Too Much Antibiotics?

[alrightstill]

I have a catheter ( I know.. I know..) and recently around the site its been starting to hurt and almost sting.  There's not really any draingage, so I was put on a 7 day antibiotic..

5 days later it was still hurting so I made my clinic take a culture of the little drainage that was there and it turns out there was a staff skin infection.  The nurse practitioner (who is constantly guessing at things and getting my name wrong) put me on Zyvox and told me that the previous antibiotic she put me on was resistant to this type of infection.

It stopped hurting for a few days, but then it started up again.. Its really like a stinging feeling around the site, not the site itself.  Now the nurse practioner wants to put me on Levaquin.. and if that doesnt help then "maybe it's something mechanical".  Erh?

 

[thegrammalady]

skip the nurse practitioner and call your neph. or if necessary go to the emergency room. you don't want this to progress from a skin infection to a blood infection.

[alrightstill]

I was thinking of calling my neph - its just so hard to get in touch with him and his receptionists arent the nicest of ladies.  I wouldn't even know how to explain it on the phone.. I guess exactly what I just said here though.

It sucks too.. I'm going on my first plane trip with NxStage on Tuesday -- I wanted this all straightened out by now.  It's just aggravating. 

Thanks for your reply.  I think I will call the neph..  I can't take any chances.

[skyedogrocks]

I'm so sorry for your catheter issues.  My husband Rob was the king of catheter infections last year.  He had to have 6 catheters put in before his fistula matured.  It was just horrible!

My advice would be get yourself to the Neph or ER (even though I hate ER's!).  Rob's last infection was so bad it was through his body.  Thankfully we got it in time before they had to do a blood transfusion.  He was in the hospital for 1 week due to this.  He was like you, kept getting infections, going on antibiotics and once off the anti's, he would get the infection again.

Screw the Neph's receptionist, I can't stand Rob's either.  Get yourself in there and get a plan together for you.

Good luck!!!!

[stauffenberg]

Many people carry the staph aureus bacterium in their nose, so it is always advisable with a catheter to wear a mask while being put on and taken off the machine.  Make sure the nurse or dialysis technician is doing the same, because staph infections for people with a catheter have been found to be much more common during cold season, so patients and the people putting them on and taking them off the machine are spreading their germs to the open line.

[thegrammalady]

if you go to the er, they will call your neph. avoid the receptionest all together

[keefer51]

I had seven catheters the first time with dialysis and six this time. I have a working fistula now for two years. Some of the infections would put me in the hospital and some were treated at dialysis. They gave me allot of Vancomycin and Gentamycin. But too much of these can cause an inner ear problem. This happened to me and now i walk like i am drunk and am losing my hearing in my left ear. The infections suck but once they find a antibiotic that works it's great.