My journey with MRSA / Cellulitis

I didn't know I had MRSA. For a full week I was in pain. Sitting was excruciating. A spot was growing under the surface of my skin. I googled "hard spot under skin" and felt pretty certain the fist-sized inflammation was a sebaceous cyst. It was huge. Painful. Red. Hot. Did I mention painful?

It started Saturday with some discomfort. Sunday I spent the day at the Zoo and we had unlimited passes to ride the train. Every time I sat down it was more and more painful. Monday was a holiday and I spent most of the day in bed keeping pressure off the back of my leg. But Tuesday, October 13th I started a new job and was required to sit all day while I learned the job. It was painful. But I did my best to smile and not die.

That night I started taking pictures of my leg to record what the cyst was doing. I like documenting with pictures to keep track of how it progresses or heals. Also, with all the pictures I was newly acquainted with that area of my backside and how much hair was actually on that part of my leg/cheek.  Ridiculous. And embarrassing.  But this is #reallifescience ... so for the sake of all that is educational ... I submit my intimate photos.  Be kind.

MRSA Cellulitis untreated Day 3

I took the first picture just before bed that night after my first day at work. It was just 3 days after the discomfort started. When I zoomed in I noticed a small pimple-like spot in the center.

I took a picture the next day and saw that the spot was a darker shade of red - probably from sitting on it all day.

Within 12 hours of that photo the pimple broke open, turned purple and oozed blood and puss. I was happy with this progress.

Because it was in such an awkward spot on my leg, it was hard to keep it covered. I had to place the bandaid at just the right angle. And I still had to sit on it all day long.

MRSA Cellulitis untreated Day 4

Another 12 hours passed and it turned into an angry wound. That's when I realized I was dealing with something else. Maybe not a sebaceous cyst. Maybe a spider bite?

MRSA Cellulitis untreated Day 6

That night, October 15th I developed a fever. I knew this was bad. Well, good because my body was obviously fighting an infection ... but bad because THERE WAS A BAD INFECTION. I searched and searched the internet to find out what I was dealing with. By 4pm October 16th I found the picture of a "spider bite vs MRSA" and I knew immediately that I was dealing with MRSA. My heart sank.

Webmd.com

My immediate gut reaction was to rush off to urgent care but I wasn't able to go right away.  I had to take care of some urgent financial issues before the close of business day that Friday. And so the delay gave me an extra hour to breath and process this information. And it gave me an extra hour to google natural remedies. I really try to avoid antibiotics. I believe they can save lives, save limbs, and are necessary when absolutely needed but I wasn't convinced they were needed. After all ... MRSA is resistant to them ... and yet ... if I went to urgent care I knew they would prescribe one. That was my first "wait a minute" moment. No, I couldn't touch the back of my thigh without crying but I was willing to wait and see what natural remedies could do. I was willing to give my body a fighting chance before resorting to an antibiotic.

Rewind 3 months (July 2015) and you'll find me laying in bed for 2 weeks with an extreme infection in my throat. I had developed a peritonsillar abscess. Reading about all the horrible tales, I decided an antibiotic was necessary and so I went to urgent care. I explained my symptoms, showed the nurse my classic peristonsillar throat and she laughed and said "you don't have that" and then proceeded to prescribe the exact drugs one would take if they had a peritonsillar abscess. I was sent me home without doing a throat culture yet was told I had strep.

I spent the next 4 days coughing up and spitting out the drainage from the nastiest infection I had experienced to date. And thank God for help from YiaYia who swept in and took care of my daughter while I slept. She made me the only thing I could eat: mashed potatoes. I covered them in turmeric spice after reading about natural remedies for the abscess and I let the drugs do their thing.

This all happened a few weeks before I moved across the country.  (Did I tell you how stressful the past year has been? Discovering your spouse of 7 years is cheating, discovering the boss you've ferociously supported for 3 years is an ill equipped leader and throws you every plate under the sun to spin and then she criticizes the way you are spinning them without ever once showing you what she's asking ... just ... here's another plate!  ... God, I should write a book... so you leave your husband, quit your job, start your own consulting business and feel successful for 3 months when suddenly your main client runs into a financial crisis and can't pay you and won't be able to pay you in the near future so you freak out, try to pick up the pieces, try not to get evicted from your house, realize you can't support yourself and your 7 year old anymore, pack up your EVERYTHING and move 750 miles away to be with family because you are broke, hurting, and feeling ruined? ... yeah .... so saying my immune system has been through a few things this year would be accurate.)

I wonder ... if the nurse had done a throat culture that day perhaps she may have found MRSA in my throat.  Just maybe.

Fast forward to October 2015 and my recent wound and my bottle of turmeric from July. From all the internet reading (thank you Earthclinic.com!) I decided to make a paste. I warmed and mixed 1/4 tsp of coconut oil and 1/2 tsp of turmeric together, applied it to a band-aid and slapped it on my angry wound.

By morning the angry red was gone and the wound was showing signs of drying up.

MRSA Cellulitis progression over 4 days. Treatment applied on 4th day. 

Every morning and every night I cleaned the area and applied the turmeric paste. (I eventually switched to a mix of tea tree oil and coconut oil.)

Tea tree oil & Turmeric Paste for MRSA wounds

I didn't squeeze.  I didn't mess with it. Just cleaned and applied. Three days later the infection released from my body and I literally pulled the sac out! It was nasty!

