Thursday, February 28, 2008

Another allergy event

Today during my 8yo's dance class I took my 3yo old to my sisters. She just ran around and played. We were only there about 30 minutes and when we went to leave she started itching like crazy on her hands and face. She hadn't eaten anything, but she had red welts around her mouth and on her hands. We left to pick up her sister and in the car she was going crazy itching. We got to dance and went to the bathroom, rinsed her hands and face and I gave her a wet towel to hold on any parts that itched. Within 20 minutes, the welts went away and she was no longer itchy. Just another unknown allergy episode to add to the list. Lord help us! We cry MRSA-y!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Allergies

Both of the girls have allergies that are hard to figure out. We know some of them, but the rest is like finding a needle in a haystack. My 3 yo has tested postive to being allergic to eggs, dog, and cashews when she was 2. The eggs she is now able to eat since NAET treatment for it, even though they use to cause extreme reactions. We suspect coconut oil and wheat or gluten as allergens as well, eventhough they didn't show up on the test. She has a lot of unknown allergies that cause her to break out in rashes or cause her mouth to turn red, just around her lips, after she eats something. We also have a hard time finding a hand soap she can use. Everything we have tried either stings or turns her hands red and burns.

My 8yo has tested positive for allergies to wheat, tomatoes, different grasses and trees, and mold. Mold is a big one, her asthma is mostly triggered by mold. We also suspect milk, beans, and bananas, and she recently had an anyphylactic reaction to cashews. What are the odd that two sisters have the same nut allergy? Both my husband and I have no food allergies. I have a small spot of eczema that doesn't even bother me, and he does have asthma and some seasonal allergies, but other than that we are healthy.

My 8yo came to me a few days ago and said her head was itching like crazy. I looked and saw nothing unsual. The next day she said the bottoms of her feet were really itchy and they had small clear looking bumps you could barely see all over the sole of her foot. Then I noticed the same tiny clear bumps on her forehead.

Puzzled, I told her to stop using the shampoo she started using a few weeks ago and start using the one she was using before. She has done this for a few days now and her scalp is no longer itchy although she still has a few itchy spots on the soles of her feet. It seems everything is clearing up now. I guess it was something in the shampoo? But what? With 20 plus ingredients, it's hard to figure out.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Our next step...

Well, yesterday was my 3 year old's last day on antibiotics. We are keeping a close eye on her skin to see how it does and praying, praying, praying! My 8 year old still has a few days left on hers.

We are hoping to be off of any medications and supplements for four days so we can get a GI test ran that our pediatrician wants to run. Our last visit I asked her if it's possible the MRSA is inside of her eventhough it's not systemic (which means it would be in an organ or blood). She said it wasn't systemic, there would be fever and internal pain associated with that but it could be hiding out in her GI track. My feeling, although I'm not a doctor, is that it's coming from inside. They get their MRSA spots in areas where they don't have eczema break outs. If it was coming from outside, on their skin, it seems it would be where their eczema is. They have never had it occur where their eczema is. Actually the last one my 3 year old had showed up like a rash all over her body, then turned into small MRSA spots everywhere.

We have decided to see the Infectious Disease Doctor at Wake Forest. He also specializes in children and antibiotic resistance, so it seems like a good fit. I'm just praying we don't walk away with a ton of prescriptions and that he is supportive of the allergy treatments we are doing with the girls.

I'm going to post some pictures soon, so those of you with sensitive stomachs, BEWARE (if there is anyone reading this)!

And, BTW, the small spot my husband had cleared up within a couple days with using Bactroban, tea tree oil and colloidal silver.

How it all started...Part 3

Sometime around my first hosptial stay, I started really researching MRSA online. Most of my questions, the doctor's just had vague answers for. Here are the basics of MRSA from what I found online. I AM NOT A DOCTOR, just a concerned parent. MRSA is staph. The only difference is that MRSA is resistant to some antibiotics. Both can be very serious, espcially when an internal infection like a blood or organ. Thankfully, we have CA-MRSA, which means "community acquired". The other form is HA-MRSA, which is "hospital acquired". From the cultures taken, it looks like the form of MRSA we have still responds to 5 different antibiotics. So that is good for us!

Now, most people have staph living on their bodies. Healthy people usually have no problems. When you have a low immune system or another health issue, like ECZEMA (when your skin is open)...that's when it can cause issues.

After my doctor made the comment about keeping it from spreading to others is when I started looking into this. I was confused...why had no one mentioned this before. All summer long both girls have had repeated infections from this, but not once was I told that it was contagious. Now, for those of you without MRSA, don't freak out on me. MRSA infection is contagious from the drainage ("pus"), so anyone infected needs to have the wound covered completely and should not share towels, clothes, or other personal items. But, just being around someone with it, is not contagious. Remember, most people have staph living on their skin. So being around someone else with it living on their skin without drainage from an infection, is not dangerous.

