I had a close call with 3 abcesses that put me in the ER on Friday thru Saturday with a temp of 101 and were suspected MRSA. I was given some antibiotics and percocet while the cultures grew only to discover I was in fact allergic to said antiobiotics. My last few days have been a blurr... literally, Levaquin was like taking acid (or at least what I've heard from folks who have actually had acid). I was hallucinating, I saw my wallpaper melting, and I was awake for almost 36hrs straight. The Bactrim or the Percocet caused me to break out in little tiny red bumps that swelled up and I looked like I had a sunburn all over my body that itched like crazy, I looked puffy and red, hallucinating, not sleeping, and vomitting crazy shit! Well and on top of that I had my infection.

My advice to you guys is, if you have a sore that is getting worse, is swelling to obscene sizes, and is causing you a fever don't wait like I did thinking it's going to go away. I had to have mine cut open, drained, and prodded by lots of people and essentially lost my holiday weekend.

If you're wondering how I got these lovely things well, I simpley shaved and got an ingrown hair or two or three (they didn't all happen at once). Turns out for whatever reason it developed an infection. Never happened to me, and I kept saying oh it will go away or I'll go to the doctor tomorrow, yeah wrong thing to say. First culture was negative for MRSA second culture is still growing I'll know tomorrow however considering my last antiobiotic seems to be helping I'm not sure it will be MRSA either (thank God!). So be careful with those razors! Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwy

I worked with a guy who had a MRSA on his hand and it went too long they cut a circle out of the back of his hand the size of a .50 cent piece. Considering where my abceses were I was freaking at the thought of that! (thighs and umm pelvic region)

Oh sure this comes out AFTER I take levaquin this weekend :(

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20080708/MED.Antibiotics.Warning/

That's crazy. Glad you're okay.

Holy cow.. x2 with Sanchek.... Good to see ya posting after that.

Pics or it didn't happen :devil

Glad you are OK. I hope they find out it is nothing serious.

Sorry to hear about your experience, Fildien, that's extremely scary :/. I've yet to have a problem (besides digestive) with levaquin, but I had a scary experience with Bactrim myself year before last, of the giant inflating blisters filling my mouth/throat and itchy rash variety. I've now got a big red Allergies: Sulfa on my medical files :). I also have a very tiny effective vs drunken tachycardic nausea window with regard to any of the synthetic opoids, which made for great fun in an airport once where a small dose I took for joint pain resulted in a combination panic attack and fun-house heaving floor/melting walls which made for the longest 200 yards I'd ever walked between one gate and another ;).

The FDA has been playing pretty fast and loose, or should I say greased-wheel, with regard to medication approvals over the past couple of decades and it's easy to forget that these *are* powerful drugs whose adverse effect reporting has often been minimized both in the approval phases and in promotional material sent to doctors. This has only been exacerbated by direct-to-patient marketing, where we tend to view anything they're "safe enough to be sold on TV" as harmless wonder-fun, with the inevitable reality check coming due as the adverse incidents pile up. As a result, a lot of 'black box' and other heavy warning/disclaimers have been applied to some popular medications lately - but I'd have to say my current favorite has to be the minute plus animated commercial one with dogs and rolling hill and kite-flying people line drawings on a scrolling blue screen for celebrex, where they blythely warn you about the fatalities that have been reported (mind you, this is an *aspirin* substitute) along with rolling torrents of discounting, backpedalling legalese with regard to the use of the drug.

While MRSA is serious business, simple and prompt attention to any skin breaks you incur, even if it seems like a waste of time, goes a long way, as can staying out of the hospital =). Be aware that while it's important to treat a rapidly progressing infection immediately, antibiotics, especially the newer antimetabolic ones, are strong medications, which in most cases are modifications of naturally occurring chemicals fungi and other bacteria manufacture in the wild for the purpose of killing other cells - in other words, not always friendly to ours, despite the differences between bacterial and animal cells.

I'm really glad to hear you're alright Fild, and as far as shaving incidents go (and btw, I had a great visual, when you mentioned that, of the Vanity Fair cover some years ago with Cindy Crawford in a bikini shaving k.d. lang's face ;) ), might I suggest getting your other half to help you with waxing next time? It's reduced my incidence of ingrown hairs and other casualties (save occasional bruising) to zero, not to mention kind of fun in a sickly gratifying way...

Regards,
Nydia

eh no pix!

If you really need to see gory infections just google images MRSA or bacterial infection. Or well here this one is pretty close to what they looked like. http://resistantstaph.net/images/ans7_staph_skin.jpg except the puss backed up so much it caused allot of swelling and they had to be cut open to drain. One of them got about the size of a small plum, that's the one being stubborn about healing.

I share this story b/c I went from soreness to infection in what I felt was pretty quick and it was pretty scary (literally 3 days). Granted I had two for probably a week or more but they weren't big or threatening just like razor burn. It wasn't until the thrid one popped up that the other two transformed into yuckiness. Just be careful is all I'm saying! :)

Wow fild, that's freaky, I didn't know you shaved...sorry couldn't resist. I can't imagine the fear you felt, especially when your in a place that you think will fix the problem and it only gets worse.

I haven't had any issues with an antibiotic but I did have a very serious reaction to Lasix. I broke out in hives from my neck to my toes, scratched my legs until they bled, my body did the opposite of what the drug was supposed to do and I blew up with fluids to the point it was leeching through my skin. I was also losing my hearing and have not felt pain in my legs, feet and back like that EVER in my life.

Anyhow, good to see your text, I'd miss ya.

