rhoda // Mar 22, 2007 at 6:56 am

  Melissa, if you at all can, I would get the culture done, even if it means going to an ER and having them bill you for it later. That way you can properly warn those around you and possibly have some peace of mind if you are wrong about it being MRSA. I hope someone else responds to the question about the gestation period because I have wondered myself, but, every other aspect of MRSA I have seen implies that it is different for each person depending on how it was contracted and how healthy you were. Best wishes and prayers to you. Rhoda

• Wally // Mar 31, 2007 at 1:01 am

  I’ve had MRSA outbreaks in the past and I DO know were I got It from. A girl I knew who was a diabetic was infected with it and thersfore I contracted it from her. I think she has it due to her compromised immune system. I also think that maybe it started in her from an insulin injection site reaction.
  I had relations with her knowing she had something but she down played it as something that only diabetics had long term and that if we were careful I would only have it when we were intimate. She went on to explain that when it went away it was GONE and would be until we were physical again. Boy how stupid was I?
  My first outbreak was expected and I never expected the pain that awaited me. The Site was like a pimple on my upper calf and I scratched it causing the head to tear and therefore causing the affected area to grow worse. It spread as a red hot PAINFUL rash that encompassed my hole calf from the knee to the ankle. The origanal site became necrotic and softer than healthy skin and filled with pus. I lanced it myself (BAD) and the drainage filled about two shot glasses worth or just under a 16 oz. cup.
  I then got one on my toe and that soon became necrotic and the whole toe turned black like an old rotted bannana peel. the pressure was intense and I was hospitalized for 5 days. During this time I had an I.V. for the majority of the time with what was told to me was “powerful stuff” I believed this to be true cause on numerous occasions the lining in the viens that were chosen would wear and “pop” so another would be “tapped”.
  The follow up to this was the usual bactrim in the nose and Dial soap to bathe with. I also noticed that no one mentioned HIBICLEANSE. I bathe with it when I had outbreaks.
  My son was also infected as well and was hospitalized.
  I’ve had numerouse outbreaks of which the ones in my nose are to me by far the most painful and I’ve heard that it’s been likened to having a 9.mm bullet wound (never been shot but sounds about right)
  I’ve learned that my out breaks came during more humid weather and less in the winter. Due to the volume of sweat and the speed at which the air dried it on my body. Also I’ve found that of course if you leave the little pustules alone that is to say not to tear the thin skin that prevents the “zit” from bursting the sore never grows and is gone in 2 days. Hibicleanse works for me. Ibuprofin is a wonder drug for pain and hot compresses are a life saver and when I say hot I mean HOT!
  I’ve had them on my back buttocks genitals and yes by that I mean ON the penis itself. TWICE!I’ve had them on my knees and anywhere below and above including my face.
  Due to the frequent absences at work I was forced to inform my boss of my ordeal and over time was publicly ridiculed and was made to feel like a leper by him. I think I remember that those living with AIDS Diabetics Those with poor hygene IV drug users those who frequent gyms and athletes are all candidates for accuiring CAMRSA. Well all he remembers from that was IV drugs poor hygene and AIDS. I then became to my boss a dirty AIDS infected drug user and was destroyed verbally by him while coworkers looked on and laughed.
  I’ve been through alot living with this for the past 3 years BUT in the las year I’ve been outbreak free and all I do now is bathe with Dial soap where as before I had MRSA I did’nt (use Dial that is).
  I sympathise with you all and, those of you in terminal situations deserve all the prayers of a million million hearts.
  sorry so long

• Rhoda // Mar 31, 2007 at 8:35 am

  My heart broke for you reading your story. What your girlfriend did to you is so very, very, wrong and sadly I am seeing everyone I know playing it down and trying to keep it a secret including my own daughter. And then to read that your son is infected as well!! I found myself wanting to meet your girlfriend in a dark alley! Please keep writing on this site. It looks like you do your homework thoroughly which can help others i.e. your reference to hibiclense, and you write beautifully from the heart so I hope to see you here again. Congratulations on being outbreak free for one year, I pray that your son is doing well, too.

• Rebecca // Mar 31, 2007 at 10:48 am

  I’m sorry, but Rhonda & Wally…YOU ARE STUPID!!!

  MRSA is so commom, you can’t blame an x girlfriend for giving it to you.

  I hate when people pass blame like that…it is sad, pathetic and INSECURE!

  my nephew DIED from MRSA, I am sure you can handle an infection on your skin without blaming someone for having it.

• Rebecca // Mar 31, 2007 at 10:54 am

  hey…I’m sorry. I’m having a horrible day. I did not read the entire posts like I should have and I reacted.
  Again..I am sorry Wally for what you have been through. I am just still so HEARTBROKEN over the loss of my nephew…MRSA took him away, and we all had to sit there helpless and watch. My sister now has 2 mrsa sores on her leg, she is being treated.
  This is so common, and I know & fear that we will be seeing many more cases of it. Although I have not been tested, I am pretty certain that I already carry it. I am sure that I am colonized.

• Rhoda // Mar 31, 2007 at 4:39 pm

  Rebecca, I am so very sorry for your loss. I myself haven’t had my loved one die from MRSA yet and can’t fathom the pain and anger for you. And my problem with Wally’s girlfriend is that she lied to him when asked a direct question. I find that to be criminal even if he did contract MRSA elsewhere. And I fear that she and those like her don’t tell that lie just once. Please keep reading and writing in MRSA Resources. Your passion is very welcome and there is power in numbers and until the medical association and news media find MRSA as common as we know it can be, we need every voice out there screaming at the top of their lungs.

• Melissa // Mar 31, 2007 at 5:22 pm

  All this talk about sources and the like, retelling a story about the source of contraction. I just want to add that in my experience I do not think that doctors really impart the risk to known MRSA carriers as they tend to downplay it across the board. I had a doctor tell me two weeks ago that it is not really very common in the community, or actually that you never get that outside the hospital. Which I know is false as it can be acquired from gardening and other activities. Just don’t give the source that hard of a time as the “ex-girlfriend” was probably given downplayed warnings about it in the first place. Doctors wish to reduce hysteria as stress can certainly make it worse, but they do need to get their facts straight and start responding to it appropriately. In the case of an immunodeficient person it is likely that any case they have would be worse in the sense that the remaining colonized bugs are obviously resistant and tough strains because they have been hit with every antibiotic known to man usually and have not been eradicated, so even if it started out as a simple staph with just a couple of MRSA organisms now it is full blown MRSA excluding less dangerous bugs. Does that make sense? The longer you have had it and the more treatment you have had the more resistant the organisms are to other treatment. The treatment weeds out the easier to kill specimens and leaves only the most ardent behind. As we look at the history of or etiology of a disease we must consider that the individual is often given false information and may really only be relaying what information was given to them. Even today many people, trusted medical professionals are saying that “normal” people are not at risk and truth be told, they are! They say that even in teh face of children contracting it and dying in a matter of days from MRSA bone infections, children that have never been hospitalized and healthy adults who contract it and fight it for years, if not eventually dying of it after it has compromised their immune systems and rendered them incapable of recovery. All my best to all who have been and are suffering and remember that we cannot blame the messenger we must change the message. All my Love! Melissa

• laura // Mar 31, 2007 at 10:15 pm

  there are so many horrible stories out there… and i feel for everyone and thier each individual story. but to gove some hope to those out there who are new to this…. and i REALLY hope im not speaking too soon, but my daughter and i had mrsa in december. i had it unknowingly for a few months and had more of a rash than an abcess, but once diagnosed properly did what i had to and eventually cleared up, my daughter had one abcess on her knee. both of us just a few weeks ago had our noses swabbed and cultured and both came back negative for mrsa. so i do believe there is hope out there for some people, although unfourtunate for those who gets it worse. the specialist i had gone to told me that as long as the wound was cleansed properly covered, there was no grave danger of passing along. as long as you followed those steps of just properly taking care of it and sanatizing, that people have more of a chance of getting it at the local wal-mart than getting it from you. dont let all these horror stories get you down…. i know it did me. just take it day by day, just because something went horribly wrong in one situation, its not your story yet. just do the best you can and take the proper precautions.

• Rhoda // Mar 31, 2007 at 11:03 pm

  Wally, I am so sorry. I felt that what I wrote, hoping to give you a touch of levity, i.e. I would never even go in a dark alley!! and it somehow made everyone focus on your girlfriend’s plight and not your own. You describe conversations with her in a matter of fact statement that I believe could happen, because, as I said, I KNOW people who hide their condition, and because I have no reason to not believe your own perception of what happened especially with your emphasis on the words “I DO know”. You could be a hermit or all we know!! But worst of all there was so much else to focus on, most wonderful, that you have since been outbreak free for one year after horrifying outbreaks. And your story of being actually ridiculed by your boss hurts just to read. Believing in Karma, I fear for anyone who acts that way to anyone with any illness or deformity. And then it is almost as if you experienced the same kind of ridicule here for just telling your story as you know it. Click on my name if you would like to contact me personally any time. And thank you for sharing your story in all its detail. That took some guts.

• Anna // Mar 31, 2007 at 11:31 pm

  Hello all
  I need to vent or rant or whatever
  I am terrified of this , why aren’t all dr’s on the same page with this problem ?? I don’t understand if so many ppl are coming to them with problems why do they try to sweep it under the carpet ??
  my son who is 4 was diagnosed with mrsa in december and has not come back, I was diagnosed when I lived in florida but they did nothing for me except they lanced a boil on the side of my face ( I get the boils, in fact I get them ALOT)They are extremely painful. my husband gets **little** pimples ,they don’t look like MRSA at all ,but I think he is spreading the bacteria and we have a 6 week old infant I am terrified my children are going to get sick and sicker. My son has an excellent dr ( we are in wilkes barre PA he goes to a dr that is affiliated with janet wies childrens hospital) he takes bleach baths, he was perscribed trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and has been free of it for a while now, but my dr will not to a culture he kept telling me I needed to come to him with a boil I finally did and he perscribed me cheplex (sp?) and to break the boils open to let them drain and then wash my hands well, I can’t imagine this is a good thing I know it spreads like that I have seen it on my own body I get a boil it breaks the puss drips down onto another part and in a matter of days I have more boils last april I went to the hospital for a fever (103 for almost a month)so what do I do? if I do this it is inevitable my infant will get it.
  I did visit the hospital numerous times( in florida) and they told me there was nothing they could do take tylenol and lie down was all I got, till my urine started turning orange then they kept me for half a day doing all kinds of blood test as well as other tests and still nothing I can’t imagine I didn’t have anything ( and I had told them I had been there defore with mrsa issuses ) and nothing, I am scared , I am scared I have it and my dr isn’t doing anything I am scared my son has it and it will “come back” and I terrified my infant son has it and I don’t even want to think what will happen I have read that babies that have contracted MRSA there immune system gets comprimised so much they develop pnumonia (sp)and some have died…
  I don’t all I know Is reading these posts as well as others I feel like this is something so bad and so deadly for ppl why isn’t anyone doing anything about it ?
  If anyone has information that does not take a rocket scientist to read / and any info on herbal “anitbiotics” I would love to know about it
  thank you for any info and for letting my vent / rant
  Anna
  

• Rhoda // Apr 1, 2007 at 4:19 am

  Anna, I sent you an email so check your junk mail if you don’t see one from me in case it gets filtered out. Best wishes, Rhoda

• NICOLLE // Apr 1, 2007 at 6:07 pm

  I UNDERSTAND HOW YOU ALL FEEL. I AM SUEING THE HOSPTIAL WHERE I CONTRACTED MRSA LAST YEAR, ALTHOUGH ITS THE DOCTORS FAULT, HE MADE AL IFE ALTERING DECISON THAT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER. I AM ALITTLE DIFFERENT THEN YOU GUYS,I RECIVED THE MRSA IN THE HOSPITAL DURING A MASTECOMY, OF PLACING AN EXPANDER IN THE CHEST AREA, AND MY PLASTIC SURGEON REPEATED THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER WITH THE MRSA IN ME. I CAN NEVER HAVE AN IMPLANT EVER, AND MRSA LAYS DORMANT FOREVER AND MY CHEMO WAS DELAYED BECASUE OF THIS. I ALSO TOOK VANCOMYCIN IV IN THE HOSPTIAL FOR 5 DAYS AND BECAME VIOLENTLY SICK, THEN WAS PLACED ON ZYVOX FOR 6 WEEKS AND IT GOT THE MRSA AWAY. AS I SAID IT WILL ALWAYS BE IN MY BODY…

• Anna // Apr 1, 2007 at 7:29 pm

  Thank you for the e-mail it is very helpful &
  I had been using the Tea tree oil as a “wash” ( wiping cotton balls soaked in the oil all over my sons body every night,as well as using it on myself) since I found it had anitbacterial properties. I can’t wait to try to the raw honey and the olive tea my husband says we try everything once and we can then say we tried it !
  I get so worried when he scratches we have such sensitive skin and are allergic to every animal that has fur,sadly we can’t have any pets and trying to get a kid not to play with his nose and not touch someone is next to impossible !!
  Here is a question to anyone who has kids or anyone who knows how to go about this: I want to enroll my son in kindergarten next march ( charter school) now I would never do anything to bring harm to other children so this is a honest not knowing kind of question, do I tell them he has MRSA ? Do I keep it to myself and if they do tell me he can’t attend is that legal ? Do I want to put him in school? in all honesty I don’t think I would do to good homeschooling and he can’t wait to go to school and play with other kids, I had him in daycare once for maybe a month and I could not deal with how mothers sent there children to school vomiting or green snot coming out of there noses with fevers and what not( and I do understand that mothers and fathers have to work and have to bring there kids to daycare to make a living, but I couldn’t deal with mine being sick every other week) so I pulled him out as soon as I could and the Dr said she would have done the same thing& kept him out till he had to go to school… I only feel bad cause he wants to interact with other children
  anyone know any information. greatly appreciated
  Thanks
  Anna

• Rhoda // Apr 2, 2007 at 1:56 pm

  PLEASE SOMEONE COMMENT ON ANNA’S LAST QUESTION! I’M LOSING SLEEP TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT!

• Rhoda // Apr 3, 2007 at 10:56 am

  I sure hope some strongly opinionated people see this. My daughter and her boyfriend both have CA MRSA from needle sharing and today my daughter said that they were about to lose their home and that she wanted to move in with me. I am terrified. I would not be if it were only me here, but I have a younger daughter and five year old granddaughter living with me as well as my boyfriend and a room renter. I have done little but read and write about MRSA for months now and from what I have learned it is more contagious than HIV or Hep C and maybe worse to have. I think it sounds worse. I know it is getting to be everywhere but do I invite it into my home? I have thought about telling my daughter to get treated first but that takes time and I doubt they would hospitalize her with the IV antibiotics she should have since she doesn’t have insurance and, except for being covered in boils, isn’t nearly as ill as the few I have seen hospitalized here. AND she is very careless with her MRSA. I have seen her pick at boils and then a pimple on her face and then go on about her business without ever washing her hands! She doesn’t tell anyone who lives with her and her boyfriend that they have MRSA although a couple have figured it out. Already, none of my family not living with me will visit because I visit her.
  What would you tell your 30 year old daughter in these circumstances???

• NICOLLE // Apr 3, 2007 at 11:07 am

  Rhoda,

  I would tell her the only way she can come is if she stops picking at these boils, that she should wear a mask and a gown not to infect you guys.
  She really should get the iv antibnotics and then come although I can understand she is your daughter but with all the children around it is higly contagious.
  I pray things get better for you.

