ValTod,
Sorry, I don't have any good advice. I've never taken Zyvox. Hopefully others here might have some.
But what I might suggest at least is trying the TBS of honey with cinnamon. It's harmless for sure, inexpensive, and might help your immune system. Look it up on the web. Maybe even the Bee Propolis which is much more potent supposedly. I guess that sounds like a trivial help idea, but offering anything I can.

I certainly understand your fear and feel for you. Have you talked with your docs about your concerns? Any advice from them?
Seems like maybe you ought to be watched closely during this. Hope you have friends or family around to help you out.

Sending prayers your way

ValTod, I took a 2wk course of Zyvox about 2 months ago. Within 24hrs I broke out in bad fungal infection (jock itch) in groin and butt crack. My lips turned whiteish, and cracked and itched for the 2wks. Doctors determined I was allergic. Whether it worked or not is debateable as cutting and draining the site almost always helps. I since had mrsa twice and just stick to the iv vancomycin treatment. So, Linezolid wasn't the end all, cure all for me. I guess the jock itch isnt too rare. I read about an ex Washington Redskin Lineman who had the same side effects. It was quite an uncomfortable two weeks. God Bless, Ross

Thanks for the responses! I read a lot lately about MRSA and possible treatment. And the more I read the more discouraged and confused I get.

On one hand, there is so much research and clinical trials that prove that one or another antibiotic (Vancomycin, Targocid, Zyvox or Ceftobiprole) has 80% or more successful cure rate for MRSA. There are even clinical trials and reports of relatively simple strategies for ONLY 7 days decolonization: Nasally applied Mupirocin + Chlorhexidine body washes + Rifampin and Doxycycline with results: The primary outcome was MRSA eradication from all body sites at three months of follow-up.

ERADICATION! From ALL body sites! At THREE months after treatment! 80-90% CURE rate with some antibiotics!

Then on the other hand, theres another much bleaker view held by most of the MRSA survivors and suffers on these forums, and many ID doctors: There is NO cure for MRSA, dormancy, L-forms, cycling course of infection, MRSA is like Herpes, like HIV, like Cancer.

Even worldmrsaday.org that plans World MRSA Day in October, says that the world must acknowledge that there is NO cure or vaccine for this preventable, mostly un-reported disease in which the true magnitude of the epidemic is still unknown.

There is NO cure! Thats it! You got it and youre screwed for life. And most likely your remaining life will be short and hellish. Youll probably infect your immediate family and loved ones (because this is a highly contagious disease unlike Herpes, HCV, HIV or Cancer). And youll die in misery and guilt.

These are VERY conflicting views Since at this point I have no reason to believe that any of these sources is unreliable or deceiving, I just cant comprehend how these radically opposing understandings of MRSA can be reconciled.

Hello ValTod,

My name is Alvi and it seems that you are having a time of this too.

MRSA is wicked and you have ever right in the world to be concerned..Half the people treating it does not know how bad it can really be.

As for Zyvox..I have had a culture finally that showed that zyvox is suppose to kill it but 6 and a half rounds later here I am with it still..And yes for me Zyvox has its side effects. Some dont but I am one that reacts to alot and everytime I have taken it I have had other problems and still as I set here and type have MRSA.

I am also the one who has it in her lungs and on her skin and in my mouth and even under my eye lids..Bad part is I have dealt with this so long they over looked not long ago that something else might be going on..Finally New PCP found I had strep in my blood stream and then thanks to a friend reconizing the symptoms found I had mentigitis...Yes it has and still is quite rough for me..So be careful and make sure you have the cultures and find a good ID doctor that knows what is going on..

I am not going to set here and say this is nothing to fear that would be a lie. I have feared it for a longtime now..

I am also one who is will to try the Platensimycin and do you think they would agree to let me try it..NO..I am not one of the healthy MRSA patients and if something happens and I die I might make their medicine look bad. It's a shame when your 48yrs old and willing but they are not.

So far now I wait and see what happens..I have a doctor willing to use the germicidal lamp and see if that will help any.. I dont know I had a new boil come out yesterday.

I see you have read alot..I am going to leave a url that will take you to where you can see how a culture is done and it has a lot of good information..One thing is no two MRSA patients are alike and even though my test shows Zyvox will kill it I do not believe that to be true I think I am ZRSA actually.
Hope this helps you out some.
http://superbugassassins.com/pages/pathology.html

Good Luck ValTod and May God Bless You with this..Your in my thoughts and prayers.

