Topic : 04/01 The Superbug

People are getting it from hospitals because of poor handwashing between patients!  Also from visitors that are touching the sick patients and all sorts of other places. Visualize an elderly patient walking down the hall; holding on to a handrail that has been touched by someone with MRSA on their hands.

 

I don't know where the myth comes from that hospitals are the most sterile place........that is where all the sick and infected people are. People let their children run barefoot and roll around on the floors in the waiting room. No matter how good the housekeepers are it is only clean until someone comes along and leaves more bacteria there.

 

foam on!

The Key is (CLEAN)  wash your hands wash your hands, scrub in between your fingers the backs of your hands also use a nail brush,  Open doors with your sleeve or a tissue keep your hand sanitizer with you and take lysol everywhere you go we (must) be vigilant don't take antibotics at a drop of a hat only when needed, Clean surfaces with bleach and water , also very important when using sani/wipes  or Lysol wipes and sprays Please allow to dry itself (doNot) dry surfaces with paper towel or such this product works by letting it dry on its own.  My best to all of you suffering good luck.

I have to disagree with the person who disagreed first! Stephanie has a CHRONIC  problem with her MRSA and has been aggressively treated. She has been referred to an "infectious disease specialist" for a chronic problem, not an acute (emergency) one. One month is not an uncommon time to wait for an appointment with a specialist.  It does seem like a referral might have been made sooner; but we don't know the details of her course of treatment, has her Dr. consulted by phone with another etc.

 I don't have this particular superbug but, I do have chronic, resistant infection.  I have a rare autoimmune disease (or disorder) called necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum (NLD).  Though I am not diabetic, mine is a severe case of NL(D).  My lower legs look as if they have been horribly burned, and they ulcerate over and again.  It seems that each ulcer is more difficult to see healed than the last, with some ulcers having already remained open for well over a year.  It has reached the point where the ulcers seem to stay infected.

Modern medicine knows no cure for NL(D).  There aren't even any adequately effective treatments to hault the progression of NL(D) through modern medicine, or so it seems.  So I live with a certain amout of concern that I could loose leg or life to complications such as infection.  And in fact, I have had close calls.   Beginning in late  2005, I was started back on antibiotics for a staph infection called psuedomonas aeruginosa.  However, months of IV antibiotics failed to cure the infection.    I ended up becoming an experimental patient at a clinic, where I was given a type of silver (yeah, the metal) by IV.  I was essentially told by my doctor(s) there, that silver has long been known as an agent that isn't staph-germ friendly.

Along with treatment to improve the health of my compromised immune system, the silver was, as I said, given to me by IV at the clinic.  But, not even strong IV antibiotics and the silver, given internally, were enough to rid the ulcers themselves of the infection.   That, though I suspect that the combined treatments at the clinic did prevent the infection from going systemic and, I certainly came home feeling far more strength than I'd had when I arrived at the clinic some six weeks earlier.

The ulcers on my legs continued to enlarge.  I feared I would soon loose my legs to amputation and, based on comments he made to me at the time, so did my primary physician.  But even if I would survive surgery for amputation, my NL(D) degenerated skin does not heal well.  If I wasn't a candidate for skin graftsa few years earlier, I doubted I would heal well from a far more serious surgical wound.  I felt my last hope was to return to a specialist (in the case of NL(D) a dermatologist) to see if, by some answered prayer, technology had made any advancements since my last visit.

Lucky for me there had been advancements.  A dermatologist from a university hospital prescribed a silver dressing for the infected ulcers.  She explained to the effect that, antibiotics are an enemy to bacteria unless it becomes resistant to them but that, silver is an environment that most staph infection cannot survive contact with.  That leaves me wondering if it could work on wounds of THIS superbug as it did for me in the case of pseudomonas aeruginosa. 

Yet it might not matter if it would work, unless health insurance companies are willing to cover the cost of such dressings.  They are expensive.  Presently denied coverage of them by my current health insurance company, my legs are re-infected some other types of bacteria, and I suppose I am as worried as those of you who have the superbug.  I can really relate and you have my deepest sympathy.

  Hi,

  You mentioned burning. I think your burning is from your surgery. Pulling,  pinching, or  cut stomach muscles perhaps.  I had a hysterectomy 15 yrs. ago and from time to time get extreme burning pain when I move the wrong way or too quickly.  I got a cold right after going home from the hospital and a sudden sneeze caused me to move suddenly and pull & tear on the inside of my incision.Sitting around won't help tighten those muscles either.Strenghtening them might help some.