• heather // Apr 3, 2007 at 2:44 pm

  look to everyone who knows someone with mrsa dont treat them like a person who should be expelled from the public….. i have mrsa and i caught it from my 2 yr old daughter we havnt had an out break now since november but every time i get a infected hair i totally freak!!! are dr says since we havnt had an out break we are good . my baby caught this from a changing table in her daycare…. do you people realize if i pick my nose and pick up something at the mall then put it back and u get it next you will have this?? to the guy who says he got it from his ex you have no idea where you can pick this up the dr’s have a major problem and all you can do is wait for a drug that cures it….. to the mom of the 30 yr old it saddens me that you cant trust your daughter in your own home afraid you might catch it if you visit with her then i can 99% guarentee you go get swabbed and you will be infected…. my dr has also stated that 80% of the people he swabs for this has it that is an alarming rate….. please stop treating these people as if they have aids and you cant go anywhere near them my boyfriend and i have been together for two yrs he has never gotten a boil and we do not practice safe sex a lil bambino is what we would like!! never has he had a boil plus my daughters father has her twice a week `for three nights never has he or anyone in his family caught this my parents whom keep her regulary have yet to get this soooooooooo deadly infectios disease either come on people its a staph infection and if you go to your dr you can and will get rid of it properly follow protocall…. i honestly think that what helped my daughter and my self is that we moved we had all are furniture profesionally cleaned everything moved from the old to the new house was bleached we bathed in bleach for a week 1 tbs to each gallon we swabbed are noses with mupirocin 2% we used clindamycin gel 1% on infection sites and we took 15 days of bactrum and a 5 day of vankamyicin so go to your dr ask for these things and get your house super clean!! and pray i wish to each one of you the success we as a family have had!!!please be clean wash your hands and practice safe ways of being around people with mrsa…….dont treat them as an invalid…… good luck to you and godspeed

• Mary // Apr 3, 2007 at 3:08 pm

  My experience with this monster is that it is bacteria, very resistant-yet can be taken care of if caught in time witht massive anounts of vancomcin for example-infectious disease specialists did not tell us that it lays dormant-it is bacteria , not a virus-bactria does not lay dormant it does damage fast.-it can be beat if caught , however one can be colonized-no illness-but a carrier -and need treatment as well-the bactroban in the mose treatment. I have seen a complete cure-and I am claiming that. The Rifampin is a good medicine and it looks like the Vyox is as well for many of us. I agree with dial soap-it has been a God send. Cleanliness is important-without being a freak about it-I try..anyway, please know that we can beat this-but if you get the ingrown infected hairs-be careful-get treatment immediately-as well as the boils-this can rear it’s ugly head . Our relative was on PIC line 6 weeks-it was like chemotherapy for this child. Doctors have to be aggressive and treat whenever a child presents with a high stubborn fever and pain, for example, in our case leg pain. God be with all of us. I am only sharing my experience and knowledge up to this point. I hope this helps. My sister is a Nurse in Texas- she told me you can get it in your own backyard-Texas has had awful problems with this.

• Melissa // Apr 3, 2007 at 3:16 pm

  Here is my two cents worth…Yes, it is contagious…but it is also treatable and I think you already have a great deal on your plate to take someone else in. Additionally the MRSA may be the least of your worries with regard to your daughter as it sounds like she may still be actively using illegal drugs. Is that something you are willing to bring into your home? If she truly has nowhere else to go I can see that it would be hard to close your door to her but I have a sister who was enabled by her mother for so long she nearly died and managed to bring three helpless children into the world, in the process, all of whom are now in foster care. You might also find that the people you are already helping out, by letting them live with you might flounder if they feel forced to leave because the one who needs rehab gets to come home. Do not allow her boyfriend to move in with you, under any circumstances as he needs to rely on his own family. If your daughter is truly destitute she should be able to find assistance in your community and in a situation like rehab, they have to treat medical conditions as well as addiction issues and I promise they have seen MRSA before and if they haven’t they need to, especially since they have appropriate protocol for infectious diseases already, where your five year old grandson does not. I do not for a moment believe that MRSA is worse than AIDS or HepB,D,E. It is truly not a death sentence…. What you reaslly need to think about is not her MRSA but her lifestyle, presumably it is not a good one and she needs to seek professional help. Even shelters would be able to get her access to free clinics and the like. Most sliding scale clinics would be willing to do VANCO IV, if it is really called for, on an outpatient basis and wrack up bills for your daughter, but at least she would have treatment. What kind of interventions has she had already, does she know it is that contagious? It sounds like her lifestyle is clouding her judgment and it isn’t your job anymore to guide her through that.

  At some point we have to let them go their own way,

  Melissa

• Melissa // Apr 3, 2007 at 3:22 pm

  Yes, you can get it from the soil. I in fact may have been exposed through my daughter not washing her hands after garden class at school. She is not infected but I am and so far Doxy seems to be taking care of it. Probably because I knew immediately what it was and how to deal with it.

  Melissa

• Rhoda // Apr 3, 2007 at 3:38 pm

  Wow. I asked for opinion strong people and bless you all for being there! I have a lot to work with now and Melissa, you hit very square on something that I’ve been not looking at like I should ~ the drug use that got my daughter where she is and I’m sure is still going on and definitely could be why an intelligent young woman could act the way she is about her illness and everything in her life. I will start calling the rehab centers etc. as soon as I finish this and keep going until I find her proper help for both problems. I’ve really been sitting her not seeing things right in front of me that only people here in cyberspace want to talk about or help me with. I have also scheduled doctor appointments for myself and my boyfriend to get tested tomorrow and will take all of your advice and recommendations to heart. Bless you all for being there.

• Jennifer // Apr 3, 2007 at 8:27 pm

  Vancomycin is not the only treatment for MRSA. In fact MRSA is beginning to form a new resistance. And it is called to VRSA or VISA. This is MRSA that is resistant to vanco also. There are other drugs to fight MRSA. All the Dr needs is a sensitivity to the MRSA the person needs and he will know what to use. People need to be very careful with Vanco for this reason. So far there are only limited cases of VISA and VRSA’s, but it will be alot like when MRSA started and it will snowball. If your DR suggests a drug that is not vanco don’t insist on vanco. Vanco should be reserved as a last resort. The last drug if others don’t work. It is that important of a drug. Once it becomes VRSA there will be very little chance of finding an antibiotic that will work.

• heather // Apr 3, 2007 at 10:04 pm

  hell no you can put your child in school enroll them now if they decline get a lawyer mrsa is as easy to pick up as you goin after a gallon of milk!!! my daughters teachers know she had it and let me tell you we do not have it now!! read back on my last post it says everything we did if you have questions please write to me at

• Missy // Apr 3, 2007 at 10:52 pm

  My 11 month old son just got out of the hospital 3 weeks ago for an abcess on his leg. This is the third one he’s had. The first one occured when he was about 5 months old on his butt. (Left side)I took him in to see his doctor and it was positive for MRSA. The doctor drained it and sent him home on Septra. We had 3 follow up visit to make sure it was heaaling properly. When he was about 7 months old he developed another small abcess on his left thigh. This one was small so I drained it and did sitz baths and bactriban ointment like the last one. And it healed nicely. Well when he was 10 months old he developed another one on his left thigh. I took him in to the doctor who immediately sent us to the hospital because of the size. (only had it for 2 days and it started on the first day looking like an ant bite.). He was admitted and treated with IV Vancomycin. While in the hospital he had temperatures up to 104. He was taken to the PICU where they drained 3 ounces from the abscess. (+MRSA) Because I work in a dialysis center they allowed me to take him home and do wick dressing changes on his leg. He was discharged on Septra. And this one has healed very well the incision was about 21/2 inches long and about an inch deep. I spoke with the surgeon and pediatrician about the abcesses and they both said it is like an epidemic. I thought with being in healthcare I might have brought home something but they assured me that MRSA is EVERYWHERE. There is no common link to where people are catching it. They also said the best treatment for the abcesses is drainage. In some cases antibiotics are not needed. So do not try and treat these on your own go to a doctor and have them drained to get rid of the infection. I have a 10 yr old and a 7 year old who are MRSA and Abcess free and so are me and my husband. Unfortuniatley I don’t know if he will get anymore but I check him and my other boys constantly.

• Rhoda // Apr 4, 2007 at 7:18 am

  I have been sitting here this morning reading every post here and find the conflicting at information everyone hears and tells disturbing. Even we are not all on the same page. We see here the many precautions to take to keep your house and self clean and disinfected to contain MRSA and then that there is nothing to stress over because you can get it anywhere. There are at least ten entries here alone from people with several or all of their family members infected that makes me feel like we should be very afraid of anyone with MRSA, the most confusing entry to me being Heather’s, who describes in detail how she and her child got MRSA, and how easy she could transmit it to others, as well s the extreme methods of housecleaning she uses, but her message is to not be afraid of people with MRSA. Then there are the entries that tell of doctors doing everything from downplaying the disease to saying things like babies are to young to catch it. All of the websites I read on MRSA list specific ways MRSA can be contracted directly from another person. We are saying to fight for the right for MRSA infected children to attend school but Jen, who works in a microbiology lab, tells us that hospital workers there can’t return to work until they test negative to MRSA. Melissa writes of doctors downplaying it to stop hysteria and even tells of her doctor giving totally false information. I think the fact is that some doctors don’t know what they are talking about, maybe they missed the MRSA class! and some downright lie to their patients. I think the most valuable information here about doctor opinion is to go straight to an infectious disease control specialist who most likely took the class. And, in spite of MRSA being contractible from even dirt, I feel inclined to do everything I can to protect myself and my loved ones from all risks including staying away from those with MRSA if possible. I am taking Melissa and other’s advice about letting my MRSA positive daughter live with me and insisting she go into treatment (and drug rehab!) and be clear of MRSA before joining my rather large household. I believe that if we don’t spread a message of fear we will not be heard and it will lessen the chances of the government stepping in and doing something for the country at large. No one knows what difference it might have made if AIDS had been recognized and announced for what it was sooner instead of being downplayed and then called a “gay” disease for so long. I know it took fear for me to tell a man he had to use a condom to be intimate with me. I feel some are saying to treat this like the common cold but I don’t read of people dying from a common cold like I do MRSA. I don’t know, plan to find out, but I bet containment had something to do with the Netherlands success in eradicating MRSA. Fear doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It is motivation.

• Kathy G // Apr 4, 2007 at 2:04 pm

  I have a family member who nearly lost his life due to MRSA. Luckily, one doctor (of many that he saw) recognized that he had MRSA. It has not been cured in over three years. He lives daily with it, trying to manage the disease. His infectious disease Dr. told him that this is worse than HIV infection. He has been treated repeatedly for outbreaks with EVERY drug available. None kills it off completely. As far as enrolling a child in school, I would certainly want to know that it is present so that I as a parent, am aware of what to look for in my own child. If you don’t want to put others at risk, tell someone! I have seen the effects of this infection firsthand and would never wish them on my worst enemy. Please think about that before enrolling your child in school and saying nothing. With careful cleaning and precautions, I’m sure the risk to other kids can be minimized, but a school cannot take precautions for something it knows nothing about. and yes, MRSA is everywhere, but knowingly putting others at risk is entirely different than contracting it by accident.
  As far as containment in the Netherlands, the current information I’m coming across indicates that it is NOT contained there or anywhere else. Probably the biggest hinderance to stopping or slowing this “superbug” is the complete ignorance on the part of MANY in the healthcare field as to the danger of this infection. Our family has encountered more physicians than not that have no clue what to look for, how to treat it properly, or what steps to recommend to minimize the risk of contracting MRSA/VRSA. At least from what I’ve seen firsthand, fear of this is a very good thing. You do NOT want to unwittingly contract this infection!

• Mary // Apr 4, 2007 at 4:01 pm

  I guess the most important fact that I have learned is that this disease is different for everyone who gets it-it presents differently, the course is different etc..therefore the medicine plan is somewhat different -in our case there was no time to wait-the vanco had to be used-the infection spread so fast, and became systemic, it was life threatening within days of the fever and admission into the hospital. For instance ,not everyone gets the leg/muscle infection-which in our case lead to severe swelling which lead to pulmonary embolism, so you see the serious nature of this disease . It can take a near fatal or as we have read here, fatal turn. Thanks for reading. God Bless.

• Rhoda // Apr 4, 2007 at 6:31 pm

  Well… I went to my doctor today and asked to be swabbed for MRSA. I told her that I had been exposed by my daughter especially when her first four boils were diagnosed as spider bites and I drained them without gloves. She refused to swab me saying that it would do no good because so many people are carriers now and nothing can be done to get rid of it before you start breaking out. She also told me that people never die from MRSA and that you have to get the germ in a cut to catch it. When I told her I read daily about people dying from MRSA on the internet she just rather rolled her eyes and said, Oh, really. Needless to say I am changing doctors until I find one who at least knows as much as I do who is willing to try to help me become a non carrier! She said that she is sure that everyone in the medical field is a carrier and there is nothing that can be done about it and that since it’s not deadly there is nothing to worry about. I guess we are all liars.

• Jennifer // Apr 4, 2007 at 9:12 pm

  Rhoda, Don’t listen to that DR MRSA is deadly when we get a patient in the hospital who is already sick and then they develop MRSA they are very very ill. MRSA hits the immunocompromised very hard and it is a battle to keep them from dying. However you can be a carrier and not get sick from it.
  I also want to correct something someone else wrote, I do not live in the Netherlands. And yes the Netherlands have erradicated it. Yes they do occationally get new patients but there are alot of countries nearby and people travel. They know how to deal with it and they have proven it. I believe I read this information on a website for health care professionals but which one I am not sure. I belong to several. DRs don’t always keep up with the times. sometimes they develop an I am God attitude and refuse to listen to information from people that they feel are inferior to them. So keep looking for DRs who actually know what they are saying and not just trying to tell you what you want to hear. Interview Drs before you agree to be their patient. It should never be them letting you be their patient. The good ones will understand your concern in finding the right DR. Ask questions and get understandable answers or walk away and find another.

• Melissa // Apr 4, 2007 at 10:49 pm

  Rhoda,
  Call the local CDC office, ask them for a referral explaining the, serious and gory nature of your exposure and the fact that you are a caretaker of a child, who could potentially be at risk. It is children and immune compromised people who are most at risk for the fatal kinds of infections associated with MRSA, and staph in general. They may not refer you to one of their doctors but they will likely give you the name of a Dr who they know has been informed and been treating people with MRSA. There really is no reason to be afraid, if you have had no symptoms but be dramatic and they should give you a name at least. The CDC is keeping track, it that is all they are doing and most of the time they are pretty informative.

  Melissa

• heather // Apr 4, 2007 at 11:48 pm

  call an infectious disease dr yeah any infectious disease dr will do they are all pretty aware of mrsa

• Rhoda // Apr 5, 2007 at 1:12 am

  Thank you. I myself have a compromised immune system, already having two auto-immune diseases, so I will follow up on all advise tomorrow ASAP! God bless you all.

• Kathy // Apr 5, 2007 at 10:14 am

  There are so many conflicting comments out there. I really don’t think doctors know what they are dealing with yet. Depending on what state you live in depends on if MRSA is reportable or not (just an FYI).
  I finally got so tired of going to the dr every month i called a infectious disease specialist. Suprisingly a lot of doctors are self proclaimed Infectious disease specialists. Just because they call themselves infectious disease specialists does not mean that they have been certified as one. I also found that the some doctors will not set up an appointment unless your dr reffered you. Up to just recently I had only one spot a month which had to be drained. My latest experience is much worse. Started with one now I have 4. Go to the specialist next week. Hope he can help.
  My local doctor suggested a clorox bath, can someone tell me what mixture to use?

• Lauren // Apr 5, 2007 at 12:27 pm

  Does anyone know if MRSA is an STD?? My boyfriend knows I have this “superbug” but we have been having unprotected sex and I never thought about it until know if this should be an issue or not. Does anyone out their know. I am having no luck googleing it.

• Rhoda // Apr 5, 2007 at 2:57 pm

  I have read that CA MRSA is considered an STD but since then have found out that it is transmissable in so many ways that just the sweat from having sex could transfer the disease or even sneezing on someone. The bacteria is colonized mostly in the nose but can colonize the urinary tract, too, which, along with the direct transfer of body fluid, also could be a reason it has been considered as an STD. But, as you will read here, it can be contracted in numerous ways from needle sharing to digging in the soil. I don’t think a condom will make a lot of difference but then again every precaution helps! If your boyfriend chooses to be intimate with you knowing these risks that is his choice but I believe that those of us with who choose to be around CA MRSA should understanad the risk.

• heather // Apr 5, 2007 at 6:27 pm

  bleach bath i used 2 cups per every full bath tub my dr said 1 tbs to every gallon but sitting there doing that was nuts…. so i just decided 2 cups it worked great we also used 2% mupirocin in the nose twice a day we also used clindamycin1% and 15 days of bactrum

• judi // Apr 5, 2007 at 7:30 pm

  Fortunately i’ve not had an outbreak since january, but i’m wondering about the bleach bath. isnt’ that kind of rough on the rest of your body and irritating to sensitive areas??

