MRSA Support Group

Have you done a thorough disinfecting of the home, office, car etc.? My son was diagnosed a month ago, and it took a month to get everything thought through, let alone actually address it It included cleaning shared household spaces and surfaces, his room, personal items like phone, keyboard etc, family laundry (separate baskets for everyone etc etc), even the car. Since we are also dealing with risk of H1N1, my aim was to deal with only one's days worth of pathogens at a time, on him or in the home...

Has your husband also looked into restoration of his own internal 'good' flora and immune system support? That means probiotics, extra vitamin C, possibly B-12, antioxidants? I believe that bacterial infections require a different approach than viruses. I don't know if we need viruses, but humans certainly need bacteria in our digestive system, etc. for good health, and if they are all killed off, the aggressive ones which cause illness easily and quickly move and take over. The only way to restore the full function of the immune system and digestive system is to add bacteria back in, and repeated antibiotics damages that effort.

After our son's diagnosis and second course of drugs, I decided to try whatever I could to strengthen his immune system with supplements and nutrition, while addressing any more outbreaks with topical treatments, washing with Hibiclens, etc. etc. No more drugs. In our case, a first aid ointment using silver ( which has antibacterial and antiviral properties) was effective. He had four more outbreaks this month, but each one was smaller than the one before. He is finally clear, but we are going to continue everything we are doing (high alert disinfecting and supplementation) for at least six months.

I hope this helps...Good luck!

Thanks, FRose! I'm going to take your advice and look into the internal good flora and immune system, i.e. probiotics, Vit. C, silver, etc. Have been doing some reading and find these mentioned the most.

Doctor's office just called - 7 days on antibiotic AND soak in tub with 1/2 cup bleach twice a week for 1 month! I have concerns about soaking in bleach! May hold off on that for right now.

Thanks again, FRose!

The soaking with bleach always scares me a bit. It seems very harsh. Adding a probiotic to my regimen seems to have helped me. I also washed with the hibiclens. My IC doctor told me to also make sure I washed my hair with the hibiclens. He said the bacteria lives in a colony (for me on my skin) and will travel to wherever there is no medication. He said it is fine to mix some shampoo in with hibiclens (in your hand). Just to make sure all parts of your body are washed. I don't feel clean with just the hibiclens, so I wash with a regular antibacterial soap and then rewash with the hibiclens. Just makes me feel cleaner that way.

I was also told that it is better to use the original Dial soap and not the newer ones with all those fragrances. I don't know if it really makes a difference, but I use the gold Dial now.

We also did like FRose. I did a thorough disinfecting of the house. I keep a bottle of those Clorox disenfecting wipes in the bathroom. During a outbreak, I wipe everything I touch each time I'm in there. We don't share soap, towels, washcloths, etc. I keep any boils covered until they are no longer draining. We have been very lucky (and diligent) and I have not pased it on to Hubby or the kids.

I had CA-MRSA last year, and somehow beat it. I haven't had an outbreak in over a year. My best advice is cut down on refined sugars...a change of diet is essential. Probiotics, 10 billion + are great, three times per day...washing with hibiclens should be very limited, discuss that with your DR..only use that with the advice of a DR. I over used that product andhave chronic skin ailments from ittoday....a clove of raw garlic aday helps too....antibotic nasal ointment for at least a week durign an outbreak is required, plus antibotics...manuka soap with bee venom used to ease my MRSA outbreaks to a degree too......avoid caffinee when possible.....I wish you much luck, I know how problematic MRSA is, and how awful the side effects of antibotics such as bactrim are...I've lived it.

gglaw3 - Thanks for the reinforcement on the sugar issue. Our teenager is probably not as bad as some kids (no sodas, no candy) but I sure that sugar is a part of the equation, it makes sense.

An idea I read about on a different forum has me thinking that a topical cream with probiotics would be good for skin health, so far I haven't seen one anywhere. (The thread where I saw such a product mentioned had no further information, even though several people wrote in to ask the original poster just what she was talking about.)

I think the supplements he's taking have helped his overall health. His color and energy level is good, and his skin looks better except on his face, which seems too oily and still has breakouts of acne. (This summer, when he was on two different antibiotics plus a shot of Vancomycin during his first boil episode, he came home from camp looking like a drug addict, ravaged face, pasty skin - I was just horrified...)