Hello,

I am writing this in the hopes that I can help people identify and treat MRSA. I was recently diagnosed with this. MRSA is short for Methicillan Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.

Here’s my story:
I woke up 6 months ago with what looked like a spider bite on my left buttock. It was painful to the touch. It looked like a bite or a boil. I had never had anything that looked like this before. I didn’t go to the doctor thinking that it would eventually go away (also because I don't like them much.) but it did go away a few days later. Then a month or so goes by and I get another one right next to where the other one was. Again, I was perplexed but figured this would go away as well.

Like the previous one it went away in a few days. Then a few weeks later here is another one in the same area. This one is very painful. I get worried. In addition to this new boil, it seems to have spread and results in a painful/itchy rectum. A few agonizing weeks later I decide that I really need to see a doctor.

My doctor decides that i must be infected with yeast and sends me home with instructions to take a sitz bath 3 times a day and prescribes a yeast cream. A week later nothing is getting better so I go back and ask that a culture be taken as this is so unbearable to live with.

After a couple of days I get a call from my doctors nurse telling me (nonchalantly) that I am infected with MRSA. I am prescribed antibiotics and a week later call I decide to call her back to tell her that the pills aren’t working. She prescribes yet another round of a different antibiotic and these seem to do the trick. As much as I abhor taking meds this is the only way I will ever get any relief.

With all that said, I am armed with a great deal of knowledge about this disease. I bought a book and have googled until I can’t google anymore! I am convinced that very few (if any) doctors know about this. It is downplayed a lot. It is highly contagious and has been mostly contained to hospitals until recently. With the overuse of antibiotics that are constantly prescribed, I believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg where this disease is concerned.

My daughter and son-in-law are convinced that the “spider bites” that they have been getting for the past year are indeed MRSA as well. My son-in-law has been to to 3 different doctors that tell him that it is nothing. One of the doctors told him he should bathe more! He is going to his doctor again and this time he is insisting that a culture be taken. My sisters boyfriend also was diagnosed a few years ago.

I’m afraid that there are a lot more people that are out there who are infected with this and just don’t know it. This is a serious illness and if left untreated can be deadly. Also, you can be unknowingly spreading it. If you think that you may have this please see a doctor and ask that the infected area be swabbed.

I will try and post a pic of what these boils look like.

Please let me know if you think you have MRSA or have been diagnosed.

Thank you in advance,

Jennifer



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2009 05:52PM by mmmveg.

very interesting - thanks for posting. In the UK it does seem to be a hospital problem (or maybe not!!)

On a slightly different note - many GP's (general practitioners) here are being slightly more reluctant to dish out the antibiotics - but the vet's seem to prescribe them no matter what symptom your pet is presenting. They seem to be light years behind the latest thinking on antibiotics.

Hello again,

I have no clue on how to add a pic or even if it's possible. So here's a link of what it looks like: [img.timeinc.net]

There are some pretty graphic images of this if you just type in mrsa in your search. I really don't want to scare people..just inform.

Oh and my son-in-law just got back from the doc with his prescription for a powerful antibiotic...WITHOUT EVEN A CULTURE TAKEN! Although he does need it as he's quite sure it's MRSA, this MD wrote it out so easily. This is how antibiotics are just doled out without much thought.

Thank you for your time.

Jennifer

There's a lot of fear going around concerning MRSA. Because antibiotics don't seem to work. The medical community blame a superbug, but my opinion is that people who get MRSA are really to sick for the antibiotics to work, or that they have been exposed to so many antibiotics (via the food source, etc) that again the antibiotics no longer work.

Healing for MRSA is easy: improve one's health.

This can be done by eating a clean diet of lots of raw foods, or a simple cooked whole food low fat vegan diet. Then practicing the habits that create health: getting plenty of rest and sleep, exercise, sunshine, fresh air, clean water, removal of toxins from the personal environment, reductions of stress and worry, etc.

thank you for your thoughts brian however, i haven't been sick in years. i have been raw for 3 years and vegan for my whole life (i'm 46). i take part in many healthy activites including yoga, walking, biking and the list goes on.

i have never been on any antibiotics in my lifetime until recently.

to say that MRSA is due to an unhealthy body/lifestyle is untrue and certainly generalizing to say the least. i am proof of that. i somehow contracted this disease through my community as i've never been hospitalized in order to have contracted this.

healing for this disease is more complicated than saying it's easy. i wish it were easy. MRSA has many manifestations. it can go into the bloodstream and be toxic. i canve this for the rest of my life. keeping it under control living my life as healthy as i can seems to be my only recourse.

mmmveg,

How did you contract this resistant strain from your "community"?; they typically are found in clinical environments, like hospitals and walk-in clinics. I also marvel that you have avoided ever taking antibiotics[knowingly] until recently--in the U.S. this would have been inpossible!