MRSA cellulitis spot after infection sac was naturally removed

A big puss-filled hole was left and because I didn't know any better,  I continued to put paste on it hoping the remaining infection would clear up. But the wet paste wasn't helping as much as I thought. A friend told me I needed to let it heal with a dry bandage and that was the info I needed.  Dry bandages from there on out.

MRSA Cellulitis after Turmeric Paste - 3 days of healing

I didn't quite understand everything I needed to do to keep it contained.  I used an open sided bandaid that didn't sealed it in while I was at work and so the blood oozed out the sides of the bandaid and onto my jeans.

MRSA Cellulitis after Turmeric Paste

 I started tucking a clean wash cloth inside my pant leg so it wouldn't get on my jeans but every time I used the rest room I repositioned the wash cloth,  not realizing the implications of infecting another area of my leg.

I ended up with several pimples farther down my leg and decided I needed something more. My leg looked like a battle field.

MRSA Cellulitis Spot and surrounding MRSA pimples

MRSA Cellulitis Spot and surrounding MRSA pimples treated with Turmeric Paste

MRSA Cellulitis Spot and surrounding MRSA pimples bandaged

A friend ran to the store and bought me some tea tree oil and turmeric pills.  I swallowed the pills, applied the oil liberally and within days most of the pimples dried up.

MRSA Cellulitis Spot and surrounding MRSA pimples HEALING
after Turmeric and Tea Tree Oil paste

MRSA Cellulitis Spot and surrounding MRSA pimples HEALING
after Turmeric and Tea Tree Oil paste

MRSA Cellulitis Spot and new MRSA spots HEALING
after Turmeric and Tea Tree Oil paste

Most of the pimples dried up with the turmeric paste but one of the spots started hurting like the first. I immediately put the turmeric paste on it with more focus. (Shown above in the upper left corner). It released the infection FAST and dried up nicely. Once the infection was released from the center I just kept it clean and covered with a dry bandage. Thankfully, it never turned hard and hot under the surface.

Tea Tree oil and Turmeric paste after 8 hours on wound
infection released from wound

But a new spot sprung up on the meat of backside and started hurting. You don't forget that pain .. I recognized it immediately. So similar to the pain of the first spot. And so I applied the paste to that one expecting a quick healing like the other small pimples. But it didn't heal.

MRSA Cellulitis Spot and new MRSA Cellulitis spot developing
treating with Turmeric and Tea Tree Oil paste

The pimple opened up but the tissue underneath grew hard.  Hot.  Red.  Growing under the skin. it was painful to sit once again. I was frustrated and of course turned to the interwebs for some mental relief. From further reading I understood I was dealing with cellulitis and MRSA and that was most likely the cause of my first half-dollar-sized spot.

Cellulitis is no joke. I worried about sepsis.  Worried about losing a limb. My thoughts and emotions were everywhere!  The excruciating pain had me praying and asking God if this is how he intended me to die!? I read on. Other MRSA stories were encouraging and terrifying.  I decided I needed more than turmeric. So I spent $40 on a big bottle of colloidal silver and took 5 tsp per day spread out through the day.  And I started seeing progress! Turmeric pills,  colloidal silver,  turmeric paste,  tea tree oil,  some praying ... the pain went from a constant 10 down to an 8 the next morning. And then within a few hours of waking up it was down to a ZERO unless I touched the cellulitis. So I didn't touch it. I took the day off, I rested. I continued with the regimen and prayed. I was optimistic but uncertain.

New MRSA Cellulitis wound progressing with treatment of Turmeric & Tea Tree Oil topically
Colloidal Silver, Turmeric taken internally

So here we are.  Improvement.  The infection was pulled out this morning!  Now I deal with this hole the size of a quarter. The healing process, the routine of cleaning,  covering,  disinfecting,  and waiting. ... ever vigilant.

Tonight a bit more of the infection came free. And I'm just so thankful.

MRSA Cellulitis wound after Turmeric & tea tree oil treatment topically
and Turmeric & Colloidal silver treatment internally

If you're dealing with MRSA, you're not alone. It's exhausting,  but it's possible to find progress and healing.  It is.

I'm cleaning and covering the wound, applying tea tree oil to the surrounding skin, ingesting turmeric and colloidal silver, disinfecting toilet seats, door knobs, faucet handles, light switches, washing clothes, bleaching my whites, eating healthier than normal - more salads, less wine, as I have for the past month. FOR A MONTH. Every day. It's a fight. But I believe it's win-able.

Here are my " MRSA tools" that I found necessary:

Treating MRSA naturally

Bandaids of all sizes.

Gauze pads.

White washcloths.

White granny panties.

Clorox wipes to wipe the seat after you pee (take these with you EVERYWHERE)

Foaming hand soap.

Hot water.

Organic turmeric.

Turmeric pills.

Tea tree oil.

Colloidal silver.

Qtips.

Small container to mix the paste in. (Disposable ketchup cups from fast food restaurants are perfect)

A full length mirror to prop under my leg so I could see what was going on back there.

Cell phone camera for up close and personal pics.

A bucket to put your MRSA-filled washcloths and granny panties in.

Bleach to wash your whites.

A willingness to wash your clothes after EVERY use. No wearing clothes twice while you're infected.

I've read a lot from Earthclinic.com ... I'm thankful they created a place for others to tell their success stories!


And because .... gross!.... here are more progression pics.