• heather // Apr 5, 2007 at 7:32 pm

  i have very tough skin i say nothin gets to me…. but somehow i gave birth to the most pale complected child…. and everything irritaes her and she did fine with the bleach baths

• Anna // Apr 5, 2007 at 8:36 pm

  My son and I have VERY sensitive skin, and we do bleach baths. I do it more of a maintainance thing now, 3-4 times a week ( or a stand up showers)where as when he was having breakouts we bathed him everyday in it, I have to say I would rather bathe him everyday and have the dry skin , Of course the flip side to this is I have to make sure I moisturize his skin ( with a noncommutaganic (sp?) lotion so not the plug up any pores that might triger a boil)
  AND of course as per dr we use paper towels as wash cloths for the bath and to wash our faces

• Anna // Apr 5, 2007 at 8:46 pm

  Oh question, 2% mupirocin, is this the generic name for bactrum ? Of course my newborn had ( what I thought) was a boil and the dr perscribed it is the ointment what you use in your nose ? ( and boil turned out not to be a boil and tested negative for mrsa) YaY !
  I also need to find a new dr, mine is dragging his a** with trying to help me when obviously there are issues in my house, I don’t want to have this problem, but honestly I need to get things cleared so none of this does affect the baby
  My C-section site has had a few flare up and all he could do and is say to me I’ll make you all better ( like he was talking to a monkey and perscribing me cheplex and not doing a swab)
  I know I refrenced a few diffrent posts …sorry
  and thanks for listening …lol I seem to babbble on here

• Rhoda // Apr 6, 2007 at 6:29 am

  IF the bleach bath causes any problems you can try a hydrogen peroxide bath. I put about 8 of the little bottles in bath water.

• Rhoda // Apr 6, 2007 at 6:35 am

  Does anyone know of an over the counter antibacterial ointment ointment that might help when used in the nose? My doctor won’t prescribe one and I am considering trying Betadin ointment…
  Thank you!

• heather // Apr 6, 2007 at 7:03 am

  if you have mrsa and your dr wont give you the goods to get rid of it……. then id be lookin for a new doc!!!

• judi // Apr 6, 2007 at 7:59 am

  Rhoda, get some tea tree oil and use a small amount on a q-tip for your nose. do you actually have a sore in there or are you thinking it will just kill the mrsa?? tea tree oil has a real strong smell but if you can get past that, it will help with the actual sores and i have found it helpful in clearing up the sores

• Rhoda // Apr 6, 2007 at 8:17 am

  Thanks, Judi. My doctor says she is 100% sure I am colonized after the unprotected close contact I had with my daughter’s boils when they were still “spider bites” but refused to test me, says she’ll just treat me when/if I start to break out!, so I was hoping to clean up my own nose before I start breaking out or carry it to my grandchildren. PS> Getting new doc!!!!!

• Rhoda // Apr 6, 2007 at 4:52 pm

  I’m broken hearted. My daughter will be homeless as of Monday and when she called today shivering at a payphone I told her that I had made arrangements for her to go into a hospital instead of coming here. In thirty years I have never turned her away and even as I cry I know that maybe her addiction might not have lasted so long if I had been tougher sooner. I didn’t tell her that when we get to the hospital she will be committed for not taking care of a deadly disease and for drug addiction. It is the only way I could find to get her in immediately after of dozens of calls to find help for her. The shelters don’t at all want her. The call to our local CDC was interesting. They told me that there was no reason she couldn’t live here in her condition but then told me to be sure and sterilize all of her stuff before moving it here with a child in the house. The hospitals were much different even implying that I would be liable for my granddaughter if I did bring Jami here like she is. Melissa, if you still read here, thank you again. I thought about you the whole time I was setting up to have her treated for drugs and the MRSA. God bless you all.

• heather // Apr 6, 2007 at 6:21 pm

  rhoda im glad you are getting your daughter help…. there is no reason you should turn your back on her cause of this like i said earlier my bf of 2 yrs hasnt contracted this and he lives here with us every weekend!! when your daughter gets cleaned up she will wanna be clean!! as in not caring about the sores use tea tree oil make her take olive tree extract pills and another good thing is the bleach baths!!! dont turn your back when she needs you the most!! stay on her make sure she gets what she needs and good luck to you god bless!!!

• Melissa // Apr 6, 2007 at 9:02 pm

  You are doing the best possible thing for her and you made fast work of finding her treatment! I wish it didn’t hurt so much to help our kids sometimes, but honestly you have not deserted her at all!!!! She can come to you as soon as she is better prepared to live with you and your family. She will make her choices and her recovery will probably not be easy, speaking more here of the addiction than the MRSA. Please know that you have made the best possible choices and all you can do now is hope she effectively uses the resources you have helped her get. I would never say turn her away, because of the MRSA only temporarily because she needs more help than you can give her with the addiction and better information about what she needs to do to keep you and yours safe from the MRSA. I think of you all everyday too, and I hope you have the best possible outcome from this.
  Melissa

• Melissa // Apr 6, 2007 at 9:14 pm

  Rhoda and everyone else who reads this…
  Someday you will look back at this and be able to help someone else make hard choices…As easy as this disease is to contract it is likely that more people in your daughters shoes will show up with it. Bad choices often follow addiction and in patterns of other infectious diseases this will probably hit hard in that area. You are brave to be so frank about your situation, as I do know intimately the “what if?” guilt that comes with addiction. You just make the best choices you can for your kids and hope that is enough. Sadly, it often isn’t, there are so many choices to be made. I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your children and I wish you all the luck in the world.
  Melissa

• Rhoda // Apr 7, 2007 at 1:31 am

  Other than my little family and 2 internet friends, I have no other friends or family except for all of you. Thank you all, God bless, and Happy Easter.

• Lauren // Apr 10, 2007 at 2:56 pm

  I have another question as this website has given me so much advice i am addicted. It has been 4 months and i have been boil free. How long “usually” would it take to be “mrsa free” and be confident in that mind frame?

• Tina // Apr 10, 2007 at 7:37 pm

  I just found this website and only read about half of it. Wow, didn’t realize how much of this was out there. To Josh, we would really like to know how your brother is doing. And to Rebecca, I am so so sorry for your loss. And to everyone else, I can’t believe this is all out there. My sister was diagnosed with MRSA October 2005, from a surgery (she has cerebral palsy) and have to have the pump removed because of the MRSA, and came home on the vanco for 8 weeks. MRSA does not show up in her bloodwork now. We just met with her doctor again today who said that he would like for her to try the surgery again (getting a pump put back in to help with her spasms because she needs her hip replaced and she is in extreme pain). Without getting this pump, she will not be able to get a hip, and eventually she will not be able to move around at all (she can walk with crutches). I am at a loss trying to find information. Can anyone give me any insight as to what we should do or what we should ask BEFORE we decide to go ahead with this surgery. I am just trying to figure out if her body will infect this pump and if it will then eventually infect her new hip. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

• Rhoda // Apr 10, 2007 at 10:59 pm

  The questions here keep getting more interesting. But I don’t think there is a set safe time. I’d get tested to see if you are still colonized with MRSA.

• laura // Apr 11, 2007 at 11:33 pm

  lauren… just to let you know, i have been abcess free for 4 months, had my nose cultured about a month ago and came back mrsa free. now i know that if i get it again its because i came in contact with it from an outside source again. i suggest you do the same…. it might give you peace of mind. if it comes back positive you know to use the muciprocin (spelling?) in your nose. that will help.

• Tammy // Apr 13, 2007 at 9:11 pm

  We just found out that my 18 month old grandson may have MRSA. A positive test in the boil, still waiting on the test to see if it’s in his bloodstream. Does this mean it might be cured if it’s only in the wound? I think the dr.s caught it quick. This whole week has been a nightmare!
  I’ve never even heard of MRSA before, now I read one tragady after another. If he does have it, how do we continue play and love on him, without catching it or passing it on to my child, or 6 month old granddaughter? Please, need educated fast. Nana T

• Andrea // Apr 15, 2007 at 1:06 pm

  I am 19 years old and had my first outbreak with MRSA 5 months ago. In that span I have had 6 outbreaks. They are very painful and this is a very scary thing to wonder if there is a cure? Will it go away or will I keep having outbreaks? I can’t just keep taking antibiotics…!! They also thought I was diabetic but that was negative. I am healthy whats going on?

• Rhoda // Apr 16, 2007 at 6:55 am

  Tammy, if you haven’t found out alredy, the MRSA being contained in the one boil is a god sign but no guarantee that there won’t e more boils. After the boil is cleared, ask to have his nose, where MRSA colonizes, swabbed and tested and continue to treat him until he tests negative. Look through the notes here for natural treatments. All of them I have seen here have value. Best wishes to you and your family and remember that thorough hand washing is the number one defense!

• Rhoda // Apr 16, 2007 at 7:06 am

  Andrea, Have you been put on the antibiotic Vancomyacin(sp?)? They have to keep trying antibiotics until they find the one that works for your strain of CA MRSA. You can help them with natural medicines like T Tree Oil and others mentioned through the notes here. If you aren’t getting it already, ask for Bactroban or some antibiotic for your nose where the MRSA colonizes. This is a lot for such a young adult to carry. I hope you have lots of support from family and friends, that helps, too! as I have learned from the people who write in here. God Bless and I pray you will be outbreak free soon.

• Rhoda // Apr 17, 2007 at 3:43 am

  It was reading some articles a doctor suggested about phage therapy for MRSA when I came across something that might be of interest to those who don’t know why they keep getting reinfected if the have a pet dog. From St John’s, Mercy Hospital in Missouri, I read, “In conclusion, until further studies are performed, the evaluation of patients with recurrent MRSA colonization or infection that does not have an obvious source should prompt queries regarding any regular contact with pet dogs, particularly in household settings. Any investigation aimed at identifying hidden carriers of MRSA among close patient contacts should not overlook “man’s best friend.”" This article cited dogs as the most likely housepet to carry MRSA in their noses and raised questions about visiting dog programs for the elderly. Oh and the Phage therapy, creating bugs to eat bugs, is very interesting itself and being studied for MRSA although most research into it ended with the discovery of antibiotics. It appears we were on the right track and got sidetracked by Penicillin!

• Tammy // Apr 17, 2007 at 9:27 pm

  Rhoda….
  Thanks for the info concerning my grand baby. He was released from the hospital, and tests confirm the MRSA was only in the boil, not in the bloodstream, Thank God!! I sent out emails to everyone I know the day we found out it was positive in the wound, asking everyone to pray for him, and add him to prayer chains. It worked!! When passing on the good news about Leighlan, I also ask for my friends and family to continue to pray for victims of this terrible infection. It’s hard to believe something so scary appears to be rampant, and hardly anybody has ever heard of it. Thanks Nana T.

• heather // Apr 18, 2007 at 6:16 am

  i would like for you to explain if your grandchild has a boil…… how if this boil is on his/her body its not in the childs blood stream??? boils bleed dear and if that boil tested mrsa positive then please explain how it wasnt in the childs blood stream…… dont be in denial and if you arnt id seriously like to know what lie the dr is telling you

• heather // Apr 18, 2007 at 6:18 am

  rhoda how is your daughter doing has she stayed with the program?

• Jen // Apr 18, 2007 at 6:52 am

  Boils are skin issues. They don’t normally go as deep as the blood stream. Lets not just assume that a boil means it came from the blood. Its an infection, people get infections all the time without them going systemic. Yes they can become systemic but that is NOT the norm.

• Rhoda // Apr 18, 2007 at 8:18 am

  Thank you,Heather for asking about my daughter. She disappeared when she was supposed to go to the hospital and I have no idea where she is. I heard a rumor of where she might be last night and am going there today to check.
  And it is true that you can have MRSA or any infection in the skin without it getting into the bloodstream. The skin is seven layers thick to protect our blood stream.

• heather // Apr 18, 2007 at 10:02 am

  im a hair dresser and in anatomy we were taught that the haircolor we put on your head gets into the blood stream so how if a boil that is on your body and it bleeds and had bodily fluids in it is not in the blood stream 7 layers those 7 layers are not that thick….. hey i could be wrong and im deff gonna have to ask the babys doc i just dont want her to be in denial when the next one shows up i mean my daughter had 1 then 2 and a rash all over her but and it thank the good lord hasnt been back!!! but im sooo scared every day!!! anyways rhoda good luck in finding her its sad shes 30 and wont take help from you i have a 25 yr old brother that is the same way i feel your pain my other brother was killed by a drunk driver and ever since my lil brother has been a drug and alcohol abuser….. you are in my prayers!!

• laura // Apr 19, 2007 at 6:19 am

  in response to heathers previous comment…. blood tests and cultures do not lie. in one hospital stay i had both my abcess cultured and blood work done, culture positive and blood work negative. but just because the blood work is negative doesnt mean you will not get anymore abcess’. it is when it is in your bloodstream that you have to worry because there is a high chance it will attack you organs if not caught in the very beginning (and from previous statements on here we all know what the outcome of that can be) i dont know how it works that way medicaly but it does. and to rhoda…. my daughter and one abcess and is fine, dont let this stress you out too much, just take the proper precautions and be prepared… that way you wont be in “denial” if it does happen again.

• KH // Apr 19, 2007 at 9:08 am

  My nephew 22 just died from MRSA- It ate a softball size hole in his lungs,a hole in his throat, and in his heart. He was being treated for it with antibiotics. He contracted it while in the hospital for pnemonia. Besides having Pnemonia he was a perfectly healthy boy. MRSA is very serious.

• Rhoda // Apr 19, 2007 at 11:19 am

  KH, I am so very sorry to hear of your loss. I just sat here for five minutes staring at the screen trying to think of anything else to say. I feel like we are at war writing our own casualty reports. Use the urge to talk about your loss to spread the word about MRSA for those still suffering. I am going to use your letter for my doctor who rolled her eyes when I told her that people are dying from MRSA. Some of the hospitals in the US are beginning to think about pre-screening all patients for MRSA to stop the spread in hospitals but many will refuse for the expense of it. Maybe if enough people threaten to sue they will rethink which costs them more! I haven’t heard of anyone successfully suing yet but you could let off some steam by threatening to. We here all mourn the loss of your nephew with you.May God bless and comfort you and yours.

• Melissa // Apr 20, 2007 at 2:09 pm

  I am also sorry for you loss….I work in medicine and I see healthy people die of it quite frequently, actually. But the medical community thinks they are immune because they have implemented procedures called “universal precautions” which are actually pretty worthless against a disease like this, and several others. I know of at least one case pending in the UK, but socialized medicine changes the dynamic of responsibility and the US is frankly slow at getting things to the forefront, look at AIDS denial and that is still guaranteed to kill….

  Melissa

• Rhoda // Apr 22, 2007 at 9:10 am

  I just read an uplifting news feed. I the UK a Mrs. Cope wone a lawsuit against a hospital for negligence that resulted in her having MRSA. This is my favorite quote: “Although there have been previous settlements in cases of inadequate treatment of MRSA, Mrs Cope’s case was the first where a hospital admitted the actual contraction of the superbug was avoidable.” I pray that this can be a step forward for us as well as the UK. Since the real fear seems to be the cost of preventative measures, maybe the cost of lawsuits will swing the motivating fear the other way.

• Rhoda // Apr 24, 2007 at 2:55 am

  I just found something new that might help us. “StaphAseptic is a new first aid gel that is applied to cuts, scrapes and burns to kill staph bacteria and MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus. StaphAseptic is applied before a bandage. It contains lidocaine to help with pain.” I checked and it is available at Drugstore.com but there is a two week wait at this time. I hope it will eventually reach most pharmacies and Walmart here as it is in the UK already. The price at drugstore.com is $14.99. When I called Walgreens they said it would be available in a couple of weeks but I’m in Nebraska and things don’t exactly get here first! Hope it helps someone! RHoda

• AH // Apr 26, 2007 at 2:07 pm

  Hi there! It is possible to have a MRSA boil without the bloodstream getting infected with MRSA. This is because anytime the body gets a boil, a pimple, a spider bite, etc., the body surrounds the fluid inside with a protective sac to prevent spread to the rest of the body. That’s why you’re not supposed to pop a pimple, squeeze a boil or a spider bite yourself. Instead, you’re supposed to let a doctor do it, so that the protective sac does not get punctured from squeezing it, which would allow the infection to enter the bloodstream. For my MRSA, I’ve been trying the clorox baths, 2 cups per full tub, but does anybody know how long you’re supposed to sit in it? Thanks!

• Melissa // Apr 26, 2007 at 2:36 pm

  Bleach deactivates as soon as water becomes cold. Its a chemical thing. So, that is why directions on laundry tell you to wash whites with bleach in hot and that is why washing the heck out of your bleach covered hands with warm or hot water just makes them feel slimy. The bleach will be active until the water gets cold and on the surface of your body until it dissipates in the air. So, just soak until the water gets cold. Oh and I don’t suggest you boil yourself lol it will work just fine in warm water. Not sure the chemical cutoff on temp but I thought this might be helpful.

  Melissa

• AH // Apr 27, 2007 at 11:50 am

  Well, I’ve been doing lots of reading on Mersa, and I’ve compiled a list of things we can do at home, in addition to the Dr’s treatments. It is below. Have I missed anything?

