Help me not panic!

[chejismom]

Long story short. I, my son, my husband all have MrSA. Mine was confirmed by a culture today. The boys are not, but have same symptoms. We are all on Bactrim as of today. I have been since Friday. We are using Hibiclens every other day. I am going tomorrow to ask for the medication to decolonize our noses. I bleached all surfaces and have washed and dried all sheets, towels and dirty clothes. Is that enough?

Everywhere I look online, I see horror stories of people suffering with this/reinfections for months/years. My sister-in-laws family had this two years ago and had no recurrences. Are they an exception? Or are the horror stories the exception?

I am a high maintainance kind of person so my stress level is through the roof. I just want it gone and to not ever darken my door again.

So, have you had MrSA and treated it successfully (i.e. it didn't come back)? If so, how were you able to achieve your successful eriadication of this beast?

My doctor and the on-call doctor seem to think this is no big deal, but it sure doesn't feel that way.

 

[pweyl36]

My niece had mrsa,now she will always be a carrier. Just make sure your family never share drinks,food,etc.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

we have 6 people in our house, 3 have MRSA and 3 do not. We all use the nose cream just in case. You can clean your house thoroughly and still pick it up on a Walmart store shelf. My mom has had a recurrance 2x in 4 months, my 2 dds none (thank God). Good Luck

 

[PADISFAM]

#1 protection is 'hand washing'
#2 is do not overuse antibiotics--often times people will go to the doctors & demand antibiotics-- YES the doctors should say 'NO' if it is a vial infection (which most day to day issues are) however they do not do this, sadly it is just 'easier' to get the 'Mom', 'kid' whatever---out of the office & many, many docs & physician extenders (PAs & CRNPs) hand out antibiotics like they are candy....ok off my soap box now....
remember--hand washing, hand washing & only use antibiotics for bacterial infections (& let me just jump back on my box for a moment)....'Sinusitis & bronchitis' tend to be vial, not bacterial & are usually 'self-limiting' meaning they will go away on their own- but it will take time. As always see your doctor if you feel you need to, but don't push for antibiotics unless absolutely necessary.

 

[livie1205]

my ss10 had it when he was 7 and has not had it since...we are very good about him keeping his hands washed and in cold and flu season he uses nose cream but it does not control our lives...you can pick it up anywhere.He has a boil and he took meds and it went away (for now) but at the time it was 2 days before we left for vacation and I was preg so he stayed with his mom until he got better (dr recomended) poor guy but when he got better we took him on a trip to make up for it.I did freak out at first but this can be picked up anywhere at anytime no matter how clean you try to be.

 

[chejismom]

Thanks for the advice. We are huge hand washers (and Purellers when we can't get to a sink) so we'll just keep chugging along with that. In fact, we have really stepped that up in the past year and until this episode, we had our healthiest year ever. So frustrating.

I think our biggest problem is that this was not properly diagnosed over the past couple of months. Hopefully with the correct diagnosis and treatment, things will now improve.

 

[RMulieri]

Truthfully, don't freak out.MRSA is everywhere ...thanks to the chronic overuse of antibiotics in this country.It stands for Methicillin resistant stapholococcus aureus.Staph aureus is a natural occurring bacterium on the skin etc.The problem is that Methicillin, was once the drug of choice to fight this bacteria should a superinfection occur.Now that we have greatly overused our antibiotic arsenal in this country ,it has become resisitant hence the name MRSA. Many ,Many people are colonized with it and don't even know it because it never really affects them.Some that have an active MRSA infection get treated with bactrim etc, but are still and always will be carriers.Good hand hygeine is the best defense to keep active infection from re-occuring

 

[bookgirl]

#1 protection is 'hand washing'
#2 is do not overuse antibiotics--often times people will go to the doctors & demand antibiotics-- YES the doctors should say 'NO' if it is a vial infection (which most day to day issues are) however they do not do this, sadly it is just 'easier' to get the 'Mom', 'kid' whatever---out of the office & many, many docs & physician extenders (PAs & CRNPs) hand out antibiotics like they are candy....ok off my soap box now....
remember--hand washing, hand washing & only use antibiotics for bacterial infections (& let me just jump back on my box for a moment)....'Sinusitis & bronchitis' tend to be vial, not bacterial & are usually 'self-limiting' meaning they will go away on their own- but it will take time. As always see your doctor if you feel you need to, but don't push for antibiotics unless absolutely necessary.

I think MRSA counts in the catagory of take the antibiotics, take all of them, take two rounds of them and absolutly don't stop or miss them. I've had a good friend and my dad go through MRSA infections. Both ended up on IV antibiotics both in hospital and with ports to do home IV rounds of antibiotics.

This isn't a case of the sniffles and a round of pills to get the patients out of the doctors hair. This is a major infection that can have ramifications for years.

OP, glad you are taking it seriously, it sounds like you are doing the right things. One thing my dad and my friend were both told. Damp cloth is one of the best places for this stuff to grow. Don't share a towel to dri hands at sinks, don't have a dish towel on the counter to wipe up spills then leave it. Don't reuse wash cloths. Hope everyone in your house gets well soon.

 

[PADISFAM]

Totally agree-- ANY time a physician or extender gives a Rx for Antibiotic the course needs completed, another reason the 'superbugs' have come along- MRSA, VRE, VISA, VRSA & so on is because people don't finish their courses of antibiotics....just helping the bacteria mutate & therefore much more difficult to kill.

 

[klj27]

This isn't what anyone wants to hear but my son got it at WDW. It started with what we thought was a bug bite at the WL, but by the time we got to Vero Beach we knew something was wrong. We had to take him to the walk in clinic. Thankfully he healed on the first round of antibiotics!

 

[jamesmommy]

Long story short. I, my son, my husband all have MrSA. Mine was confirmed by a culture today. The boys are not, but have same symptoms.

Just wanted to mention other things have the same symptoms. DH, DS, and myself all had the same symptoms, thought it was the same thing. When I took DS to the pediatrician, they swabbed his nose, and he tested positive for strep. The ped suggested DH and I be tested as well, since we were symptomatic. DH tested positive for MRSA, but not strep. My test was clean of both, my symptoms were from a sinus infection.

Hope you are all feeling better soon.

 

[squirrel]

Just remember that your hands have good bacteria on them. If you always use anti-bacterial soap, you are killing the good bacteria also!