Please Pray… MRSA
Well….ugh.
Ok this is kind of freaky but I thought I just had a zit on my chin but it got bigger and bigger and acne medicine was not making it get any better… at the same time I thought that I had a Fibromyalgia/CFS flare up because I felt fluish, my body/joints/muscles aches so bad and I have been sleeping over 12 hours a day – all I seem to be able to do is sleep, sleep, sleep.
Daryl told me that what I had looked like a spider bite, and my friend Jen told me the same today and when I looked online to see what a spider bite looked like – I saw what looked like on my face!!! Ugh!!! I was scared to have some huge honkin’ scar on my face, plus I’ve been in bed since Sunday (and not feeling any better at all – I’ve been cold and it’s like 90 degrees outside) so Jen said she’d take me to urgent care since I just got insurance. (Praise Jesus)
The doctor there told me I had a low grade fever and low blood pressure and that it looked like I have something called MRSA :methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus”, it could have been from a spider bite but it also just could have been a boil or pimple that got infected – it is a staph/skin infection… ;-( she said that people get it because of resistance to antibiotics – she said that I may have also been prone to get it because of my low immune system and past drug use (always getting bacterial diseases like cellulitus from shooting up all the time and having to take antibiotics) and having HepC…
She asked why I waited so long to go to see the doctor (cause I hate to) and she prescribed me some heavy antibiotics and wants me to go back on Sunday. She also wanted to get blood from me but after sticking me 10 times in my arms, hand, wrists, ankle and leg she decided to try again on Sunday and told me that I was a trooper. Not really, that’s just what I can expect every time I’m going to (hopefully) get my blood drawn. It really sucks. She’s gonna try sticking me again on Sunday, PLEASE PRAY that she can get a vein this time!!!
So I’m still in bed but tomorrow I’ll get some antibiotics (every pharmacy we went to tonight was already closed).
I’m taking a months break from outreach/ministry – I really need some time off – I have 250 pages of my book written so far and now I am in the process of either finding an agent and/or publisher to send query letters to and I feel like that is what I am supposed to do – focus on getting it finished.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers!!!
Later…
Please pray… that I don’t have this MRSA staff infection! (Better known as a “superbug”) That’s what the doctor I saw Thursday night is treating me for!!! Ugh! I thought for sure once I started taking the antibiotics that I’d start feeling better.
This is crazy – what I thought was just a stupid zit has become this gnarly abscess ON MY FACE!!!
Since yesterday I started taking Keflex which from reading – does NOT have any effect on MRSA – but I’ve also been taking Bactrim, which is supposed to help combat MRSA. All I know is that instead of feeling better, I have been feeling worse and worse every day. Weaker and in so much joint and bone pain. My neck is stiff and so sore. My lymph nodes are swollen and throat sore – I pray that this is just a FMS/CFS flare up.
The toxins from the S. aureus bacteria can cause serious, even fatal, illness in people who have compromised immune systems. Ugh.
Tomorrow I am going back to Urgent Care center – PLEASE PLEASE PRAY that this time we will be able to get a vein so my blood can be tested – if I have this MRSA in my blood or bones I would most likely have to be hospitalized for I.V. antibiotics. No!!! Don’t want to go to the hospital!!! Been in the hospital too, too much already!!!
Website:
It may be possible for people to develop MRSA infections through contact with an infected pet. The bacteria have been found in dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, cows, and pigs. More research is needed to determine if the bacteria can be easily spread in this manner.
Complications: Because they are resistant to treatment, MRSA infections often cause serious complications and widespread infection. In severe cases, skin infections can result in tissue death (necrosis). Other MRSA complications include the following:
- Brain or spinal cord abscess (nervous system infections)
- Cellulitis (connective tissue infection) (I used to get Cellulitus ALL the time when I was on dope – too many times to count)
- Endocarditis (infection of the membrane that lines the heart)
- Organ failure (e.g., kidney)
- Osteomyelitis (bone marrow infection)
- Pharyngitis (throat infection)
- Pneumonia (respiratory infection that affects the lungs)
- Septic arthritis and septic bursitis (joint infections)
- Septicemia (also called blood poisoning)
- Sinusitis (sinus infection)
- Thrombophlebitis (inflammation of a vein and formation of a blood clot)
- Toxic shock syndrome (acute infection that involves multiple organ systems)
- Urinary tract infection (UTI)
MRSA
| Contents of this page: | |
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA); Hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA) Definition Return to top
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an infection caused by a strain of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria that is highly resistant to antibiotics.