  ”’At-home remedies”’ (NOT to be used INSTEAD of Doctor’s care, but rather IN ADDITION TO a Doctor’s care) include:
  Clorox baths (2 cups per bathful, soak for 20 minutes) twice per week for six weeks when sores are not present, and daily when sores are present(patient may use “Aveeno SKIN RELIEF Moisturizing Lotion” to prevent dry skin)
  Application of 100% Tea Tree Oil 2-3 times per day, directly to the boil, using a sterile cotton ball
  Disinfect boils daily
  Keep boils covered with sterile bandages and change bandages often
  Constant hand-washing (with soap remaining on hands for the length of time which it takes to sing Happy Birthday), be sure to use a paper towel to turn the water off again, otherwise touching the handle gets the germs right back onto the patient’s hands
  Wash clothes daily with HOT water and BLEACH when possible
  Keep patient’s hands away from the patient’s nose
  Not re-using towels prior to washing/bleaching them
  Wash/bleach bedsheets/pillowcases twice per week with hot water while sores are not present, and daily when sores are present
  Use papertowels (instead of washcloths)to wash face with
  Keep housepets, which are known to transmit the infection, outside
  Take natural supplements to boost the immune system (Lysine, Vitamin C, Acidophulis, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Six drops daily of Oil of Oregeno, Olive Leaf Capsules, Olive Tree Extract Capsules, Swallow a Fresh Garlic Clove daily)
  Get a presciption from the Dr to use inside of the nose, which will kill the colony of bacteria
  MRSA lives on surfaces for over 24 hours, so use lots of Lysol, bleach, and/or alcohol at home on surfaces that are touched often
  Pay special attention to disinfecting areas germs are more prone to. Germs like moist, warm, places to hide, like under arms, folds of skin, in between toes, along the edges of tight garments like socks and bras and underwear, along the inner thighs, and in the belly button.
  Always get a NASAL SWAB upon admittance to, and release from, ANY hospital, to test for MRSA
  Avoid eating sugars and white flour, which are both immune DEpressants
  Eat lots of whole grain foods & green foods
  Eat RAW Honey, and treat wounds with RAW Honey–raw honey is honey which has never been heated, therefore leaving the natural enzymes, antibiotic & antiviral properties intact.
  Swallow one teaspoonful of Bee Pollen daily
  Wear cotton clothing when possible
  DON’T use antibiotic soaps; this will only make the MRSA stronger
  Treat all cuts & scrapes with StaphAseptic to prevent MRSA infection

• Deb Ackerman // Apr 28, 2007 at 2:07 pm

  my daughter 10yrs old had an ear infection and was dx with mrsa bactrim susp. cleared up her infection but will she have the mrsa for life will it always show up only in her ears? she’s been fighting ear infections since she was 2 and has had tubes twice . help? what do i expect from now on? Thanks

• Rhoda // Apr 29, 2007 at 6:25 am

  AH ~ Thank you for putting together everyone’s research! That was quite an undertaking and very helpful to have it all up to date together. It was getting difficult to dig through for the right answer people were asking for sometimes.

  To Deb A. I’m sorry but there is no definite answer to most of your questions, except you will have to wait and see. One thing you can do is have her nose swabbed to see if she is still colonized and try to get the rest of the family swabbed, too, as well as a pet dog! to make sure none of you give it back to her. Best wishes! Rhoda

• Chris // Apr 29, 2007 at 9:24 pm

  I was diagnosed with MRSA 2 weeks ago after developing a nasty abcess on my upper thigh. My Dr. drained and swabbed immediately, put me on Cephalexin (sp?) and then the ointment Mupirocin for my nose. That outbreak healed and I thought I was done with MRSA.

  I now have another abcess on my other thigh and decided to do some of my own research before I call my Dr in the morn, and ended up here.
  I am now terrified and full of more questions. One specifically that I cannot seem to find an answer to….I now understand that MRSA colonizes in the nose…I am taking bleach baths….but not submerging my head….ever….and is the ointment in my nose 3x a day going to kill this bacteria totally or is it still hiding somewhere else on my body?
  Also, I now understand that my pets can be carriers?…We live on a horse farm with 2 dog and 2 cats as house pets, 5 horses, and 2 barn cats. Is there some way for me to treat them?
  Sorry if I sound panicky…but I am…very…
  Thanks for any info you can throw my way.
  Take care and God Bless!!
  :0) Chris

• Rhoda // Apr 30, 2007 at 7:28 am

  Chris, Not only your animals can be carriers but the other people you live with can. Do you know how you contracted it to begin with?? Also, did you ever test negative after the initial treatment? There is that chance that you didn’t get completely rid of it the first time. This time, after all treatment, ask to be tested again. You are talking about quite an undertaking to treat the whole farm but you can have every animal nose swabbed if you want to. I myself go to every extreme! Just remember, it is even possible to contract it from dirt although I don’t hear this one often. Best wishes. Maybe someone else has something more comforting to write! Rhoda

• Chris // Apr 30, 2007 at 10:22 am

  Thank you Rhonda. I will be seeing my Dr this afternoon and have a call into my vet. As to how I got this lil bugger? I am not sure, but I did have surgery on March 12, 2007 at a local hospital and broke out with my first abcess on April 6th, so I would say that is probably where it came from. Chris

• SHARON // May 1, 2007 at 12:33 pm

  I NOW HAVE MRSA. MY RIGHT BREAST HAD A SMALL RED SPOT IT GREW AS LARGE AS A GRAPEFRUIT. I WENT TO ER THEY SAID IT WAS ABCESS. WENT TO MY GYN/OB THEY SENT ME TO A GENERAL SURGEON. SHE CUT IT OPEN SO IT COULD DRAIN & SENT ME HOME. I SAW HER TODAY I’LL HAVE A MAMMOGRAM & ULTRA-SOUND DONE THE END OF MAY. HOW DID I GET IT & DO YOU HAVE IT THE REST OF YOUR LIFE? CAN I BE AROUND MY NEW GRANDSON & OTHERS W/OUT GIVING THEM THIS INFECTION. I HAD SURGERY JAN. 23-ALSO HELPED DELIVER MY GRANDSON==== THANKS, SHARON

• Tammy // May 1, 2007 at 1:47 pm

  Wow I wish I would have found this site a year ago when MRSA nearly destoyed me and my life. As a single mom with two children I was struck with a severe case I was covered in boils from head to toe Inside and out of my body and was hospitalized as if it was not bad enough to have a resitant strain of staff I am allerigic to most other meds. Doing better know have only had one outbreak but last week my son got an absessed boil which they had to lance. I have never seen him cry so much. He screamed and cried so hard he broke all the little blood vessels around his eyes. I just cried as I knew the pain he was in.
  I just wanted to add one thing to the list of all of you so many great ideas. Please note that Mrsa is a micro organism to using regualr soap or anti-bacterial soap will not kill this.. You must use a antiMICROBIAL soap.. I have found switching to this soap for all things hands, body , the kids, etc has keep me outbreak and up until last week my kids free of infection.
  Thanks
  Tammy

• heather // May 1, 2007 at 1:48 pm

  sharon anytime you have surgery it makes your risks at getting mrsa highest being in a hospital is also a risk but honestly i caould have mrsa and pick my nose and put a gallon of milk back at the grocery and you were the unluckey one who picked it up after me…… Im a mrsa survivor it was the hardest thing ive ever had to get rid of somehow my daughter contracted it….. It is horrible and painful but it can be beat we were swabbed a month ago and we dont have it…. if you read say the last ten entries someone had written all the right stuff to do its an excellent resource plus if you read back over the comments ive kleft you will see what all my family did and to be honest with you we didnt get rid of the mrsa until we moved….

• NICOLLE // May 1, 2007 at 1:52 pm

  Sharon,

  I feel you got the MRSA in the hospital as I did.
  You will be okay. Why are you waiting for the mamo and mri? I wouldnt wait. I am having a sonogram now becasue there is fluid under my scar area I hope and pray it isnt MRSA again.

• AH // May 2, 2007 at 10:05 am

  One of the entries on this page, way up top, suggested the use of Ocean Nasal Spray to kill Mersa from nasal passages. The active ingredient in this product is sodium chloride. However, there is a medical study located at http://ijms.sums.ac.ir/0012/alborzi0012.html which states that ” as already described, sodium chloride exerts its effect by stimulating PBP-2a production and so enhances methicillin-resistance. ” If it enhances the resistance, doesn’t that mean that it makes the Mersa stronger? If so, we should not use any product which contains sodium chloride. Help me understand?

  Thanks!

• judith // May 2, 2007 at 10:30 am

  i was actually prescribed that ocean spray by the doctor that FINALLY diagnosed me. if it enhances the resistance, it would make you more resistant to the mrsa virus, wouldn’t it?? anyway, i was treated in january with that and some antibiotics, have not had an outbreak since. knock wood. i’ve been very blessed. i had six outbreaks prior to the one in january, each one worse than the last. this has been my longest “dry spell” i hope it last.

• AH // May 2, 2007 at 10:43 am

  CDC Website for CA MRSA http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_clinicians.html#1

• AH // May 2, 2007 at 11:27 am

  I don’t know. I mean, it says that it enhances methicillin-resistance. Methicillin is a class of antibiotics, so doesn’t that mean that it makes it more resistant to antibiotics, or in other words, makes the mersa stronger?

• Andrea // May 2, 2007 at 12:57 pm

  Does everyone have a different form of MRSA? I mean to some people get it worse than others. I have an apt. today but hearing other peoples stories freaks me out because i dont want to have to worry about it like they do. Can I spread it to my boyfriend we live together? Is there anyway to prevent getting more boils or will i get them the rest of my life? What about when I want to have kids? I feel really useless and no one can really answer my questions? Can someone help me out please??? Thanks

• Rhoda // May 2, 2007 at 4:32 pm

  Andrea, There are many strains of MRSA as it evolves constantly and no two cases seem to be exactly the same that I have seen or heard of. All you can do is everything you can to get rid of it and then every precaution to stay free of it and pray with all of us. Best wishes and prayers to you. Rhoda

• SHARON // May 3, 2007 at 10:41 am

  MY CULTURE CAME BACK AS MRSA; I’M THE LADY THAT HAS IT IN THE RIGHT BREAST. NOW WAITING FOR A MAMMOGRAM & ULTRA-SOUND. CAN’T GET IN TILL THE 23RD OF THIS MONTH. THE ONLY ANTIBIOTIC THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME WAS OVER 10 DAYS AGO CALLED LEVAGUIN(GENERIC NAME) LEVOFLOXACIN. I HAVE NOT SEEN THIS LISTED ANYWHERE FOR TREATMENT OF MRSA!!!!!!!!! THE SURGEON SAID SINCE IT WAS LANCED IT’S OK! I HAD MRSA LAST YEAR IN THE GROIN AREA WHICH MY GYN/OB DOCTOR GAVE ME VANCOMYCIN THIS DID HELP. SHE’S NOW RETIRED! THIS IS SO SERIOUS IT BLOWS MY MIND HOW RELAXED SOME PHYSICIANS ARE—-IS ANYONE ELSE NOTICING THIS?
  SHARON

• heather // May 3, 2007 at 10:53 am

  Sharon I would get a new dr asap!! this is serious!! you need to be on a sulfate drug doesnt your breast hurt?? i noticed when i had mrsa that it was some of the worst pain id ever had!!! go to the er if you have to but your best bet is to get your primary care dr to give u a referral to a infectious disease dr!!!! please for ur health get someone to listen to you it could get worse!!!!

• Lauren // May 3, 2007 at 2:47 pm

  Is MRSA the usual staph that happens to be resistant to classic antibiotics or does it have sinister features?
  Why are the autorities dropping the ball? Do people get repeat infections because they didn’t eradicate it completely or because they are being reexposed? Is there something in our food supply that is making so many people break out.? I have been directed by an ID specialist to bond with Purell. Why is there no public campgaign to warn and protect the population?
  My case could have been arrested earlier if there had been a public education campaign! Could this be some strain that has gotten out of some bioresearch lab?
  Why aren’t we being informed of efforts to find solutions - be it vaccines or new oral antibiotics.? It seems like our priorioties are not where they should be.

• Mary // May 3, 2007 at 3:01 pm

  Sharon and Rhoda, by all means see a different doctor-a specialist, infectious disease. They will take this seriously. If you have had outbreaks and boils wash your hands constantly. This is the best defense. Warm water, soap and rub hands together to form suds. Dont rush through it-it is so important. Also, if you have had boils etc, use staph-a-septic and or hydrogen peroxide, alternate. Staph-a-septic is like ointment and it clears things up real well-my relative had a boil under arm pit and it cleared right up with the stuff. Try boosting immune system with Danactive-the new yougurt product-probiotic, it works. Sharon, maybe you need Rifampin along with the vancomycin-it does not sound like that medicine is working. If your culture showed MRSA then perhaps you did not get enopugh vanco and you amy need the Rifampin to get it kicked in again-usually the dose of rifampin is for about 2-3 days along with the vanco Good Luck God Speed..Fight the Monster.

• Rhoda // May 4, 2007 at 1:23 am

  MRSA ON A BILL IN THE US!!
  Yep, folks, that is not a misprint! Illinois is about to pass a bill that will require all hospitals to test high risk patients for MRSA!! What a difference from where I live and have to explain what MRSA is to ER attendants! Could this be the beginning of a dream come true? Is this country going to publicly recognize the fact that we have a serious problem with MRSA? Could it mean that doctors everywhere won’t treat us like we re talking about the common cold when we express fear about MRSA? Is this the beginning to the end of the war with MRSA? I don’t know about you but I think I am going to write to all my state’s people and brag about the measures being taken in Illinois like it just became the greatest state in the nation!

• AH // May 4, 2007 at 2:04 pm

  Can you send me a link to the bill in Illinois?

  Thanks!

• judith // May 4, 2007 at 2:24 pm

  http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-0704290430apr30,1,1562512.story?page=3&coll=chi-health-fea

  Here’s a link to an article that ran in the Chicago Tribune about the new bill. If you do a google search on “Illinois MRSA bill” you will find other related sites.
  I, too, am delighted that this is finally being recognized as serious! We’ve all known that for a long time, thank goodness someone is finally listening.

• Rhoda // May 5, 2007 at 4:48 pm

  I was excityed for payday to finally get here so I could buy some Staphaseptic to try. I have been wanting it to try using it in my nose since I still ahven’t been to a doctor who will swab me to see if I’m a carrier (very likely am!) and treat me. I bought tea tree oil for this but the smell put me off so I eagerly waited to try Staphaseptic. Guess what’s in it??? Yep. Tea tree oil! Using it anyways. Hope it helps!

• Tammy // May 6, 2007 at 3:22 pm

  I FOUND THIS WEB SITE A FEW WEEKS AGO, WHEN WE THOUGHT MY 1 1/2 YEAR OLD GRANDSON HAD IT. TURNED OUT HE ONLY HAD IT IN THE WOUND, AND SO FAR SEEMS TO BE OKAY, IT’S SO SCARY I STILL WORRY ALL THE TIME. HERE’S THE NEW PROBLEM, MY MOTHER IN LAW HAS NOW BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH MRSA. (NO CONTACT WITH GRANDSON) ONLY 1 MONTH AFTER THE OTHER SCARE, BOTH STARTED IN THE SAME HOSPITAL IN NC. MY QUESTION IS DOES ANYONE RECOMMEND A HOSPITAL THAT KNOWS WHATS GOING ON? WE LIVE IN BETWEEN ROANOKE, VA AND WINSTON-SALEM, NC. THE UVA MEDICAL CENTER SEEMS TO HAVE SOME TOP DR’S, BUT THEY’RE PRETTY FAR OFF. SHE’S IN HER 70′S AND THE DR NOW IS WORRIED ABOUT THE INFECTION SPREADING TO HER HEART. PLUS SHE HAS A BLOOD CLOT AT THE WOUND SITE, WHICH BY THE WAY IS THE IV INJECTION SITE FROM A WEEK AGO. SO I’D SAY SHE WAS DEFINATLEY INFECTED IN THE ER. PLEASE ANY SUGGESTIONS, WANT TO TRANSFER SOON.

• TONY // May 8, 2007 at 2:54 pm

  You know, I’ve been spending the past hour reading about everyone’s TERRIBLE situations, and I’ve been through just the same things as everyone has. I found out that I have MRSA almost a month ago, and to boot I had shingles at the same time!! starting at the base of my spine, and then going on my right butt cheek, and down my right leg. PAIN just seems to sound so small in what we felt. I went to the doctor and he told me that he wasn’t going to swab the sore because ‘there’s too much scabbing around it, and if, and bactrim, and keflex scripts> I get a bone chilling shivers to go to the ER. Needless to say, 3 days later I was in the ER. I got the BEST CARE, they cut it open and drained it and made me stayfrom saturday nite to monday afternoon. I was given vanco, and a doxycycline when I got home. I used neosporin, dermagran, and iodine wick(I used this for about 3 days and stopped), and washed with dial liquid soap, and used betasept(or hibiclens) 2x a day. This has REALLY done the trick. I just went to the wound care clinic(it’s been 3 weeks and 1 day as of today), the doctor and nurses are just amazed at how fast I’m healing. I can’t tell you all how my heart just hurts for you, and I know what you’re going through. I hope that the information that I’ve put in here could be usefull to you, and as far as my last dr, well let’s just say he’s got his hands full with the letter of complaint that I’ve written to the State board of Medical examiners because of his lazy attitude! All my thoughts and prayers to you!

