Cellulitis or Sunburn?

Hi all, I don't know if I have cellulitis or not, my cat punctured my leg with his claw on the seventh and I did the usual cleaning, it bled for a short while, and then had clear fluid flow out for like four hours, I do tend to get swollen ankles and legs, from sitting too long, I was just a tiny bit swollen before he did it, my leg and ankle swelling went down and kept checking wound for two days, no signs of infection, on the second day i went outside to sit with my pant leg of that leg up to just above my knee and ankle socks on and long sleeve shirt, I come in and check wound again throughout day no signs of infection, I go to bed wake up and my leg looks all red from bottom of knee to ankle where I was unprotected, I did contact an after hour doctor who did a video chat with me and gave me antibiotics, and did the draw lines to check to see if it recedes, I have no pain, no swelling, it was very warm to touch,but not now and no blisters, I am just wondering how quickly cellulitis rash happens and what are the exact symptoms?

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Pkstracy

2 years ago

Oh I forgot to add that I just started antibiotics yesterday, but I am just really worried, as I said I have no pain at all, nor did my leg swell up. I did run a fever and did get sick with what felt like the flu but I think I was already coming down with something, and I felt like I also had post nasal drip or some form of sinus/chest congestion, my "flu -post nasal drip symptoms " went away and do not have a fever, I still have my cough like you do when you have been sick and coughing and hacking up phlegm. I am still not seeing signs of swelling or any redness coming from wound itself, actually wound did scab over and I pushed on it to check for pus like infection, only a tiny bit of the usual wound clear fluid came out when you have a scab and just a tiny bit, and the scab came off. I would be really grateful for any feedback or anyone that has dealt with cellulitis to comment and tell me what they went through or what their symptoms were and are.

CCT67

2 years ago

Hi, The protocol for Cellulitis in a lymphie is 14 days not the standard week. Below is the medical consensus document for treatment you can show your doctor.

Having had Cellulitis twice my advice is to avoid putting your bare limb in the sunshine. Keep it elevated inside. Although you haven’t had hot skin or a large area of red rash, the fact you had a fever suggests some Cellulitis infection. The antibiotics should knock it on the head - do take for full 14 days even if you appear to be infection free as the infection goes dormant only to return to ‘live’ infection if too short a course of antibiotics if you are feeling better it means the antibiotics are working so carry on taking them 14 days minimum. It doesn’t hurt to have tea tree oil on hand for any time in the future your scratched again. Put the oil around the scratch area - topical treatment straight away helps to prevent full blown Cellulitis. I keep my cats claws cut low to avoid her scratching me (she’s a fully indoor cat so short claws doesn’t put her at risk of being unable to defend herself or escape up a tree)

lymphoedema.org/images/pdf/...

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Pkstracy

in reply to CCT67

2 years ago

Thank you I am going to see a doctor face to face today here in an hour, my husband keeps saying oh it's just a sunburn, I have never had this before, so I am worried. just to be sure, it's been 72 hours and I am seeing no improvement at all, so I am going to try to get a actual confirmation,Yeah after I sat in the sun two days after cat got me, I went to bed the day I sat in the sun and when I woke up the next morning I have what looks like a sun burn, as I stated this happened a week ago on the seventh with him scratching me, then the ninth I went and sat outside, the 10th I woke up with redness. thank you for the link, I'll try to show it to the Dr. Oh and I don't even know If I have Lymphoedema, I haven't even been diagnosed, when I was a kid I used to swell if I ate to much salt, parents to me to dr, he just said watch her sodium they did for awhile and never told me about it when I was older I just assumed I got swollen if I ate to much salt, sat for too long, got to hot, I have never had the leaking of the fluid from a leg wound like that as I have never been wounded on the leg when I am swollen, thank you for your advice I am about to go to dr as I said I will update when I get back.