Causes Return to top
S. aureus (”staph”) is a common bacteria that normally lives on the skin and sometimes in the nasal passages. MRSA refers to S. aureus strains that do not respond to the antibiotics normally used to cure staph infections.
The bacteria can cause infection when it enters the body through a cut, sore, catheter, or breathing tube. The infection can be minor and local (for example, a pimple), or more serious (involving the heart or bone).
Serious staph infections are more common in people with weak immune systems, usually patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities and those receiving kidney dialysis.
MRSA infections are grouped into two types:
Healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) infections occur in people who are or have recently been in the hospital. Those who have been hospitalized or had surgery within the past year are at an increased risk. MRSA bacteria are responsible for a large percentage of hospital-acquired staph infections.
Community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) infections are ones that occur in otherwise healthy people who have not recently been in the hospital. The infections have occurred among athletes who share equipment or personal items (such as towels or razors) and children in daycare facilities. Members of the military and those who receive tattoos are also at risk. The number of CA-MRSA cases is increasing.
Symptoms Return to top
Staph skin infections normally cause a red, swollen, and painful area on the skin. Other symptoms may include:
- Skin abscess
- Drainage of pus or other fluids from the site
- Fever
- Warmth around the infected area
Symptoms of a more serious staph infection may include:
- Rash
- Shortness of breath
- Fever
- Chills
- Chest pain
- Fatigue
- Muscle aches
- Malaise (general feeling of illness)
- Headache
Exams and Tests Return to top
Depending on the extent and severity of your symptoms, your doctor may recommend the following tests to detect and confirm the bacteria causing the infection:
- Blood culture
- Culture of the drainage (fluid) from the infection
- Skin culture from the infected site
- Sputum culture
- Urine culture
Treatment Return to top
Draining the skin sore is often the only treatment needed for a local skin MRSA infection. This can be done at the doctor’s offcie.
More serious MRSA infections, especially HA-MRSA infections, are becoming increasingly difficult to treat. Antibiotics that may still work include vancomycin (Vancocin, Vancoled), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim, Bactrim DS, Septra, Septra DS), linezolid (Zyvox), tetracycline (doxycycline), or clindamycin.
It is important to finish all doses of antibiotics you have been given, even if you feel better before the final dose. Unfinished doses can lead to development of further drug resistance in the bacteria.
Other treatments may be needed for infections that are more serious. The person will be admitted to a hospital. Treatment may involve:
- Fluids and medications through a vein
- Oxygen
- Kidney dialysis (if kidney failure occurs)
Support Groups Return to top
For more information about MRSA see the Centers for Disease Control web site — www.cdc.gov.
Outlook (Prognosis) Return to top
How well a person does depends on the severity of the infection and their overall health. MRSA-related pneumonia and blood poisoning are associated with high death rates.
Possible Complications Return to top
From another website:
Serious staph infections may lead to:
Organ failure and death may result from untreated MRSA infections.
Patients with infections due to Staphylococcus aureus often need antibiotics. Infections due to normal strains of Staphylococcus aureus are often treated with flucloxacillin (eg Floxapen), but this is ineffective against MRSA. To make matters worse, MRSA are often also resistant to other types of antibiotics such as erythromycin (eg Erythroped) and ciprofloxacin (eg Ciproxin).
Although MRSA are resistant to many drugs, most remain susceptible to the antibiotics vancomycin and teicoplanin (Targocid). Infections due to MRSA are therefore often treated with one or other of these drugs. Both must be administered by infusion or injection, and for this reason, they are used for treatment only in hospitalised patients. Injection of vancomycin into muscle is painful and thus not used, while rapid administration into a vein may produce an allergic-type reaction (the so-called ‘red man’ syndrome). To overcome these problems, vancomycin must be given by slow infusion into a vein. In contrast, teicoplanin may be safely administered by injection into muscle or rapid infusion into a vein. (Oh Lord please no…no more veins…)