• Steph // May 10, 2007 at 4:34 pm

  My daughter was diagnoses with MRSA while in High school basketball. I took her to a Dr. for a large absess in her armpit. The Dr. did a culture and called me immediately to inform me that my daughter had MRSA. I talked to the coach about her wound because the Dr. did an incision and drainage she could not play basketball. That is when I found out that there had been several girls with MRSA but no one was talking about it. Schools should be forces to inform families about MRSA in the school and have mandatory training just like sex education! I believe that my daughter got MRSA from sharing a razor and unclean locker room It would have been so easy to prevent. We treated her at home with Bactrim DS and washed everything. She now uses antibacterial soap for all her soap needs. She had several outbreaks since her first one, but after two years of frequent “boils” we are finally MRSA “free” - no outbreak in almost 14 months. We learned not to share but not to be scared. Handwashing and bleach in the laundry and general cleanups are the two most important additions to our daily lifestyles. Wash your hands long enough to sing the happy birthday song! If it is wipeable use a simple bleach and water solution ~ it doesn’t take expensive disinfectants to kill MRSA. Do not lock yourself in a closet because you have MRSA. Know what you are fighting and you will beat it!

• Amber // May 10, 2007 at 9:19 pm

  I have three boys 8, 7, and 1. My one year old was in the hospital in January. Not long after he was dx with Mrsa; at the same time my 8 year old had it to. They put us all on antibiotics and it cleared up. But my 1 year old keeps getting it back. His Doctor told us to clean with an anti-bacterial cleaner but not to use bleach. He says studies have shown that bleach kills 99.9% of bacteria but it also wants to kill the host and the host has to be human. So use anti-bacterial cleaners but don’t use bleach.

• michelle // May 11, 2007 at 5:46 pm

  I was 18 when i caught MRSA after having knee surgery for a torn cruciate ligament. The infection entered my blood stream and i went into septic shock and was admited to the intensive care unit. Once it enters your blood stream it can have devastating affects on your body. After i was taken out of intensive care i had various test done to assess the damage including CAT scan, heart echo, chest x-ray., bone density scan, ultrasound and endoscopy. I was lucky in that there was no permanent damage to my organs. Although i cant say the same for my knee joint, i had a subsequent 5 surgeries to wash it out and had vacumn assisted closure to help get rid of all the bacteria. I was also on an intensive course of IV drugs 4 times a day for amonth while i was in hospital and a susequent 2 weeks of oral treatment. Now 2 yrs on I do have leg pain and I am on pain killers to treat that but otherwise im fully recovered and i am back playing soccer for my university and local team at home. I was lucky in that i heard a great dealof support and care from the medical staff around me and i still have regular appointments with my consultant. One of the most frustrating things about my experience is that all of the pain could of been prevented if proper hygiene measures had of been taken. I read some of the prevoius stories and my heart goes out to individuals who are suffering from mrsa or are watching a loved one, whih in many cses is often harder.

• Rhoda // May 12, 2007 at 7:43 am

  I have read in here a few times about people getting rid of MRSA by moving. My daughter and her boyfriend just moved and are both in remission for the first time since this began last August!! We have been very careful to only take their things to them that we have washed of sterilized and I got them a jug of Germ X that they religiously use to sterilize their hands with and neither of them have a single boil. I know it can still come back and am now faced with the old problem of getting a doctor to treat someone who is “just” in the carrier stage but we are using every natural cure we can find in the mean time. I pray MRSA doesn’t raise its ugly head again but am very, very grateful for this remission!! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers as I believe the prayers of strangers are the strongest ones. God bless you all.

• Amanda // May 14, 2007 at 12:30 pm

  I was diagnosed with MRSA last Tuesday after being admitted to the hospital on Sunday with suspected MRSA on my face. I had what looked like a spider bite between my nose and mouth and it rapidly got worse. I went to the Urgent Care on Saturday and they gave me bactarban DS (sp?) and by Sunday morning I was being admitted to the hospital. I was on iv vancyomycin (sp?) for 4 days and released on Thursday night. I still haven’t been able to return to work and I’m not sure when that happens. I found out today that my office had the cleaning crew disinfect my entire work area. I’m not sure what they are waiting for to let me return to work. I have only a small almost healed wound on my face. My entire family (husband and 1 and 5 yr old girls) are being treated with the bactarban ointment and the antimicrobal soap (I can’t remember the name “hib” something). I was lucky that the on-call dr was a partner in my drs office and an infectious disease specialist. I’m not sure what happens from here. At this point I have a dr appt every day for the next 3 days, with surgeons and then my internal med dr. I had to have the wound opened and drained last Monday and Tuesday. I keep thinking I’m getting better, but I am worried about how concerned everyone else seems. Especially with my dr. On my discharge he said to keep my appt on the 23rd, but I thought maybe he got the Wednesdays confused, so I moved it to this Wednesday, we’ll see. This is just a crazy infection. It got so bad so fast, I felt like I was ignoring it or something.

  Good luck to all!

• Pat // May 14, 2007 at 3:02 pm

  I have been reading all the comments written. I to have CA-MRSA (community acquired) and I am also an RN who has taken care of many MRSA patients. I have just recently been hospitalized with my second serious infection and have receive vancomycian on both occasions as well as Zyvox. I too use bleach on everything and am very careful to wash my hands often. I do believe there are alternative medications, which can help and will be trying many of the ones suggested here. Please be careful with using bleach do not use it un-diluted it can cause burns which can give MRSA or other bacteria an opening.
  I have done a lot of research on MRSA and there are a couple of things I would like to share. Before I go on one thing already mentioned is wash your hands. This will prevent so many diseases that are just as harmful as MRSA as some that are much more dangerous.
  1. You can get MRSA from many sources including the shopping cart in your local stores. Methacillin Resistance means that the drugs usually used to kill staff infections no longer work ( penicillin’s, oxycillin’s etc.) and other drugs have to be used.
  2. 2The reason we have developed this type of staff is from the over use of antibiotics. Also when any one does not finish antibiotics prescribed the bacteria left can become “resistant” to that type of antibiotic.
  3. The Netherlands have done a better job of controlling MRSA with their rates at about 3%. One recent report I have just read indicates they are now seeing some increase.
  4. Be careful with sharing MRSA diagnosis with just anyone in schools. Let the school nurse know and he/she can instruct all the teachers in how to prevent the spread of MRSA and will help prevent other children from being exposed, even from children and teacher who are colonized and do not know it. I believe we should have public education but we need to make it general education and not set children up to be ostracized.
  5. Microbials are live things we have to use a microscope to see. These include bacteria and viruses. MRSA is a bacteria and is effected by many anti bacterial agents. There has been some evidence recently to show our children are not developing natural immunity because of all the anti-bacterial stuff out there. When we are exposed to some microbes we do develop immunity to those (that is how vaccines work we). Regular staff and MRSA are not in this group so being exposed to them WILL NOT cause us to develop immunity.
  6. I have also read that Alcohol is also effective in cleaning surfaces.
  7. Everyone’s suggestion to cover open areas with a bandage and to use an over the counter ointment is good. If you notice the area becoming red and warm to the touch suspect an infection. Clean the area using warm water and peroxide and if it does not improve call your physician. I have used warm water and Epsom salt soaks. Remember from school the principle of osmosis. Because the gauze you have the Epsom salt on is saltier than your skin it will draw the liquid and the infection will come with it. I use one of those heated disposable “Thermacare” back pads to place on top of the Epsom salt gauze so I can move around while the salt is working.
  8. There has been recent evidence to show our pets can also be carriers. I am looking in to ways to clean my animals, which is safe for them. If I discover anything I will post it.
  9. I am afraid there is so much MRSA out there and although it can be fatal most of the time it is not. For those of you who have lost a loved one or who have almost lost your life my heart and prayers go out to you. I do not blame you for being angry. I was very sick and with my first outbreak on the right side of my abdomen I had a 6” wide incision which was 4” deep which I ended up packing with Epsom salt and using a heating pad before it got well (My own suggestion not the Dr’s). The salt burnt very bad but I was so tired of being sick I was ready for anything. I also became septic (bacteria in the blood from the picc line I had in) I was spiking a temp every day and it was almost 8 weeks before I began to feel better; I also became allergic to septra during this episode. This last time I was initially sicker with a higher temp but because the area was smaller I am healing faster.
  10. Also once diagnosed most infection control people will consider you always positive and you will be isolated when in the hospital. For those out there this is good. If you are not isolated ask why not and be concerned about the hospital you are at.
  11. I understand the stigma, which is associated with this diagnosis. I have been in the same hospital where I work twice. Because I am in isolation everyone knows what infection I have and it is embarrassing.

  I like the comments shared by Steph. They are worth repeating here:
  ” We learned not to share but not to be scared. Hand washing and bleach in the laundry and general cleanups are the two most important additions to our daily lifestyles. Wash your hands long enough to sing the happy birthday song! If it is wipeable use a simple bleach and water solution ~ it doesn’t take expensive disinfectants to kill MRSA. Do not lock yourself in a closet because you have MRSA. Know what you are fighting and you will beat it!”

• Tammy // May 14, 2007 at 10:14 pm

  Hello,
  I wrote in last week, trying to find suggestions for a good hospital to treat MRSA in our area. My 70 year old mother-in-law contracted MRSA at the IV site from the local hospital while being treated for a blood clot. Needless to say this has been a horrible week. She was in the ICU several days of the week, didn’t know at times if she was going to make it. The infection was just so hard on her, we were afraid it had affected her heart, tests good so far. She made it home for mothers day, she’s having home health to still monitor IV anibiotics, and is still very weak. What makes the family so upset (and I’ve read others with similar feelings) is that this could have been avoided with better hygine from the nurse that put in the first IV, at the first hospital. She said over and over this was the sickest she had ever been. At 70 years she has already had her share of sickness plus giving birth and raising 5 boys. MRSA at this point is so unfair. It’s horrible for everyone young and old. Has anyone had any luck holding the hospitals responsible? Taking them to court? How hard is it to prove where or how it was contracted? It’s sad that the only way some people learn to be responsible is through the courts. Looks like if more people sued, it would raise the awareness of MRSA.
  Thanks for letting me rant. Nana J.

• heather // May 15, 2007 at 8:25 am

  It would be hard to prove seeing you can catch mrsa by going and pumping gas into your car…. ur mother is in all of are prayers im sure!! mrsa can kill you its the scariest thing ive ever seen my daughter was 2 when she contracted it and we have been free from it for almost 6 months now!! so it can be beat but let me tell you it was by no means easy we even went as far as to move…. i would have been convinced it couldnt have been beat if we never moved. good luck to you and be carfeul watch who u let take care of your mother and always be clean!!!

• Pat // May 15, 2007 at 10:35 am

  The unfortunate truth is that there is no way to show for sure she got it from the IV stick or if it was already there and not making her sick. Another way it could have been passed is if someone visited a MRSA patient in the hospital and did not wash their hands and visited your mother-in-law they could have passed the bacteria to her. I possibly contracted MRSA while at work (I am not envolved in patient care any more) and our hospital has one of the best policies any where. We practice way above the recomended standards. Most people who are harmed at work are entilted to workmens comp and other compensation, but because I can not prove where I got MRSA I am not entilted. If at any time you have a nurse or a physician that does not wash his or her hands before touching you make them stop and wash.

• Rhoda // May 15, 2007 at 11:25 am

  It CAN be proven where the MRS was contracted when it is MRSA and not CA MRSA BUT I have only heard of one case where the people won the case and it was not long ago in the UK where they are much more aware of MRSA and that their hospitals are to blame for their negligence. You would think that fear of money loss would scare them but they lose more money every day treating MRSA than they would preventing it and don’t seem to care. Best of luck to you. If you can find an atty to take this on contingency why not try to be the first in the US?? We always need a first win!!!

• Greg // May 15, 2007 at 3:27 pm

  Thanks to everyone here for sharing your painful experiences. We all seem to be on the front line battling this new enemy. My girlfriend developed an abscess about eight months ago on her ankle which got worse and worse. She went to Kaiser and they put her on an antibiotic and took a culture. It came back as MRSA but we had no clue what that was and I didn’t research it. She healed quickly. Then I got two small red and painful spots on a big toe overnight. It got worse and more painful and when my lymph nodes in my groin area got swollen, I got worried and went to an urgent care facility. Got Keflex and it went away right away. The doctor had no clue what it was, thought maybe insect. Now my GF has another one on her buttock. She went in two days later and was diagnosed with MRSA again. We now have nasal ointment to try out.

  My question is this. No one has really discussed their physical health up to this point prior to their first episodes.

  It might be helpful to understand what diets, general health and or lifestyles may be more susceptible to MRSA break outs. Maybe we can spot a trend which will help us prevent more episodes.

  Us:
  Mid 40’s, trim, athletic -lots of gym and outdoor sports, 4 to 5 drinks of alcohol on the week ends, no other drugs or meds, pretty good diet, salads, grains, rices, vegetables, fruit. She no red meat, me vegetarian. Not much processed sugar. I am caffeine free, she drinks several cups of coffee in am. Clean hygiene, shower once or twice daily etc.

• Frank // May 17, 2007 at 12:21 am

  My 18 mont old son recently had MRSA as an infection in his blood and sinus he has been treated as well as operated on . He is now doing fine. If anyone knows any specialist on this virus please let me know . Thanks

• Pat // May 17, 2007 at 8:53 am

  Rhonda, The reason I said it could not be proven is if you contract MRSA in a hospital and then pass it on to some one out side of the hospital then the second person has the same strain as you and it will not be CA-MRSA.

• Rhoda // May 17, 2007 at 10:36 am

  Hello everyone! A gentleman visited my website and sent me information on a new product for fighting MRSA. It is called Invisible Armor and is currently available at Kroger stores but will soon be available at Walmart and Walgreens. It is an alcohol-free lotion that not only kills MRSA microbes but protects the skin from them for four hours as well as helping sores to heal and it can be used all over the body. You can read about it at www.theinvisiblearmor.com . I am very excited about this one. Anyone else getting dry skin from alcohol and bleach?? Best wishes to all! Rhoda

• Rhoda // May 19, 2007 at 3:55 pm

  Sorry. The address for the lotion is actually www.theinvisiblearmor.net .

• Kim Freebird Broken Wing // May 21, 2007 at 11:26 pm

  First diagnosis March 2007: Pneumonia with mass in lung take Levaquin for 10 days

  Second Dianosis April1 2007: CA-MRSA skin Abcess take bactim and Doxycycl for 10 days

  Third Diagnosis April 25 2007: 30 boils? I lost count one calcification in lung, looks like CA-MRSA unconfirmed take Clindamycin 10 days and bactroban ointment up the nose indeffinately

  Fourth Diagnosis May 7 2007: 50 boils 4 lung masses and Pneumonia….Not MRSA we don’t know what it is take Levaquin and Ramphin Iv one time and IV VANCO 11 days

  Fifth Diagnosis May 21 2007: Sweet’s Syndrome shot od decadron and take graduating doses od Prednisone for 28 days.

  How many diffrent deseases and drugs before I get it right? FRUSTRATION!!!

  Went to dr mapp 2day. He finally got to see the boils (they are way worse this time round but only have 18! and he thinks it’s Sweet’s Syndrome? He found a picture book that looks like it! The boils look the same (don’t they all!”) but the areas and symptoms not consistant with me. I go Wed for a biopsy of the area on my back. Said he will cut it out and stitch it should only leve a two inch scar.

  So I am cross referencing CA-MRSA, Sweet’s and come across something called :

  Blastomyces dermatitidis. The disease is endemic in the southeastern and south central states of North America, along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Outbreaks have been associated with occupational or recreational activities around streams or rivers with high content of moist soil enriched with organic debris and/or rotting wood. I was very active in New Orleans Katrins efforts and have rotting wood around my property, swam in the GULF WITH ALL THE TOXINS FROM katrina festering for a year or two now and my favorite dog is suffering from boils too.

  SYMPTOMS:
  Cough (may produce brown or bloody mucus)
  Shortness of breath
  Pneumonia
  Sweating
  Fever
  Fatigue
  General discomfort, uneasiness, or ill-feeling (malaise)
  Unintentional weight loss
  Joint stiffness and joint pain
  Muscle stiffness and pain
  Rash
  Skin lesions
  Chest pain
  EVERYTHING I HAVE HAD

  So now I am on prednisone for 18 days because he think sweets syndrome and I just do not know what the heck to do or say or think or feel!