Bryan is right that antibiotics are consumed by all of us, as they are a major environmental contaminant: they're in our municipal water, in anything made from water; including crops irrigated with water, in animal tissue, etc.

To get as much rest and fresh air as possible is important, and I would look into taking natural antipathogens, like true silver or minerals.

Hope your family is able to heal.

There are 2 forms of MRSA..HA-MRSA (hospital acquired) and CA-MRSA (community acquired) I have the latter. That is what I mean by when I say that I got this from my community.

What I meant when I said that I've avoided antibiotics until now is that I've never deliberately taken them in my 46 years for anything.

It's a long shot to say that antibiotics are in the water that I drink. Firstly becasue I live in the mountains and there are no livestock farms nearby other than some organic ones in the valley. And secondly, I don't live by crops that are sprayed. I get most of my produce form either my land, my daughters farm or my mothers orchards. I've never consumed animal flesh either.

I don't think organic, natural, healthy, raw, vegan or any other way of eating can cure everything. It can help yes, but I am proof that the healthiest of lifestyles can indeed get a hideous infection. Here's what I found out about the CA-MRSA:

A major difference between the two types of MRSA is that the community form (CA-MRSA) possesses a potent toxin called Panton-Valentine leukocidin, which attacks infection-fighting white blood cells called leukocytes. The most serious form of CA-MRSA infection causes necrotizing fasciitis, a severe, rapidly progressing and life-threatening skin infection. The CA-MRSA are genetically distinguishable from hospital associated MRSA.

In the US, two clones (strains) of staph, called USA300 and USA400, are associated with the community MRSA (CA-MRSA). USA300 has emerged as the most prominent clone and is not found among hospital strains. It was not observed before the year 2000, when multiple other clones existed.

This hit a bit too close to home... [www.youtube.com]

You can slow your chances of getting this (and any other disease) by washing your hands but what about those grocery carts/baskets, door handles and potentially everything else you touch can be infected with who knows what.

There is an asian market that I go to once in awhile and all of the employees wear surgical gloves which reduce the chance of spreading disease. A person can go crazy and never leave the house because of the fear of contracting something. I know. My point here is that you can't avoid germs...they are everywhere....on everything you touch. Unless you never want to leave your home you are potentially setting yourself up to get a bug on some kind. I don't want to live my life like that. I also don't wish to give this to anyone either. Before I was diagnosed I could have. I feel horrible that I may have spread this.

My purpose in writing on this board is to educate anyone who might think that the "spider bite" that they have might not be a bite at all. Persons infected can unknowingly and potentially infect many others.

mmmveg--
Thanks for your comments and warning; many of us were undoubtedly not even aware of what MRSA is. But Bryan's right: the best way to protect yourself from this and any other kind of disease is to systematically cleanse and fortify your body, which will give you an optimized immune system and natural protection from infections and viruses.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Hi mmmveg,
I noticed that you like to cycle and that the infection was on your butt and it occured to me that when I was a teenager I worked part time on a farm and was warned to stay away from where the pigeons roost because they were known to be carriers of disease. So I just googled 'pigeons as carriers of MRSA' and found several common animals mentioned --

"Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is increasing worldwide. Occasionally, animals are colonized or infected incidentally with human strains. Recently, however, new strains of MRSA emerging from within the animal kingdom, particularly in pigs, are causing human infection. MRSA has been reported in species as diverse as companion animals, horses and pigs, through to chinchillas, bats and parrots." [jac.oxfordjournals.org]

..so it looks like MRSA is being transmitted back and forth between humans, companion animals, farm animals and possibly semi-wild animals. Does this sound plausible?

..so as a youngster working on that farm, if I was to park my bicycle under where the pigeons roost and then ride home and share my bike with my buddies, we all might catch a rash on our butts from the bicycle seat, or God forbid necrotizing fasciitis if we were extremely unlucky.

peace to you

The last couple of weeks I've had 2 people I know come down with MRSA, one works in a hospital and the other is a young guy. Both were out of work due to the infection and it took a lot to get them on recovery..both took anti-biotics.

I told them each that if they would simply apply Iodine (whatever kind they find in drugstores) and keep at it until infection is all cleared up it will clear it up and it won't return and if it does then you apply the Iodine again, and think about cleaning up your blood and tissues by adding a lot of seafoods into your diet and or Lugol's Iodine.

I have seen over the counter Iodine (the kind only for external use) clear up the staph infection in my cousins daughter that has had it on and off for years..and still a year or so after using Iodine it has not retured at all.