One of the things that you have to be careful about with Zyvox is a reaction called "serotonin syndrome", especially if you are taking the IV and especially if you are taking other drugs that inhibit serotonin reuptake. I got SS while on IV zyvox and the doctors said that it just wasn't possible because I was not taking an SSRI. Well, I was on loads of oxycondone and that acts on serotonin receptors..... The reaction is very terrible and you will know if you have it. High BP, visual disturbance, tense muscles tot he point of "jerking" and taser-like sensations, difficulty breathing, -- I also went through severe insomnia lasting for several days. When they finally admitted that this reaction was happening, they took me off the drug and the symptoms stopped. I think that there is also not much known about how patients who have liver insufficiency tolerate the drug. My liver was not doing well when I was being given the drug and so that might have contributed to the problem. The pills are much easier to tolerate, from what I hear. Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the responses!

Alvi, your story broke my heart. And also made me very scared that many of us are heading in the same direction in this downward spiral. As far as platensimycin, here what I found:

I have a supplier for platensimycin, if you need any info please contact me verenaruggeri@hotmail.com
http://www.mrsanotes.com/merck-and-new-antibiotics-platensimycin/
May be you should contact this person. God Bless...

Postman, Focused, Ross, LaAura, thanks for your thoughts.

Here's update on my story:

Last week while I was considering buying a cheaper Zyvox from India via a Canada online pharmacy, suddenly my wife got a very bad outbreak on her arm 5-inch spot with nasty blisters. So I was pressed to go ahead and buy Zyvox from CVS it was $2600 and BCBS covered only $600 of it. We constantly clean, wash, bleach everything in the house. Were terrified that our 14-year-old son can get this staph infection too.

My wife started Zyvox last Friday. The side effects werent so bad and they subdued after the first 2 days. Her outbreak started healing nicely after 72 hours. We were encouraged it seemed Zyvox (even if EXTREMELY expensive) was the way to go.

On Tuesday we went to another ID specialist. He was impressed that Zyvox worked so good for my wife, and said that now is the moment for me to start treatment too. Since my wifes outbreak healed so well, and I had only several small red spots from folliculatis, he advised me to start Zyvox too and try to beat this infection. He said that 10 days treatment for each one of us would be enough, and then we should continue with a month of Doxycycline and Hibiclens body washes. We also discussed
Instructions for Home Eradication of MRSA
http://microbiology.mtsinai.on.ca/protocols/pdf/homeMRSAEradication.pdf

He was somewhat skeptical about the claims of 90% success ratio but still encouraged us to follow the protocol. Except he didnt want to prescribe me Rifampin because it is very hepatotoxic but said Zyvox would play the role of Rifampin and we can continue with Doxycycline and Hibiclens.

I started Zyvox on Wednseday. The first 2 pills caused somewhat higher blood pressure and anxiety, also I have diarrhea, but overall not so bad. Until this morning we were thinking were moving in the right direction, when my wife started complaining of a NEW painful boil under her armpit. This is the other arm, not where the initial outbreak appeared 10 days ago.

Now were REALLY horrified! On the 8th day of $2000 treatment, when the concentration of Zyvox is the highest in her blood, a NEW boil appears. If this happens several weeks after treatment, we would think it is a recurrence. But what are we supposed to think now?! That Zyvox, which is really last line of defense, is totally useless?! Should I myself continue taking it? Should my wife extend to 14 days? But whats the point if it ineffective on the 8th day to at least prevent or postpone a new boil?

We feel so frustrated and depressed, my wife is crying. We wasted so much money for ABSOLUTELY nothing! All our hopes that our case is relatively mild and easy (you probably have an whimpy staph, the ID doctor said), and Zyvox + the eradication protocol would be our way out of this nightmare, is completely crushed.

By the way, as soon as Tuesday, the ID doctor was still maintaining that the staph infection, that I was battling since March 13, is probably MRSE (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Epidermidis) and not MRSA, although it looked and acted like MRSA. It started with a red pimple with white head on the upper right thigh and a cyst on my back that got inflamed and quickly turned into an abscess. Two incisions and drainage of the abscess were performed and I was on two antibiotics between 3/16 and 3/29 7 days of Tetracycline and 9 days of Bactrim. Altabax topical was used for 5 days on the folliculitis on the thigh. By the end of March the abscess on my back was healing nicely.

Unfortunately, the lesion on my thigh got worse and a dermatologist concluded that was consistent with skin staph infection, probably MRSA, and performed biopsy. The biopsy culture stated Coagulase-negative staphylococcus species and the susceptibility test report showed multi-drug resistance to: Amoxicline, Bactrim, Oxacillin, Penicillin, Cefazolin, Erythromicin. Thats why the ID doctor thought it was MRSE (coagulase-negative staph) and not MRSA. Also, I had several swabs from my nose, axilla and groin, also culture from the initial abscess all came back negative for MRSA. The last nose swab I had was 10 days ago still MRSA negative.