PS, if you need any shaving lessons let me know I can...ok...Squish said I can't go there.

Waxing? umm no no no no no. Just too painful to consider. I'll just slow down when in the shower from now on ;) We do sometimes do just what you described however I recall vividly rushing to shave as we were going to swim and well maintenance is a must at such times.

By the way, at 3am after the wall melting incident I decided to look the crap up I was on. I discovered I wasn't the only one seeing things... http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20635&name=LEVAQUIN that's a pretty interesting site and if you're ever curious what others are saying about the drugs you're taking check it out.

I wasn't too keen on antibiotics of any kind but doc said I had to neosporin (sp) can only go so far. She gave me doxycycline and so far it seems ok. Though I've only had 3 doses so far.

You're right though, we take what doctors and drug companies tell us for granted. I'm waiting for the day that I find out getting the Anthrax vaccine from the Army wasn't such a good idea. Oddly enough doxycycline is one of the drugs used to treat Anthrax, I imagine I have all matter of funky shit floating in my blood as I'm sure all other veterans do as well. And yes, like you my record is now thoroughly documented for medication allergies. I must admit the rash seems much better than mouth blisters OMG!

Hoping all heals quickly with no further incidents. Sucks to spend your holiday weekend stuck in a 60's flashback. But it is good that you now know how you react to those medications and won't be given them again.

Glad you could share this with us as it definitely makes folks more aware, and also we have some good links to use for research now.




Anyone else get a mental image reading Nydia's post of Pat Morita, with a slight leer, saying "Wax On....Wax Off"?

Wow Fild, that's pretty scary. Glad you are doing better, and you might wanna rey an electric razor. You can still get nicked by them, but you really really have to try...:p

an electric razor.

Plus they are great for the pelvic region as the vibrating of the razor can make...never mind.

/sigh You guys just don't get it huh?

Yes, I use an electric "trimmer!" usually and even in this instance I used one for the majority of the ahem region... however I prefer the bikini line to be smooth and I use my razor for that. Guh! Not to mention electric razors never shave close enough on my legs. And sorry Rover, a buzzing razor is not erotic to me. A buzzing dildo yes, but something sharp no. ;)

I just learned more about the pasty whizzer than I ever wanted to.....:o

A buzzing dildo yes

/ponders and heads to the bedroom for a ummm...nap

Please note links are NSFW

I can get that for you wholesale! I play a website design - Internet Marketing person by day, but at night...I'm the Vibes 'n More (http://www.vibesnmore.com)guy also have Adult Bling Bling (http://www.adultblingbling.com)!

Sorry to hear that mate!

When I was younger I had a somewhat mild virus. So I went to the doctor's and they treated me with penicilin. A week later I had blown up like a red balloon so I went back. They gave me more penicilin.

Next week I was rushed into hospital.

Luckily enough, the penny dropped, and they realised that I was allergic. I think had they treated me a third time with the stuff I would have been pretty much dead.

My wife is allergic to penicillin though it's much more mild than your reaction Halo.

You're lucky Halo. Are you also allergic to mushrooms?

I had what I am sure was an MRSA infection near where my clavicle attaches to my sternum...... we weren't sure if it was a spider bite or MRSA or both but I felt like shit for 2 days (fever flu like symptoms) and my surgeon ended up cuttig out a big chunk of tissue. You could put your thumb into the hole. I had to pack it to keep the wound healing from the bottum up.

I think what was the worst was hearing the crunching the scissors were making while he snipped and cut... he had to re-numb the bottom of the wound TWICE he went so deep.

Anyway I got on Zyvox but it had to be I/D for it to heal.... it isn't pretty

What we call 'mushrooms' (and Penicillium doesn't produce them anyway, putting up microscopic conidiophores instead) are temporary reproductive structures produced by two phyla of fungi and aren't involved in the nutrient gathering end of things - that's done by the threadlike hyphae growing through the substrate (that we don't notice most of the time :) ). Consequently, the fruiting bodies don't usually produce those proteins (beta lactams in this case) we use as 'antibiotics', which are highly concentrated in pharmaceuticals anyway - so I'd be somewhat surprized if Halo's Penicillin allergy translated into an allergy to culinary mushrooms. Some people (see: peanuts) are so sensitive to their given trigger antigens that extremely tiny doses, or contact with someone who has had them, can set them off, however... anaphylaxis is freaky stuff indeed.

Regards,
Nydia

ACK BISE!!!!!!!!!

I just can't imagine if that had happened to me in that area. I'm glad you're ok though. Aren't you a nurse or work in healthcare seems fairly prevelant in the industry lately. Though I work in healthcare it rarely puts me in direct contact with patients though I do interact with healthcare workers. I think I'd want to be knocked out if I heard crunching noises, no I'm very sure I'd want to be knocked out.

And thank you Nydia for the explanation. I've often heard lots of folks say they were allergic to PCN and therefore couldn't eat mushrooms I never understood why they thought that! Now I'm going to raz my brother about it when he says it ;)

I've often heard lots of folks say they were allergic to PCN and therefore couldn't eat mushrooms ;)


That would be a damn shame, to be barred from psylocibin(sp) due to a lousy allergy. :rolleyes:

Bylimet, we are going to *have* to meet up one of these days ;).

Yep I'm a nurse. My wife swears I got it from the community though. So did the surgeon. Since that time I have been swabbing my nose every day with an anti biotic in case I'm colonized.

I have been a nurse with direct patient contace for 15 years.... I moved into supervision and then I get (what I believe to be) an MRSA infection. Go figure :(

Nop - not allergic to mushrooms or anything else...so far :P