I'm not surprised either that someone who works in a hospital would get staph infection..it's not the healthiest environment to be in. And she has a 4 mo. old son. She had to wear gloves whenever she held him or fed him or changed him.

Love,
Prism

Here is what the veterans admins has to say, although
antiotics are in everything now that may be why we are seeing all new types of staff ect we always knew this antiotic thing was tempory, Houston VA has five times the rate of mrsa then any other hospital. the VA is corrupt just read up on what happened with the data on Legonella. anyway this is what they say.

VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System Home About Us Leadership Board Operation OEF OIF Veterans Medical Services Public Affairs Special Events Major Construction Projects Research Transportation VHA MRSA Prevention Initiative Strategic Plan Contact Us Site Search VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
MRSA Test

Should I Take a Test? What Veterans Need to Know...
MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus)


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Should I take a MRSA Test?
The decision is up to you. VA patients have the right to accept or refuse any treatment or procedure that their healthcare provider recommends.



You have the right to receive your healthcare from VA. Your decision to accept or refuse the MRSA test will not change that right.

Download the Should I be Tested .pdf file


What is MRSA?

MRSA stands for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. MRSA is a germ that may live on the skin or in the nose of healthy people MRSA can cause serious infection or death in some patients, especially the elderly and those who are already very ill. People can carry MRSA from the community to the hospital or from the hospital to the community. This page provides information about MRSA in the Hospital.

MRSA Program Links:
MRSA Home

Why is MRSA a Concern?

What is VA Doing?
What is MRSA Testing?

What If - Test Shows MRSA?
What If - Test Does Not Show MRSA?

Pros & Cons of Being Tested



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Important Note:

Whether or not you take the test for MRSA, wash/clean your hands frequently!

VA is working to prevent the spread of MRSA.




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Why is MRSA a Concern?

You can carry MRSA without knowing it because it does not always make people sick with an infection. The VA is trying to make sure that MRSA is not spread from patient to patient. One way VA is doing this is MRSA testing of patients to find out if they carry this germ. If you test positive for MRSA when you are hospitalized you:
Have a greater chance of getting sick with a MRSA infection.
May pass MRSA on to other patients.
Will want to take special care of yourself by washing and cleaning your hands frequently.
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What is VA doing about trying to control MRSA?

Here's what the VA is doing to reduce the spread of MRSA:

Providing patients tests for MRSA on admission, transfer and discharge.
Placing patients who carry MRSA in private rooms or in rooms with other patients who carry MRSA.
Having staff wash hands before and after any patient contact.
Having staff wear gloves and gowns when caring for patients who are known to carry MRSA.
Actively involving VA leadership, staff and patients in trying to stop the spread of MRSA.
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What is MRSA Testing?

Testing for MRSA is simple. It is done by rubbing a cotton swab carefully in your nose.
It does not hurt, but it may tickle. The test only takes a few seconds. The laboratory will process the swab. This may take about two days. it may be done when you are admitted to the hospital, at transfer from one unit to another, and at discharge.

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What does it mean if your test shows that you 'Do Have" MRSA in your nose?


You are currently a carrier of the MRSA Germ. MRSA is in your nose but you may not have an infection from it now.
You may not have any symptoms.
You can pass MRSA on to other people.
In some cases, the MRSA germ may go away on it own.
You may be placed in a private room or in a room with other patients who have MRSA while in the hospital. This is called "precautions." Staff may wear gloves, gowns, and if necessary, masks when they care for you. The VA may treat you for MRSA, but usually only if you are sick from MRSA or will have major surgery.

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What does it mean if your test shows that you 'Do Not Have" MRSA in your nose?

If the test shows that you do not have MRSA in your nose, it means that you are probably not a MRSA carrier. However, the test is not always accurate. You might still be a MRSA carrier even if the test does not show it.

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What are the Pros and Cons of being Tested for MRSA?

Why You May Want to be Tested:
Why You May Not Want to be Tested:

The test is simple, fast, easy and doesn't hurt.





If the test shows MRSA in your nose, you will know that you should take extra care to help prevent the spread of MRSA to your family and other patients by washing your hands.




If Providers knows you carry MRSA, they will take extra care to help prevent the spread of MRSA to others.
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If the test shows MRSA, your healthcare team may place you in a private room or in a room with other patients who have MRSA. You may receive fewer visits from the healthcare team.


If the test shows MRSA, transfer from the hospital to another facility (for example, a nursing home) may be more difficult. This is because other facilities may also worry about the spread of MRSA. This varies by specific hospital and other facilities.


People may treat you differently if they know that you have MRSA. Sharing this information with others may make you or them uncomfortable.