MRSA "superbug" warning

[REE1993]

Originally Posted by SthrnZeta

I had one on my eyebrow. I ignored it for a week and then started draining it myself and put myself on Augmentin for 7 days. When it started peeling (and didn't go away or get smaller) I went to the doctor who referred me to a surgeon. I told him that Augmentin hadn't touched it. He slit it open and drained it and packed it for a day. He put me on 3 days of Levaquin (which tore my stomach up) and now I keep a band-aid on it while the incision heals. It was very very painful, but I certainly didn't die from it. BUT, it sounds like if I had let it go and never gotten it treated, I could have gotten really sick. As it was, it was just an annoyance. I had one on my armpit last year that had to be packed every day for a week and I was on two different types of antibiotics. Same procedure as before only worse. Not sure what causes these but I think that I'm just more suseptible when I'm tired, etc. This latest one came on the heels of a cold sore and my surgeon said those can weaken your immune system enough to allow one of these nasty bugs to strike. A friend of mine had 2 at once near his scrotum and had to pack those himself every day - not fun! Just stay as clean and healthy as you can - and don't wait to go to the doc if you're worried you may have it! Pretty simple!

How did you put yourself on Augmentin? Are you licensed to dispencse prescription medication?

[SthrnZeta]

Originally Posted by REE1993

How did you put yourself on Augmentin? Are you licensed to dispencse prescription medication?

That wasn't really the point in my post - why do you ask?

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by SthrnZeta

That wasn't really the point in my post - why do you ask?

It stands out to me too.

Augmentin is an antibiotic. You put yourself on it for seven days, suggesting that a) you didn't finish a course of antibiotics, b) that you took older and possibly expired drugs, and c) you took another shortened course of antibiotics.

These are things that help create superbugs. You don't kill the bacteria, you only kill some of it, leaving the rest to potentially become stronger. So then you had to be prescribed a stronger antibiotic that is worse for your body and would perhaps have been unnecessary if you'd not abused the previous one.

You are being part of the problem, not part of the solution.