Thats the reason why the first ID doctor I saw 3 weeks ago decided on Zyvox its active against both MRSA and MRSE. The doctor admitted that many false negative MRSA tests are possible and that the big purple-grayish scar on my thigh looks exactly like a MRSA scar, but she also said its not impossible this to be some very aggressive MRSE. (Although other doctors and research online claim that MRSE is benign on the surface of the skin.)

Anyway, thats my story so far. Now Im desperate to find a REAL good MRSA expert if there is one. I live in Tampa bay area, Florida. But if there are not good MRSA specialists in Florida, Im willing to travel to another state too. Or do long-distance consultation. Or whatever it takes to get the right diagnosis for my wife (whos worse than me now after I gave her this horrible disease) and myself and find the appropriate treatment.

I understand that often MRSA is very difficult to treat, especially when its systematic and hospital acquired. But on the other hand, I cant believe all these protocols and clinical trails claiming 80-90% success ratio are totally bogus. Also, I wonder how we never hear about celebrities, politicians, or athletes having life-long battles with MRSA. They all (or almost all) somehow find a way out of this.

So my (final) hope is finding a real good (possibly the best) MRSA specialist. There must be such people!

Any advice or clue would be greatly appreciated!

I wonder why the big difference in price for Zyvox. My hubbys first 20 pills were $862 and the next round of 20 pills were $1766. Same pharmacy. Only 3 months apart.

Does anyone have any experience with Byotrol skin sanitizer? I just order 12 bottles based on recommendation of someone who claimed:

The way that I was finally cured was putting the Byotrol skin sanitizer (Germcure.com)directly on my wounds and all over my body and completely decontaminating my entire house with something called microcleanse for a month. I had no recurrence after that. This stuff prevents recurrence after the antibiotics kill the deep stuff.

Hi Val, I tried to look up that cleaner you bought, but I was unable to find anyplace that listed the active ingredient(s).

How are you and your wife today?

Lori

Hey ValTod,

While setting here at 3:22 am in Tn..I am thinking about you and your wife and did you make any progress?

I know what you mean about finding a good specialist..Hasn't happened for me..I surely hope you find something..

I would surely hope yours does not go in the direction mine has and I pray that the medical system doesn't seem to fail you like they did me..

God Bless You and Yours!!!

We\'re not doing well It seems the expensive Zyvox doesn\'t work :-( I\'m on the 9th day of treatment and yesterday I got a new pimple in the area on my buttock where the pimples were cleared in the first week of treatment.

My wife also has new red spots after she finished Zyvox and now they put her on Levaquin for the NEW infection (Pseudomonas) she got from the Zyvox treatment. On Monday we were in ER for my wife.

My 14-year old son also has 2 red spots on his thigh. He had an abscess on his penis, which a dermatologist lanced on Tuesday and took a culture. The results will be ready Monday. Our ID doctor does not want to see him because hes not an adult. And the pediatrician has no clue how to deal with him.

And just 10 min ago, our son showed me a new pimple on the cheek INSIDE his mouth.

Im just freaking out Should I take him to ER? And what would they do? They didnt do anything for my wife other than taking a culture and bloodwork.

All this is like some train wreck in slow-mo. I just cant believe its happening for real.

Hi Val. I just read this post. I don\'t think you need to go to the ER. I\'m trying to help you, and it\'s frustrating to know that most of our stories are alike in the lack of interest from the medical community so we all know what it\'s like to be angry at the lack of interest by ID docs.

There is hope; don\'t give up. Make a decision to do something pleasant today: walk on the beach, go on a leisurely drive, play putt-putt golf. Just use hand sanitizer on the handles!! We all certainly hope your case is finally handled correctly. Your emotional state will definitely influence your healing, so find some solace and comfort from anything that brings you peace. I still think your son\'s blister can be a canker sore from stress.

with respect and caring,

Lori

Hey ValTod,

I am sorry the Zyvox did not work for you either..I myself have had 6 and a half rounds now and still have MRSA...

That is bad about your son..I understand it being frightening to you..It especially bothers me it in the inside of his mouth..

I have been dealing with that for awhile now..At the moment I have 3 in mine..I have had them opened and cut on numerous times..to no advil..So no the ER probably wouldn't know what to do anyhow.

I know this feels like a train wreck I have been dealing with it for a longtime..Just keep on trying and search that is the best any of us can do with this stuff..We are all about in the same boat..and our horror stories are about the same..The best we can do is try to remain calm and keep searching for something..

I wish you, your wife and son the best..Keep us informed how you guys are doing...Good Luck and God Bless You All!!

I can recommend a reputable pharmacy (Zyvox) http://mycanadianhealthcare.com/item.php?id=838&aid=9210 I received the order and it was on time and the pills work great.