 I  also had MRSA last year but it started as a pimple/boil under my arm. I have no idea where I got it and am not yet fully recovered. Mine went from removal of a boil under my arm to pneumonia, then to the hospital & nearly dying all in a matter of 10 days.They tried several antibiotics until they found ones that worked. All kinds of different symptoms are still going on. Alot of skin irritations and rashes. And now I have asthma. Sometimes I wonder if some of the symptoms aren't caused by some of the meds they pumped into me. I am hoping to some day be back to normal. As for you, I don't think your ordeal is over yet either. It sounds like you need more medical attention.

hi i have a 21 month old daughter who has had MRSA since she was 4 mos old (or at least thats when her first outbreak was). i have so many questions but i cant seem to be able to get any answers. has anyone ever been cured of mrsa? some doctors tell me she'll have it for the rest of her life, while others said she can grow out of it . i just want the truth, the cold hard scientific facts. unfortunately it seems that even the docs dont know much about MRSA. i've also tried to find out the latest treatments and what research is being done for potential cures but all i found was a bunch of outdated guidelines (which are quoted over and over again on ever website) . i am so afraid of loosing my baby. i feel so help less and alone. if it were up to me I'd have her at a specialist everyday trying to cure her, but the doctors have just sugarcoated the situation, they send her home with new antibiotics tell me to finish it all and hope for the best, but a month later theres another painful boil under her diaper and im crushed all over again. is there any hope for a cure, are there real efforts going on right now to find one or are those infected with mrsa today doomed while those tomorrow will be saved with a simple pill or shot. somebody please find a cure and soon! forgive me for the typos but my tears are flowing so hard i can barely see. im tired of pretending to be strong it feels good to be publicly weak even if only for a moment!

Hi, first I would like to say how sorry I am that everyone who has MRSA has it. I had a bump that I though was a spider bite come up on my abdomen and went to the dr when it kept getting bigger and sorer, my mother always taught me that if anything is red around it (wounds) and gets bigger then its something serious. I went to the DR and they cultured the spot and put me on antibiotics, two days later it had grown massivly and was so sore I thought I was gonna die. I called the DR to see if the results of my culture was in and the DR I had seen was off that day. A nurse called me back and said that my results were MRSA. I asked what I should do? She said take the meds and come back to the DR on Monday (this was a friday) anyhow Saturday eve I went to the ER and the DR there doubled my meds and told me to keep it bandaged up, and to clean my house with bleach and lysol and use hand sanitizer and wash my hands frequently reciting the alphabet before rinsing. I continued to work, being very careful not to shake anyones hands and washing my work area frequently with bleach and spraying lysol everywhere. I should buy stock in hand sanitizer, clorox and lysol. The redness started to receed, but the wound was still there and turning black, so my DR had to lance it, drain it, and remove a plug. after that it started to heal, over night it made a BIG difference. I was not given alot of information about MRSA but did my own research online and found out that using a soap called hibeclens, its what the surgons use to scrub up before surgery.  Keeping the wound(s) completely covered and getting lots of rest is key. I have several spots that come up all over my body but after starting Bactrim and Dytomicn (I think thats how its spelled) the smaller spots dried up. I had one that was bigger than the small ones and kept putting hot wash rags on it and it pulled the infection out of it.  With me, the big one on my abdomen got worse because I squeezed on it. My DR said not to squeeze them, and use the hot compresses to pull the infection out.

I work with the public, and the DR said I could have gotten this anywhere: a pen, paper, money, shopping cart, counter at work, store, home, school anywhere someone that is infected touched or could touch. I am hoping that once my wound heals that I wont have it anymore, but the more I read and the closer it gets to my antiboitocs running out the more nervous I get.

 

God Bess you all, and I wish everyone a speedy recovery.

This really scares me! We've already been through mrsa so I'm not really panicked about it but I am scared about the bird flu because I know that this is a real possibility. If not bird flu then it will be some other form of virus that will cause a pandemic. I assume that you watch the same programs on TV like I do. It could be something as simple as a new strain of flu. There are a lot of really scary things out there. The drug makers and the governments of all countries don't want to put out the money to produce enough anti-viral medication in case of a pandemic which they pretty much know is going to happen so what the heck are we supposed to do? We try to stay prepared for disasters but some things are just going to be too big. You say that you are prepared, I would truly like to know what you mean. What have you done? A true pandemic is going to bring all commerce to a screeching halt across the world, most medication is manufactured in other countries, food supplies will dwindle, nobody will be working or have money to pay for their utilities if they are even still working. I'm on serious pain meds and couldn't live without them, the pain is way too severe (I'm disabled) and have a few other health problems and my husband is diabetic and has heart problems. What do we do when we can no longer get prescriptions? I'm truly frightened over this very real possibility. I would appreciate any feedback and suggestions. Thank you, Jewels

     They use Dr. Ohhira's Probiotics in Japan, as a protocol, pre and post surgery, to kill MRSA/staph, in hospitals. You can get it at your health store, or on line. Check out the Essential Formulas web site. They have the research that Dr. O has been doing for over 20 years. You can get the facts. It's nice to hear that someone wants to know the information, not just do what the doctor says. There is a soap and lotion that have the TH10 strain of bacteria that kill the superbugs. This 12 plus probiotic actually helps you build your own inherent bacteria. There's nothing else like it!  You can beat MRSA. This stuff has changed my life!