We have kept our youngest out of class when she has spots because we can't guarantee the band-aid will stay put. And, if they have multiple spots, we also keep them away until any spots are drying up.

One month after my first hosptial stay, in August, I got another spot on my shin. I knew it felt different than a normal knick from shaving, so I started putting bactroban on it. It started to get worse, so off to the doctor I went again. She again gave me Bactrim, but it was not getting better. I'm not sure why, because the culture shows that it does respond to Bactrim, but I ended up in the ER for Vanq again. They gave me two rounds in the ER. They didn't admit me this time because I came in earlier and caught it before my entire lower leg was swollen. I returned the next day for 2 more rounds of Vanq upon their request. The nurse in the ER told me they see MRSA all the time, that it's not unusual. I was later told by our pediatrician that it is common, but it is NOT common to see a case like ours, to have it so many times, repetitively.

At this point I really started researching alternatives for antibiotics and prescription medications. We had tried everything our pediatrician recommended and they keep getting a MRSA infection. I know antibiotics are not good for you to be on so much and they kill the good bacteria in us as well as the bad. We've tried a lot and found a few things that I will always keep on hand in addition to some prescription drugs for MRSA. Two that I would recommend anyone trying are tea tree oil and colloidal silver.

I've used them myself as a "mini" experiment and have found tea tree oil to work great and colloidal silver works good too. I found a great website that has studies with colloidal silver and MRSA. I have found it works great if it can get into the area. If the area is not open, it seems to have trouble getting to it and being effective. But here is the website so you can look into it for yourself: http://silver-colloids.com/Reports/reports.html
There is a lot of information on this website. They have done studies with colloidal silver and MRSA. But, you must research the colloidal silver before purchasing. Since it is not a drug, it is not regulated and some products are not true colloids even though they say they are. This company has tested different types of colloidal silver and tells which ones are true colloids.

Since August, I have had 2 more spots of MRSA. One on my underarm (I forgot to wash my razor once) and one on my cheek (started out as a blemish, but turned to a small boil). Both times I was able to treat the spots without antibiotic. I used a combination of bactroban, colloidal silver and tea tree oil. I have to say, my favorite of the three is tea tree oil. This stuff works great! Although, if you put it on full strength, it can burn deep into your boil, so I suggest diluting it. I have used it full strength though and just toughed it out.

We have tried so many things over the last year. So many I can't keep track of them all. I thought I would list what we are using now since it seems to be the best combination so far:

1) All towels, jammies and clothing are washed after the first use (including dress up clothes)

2) Hibiclens rub down once a week. Hibiclens is what is used before surgery to kill anything on the skin that could possibly cause an infection. We use it on everyone in the family over the weekend. Hair and skin. The only thing I don't like about this is it has red dye in it. So far it hasn't been an issue. Also, I think it kills the good germs too and we need those on us to help fight off the bad ones.

3) Every night the girls take a shower (not a bath because they would be sitting in MRSA and it could get into any of their eczema and cause more infection). After their shower, each one is lotioned up with Olive oil, then a shea butter cream I make from Raw Shea butter, Jojoba oil, Vit. E, Cocoa butter and Grapeseed oil.

4) We change the sheets on the same day we use Hibiclens so everything starts clean at the same time.

5) Both girls take VIBE daily (a viamin and mineral supplement) as well as garlic or another immunity boosting supplement daily. Since they are on antibiotics so often, we hope this will help keep them from getting sick.

6) FreshAir by Ecoquest Air purifier runs continuously in our house. We had learned of this machine through our doctor and started researching it and praying about the decision. It is not a normal air purifier, it's more of an air cleaner. It has been used in hosptials, nursing homes, and day care centers and uses ozone to kill germs in the air and on surfaces. It is not cheap! We'll God provided one free of charge for us! As we were telling some friends about it, they said they use to sell them and had an extra one in storage we could have! Wow!!! It's amazing to think that although this business did not work out for our friends a few years ago, they felt led to sell these and now we know why...God used them to bless us! There are some news stories on the Fresh Air and Ecobox by Ecoquest on Youtube.com.

7) LaundryPure - We also were blessed with this machine that uses UV light and Silver Ions to clean and disinfect our clothes. Since our girls both have eczema and are extremely sensitive to purfumes, dyes, soaps, this machine helps keep down the skin irritation. This also has news stories about it on Youtube.com.

8) We are continuing NAET allergy treatments. Both of the girls have so many allergies I can't keep up with them all. We have seem tremendous progress through these treatments.

9) When I shave, I wash my razor in Hibiclens or bleach and use Hibiclens or an antibacterial soap to shave with. Then I wipe down my legs with Tea tree oil before putting on lotion.