  Does anyome know where I can find pics of this BLASTO stuff? It’s new in this area and I have only found one pic that looks like my lesions. Oh ladies I am sooooo tired so now that I am off the antibiotics I’m going to self medicate with a cool glass of wine and go to bed. I have dr appts with me and mom everyday this week. I haven’t slept at all since Friday because these boils are more oainful than ever, progressively worse and have an inch of swollen redness around the boils. YAWN….what next> Only God knows.
  Kim
  _________________
  The task ahead of you is never as powerful as the Strength within you.

• Brian // Jun 3, 2007 at 10:12 pm

  This appears to be a common place for other with MRSA to gather and tell their stories. I too have been diagnosed with MRSA and have been treated twice over the past two years with antibiotics. Unfortunately, the doctors never told me I had anything more than a skin infection. This last breakout on May 5th came during a 50 mile bike ride. I pulled into my garage, took off my shorts and was covered with 13 small red bumps. I didn’t think much of it and took a shower. I figured they go away. Three weeks later, all the boils were pretty much gone but one in the crease of my right hip. I woke up one morning with very intense pain and the boil had grown to half the size of a golf ball. On my way to work I stopped in at the emergency room to get checked out. The doctor there knew a lot about MRSA and gave me a quick overview. He prescribed Bactrum and Mupricin 2% ointment. 16 hours later when I was undressing for bed I noticed my groin was all swollen. I thought I’d just go to bed and stop by the emergency room again in the morning. My wife insisted that I call the advice nurse so I did. The nurse told me to hang up, get dressed and show up immediately at the hospital. The same Dr. who treated me in the day before was on duty. They took one look, stuck an IV in my arm and admitted me into the hospital. They started me on a Vancomycin treatment. During my stay a Infectious Disease Dr. came by and visited. He gave me a more thorough explaination of my new life challenges. He also told me that had I not shown up that night, I might not have woken up in the morning. Scarry thought since I actually felt fine. While I was there I asked a lot of questions and expected to leave the hospital with a treatment plan that would help keep this in check. What I do now has been mentioned above by others as far as keeping everything extra clean including my office at work. I take a Hibeclean shower every morning using as little as possible since this is quite toxic. Don’t use on your face! I’ll be doing this for 30 days then 3 times a week for 30 days then one time a week for the rest of my life. I also use the Mupricin 2% ointment twice a day for 5 days. I also use Benadine on the wounds to keep them clean. I did a 10 day prescription of Bactrum after I was released from the hospital. I have a follow up appointment with my Dr. next week to see were I am with the infection. A couple more things that my help. After a major flushing of your system like I just went through, drink plenty of water, eat yogurt, kefir, lactobacelius (SP) and other probiotics to replentish your good bacteria. I’m very fortunate to have been a healthy athlete with a great diet when this hit. My imune system has always been strong but now things are going to be different. Hopefully we can all learn to take better care of ourselves and beat this bug. I rode 35 miles today and feel very fortunate to feel the wind in my face again. Life is good.

• Rhoda // Jun 4, 2007 at 4:04 am

  Brian - Hi. I am curious what about the boil you mentioned in the crease of your right hip was so toxic? Was it in a gland or were you turning septic or did they explain? Bravo for taking this in such a matter of fact take care of business way! Your attitude and sharing your story is inspiring. Best wishes and prayers to you. Rhoda

• judith ann // Jun 4, 2007 at 5:58 am

  I saw a piece on the news this morning where a little girl in Illinois contracted MRSA. Her mom was on saying how horrible it was and that there is a superbug out there and it’s no longer confined to prisons and nursing homes… big surprise, huh?? Maybe this horrible plague will finally get the attention it’s been needing for a long, long time. Best wishes all!

• Jerry // Jun 6, 2007 at 7:35 pm

  My friend took silver and it killed his MRSA in a week time. He does not have MRSA in his blood or his body any more.

• karen // Jun 6, 2007 at 8:31 pm

  Hello, I was just diagnosed with MRSA this past Monday. The boil started to show up after a bad shaving job around my bikini area. I then went hiking for 6 hours and started to burn in the area. I went to the Dr. on Wed last week and they lanced it and started me on MRSA treatment. Apparently it is very, very common in the area that I live in. They didn’t seem to be too concerned about it. My husband has bad psoriasis and I have been scrubbing my house for the past week. However, the Dr. didn’t really tell me to scrub myself down with bleach or anything. What is this Hibeclean stuff I’ve seen mentioned. I’m afraid that if he gets it it will be far worse than what I have. Mine so far seems very mild compared to what I’ve read. My other concern is I’m supposed to go on a backcountry backpacking trip in CA for 7 days next month. I am now fearful of going and getting an infection out there. My family Doc office is pretty much worthless as to asking for advice. They made it seem like my husband has nothing to worry about. I find that hard to believe. I would love some input from some “more experienced” MRSA folks out there.
  Thank You,

• Crystal // Jun 7, 2007 at 5:18 pm

  Karen, I went to the doctor about a month ago with a MRSA abscess. She told me to take antibotics and clean with hibiclens. She also told me to wash my bed linens in bleach and change them often, and no sharing of towels and wash cloths. She also put me on antibotics. I took the antibotics and felt worse with a high fever a few days later. I decided to go to the ER and the ER doctor was surprised at the size of the abscess. He told me they would need to drain the abscess and that my doctor should have drain it herself. They sugically drain the abscess the next day and I stayed in the hospital for 5 days. They did not close the opening from the surgery, but sent me home on a wound VAC. The doctor removed the wound VAC yesterday, but the wound isn’t completely closed.

  I’m saying all of this to make you aware how serious MRSA is. The infection did not reach my blood, but if I waited a few more days it may have.

  Hibiclens is a antiseptic skin cleanser. It comes in a light blue (almost teal bottle). I purchased it at Walgreens. However, I went to Walgreens today and they were out. I guess MRSA is really spreading.

• heather // Jun 9, 2007 at 2:25 pm

  karen write me at i can give u lots of info

• heather // Jun 9, 2007 at 2:27 pm

  karen i faught mrsa for a lil over a yr it took a big fight but we beat it if you want the info on how we did it u can write me at ill give u my phone #

• Caroline // Jun 10, 2007 at 4:39 pm

  I have had MRSA for over 2 years. I had a hernia surgery and contracted it in the hospital. I almost died from it. Two years later, the infection spread throughout the mesh and I just recently had surgery again to repair the damage. I am also open with no VAC… my husband changes my wet/dry bandages and I am getting ready for yet ANOTHER surgery to close me up. I am praying that this is the last of it… I don’t know how to live anymore with this… it has affected everything in my life. My wound was open for over 2 years and no one would help me… any suggestions on how not to have this happen again?

• Crystal // Jun 12, 2007 at 4:48 am

  Caroline, I’m surprised they did not try a wound VAC. I was told it is the best thing to close open wounds. My surgery to close the MRSA abscess was 05/12/07. They did not close the wound and put me on the VAC on 05/14/07. I went home and the doctor took me off the VAC on 06/06/07. My wound is almost completely closed and healed. I’m returning back to work this coming Monday.

  Hopefully, your upcoming surgery will be successfull.

• Liz // Jun 12, 2007 at 2:26 pm

  I was diagnosed with MRSA in my right breast about a month after my son was born. I had outpatient surgery and was given a prescription for Zyvox. It came back one month later in the same site but this time I was hospitalized for a week. I didn’t have any sores or anything that resembled a spider bite. Mine was internal. It has been a nightmare and I feel as though its coming back again. Same symptons. Thanksfully, my 13 week old has not shown any signs of MRSA, nor has my husband. Each person that has been touched by this awful infection is in my prayers.

• Catherine // Jun 16, 2007 at 7:50 pm

  My son called me one day and told me he had a sore boil on his rear end. He said it was on his back cheek and it was getting more sore by the day. He couldn’t hardly bend over any more to tie his shoes. He is a professional and had to go to work to earn a living, but he sits all day at a computer and this was getting too painful. He said if he told the guys at work, he would be razzed to death. I took him to a lady who has a professional size and quality zapper and she did a complete zapping treatment. I brought him some topical and stuff that I can’t really remember. I believe that I brought him raw honey, red clover and goldenseal. I’m not sure what was for a poultice and what was to take orally. And of course, I make my own colloidal silver, so I brought him a new bottle of that. Anyway, this totally cured the MRSA. His Insurance Co. sent hime a letter with a 5 year disclaimer for treating any skin related disorders, once the lab diagnosed MRSA, however, we got rid of it right away! I ordered a zapper off of the internet. It is a small, portable model, unlike the zapper that was used to treat his MRSA. Mine cost about $100.00 and the one I am talking about is thousands. I believe they can accomplish some of the same things. It has been about a year now, and there have been NO reoccurances! I would add a good anti-microbial today if it ever happened again. We regularly use immune boosters and oil of oregano. My preference is for the P-73 oregano products. We stay very healthy with that, and zapping, and colloidal silver, etc. Hope this helps someone!

• Joni // Jun 16, 2007 at 11:12 pm

  My husband is currently in the hospital for the 2nd time in a year with mrsa. However it is different than what most of you have described. Last May he stayed home from work thinking he had a flu, fever chills etc. by the end of that day he had what he described as the worst headache he had ever had. I called 911 and he was taken to the hospital and within 36 hours was on a ventilator. they diagnosed him with mrsa and it was in his blood but there was no obvious entry point. He was in the hospital for a month fighting for his life and in multiorgan failure at one point. He did recover, but a few weeks after he came home they found that it had damaged his heart valve so then he had to have a valve replacement. Just as he was recovering they “reorganized” at his work and he lost his job. By December he was doing alot better and he as been trying to find a job which at 57 years old is no small feat. Any way, 2 weeks ago he thought he pulled his hamstring, he was in excruciating pain and I just knew it wasn’t a hamstring pull. He went to the doctor and was sent to the ER with 102 fever. They found mrsa in his leg again, no wound, no boils no entry point that anyone could see. They did surgery on him that night which was June 5th and they couldn’t take the wound vac out because the wound was so big that they couldn’t put it back together. They finally did a skin graft this week and found another site, less involved in the other leg. So does anyone have any info on people that get mrsa inside their body , how does it get there etc? He does have it in his nasal passage and they are also currently decolonizing him. Our family has been through hell, I am trying to keep us together emotionally but we are all losing it. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Does this mean he is going to live this way forever?

• Christa // Jun 17, 2007 at 12:06 pm

  I am TERRIFIED! My 6 month old was just diagnosed with MRSA. His doctor just told me he would have this for life! Is this true? The only thing it’s caused so far is pimples, aand might be the cause of a blood spot in his diaper sometimes. Can anybody help me?

• Brandon // Jun 22, 2007 at 12:04 pm

  I have been just recently diagnosed with MRSA. It sucks, like everybody is saying but thus far I have been lucky and it appears heading into remission.

  My questions are these:

  1) Are there any documented cases of MRSA being eradicated from the body?

  2) In what ways am I infectious. I have a wife and two small children. Can I pass it through daily contact even when I don’t have a boil. Can it also be spread through contact with saliva, semen, mucous or any other bodily fluids?

  3) I had a pilonoidal sinus cyst 9-10 years ago, my doctor seems to think these two things are related… are they? Have I been carrying MRSA for the past 9-10 years?

  4) If there is no cure now (I will be looking into colloidal silver and oregano shortly) is this something that is more or less likely to have a cure in the next few years?

  5) Could this be the next epidemic? Pandemic? I’m scared to death for my kids and if I can get them and my wife swabbed and they all come back negative I’m not sure what I will do, I do not want to infect them.

• Jeremy // Jun 28, 2007 at 5:44 am

  Havent been on a MRSA thread for quite some time now. I have had it in my system for about 5 yrs now. It DOES try to take over your life, but if you take care of yourself, you can beat it! Most cases dont need ATB’s. ATB’s actually cause it to mutate. If your body can fight it naturally, with a little help from bleach, neosporin and some cleaning, you can start to become immune to it. I only get small pimples from time to tine now. When at first, I felt the blood toxic and had large wounds.

  If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. There is so much to say and I am willing to share my treatments and experiences. Doctors dont know what they claim to know. I am horrified that they are just now figuring this is an epidemic. I have learned alot about it. It’s no fun! This is more widespread than most people think. you are NOT alone. JW

• Joni // Jul 11, 2007 at 9:21 pm

  Jeremy
  What are ATB’s? Tell me what to do with bleach, neosporin, etc. What needs to be cleaned with these things? We have dogs, kids, etc. Hard to stay environmentally sterile. Please either write on this site or email me directly. Thanks

• Brandon // Jul 12, 2007 at 7:12 am

  By ATBs he means antibiotics…

  Because nobody has answered my questions I’ve armed myself with knowledge. There is a laundry list of people that have been kicking MRSA’s ugly butt. In the NFL Junior Seau, Kellen Winslow, Jr., Braylon Edwards, Andy McCollum, Brandon Noble, Brian Russell, Tye Hill, Ben Taylor, LeCharles Bentley, Ryan Tucker… In Major League Baseball Ty Taubenheim, Alex Rios (almost won the homerun derby the other day), Chris Duncan and in the NBA Drew Gooden…

  There are likely many many other teams in professional sports that have been hit hard by MRSA… The St. Louis Rams of 2003 got hit by 5 cases, 3 were recurrent, the Redskins, 49ers, and Browns were all hit by multiple cases as well. The point is, that these are nearly billion dollar organizations and they are still thriving and still signing these players that have had/have MRSA. Why would they sign one of these guys if he were liable to infect the whole team? Because they konw things we don’t, because their doctors know what they are doing…

  I’ve only had MRSA for a month and I’ve talked to 6 different doctors who have given me 6 different opinions. I haven’t had any recurrences yet and I don’t plan on it. Between massive amounts of bactrim and clindomyacin for just over 2 weeks, the iadospore I put on my wound, my hibiclense baths, bactraban on new cuts and in my nose, and staying as clean as I possibly can, I don’t see why it will/could return.

  MRSA is a bacteria, not a virus. Bacteria’s can be eradicated from the body, viruses cannot be. My friend’s uncle had a nasty staph infection 40 years ago (MRSA was discovered in 1961) that ate a hole in his side, collapsed a lung and kept him hospitalized for 47 days… he’s fine now with no reoccurrences since then.

  I think MRSA can be beaten. I was very hygenic before so it is a wonder I got it in the first place, but you have to get rid of MRSA where it lives. Thoroughly clean your areas that you frequent then go on vacation and thorougly clean yourself. MRSA colonizes in the nose, under the arms, and in other warm moist areas of the body. Get hibiclense and wash yourself with it cyclically, treat your nostrils and new cuts with bactraban or perhaps staphaseptic cyclically as well (the nostrils, not the cuts, treat the cuts always).

  Of all of those players I mentioned earlier, only one has had MRSA become a recurrent problem and affect his career (Noble) and one other had it nearly destroy his career (Bentley). These teams have way too much at stake to entrust millions of dollars to guys infected with something that is going to kill him and the whole team and I would rather play in traffic rather than give this to my family. Take proper precaution, see a specialist and arm yourself with knowledge, you can beat this, it’s only been a month but I’m beating mine!

• John // Jul 19, 2007 at 9:36 pm

  I have recovered from MRSA pneumonia. I am fairly confident I contracted this from one of my athletes. I work in a school setting and would like to provide literature and educational posters to the school. Anyone have an idea of where i can get this? Feel free to email me at

• michele // Jul 23, 2007 at 6:31 pm

  In april i had a bump on my back that got bad.It was red swollen and hurt all the time. It started out small in the morning and by evening was big.I put a antibotic cream on it and the next morning it was worse. I waited until the next day to go to the Drs.She said it was mrsa and was going to treat it like it was and do a culture.well she did not want to hurt me more so she just took a small sample and sent it off.In the days the fesults came back. It grew nothing…well in june i had one on my stomach that was the same way,and i waited 2 days again to go to the er this time it hurt worse than the first bump,well let me tell you this er DR WAS NOT AFRAID OF HURTING ME.I thought she was tring to get a culture from my insides with the way she was poking and craming those swabs around in me.I actually cried and i am 41,but pain is pain.anyway in 3 days i had the results it grew a heavy growth of mrsa.now it is july and i have yet another spot starting on my ribs this time. i use a antibacterial body wash everyday my DR told me that usually you don’t get mrsa again and again but this is 3 spots in almost 4 months so i think she might be wrong,my question is this is this normal for mrsa to keep coming back??? My Dr also said to reduce stress in my life,get plenty of sleep and take a vitiam everyday all of this will help my immune system. so can anyone hepl me with some answers.will i keep getting this?and does anyone else feel dirty?I feel bad to have my husband touch me like i am contamiated or something.

