Not sure where to begin, but three weeks ago, after my Avonex injection (12 hrs. later) I noticed two leisons on my skin right about where my injections have been. One leison was draining & both areas were pink & painful. I couldn't figure out what it was. Asked my husband to take me to the ER because I was in such pain. ER doctor said it was a typical interferon reaction & sent me home. Two days later I get in to see my primary care nurse practitioner and she didn't know. She prescribed an antibiotic for ten days, taken every six hours. I also asked her to culture it, and I waited...Turns out it's a staph infection, not caused by the drug or specific injection site. This week I'm waiting for blood test results to see if I still have staph. Does anyone have any experience with staph infections? Thank you for your help.
Mis-diagnosed infection: Not sure where to... - My MSAA Community
Mis-diagnosed infection
I have no personal experience and no medical knowledge. My understanding is that staph bugs are quite strong and hard to get rid of, but if you're no longer having pain and oozing then it looks like the antibiotics have worked for you.
My gut reaction is that someone or something was not properly sterilized before they gave you the injection. I believe there has to be a break in the skin for the staph to infect you, so it would definitely be related to the physical process of getting the injection.
We have a local hospital that is known for frequent staph infections. About all I can suggest is that if it happens again, find another medical center to use.
Thank you NorasMom for your insight and suggestions. I knew nothing about staph and was told we all have it, just not creating leisons on our skin. I was in such pain with it...I'm so grateful I kept at it to determine what is was. I'm now waiting to know if it's out of my system. It was a nightmare and nothing to ignore. The leisons appeared so quickly too. The injection site was cleaned with an alcohol wipe and my husband's hands were washed before the injection so it's a mystery to me how this happened. I've had injections for decades and this was the first experience of an injection site reaction. One can't be too careful! Thank you for your reply.
The more I think about it, the more I'm wondering if your needle was infected before you got it. Maybe start documenting lot numbers from now on, just in case this does happen again. It could turn into a supplier or pharmacy issue where you'd need to contact them about a bad batch.
Workerbea, The end of August I went visiting my daughter in Atlanta and A-day after I arrived I started having some Abdominal discomfort. By the next day I was terribly ill and pretty much one unconscious. When I was rushed to the hospital it turned out I had gone septic which I believe is a blood infection which is Also extremely dangerous. I spent 2 days in the ICU and it was hit-or-miss if I was going to pull through. It turns out I had 2 kidney stones, a UTI, a high fever, a partially collapsed lung and had the blood infection that caused me to go septic. I spent another 12 days in the hospital before they would let me go because they want a thief's blood infection completely cleared up along with the UTI and the kidney stones.
Keep on top of your staff infection. They can be very very serious and make sure it's 100% cleared up before you let your guard down. Remember you are the best advocate for your health. You're the one that spotted the bumps and the soreness and knew that wasn't right. So don't take no for an answer if you think it's still not right. Insist on more testing and additional treatments if you think it's still not right peryou can always get a second opinion as well. Don't be afraid to ask for more options. Take care. Remember together we are stronger. Fancy59.
Thank you Fancy59 for sharing your horrifying experience of becoming septic. You went through so much, and thankfully you were treated in time! Yes, this must be dealt with quickly. I know now to go to another ER where they will take my symptoms seriously. I live in Downeast Maine and healthcare isn't like in inner cities. I've felt like I've had to speak out, and yes advocate for myself when I had no experience with staph. My suggestions were to have the leisons cultured, have bloodwork done, have a script for antibiotic cream...which seemed like common sense. I'm exhausted and wish I had gone through some kind of nursing program to just manage my health! I'm so thankful you are ok and shared your frightening experience with us. This will hopefully help others. Thanks again and take good care!
Unfortunately it seems sometimes the more with educate certain groups of people the more they forget about common sense. Don't stop advocating for your health and trust your gut or your common sense because they very seldom steer us wrong. Sometimes I think this should have courses in common sense or even degrees in common sense because it sure would go a long way in fixing a lot of the problems in the world before they become so complex and messed up! Fancy59.
Staff is a very common & also very contagious. As a beauty school owner/instructor we had to sanitize everything after each client due to staff infections & others that you can get from transfer from one person to another just by touching something like a comb, brush or even the arm of the chair. That said you could have gotten the staff anywhere in the building or afterward when you left. The staff could have been on the glove of the person or the bandage they put on afterward. So with a hole or scratch on the skin and a weak immune system you can get infections easily. I always take extra care when going into public places for that reason, especially in a medical building... There's a lot of germs floating around there!🤗
Thank you. I learned the hard way, not knowing about staph. We thought we were careful with alchol wipe, bandaid, hand washing but something happened. Still haven't figured it out, but much more aware now.
I am so sorry that happened.
I hope youf feel better soon.
Leslie
You're Welcome.
no but keep us posted glad you are not like me who waits too long to see dr
I'm happy to report that my bloodwork came back with no staph, and my primary care cultured the skin site again and that also came back negative! What a roller coaster ride with so much anxiety. My skin is still showing where the leisons were and one nurse said it probably won't go away...I was allergic to the tape and bandaid so there are also marks left. Hopefully they will fade and disappear.
I got a call from my primary care nurse last Friday to say the second swab they took for my staph infection is still active on my skin, so I have to be on antibiotic cream for three weeks, three times a day. They originally said it was gone. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm washing every item of clothing I wear in hot water/soap every day, applying the antibiotic cream and hoping for the best. Many thanks!
i get so fed up of doctors not taking us seriously! i'm glad you didn't listen to the first idiot and got another opinion. i hope you feel better soon.🤗
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