Topic : 04/01 The Superbug

Good morning,

 A few months after giving birth to my daughter in 2005 I started itching badly! It first started on my cesarian (?) scar. At my 'after birth checkup' I told my dr. and she said it would ease up as I healed inside. Well the itching then started on my elbows and I noticed lots of bumps on each elbow and started to apply lots of lotion during the day. I then noticed a small "bite like" mark on my forearm and thought it might have been a spider bite or some type of bite from me gardening. 2 years later I know have more than a dozen bitelike marks on my arms, some in the area on the inside of my knees and I'm ALWAYS ITCHY!!!!! I've been to my family dr. and she said I didn't have 'superbug' because the sores would be oozy and red. I'M BLACK!!!! She prescribed cream and an some pill that took the itch away but knocked me out at the same time. I was not satisfied with this and I began doing some research on the net. I went back and asked her if she could run test for parasites. She took stool cultures, urin test, and blood test and still concluded that I didn't have superbug or parasites. She referred me to a dermatologist and my problem with derms is they don't  have knowledge of what's going on with the inside of someone- the immune system, and I know that whatever is going on in the inside will emit itself on the outside of a persons skin. So I went to the derm and a skin specialist (who didn't get close enough to see the details of the sores) and the skin specialist said that I'm allergic to the pollen in NC. He prescribed a heavy cream and zyrtec. If I have pollen allergies why wouldn't he give me an allergy shot. Also if it were pollen allergies, why do I itch so bad in the winter??? I'm at my wits end with this! I'm ALWAYS itching- my arms are a MESS and I don't want to pasify this with creams and pills. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT I HAVE. I wake up in the mornings with blood on my sheets and pillowcase from the intense itching I do while I'm asleep. I'm concerned that because I'm black the warning signs or the way the sores look might show differenty.  PLEASE HELP - I NEED SOME DIRECTION.

I hope Dr. Phil see's this.  He mentioned the ultra violet light - which is great for local use.  But we have a technology that kills MRSA (over 99%) on surfaces.

Kansas State University and the University of Cincinnati have tested the products and published the results.  You can learn about the technology and see the results at www.activepure.com/glream 

Susie

DR. PHIL,

LAST FEB 19 2007,MY MOTHER DIED FROM MRSA. SHE WENT INTO THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE SHE WAS DEHYDRATED AND HER WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNT WAS DOWN. AFTER BEING THE HOSPITAL FOR 2 WEEKS SHE CONTACTED MRSA.THE HOSPITAL NEVER MADE US WEAR PROTECTION HALF THE STAFF DID'NT WEAR PROTECTION.IN FACT ONE SAID OH WE HAVE A RASH OF THAT ON THIS FLOOR.NO SIGN WERE POSTED TILL WAY AFTER THE DISEASE HAD DONE WAY MORE DAMAGE. DURING THE 3RD WEEK THERE SHE WENT INTO A COMA THEY DID'NT KNOW  WHY.SHE THEN WAS COMPLAINING HER LEG WAS HURTING,THEY FOUND THE MRSA HAD GONE INTO THE BONES THEY DID  SURGERY AND DRAINED HER LEG, DAYS LATER SHE COMPLAINED  ABOUT HER ARM SHE  COULD'NT RAISE IT. THEY DID MRI AND  FOUND A MASS AT THE BASE OF HER BRAIN,SO THEY DECIDED TO GIVE HER A MASSIVE DOSE OF RADIATION,ALL THE TIME THEY WERE PUMPING HER FULL OF DRUGS TO FIGHT THE MRSA,HER WHITE BLOOD CELLS WERE ALREADY SHOT WITH ALL THE MEDS SHE WAS GETTING. THEN IT SPREAD TO HER INTESTIONS,WITH YET ANOTHER KIND OF STAFF INFECTION  IT BEGAN WITH A S OR C ,ANYWAY WITH THE MASSIVE DOSE OF RADIATION AND HER  WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNTS WERE DOWN SHE STOOD NO CHANCE, IN ESSENCE THEY KILLED HER,AND THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO. ALL I WANT IS HOSPITALS TO DO IS PUT THESE PATIENTS IN AND ISOLATED WARD IN THE HOSP WHERE THEY CAN GET THE RIGHT CARE.MY MOTHER WAS 81 BEING THAT AGE NURSES DON'T PAY ATTENTION TO THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE OLD . ANY COMPLAINTS THEY MAKE THEY DON'T LISTEN TO THEM.ALL I KNOW IS MIAMI VALLEY HOSP. IN DAYTON  OHIO KILLED MY MOTHER,AND THE LAWYERS WOULD'NT TOUCH IT BECAUSE OF THE THE HIPE BEING BROUGHT UP ABOUT MRSA

OK IN THE BEGINING SHE HAD SURGERY IN SEP. OF 2006 TO REMOVE A CANCEROUS SYST ON HER COLON. THEY DEIDED THEY GOT IT ALL BUT TOLD HER TO GET SOME CHEMO TREATMENTS.THATS WHAT THE START OF ALL THIS WAS.

I think the general public would be shocked to know the immense number of health care workers that carry MRSA.  I've worked at clinics and doctors offices for 8 years now and the percentage of people I know with MRSA is staggering.  In our field it's viewed as just a fact of life.  Some have no symptoms, some have colonization in their nose, some (including myself) get the boils.  I spent a week in the hospital due to Ctyomegalovirus, where i developed a little spot on my arm.  I figured it was just another little boil or stopped up follicle so I asked my nurse for antibiotic cream and a band-aid.  Two days after being discharged from the hospital I was in the E.R. The entire cuff of my upper arm was infected. My little "spot" burst and a large amount of serous fluid came pouring out.  The ER doc lanced my spot and it..well I'll save you the gory details, but I ended up with a 17mm deep by 7mm wide hole in my arm.  I spent the next 4 weeks going to the hospitals infusion center every TWELVE HOURS for 2 hours each time to get IV antibiotics.  back and forth from the infusion center, to my doctor, to the wound clinic.  Thankfully, they put in a PICC line in my other arm, so I didn't have to stick me every time and I was able to go to the infusion center after I had dropped my kids off at day care and school, and then again after they had gone to bed so it didn't disrupt their lives any more.

It sucked, but I survived.  Unfortunately I have another "spot" on my side that is now an open wound....my doctors appointment is in 2 hours.  We shall see....

Yes, I'm a MRSA survior.

Like a few people before me...I thought a sore on my leg was just a simple spider bite and would go away with some basic first aid. WRONG !!  A month or so later I was in the ER with a major cut out in my leg and the superbug MRSA.. Along with a shortened football season (ref) and a month and a half in bed. Complicated by being diabetic, it's been 6 months and I can barely still walk. It has majorly messed up my leg still.  I still hope to get back to officating football but can't if it stays this way.