• Kathy // Jul 29, 2007 at 7:15 pm

  Still fighting this. I was diagnosed in January. I think I at 8 or 9 outbreaks now. Went to an infectious disease specialist who put me on Zyvox. That seems to clear up the outbreak but anywhere from 10 days to a month later another outbreak. Had an outbreak while i was on vacation and it was not easy to get my dr to call the local pharmacy. The specialist wouldn’t do it but my regular dr did. They only prescribed 10 days of Zyvox. 10 days after i finished the drug a new outbreak.

  HELP!!!!!!

• V.W. // Aug 2, 2007 at 12:51 am

  I was diagnosed with MRSA on my first trip to the ER on July 8. It started with a small bump on my abdomen on the previous day and overnight it grew into a cellulitis mass about 14 cm. in width, just below and to the left of my bellybutton. It was rock hard - never abscessed. I went into the ER because I had developed a fever and pounding headache and watched it develop practically overnight. I was treated with some IV antibiotics, given a couple of percoset and sent home with vicodin (which was like taking baby asprin), clyndamyacin (sp?) and bactrim (sp?) scripts and told to follow up with my PCP or the hospital in 2 days. After a day and a half it had nearly doubled in size. I was in my PCP’s office for 2 minutes and she told me to get to the ER immediately. ER treated me again with IV antibiotics, dilaudid (this thing has been extremely painful) and gave me the news about having CA-MRSA. Thing is, I had just been on prednisone for 21 out of 40 days to treat an ashtma attack. My immune system was apparently shot. I was given the option then of being admitted or being an outpatient. I chose outpatient and was fitted with a midline then started IV therapy on July 11th. It continued to grow on my abdomen until it was about a foot and a half wide - covering almost the whole left side around to my back then finally started to calm down on day 3 of the IV treatments and one more trip to the ER - the 3rd trip; from the infusion wing of the hospital straight to the ER wing (on the 2nd day of IV treatment due to further growth) for a CT scan and dilaudid again and a script of percoset. There never has been anything to drain and there is still a credit card size of hard matter on my abdomen. I had IV treatments until the 15th of July and then continued the original script of bactrim. I’m now almost done with my 2nd script of bactrim the thing is still light red, a little itchy and hard - although only about 12 cm across. The infectious disease specialist at the hospital told me to just continue to see my PCP since it seemed to be responding so well to the IV treatment. My question is….how long am I going to have this thing? My body obviously doesn’t like the normal course of oral antibiotics and each day I went in for IV antibiotics at the infusion suite - $965. Each day! Plus the 3 trips to the ER and 3 visits by the infectious disease specialist to the hospital while I was having the IV treatments. (I thank God I have insurance.) My PCP doesn’t seem to be worried, but it’s now almost one month later and it’s not “cured”. I realize that it could come back (from what I’ve read on the internet) but how long will it take for this thing to go away? I’m in the Bellevue, WA area. If anyone has any info or suggestions I would appreciate it. The hard matter is now the size of a credit card, but at it’s worst a couple of weeks ago it was about the size of a checkbook. How long will I need to be taking this bactrim? I too have to use Hibaclens every single day for 3 months and put that stuff up my nose twice a day for 3 months. I’ve never had boils, cellulitis or anything similar before. Any comments or advice is most appreciated.

• Kathy // Aug 3, 2007 at 1:09 am

  My 9 year old son had hernia surgery in June and developed an infection in the incision site which was cultured and came back with scant MRSA. He took his last dose of Septra tonight. I noticed that almost everyone on this site is writing about the CA-MRSA which is community acquired and they all seem to start out with a boil or something that resembles a pimple or spider bite. I am just wondering if the CA-MRSA is worse to have than the hospital acquired. I also wonder if my son will have reoccurances like some of you have even though his is not the CA-MRSA type. He has never had a boil, abcess, pimple or something resembling a spider bite. It is just in the incision site in one corner of the incision. Do any of you know much about what I could expect when it was acquired in this manner? My son has always been a very healthy child who eats better than most children I have ever encountered. I am worried sick and I wonder what is in store for him after reading all these posts.

  Anyone have any helpful insight?

• nICOLLE // Aug 3, 2007 at 10:51 am

  I am 46, I acquired MRSA in the Hospital during my breast surgery in 2006, I took Zyvox and am fine now except I have a small staph in my nose…am taking Rifampin.
  Get out of the hospitals…
  your son will be fine..

• Terri // Aug 4, 2007 at 7:45 pm

  well i’ve read alot of these story’s and my heart goes out to all…my friend in dallas tx has recently been in the hospital for 16 days it all started out as kidney stones so she went to have sugery for that and were ever u go to remove them stones the dr says it was to little to get to so they put a stint in and ask her to come back well when she went to return she got a call the dr had canceld the appt cause he needed 200 dollars to finish this and remove the stint well my friend only has medicare no money so she in the meantime got real sick and went to the hospital they say her blood count was real high meaning that she has an infection somewere but only tested her threw urine never anything else so she got wat she thought was a boil in the growing and it grew large she had a friend try to lance it but it only got worse she got real sick and went for another trip to the er and finally it was tested to be mrsa but they also feel it is in the blood strem too!!! her blood counts are still high and she is very depressed and asking lots of questions and no acts like it is serious i started to look online to see about this and find that it is serious and there are several diffrent stories and i dont know what to think like she has to find an answer some how she is on vanco its going threw a pic line she has broke out into rashes, fever, sweats, she says every day she wakes up she has bruises that wernt there the day before her urine is a funny color and it just goes on an on please can i have some input ……Terri

• Pat // Aug 6, 2007 at 9:30 am

  Terri,
  Vanco is the IV drug of choice, so she is getting the right medication. So many of us have MRSA now and most do ok the health care workers sometimes do not relize how bad you can feel while you are going through this. I was one of those workers in the past and until I came down with MRSA I did not relize how bad you can feel with this. Tell her to drink lots of water and to go back to the ER if her symptoms get worse. Also if the ER she goes to does not treat her right go to another one. I talked to a nurse who works with an infection control MD and she tells me that during the summer when we sweat they see more outbreaks so I am trying to keep cool and if I do sweat I take a shower asap. Also I am using hibicleans on the moist spots (under my arms in the creases of my legs. I am a diabetic and I know if my sugar gets out of whack I tend to become infected more easily so I keep a good handle on my sugars and try to eat well. lastly vitamines C and Zinc are important for healing. Taking a good multi vitamine is not a bad idea. Pat

• AH // Aug 6, 2007 at 10:12 am

  Just wanted to let everyone know that I have not had another boil in 8 weeks now. I tried everything that the doctors suggested, as well as what was on this forum. But in the end what worked for me, was changing my laundry detergent. I used to use Sun, but now I’ve been using both Gain and Surf, and NO MORE BOILS!!! So, if nothing else works for you, you might try switching different degergents until you find one that results in less boils. I haven’t looked at the ingredients on those products, so I don’t know what the difference was, but it’s something to think about . . . Good luck to everyone!

• rwilliams // Aug 25, 2007 at 4:51 pm

  I am in a wheelchair. Six weeks ago I contracted MRSA on my bottom. Was knocked out quickly with Bactrim oral. A week later, I accidentally touched the wound and was infected within 48 hours. I’m on Bactrim again with five days to go on it. I want to stop this and have read and researched and an unsure what to believe. So I’ve got a series of questions. Any answers are appreciated.

  Once you get MRSA, it hides in the nose. Does it hide anywhere else? On the skin? If on the skin, are there methods of permanently cleansing it from the skin or is it with me for my lifetime?

  How long can it live on surfaces? I’ve read from Johns Hopkins that it can survive for months. My doc and a nurse friend said hours. Does it live longer on cloth than hard surfaces?

  Do pets get it and can they be carriers?

  I’ve read that diluted medical grade peroxide taken orally works. Any first hand experiences with that?

  Is it airborne at all?

  I’ve read that Manuka honey on the wound can fight the infection. Any first hand experiences with that?

  Thanks for any input. I’ll be curious to your responses.

• Nita // Aug 28, 2007 at 10:33 am

  I just now found your website after being informed of this lawsuit and I am absolutely amazed at how many people have been affected by MRSA. Please go to www.kcra.com and read the article. It may shed some light on some things. My friend says this has been a problem at the prison for at least 6months, but is only recently being revealed to the public. See what you think.

• Sheilah // Sep 1, 2007 at 8:34 am

  Hello All, I have read all the posting here about MRSA. and I just wanted to leave a comment to
  RWilliams about the medical grade peroxide taken orally. This is H2O3. Medical grade H2O3 does not have the metallics in it, as the Hydrogen Peroxide you buy over the counter does, and would be harmful if swallowed. Basically H2O3 is Water (H2o) with two additional molicules of Oxygen bonded to it.
  I use H2O3 daily for a mulitude of health issues.
  I buy it from a website globalhealthtrax.org.
  Basically, what you are taking in is: water with extra molicules of oxygen in it. If you read the testimonials on this product, you will want to
  take it too. It helps with some many ailments, I think the entire world should be taking it.
  It has helped my diabeties and HBP, I am no longer on any perscription drugs!!!
  If you research oxygen, you will all see that we
  do not get enough in our enviroment these days.
  Testing of old amber rocks, centures old, tell us that the atmosphere used to contain 30% oxygen but today it is more like 8-12%.
  God meant for us to have oxygen. Without it,
  out bodies do not function correctly. I have
  read that no bacteria can live in the presence
  of PURE oxygen, hence hydrogen peroxide on
  a wound, kills bacteria. I can not say enough about the benefits of oxygen. If you research it yourself, you will see. You can search “google” for testimonials on Hydroxygen Plus ( the same
  thing as Oxygen Elements). The testimonials
  are nothing short of amazing.
  I also use melaleuca oil, another gift from God,
  found in trees in Australia. You can get this from
  many web sites. The T-36 oil is the best for open wounds. I found melaleuca oil when I was in the hospital 25 years ago and got a staff infection in
  the IV site. I was on IV antibiotics for 43 days
  and was septic with infection. Nothing they did
  would heal the wound. The melaleuca oil, started working immediately, and within 6 days, cured the wound. The Drs were amazed! I was greatful to my friend’s knowledge. It is one of
  the only known things that kill staff infection on contact, without reducing the bodies ability to fight future infections.
  I swear by these two products. I believe that God
  has provided everything we need to cure ourselves, if we just search them out, find them and use them.

  My nephew is in the hospital, after haveing a
  terrible ATV accident, and contracted the
  hospital form of MRSA in his lungs. He has now
  been on life support for two weeks and is not
  getting much better.
  After a hospital visit to see him, my husband got a bad boil on his knee. Withing 24hrs. it became
  enormous with infection, and yes it cultured to
  be MRSA. He is taking his last dose of ATB’s
  today. I have taken every precaution mentioned
  on this site to insure this is not passed to everyone in the house.
  I have just begun to research this MRSA thing
  and will contine to read and post as we progress.

• Jennifer // Sep 12, 2007 at 8:23 am

  After the birth of my twins, they were admitted into the NICU. After a week and a half, my daughter developed a boil on her middle finger (where we believe the tape used to hold her IV in place had cut her). It came back as MRSA. She was on a 21 day regimen of Vancomycin, and when everything came back negative, she was released. Now for my questions:

  Since this was more than likley caused by them putting tape across her finger cutting her, are there any legal measures that I could take? I have pictures just days prior to her boil that show the tape running across that spot.

  Is this something that she will always have? ie. Should we be overly concerned anytime she gets sick or is in the hospital that this will happen again due to a weakened immune system?

  Using seperate towels and such, is this all of the time or only when she is “sick”?

  Having twins, should I be concerned about them sharing a bath, or chewing on the same toys?

  I have had itching under my breasts for the last week or so, accompanied by redness (from scratching?)and a few bumps occasionaly. I thought it was from being sweaty there, but powders have not worked. I’ve read something about a rash and MRSA. Should I be concerned??

• Rhoda // Sep 13, 2007 at 3:42 pm

  Jennifer ~ when you say the tests all cam back negative did that include a nose swab test? MRSA lives in the nostrils. If not I woulds find a doctor to do a swab test.

• heather // Sep 14, 2007 at 9:34 pm

  jennifer i know how upset you must be…… my daughter had mrsa as well but to be honest with you its everywhere….. you could have gone to the bathroom and brought it back dont waste so much time being so upset be happy with the new additions!! i hope they are well… tell your dr to give you enough municipren 2% and you and your family swab your noses every day twice a day for a month……. good luck enjoy those babies!!! and if your breast feeding, that kinda crap happens keep using powder it helped me!!

• Jennifer // Sep 15, 2007 at 8:26 am

  Thank you Rhonda and Heather. They had a visit to their new pediatrician and he gave us a lot of information (the old pedi was clueless and so were we). I appreciate your time and wish you the best.

• heather // Sep 15, 2007 at 7:09 pm

  jennifer it was the best advice i could give it is a big deal….. but enjoy your time with the newbies!!! you will conquer this ps i used the lord more than anything!!!

• michelle // Sep 21, 2007 at 12:52 pm

  what the heck is this and y does no one in the medical field seem REALLY concerned about finding a cure/cause/relief?

• jeremy // Sep 22, 2007 at 9:10 am

  havent posted in a long time… My first bout with MRSA was in 03… seems like after my wife went in the hospital and my son was born they brought that crap home with them… I have been thru many treatments and just until recently. have been plagued by this junk… It started with a bad case of cellulitus in my face, (whole cheek)
  and then and in another instance occurring in my nose, between the dermis and cellulose, running up my right eye and sweelling it shut. VERY PAINFUL… This case also had syptoms of fever for about 3 weeks, chills, flu symptoms and pretty much the feeling of near death! (To me anyway…:) )They couldnt figure out what al that was about and I tried to tell them that it was related my my staph. They just ignored. Ive read about others getting a septic feeling and now I know that this was the case. It was in my blood stream. No fun! My family and I have had over 50 individual cases all together. One instance my wife was hospitalized, (what irony, considering thats where this crap came from!)
  Anyway, after 5 days, $1000 (with insurance paying way more than that, Thank God!) she was getting better. Vancomycin works wonders, but has to be given intraveneously.
  I have had strange sensitivity in my nose since all of my first occurances. I have had many small staphs pop up, and so has my wife and both children since then. My tenderness in my nose was constant through out this whole time! Small staph blisters would pop up in my nose and stay there for days, causing great discomfort and sometimes feelings that this was going to plague me FOREVER… well, I am happy to say that I am free of staph now…. I decided to go to the doctor, which I didnt want to do because I feel they dont know enough about them… he prescribed me a new type of ointment, supposively more potent. It is called Altabax (retapamulin 1%) I also bathed with some Hibaclens at least every other night to make sure I havent picked up any new bacteria.
  Im free! I feel so much better! Having a cold right now, I would have gotten some in my nose from all the drainage and rawness. I havent had any more occurances since my application of Altabax. I also use the ointment every so often for a few days, JUST TO MAKE SURE. I have 3 tubes, which is way to much. Might as well use it! I think its pretty expensive because it cost me my $50 deductable. OUCH. Just for a little tube of it! It could be that they gave me 3 tubes. I dont know. Anyway, check into it. May work better for some of you!

  Jeremy from SE Texas

• kuuleilani // Oct 2, 2007 at 11:40 am

  i have had about seven masra staph infections sinice april, i think it is in my lungs. the doctors dont listen to me cause my lungs sound clear, but at night afeter hours of sleep i wake up to cough with white colored and string cheese spit up with black tips. it doesn’t look normal even for a smoker. everythime ive had a infection this occures. i have been on 11 different antibotics and ive used cream foe my nose. i’m 9 weeks pregant and i am in fear for the baby to get this from me. ive been sicker than normal and i have lung pain but no one seems to really help. i feel crazy when i explain to the doctor what im going through, can someone help. and for all of you that have had this God bless your fighting hearts.

• Rhoda // Oct 2, 2007 at 12:48 pm

  kuuleilani ~ This sounds gross but I would cough in a baggie and take it to them to biopsy. Best wishes to you. Rhoda

• Tammy // Oct 10, 2007 at 4:42 am

  I have this and belive you me it scarde the hell out of me. and now i fond out i my be on pills for almost a year. if you think you have this GO TO THE DOC RIGHT AWAY i watted 4 month befor i went and i am paying for it now .and on top of it i have other health problems, crohns factor 5 (blood problem) SO YES THIS CAN AND IS LIFE THREATENING AGAIN GO TO THE DOC PLEASE

• Jeremy // Oct 10, 2007 at 6:19 am

  YES, this is scary, but NO you dont have to goto the doctor… #1 Doctors dont know as much about it as we would like them to. SELF EDUCATE!!! It is getting better, but honestly when I got it for the first time 4 yrs ago, no doctor I went to knew exactly what it was… Its all about how you treat it and take care of the wound. #1 you must NEVER squeeze it… this causes it to spread. squeezing it like a pimple is everyone’s first response. There is a way to get it out. You need to get in a hot shower, after it comes to a head, of course, and apply pressure with you knuckles around the hole. do not over do it or squeeze. it is VERY painful to get this dead cell matter out, but it is a must and will clear up quickly after that. I have had some come to a head in as little as 1 day or as long as almost 2 weeks. Ive now found that Altabax works better than Bactroban and that Hibaclens works wonders. If you dont have that, stick with 1 part bleach to 8 parts water. I think I have finally rid this stuff out of my life! Any ques. Hollar at me! JW

• Tammy // Oct 10, 2007 at 7:11 am

  Jeremy I am hollaring back. You are right about the frist respone was to squeeze it open and i did like the way you said to say 2 weeks ago. and I stil have a hole about 3 inch wide and 2 inch deep . And you are right the doc look at me like i had 10 heads and told me it look like someone stabed me . (Thanks doc ) I have been to the hospital 3 time since last tuesday they called me in twice couse of my blood work and once be couse i felt no better have been on the pill for 3 days and felt worse . i was told it would get worse befor it gets better So right now i am on clindamycin and cirofloxacin and mupirocin ointment. when i went in to the hospiatl for 12 hours they gave me iv treatment. What do i use for the iching it is driving me nuts . And i have to sores in the grone not in the same spot one on one side the other on the other . I hate this this is all new to me and i dont know what the hell i am doing and it seem neither does the doc . and i have become a clean freck I never feel clean Plus i have crohons on top of all this and we know what the pills can do to your stounch well with the crohons they are doing it 10 times worse . so reading and find all these web pages on this I can take it that this is not a one time thing. And it sound like it is for life . I am glad i fond this site finnley people to talk to about this . Most people act like it is a drity thing . Well I can understand that i am acting like it is . So again what can i do about the iching and the peeling skin . if yo dont mind me asking. Si if you would like to hollar back please do or anyone that does you can e-mail me to @ Thanks Blue bee

• Tammy // Oct 10, 2007 at 7:15 am

  SORRY ABOUT THE SPELLING. MY FINGERS GO FASTER THEN MY HEAD

• Rhoda // Oct 10, 2007 at 10:52 am

  For anyone wanting them here is an address for posters etc. about CA MRSA.
  http://thecommunityguide.org/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_posters.html

• Tammy // Oct 12, 2007 at 9:45 pm

  Hi. Just wantted to say How great this site is. I was dx with MRSA last week and I have learned more about it on line then with my own Doc And would like to learn more. So if anyone would like to share info with me that would be great. I need as much info as I can get (well I think we all need as much as we can get). Plus I all so have Crohns disease and a blood clot disease call factor 5( Think I am falling apart :bonk:) Like I said i am new to this disease so any and all info would be great so please if you would like to talk e-mail me Or I.m me . And again I think sites like this are great. With out them many well at least me would be lost. Doctors look at me like I have 10 head give me med witch are CLINDAMYCIN,CIPROFLOXACIN and a ointment called MUPIROCIN. does this sound rigth to anyone? Please if it does not let me know And tells me the boilel i have looks like someone stabed me (Thanks doc ). so that tells you how much help he is . So THANK YOU all for the help you have given me PLEASE e-mail me Have a good Day

• crystie33 // Oct 16, 2007 at 7:21 pm

  Hiya, i am Crystie…im 32, i jst found out i have MRSA. i dont know when i got it> i have been in and out of the hospitals for years for celliustes, and boils that drain and pus and hurt like hell, little did i know i have a flesh eating bactirea. i am very very upset. i am scared, and i am crying at this moment. i have a five year old and i dont want her to get this. i am going to the doctor tomorrow and i want answers. i have been reading all of these comments so i am hopeful. the question i have is…
  will i ever have a normal life? can i have children? my right leg is in very very bad shape due to boils, that have stopped drainning but scaped over and i look like i have big bumps all over my leg. like they want to turn into blisters…how can i stopped them from happening> also…i itch all over…is that commond> please if anyone can help me…
  crystie

• gerard // Oct 16, 2007 at 10:16 pm

  crystie33
  I got biten buy a tick in july, and Know what i have, but cant get treated proper. I have had a fever and headache for +90days.on antibiotics. had rocky mnt spotted fever,now babesia wa1 (tick bourn malaria). although
  it sucks being sick. we are still here. now
  fealing better is the goal, nomatter what.
  it’s our new job. what does not kill you , makes stronger. Relax in the fact your still here,and mind over mater + the best care
  you and me and all will pull through. but I know the sick and tired you that speak.
  We don’t leave are sick or wounded.EVER
  You Are the t in team. I the m that might have carry you, stick together. strong brave , small amounts of healthy fear.
  eat and sleep,is the best meds docs cant give.
  g

• Sergio // Oct 17, 2007 at 12:23 am

  I’m 26, and was just told I had MRSA on Monday. I had an abscess about a month ago off my hip area, and went on Bactrim. As soon as I got off, another started growing on the under side of my chin, and sure enough it grew, and I had to have that one opened up. The doctor wants to see me back in a week, and I’m getting pretty worried after reading all of this. The doctors have been talking to me like it’s no big deal, and this second round of Bactrim should do the trick. Are they just trying not to scare me?

• Mary // Oct 17, 2007 at 9:17 am

  In December it will be one year since we had MRSA in the family. It left its ugly mark and the blood clot returned because the infection weakened the area . The vein must become stronger this will take time-Dr’s now want to keep going with the blood thinners for 2 years..they took her off too soon-only 6 mos later. The illness was festering for about 8 mos , in bloodstream after boil was treated incorrectly.so I think they should have at least kept her on the blood thinners for that long, anyway thank God the MRSA is gone. Our family uses chloroxylenol…called PS hand gel..We put it in nostrils-it works. Wash hands with it ..it’s antimicrobial.Kind of old fashion stuff-they used to put it in medicated vaseline,though I don’t see that around anymore and I know that worked to keep germs away. It works now-it smells very clean and we actually watched junk come out of nose after using it–sorry if that grossed you out, all this crap is awful. God speed..start taking things to strenghten immune system-probiotic yogurt, herbs like thyme, parsley, oregano, I am reading Perricone Promise-great book. If you have a boil speak up have it tested for MRSA and get on the correct medication-initially I think Bactrim might be the best choice if it is right in the beginning stages. we had to do vancomycin IV for 6 weeks..if only the Doctor treated it aggressively at first. The medical community really needs to step up. I am not blaming but what about the oath. We went to hell and back. I pray you don’t have to do the same.

• JOE // Oct 17, 2007 at 8:41 pm

  contacted MRSA in july of 2000 spent 5 days in hospital on iv and outpatient for 5 days every 12 hours on vancomycin iv for 2 hours still have my soars today 3 months later not a pretty sight good luck to all of us

• kathleen // Oct 17, 2007 at 11:52 pm

  Does anyone know if MRSA in the blood can ever be cured , I give my husband 90,000 billion protonics a day he is in the hosp. right now and the hosp he is in has a lot of MRSA cases the Dr’s complain about thier patients getting infected that all they can do, If the report it they will get fired thats what my husbands Dr told me What can we do Im scared the family will get infected, I have not been to the hosp to see him because of MRSA

• Christie // Oct 18, 2007 at 5:00 pm

  Hey-
  My seven year old son contracted MRSA about two months ago. It came up looking like a spider bite and only got worse from there. We were on septra twice a day and now only once a day. I also did Altabax in his nose twice a day for two weeks. Has anyone else heard of doing Altabax in the nose?
  He has had several students in his class with MRSA or some type of staph. They have cleaned the room with bleach. There have also been several other cases among the school. Ii think administrators are trying to make a decision. I just want an opinion and wonder if I have kept my son from being a carrier by using the Altabax???
  Please reply.

• Brandon // Oct 18, 2007 at 7:09 pm

  I’m back, had my first had only bout with MRSA 4 months ago and I have recovered well. During this time I have been very careful with my kids when they get cuts, I treat with hydrogen peroxide immediately and cover the wounds. I have also been putting my bactraban periodically in their noses and giving them occasional hibeclense baths and when they got sick earlier this month I had them both swabbed for MRSA.. and they were negative… thus far. But MRSA is growing in strength and numbers and even if I have ridded MRSA from my body and my environment it is out there. Wash hands frequently, change clothes when you get home if you are in contact with heavily populated areas (subways, gyms, etc), cover and clean wounds, don’t pick your nose with your fingers, don’t touch your face unless your hands are clean, wash your hands BEFORE you use the bathroom, there is a laundry list of things we can do to prevent the spread of this disease.

  Anyways, my school system has not been hit with MRSA… yet. I am in contact with the division’s chief nurse to try and get us prepared for the eventual outbreak, our kids are much more likely to contract MRSA than they will ever be likely to have any of the other classroom tragedies that are much more publicized. Arm yourselves with knowledge, I am determined never to let this happen to me again!

• Paul // Oct 18, 2007 at 11:37 pm

  My brother was diagnosed with MRSA last month. He did nothing about it until the mainstream news media started talking about how deadly this was. It all started in June, with a raspberry on his leg from sliding into a base while playing softball. He cleaned the wound very good but one night (about a week after) his leg was so swollen he showed our Mom (who he lives with). He went to a local urgent care and they told him to check into a hospital immediately. He spent the next day and a half on IV antibiotics. NOBODY even checked for MRSA. Another month went by and the wound didn’t heal entirely, so he went back to the Dr. The Dr. put him on more antibiotics. Finally after 3 to 4 months his Dr sent him to a disease control DR. This Dr. told him he had MRSA. OKAY, so that’s the background… I have a few questions and concerns:
  1. He comes over my house a lot and plays with my kids. My pediatrician told us not to worry and that this can only be transmitted via an open wound. Is this true or false?
  2. The Specialist is having an X-ray done to see if it’s in his leg bone. If MRSA is in his leg bone, is there a fix other then amputation? My brother is very active outdoors and this could devastate him. I know this because in high school he was diagnosed with a heart defect and was told he couldn’t play football anymore. His life was never the same and this information cause a downward spiral into drugs and prison. He has been clean for a while now and this could really change things.
  3. He has had two open heart surgeries in his life. How susceptible is he, to a more serious form of MRSA? Does it matter?
  4. Not placing blame on anyone, but how easy is it to find out if this was contracted at the hospital. This would not be for any legal action, but to only inform the Hospital.

• Jeremy // Oct 19, 2007 at 5:51 am

  First of all, he probably did get it from the hospital, secondly,not to alarm you, it would not be a good idea for him to directly expose his wound in your home. If he sits somewhere, without making it a big deal, he needs to be aware of leaving bacteria on items. If hands are washed and he doesnt have it exposed, then you should be OK. I say this because you can get this crap anywhere! IT got in our house back from when we had our son in the HOSPITAL and now we still see it all the time. He is 4 now. Weve spent many on thousands of dollars on this stuff. It is an epidemic. Nobody seems to care either!
  It is not life threatening as long as you take care of it early. In some cases, some people have an extra hard time treating it. In this case, I dont know what the odds of it getting that bad are. I know I had it all in my face and another time in my nose and eye. One other time in my arm pit. I had it about 100 other times in my nose since all that. Altabax and Hibiclens seemed to have knocked it out. The constant rawness and sensitivity in my nose is gone now…
  Prayers are MUCH stronger than meds…
  Just remember that!!! JW

• Pat // Oct 19, 2007 at 7:18 am

  I am a nurse with 26 years of experience and a masters degree I also managed a nursing unit which had a great deal of isolation for MRSA. I also have had a couple of hospitilizations with my own MRSA infections. I have not posted for a while so I wanted to give my background again. (I am not involved in direct patient care in the hospital for any out there who are wondering).
  1. I looked up Altabax it is only for Staphylococcus aureus infections that are methicillin-susceptible in other words, using it on MRSA will not work. http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_altabax.pdf(web site )
  2. Although there is a greater chance of contracting MRSA in the hospital we are now hearing of so many cases it is out there and doing all the suggestions made such as washing your hands, keeping all wounds covered, using paper towels in the bathroom instead of hand towels, not sharing towels of any kind, treating any open areas asap, no sun burns ect…. I buy lysol consentrate and put a LITTLE in each load of clothes that I do not use bleach in.
  Because there has been some transfer from animals to humans and back, I wash my dogs often.
  3. There are several types of MRSA one is considered hospital acquired the others are community acquired the CDC has a lot of information on their web site http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa.html another web site on a more recent study of community acquired is http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/528623?src=mp be careful to notice the date on the report you are reading because there is so much new curent information out there you want the most up to date stuff. It has become public and more research is being done and reported (finally).
  I went to a dermatologist and I have been using Benzoyl Peroxide cream (the stuff used on acne) on any bump or “spider bite” looking area with very good results. What he told me to do was to put a small amount on the area and let it dry before I put on clothes or any thing else on. It takes a few min’s to dry so I usually stand in front of a fan. I have not had any infections since I started doing this.

  I hope some of this helps.

  Pat

• Sarah // Oct 19, 2007 at 7:25 am

  Sending each and everyone one of you love and many prayers.
  A quick note to Paul: First, I am so sorry to hear about you brother, but he sounds like a strong person and someone who can and will overcome this. Second, I too had an terrible MRSA (necrotizing) infection in my leg. It created a small hole relatively deep (no real measurements of depth were made) into my shin bone. My wounds were cleaned (dead tissue etc removed, mainly squeezed out, or removed with scalpel) everyday by an on-campus Dr. And I was on some heavy duty antibiotics. I also took Echinacea and Golden Seal (I love and live by herbal/natural remedies). My leg seems fine now. I don’t seem to have any bone troubles. No amputation was necessary, we thought it might be at one point. I refused to be a 20 year old college dance student with one leg. Determination and effective meds help. As another note, while I highly recommend natural herbal treatments, please do not forgo proven medical treatments for them, use them both in conjunction.
  It may sound cheesy, but staying positive really does help heal the body. Have hope and don’t be afraid to lean (emotionally) on loved ones.
  Love to you all.

• Paul // Oct 19, 2007 at 9:31 am

  Thank you Jeremy and Sarah.
  I had a talk with him this morning and he is getting a “PIX” into his heart today. My other brother and sisters will be with him all the way to keep a positive attitude.
  I will be speaking to him about keeping his wounds clean and how he needs to stop being a slob around the house.
  I keep posting the RX info and what he’s taking.

  Again Thank You!!
  many Prayers go out to all of you..

• Mary // Oct 19, 2007 at 9:16 pm

  chrysite33,

  have you tried tea tree oil directly on the sores? Can you give it a try? Good Luck.

• jeremy // Oct 20, 2007 at 12:40 am

  Paul, Believe it not, it’s really not an issue about being a pig around the house… LOL. We were “bleach freaks” before the whole MRSA thing. We keep things vey clean… Its about the hospital being careless and not keeping clean. I think they should shut down sections of the hospitals and clean them EXTRA good…

  It helps to keep open surfaces clean and undergarments cleaned. There is some new cleaner out there that does the job bleach does, without the harful chemicals… I dont know the name. It sells at Home Depot. IT would be good to clean your clothes in… BELIEVE ME. Bleach kills more than bacteria. My underwear were getting thread bare after a month. I finally had to stop using it. We have a new washer that does sanitary cycle and that helps…

  Mary, Tea tree should work… good natural alternative… smells wonderful too! MY favorite! Love my Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo! Feels great on the scalp…

  Good luck to all! JW

• Jeremy B // Oct 20, 2007 at 3:14 pm

  My ex-girlfriend was diagnosed with MRSA two days ago. I just found out she had it last night, and I was panicking and spending the next five hours getting all of the information that I could in order to learn more about this terrible disease.

  She is only 15 years old, and not only that, but after conducting tests, her doctors concluded that she was allergic to Vancomycin. I read a girl Valerie’s post from January 3rd, and it sound like she was in a similar situation, so I told her to try out those other medicines that were suggested, but to be honest, I’m scared to death. Even though she has another boyfriend right now, I still care about her tremendously, and I need her in my life. Can someone, anyone, please tell me more about this illness and the possible treatment options for her? She keeps talking about dying and keeps asking me what her chances are….I don’t want to think about that, and from reading the posts it seems like not many people have experienced that, but after doing research I know that 20% of people die from MRSA, but she has VRSA (the Vencomycin resistant type), which is even worse. Please help!

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