10) Both girls take probiotics daily to help replace the good bacteria that helps fight off the bad

I think that is all of our routine. If I think of anything else, I'll post later.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Well, this is really how it ALL started....Part 2

Let's back up a little. Both of my girls have had eczema since a couple months old. It's been really bad. My almost 4 year old has had it the worst. She rarely sleeps through the night from itching. Her hands used to be really, really bad. They were so dry and cracked that she would bleed and each finger would have to be wrapped each day with medicine and guaze. At night she would bleed on her sheets from her hands and feet and knees. We would tape socks on her hands and feet to try and keep her from scratching in her sleep.

With my older daughter we went through the dermatologist and allergist and never saw any results, so we are at a loss this time around. Through some friends we heard about a "alternative" doctor. He does allergy treatments, kinda like allergy shots, but much more controversial. Using pressure points on your body, he "resets" your body when in contact with the allergen. I was very skeptical.

We really considered this out of desperation, but started going there after much prayer. We have been amazed. It is not and easy fix, but we have seen steady progress through the last year. We started going in the beginning of 2007 and my daughter doesn't have to have bandages on her fingers any more and she can now eat eggs, something she has been allergic to and would turn beet red if she came in contact with. Her eczema is about 80% better than it used to be. She still has many allergy issues, but we are only about 1/2 way through the allergy treatments. Because of the MRSA, we haven't been able to go as much as we'd like.

That is how we started looking into things that the medical community may not even consider. I am definitely not anti-medicine. It is a blessing to live in a time where we have so many medications available to us. But, I also think there can be other ways of doing things that may not be the mainstream.

How it all started, Part 1

In March of 2007, my then 7 year old daughter got a boil on her leg. It was large, about 4" in diameter. (BTW, it does kinda look like a spider bite). A white spot in the middle and a red circle around it. I looked it up on webMD and all the information I found said usually it clears up on its own without antibiotics after it is drained. We drained it and it went away. A week later she got another one. We did the same thing with this one. When she got her third, off we went to the doctors office. Up until this one, the boils didn't hurt her, but this one was very painful.

At the doctor's office she gave us antibiotics and said she was going to culture it to see if it was a certain kind resistant to antibiotics, in which case she would call us and we would just have to switch antibiotics. A couple days later she called and told us it was positive for the resistant kind and called in a different prescription.

From this point on, all the boils were very painful. Also, my 3 year old daughter started getting boils as well. We were in the doctors office a couple times a month getting antibiotics and asking questions. We really didn't get much information on what this was.

Then, in July, I got a sore spot just below my right knee. I thought it was just a little knick from shaving, which it probably was, but MRSA had gotten in. Within a day it had swollen so bad, it was about 7 inches around and I was in a lot of pain. I had been using the antibiotic ointment that the girls were given (Bactroban), but it wasn't gettng any better. It was unbelievably painful. I was so saddened to think this is the pain my girls were in.

I went to the doctor as was given the antibiotic Bactrim. The doctor told me if it did not get any better within a couple days, or got any worse over the weekend to go to the ER. It got worse and I ended up in the ER during the weekend. They admitted me and thought they were going to have to use surgery to remove it. It had turned into Cellulitis and was not draining. By this point my entire leg from the knee down was swollen. They had me on IV antibiotics, Vanq and something else, I can't remember the name of. Thankfully within a few days, it was getting better and did not require surgery.



I went to my follow-up appointment with my doctor and asked "How do we get rid of this?". Her response was "You don't get rid of it, now you try not to spread it to other people."

I was shocked! We had been battling this for 6 months and no one had ever told me we couldn't get rid of it. No one had told me to be careful not to spread it to others. YIKES! What did she mean?

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Our Options..

We have now found a doctor supportive of us trying alternative types of treatments. Whew..what a relief! She is very supportive of whatever we choose to follow, but also will let us know when it's time to use modern medicine. Just over a year ago, I thought modern medicine was the only way to go, but we came to a point where nothing was working and God just placed in our path friends with experience here.

We visited her yesterday since it was time for my 8 year old to get antibiotics for her MRSA spots. She suggested a few things we could try, but also suggested a specialist or trying hyperbaric treatments. Hyperbaric treatments sound fascinating. It looks like it really helps a lot of people from a large range of diseases and injuries. I would love to try it, but of course, insurance will not pay for them and they are expensive, especially when you have to treat two children. And, I would have to research results with MRSA. We are still praying about the decision, but are leaning towards a specialist. We found one at Wake Forest. My sister took my nephew there with asthma related issues when he was a baby and had great results.

We have been reluctant to go the specialist route, because our experience with it has not been great. For my 8 year old, up until she was 4, we visited a specialist for her eczema and allergies over and over and would just leave each time with another prescription that didn't work. But, after talking with my sister, and hearing her rave about Wake Forest, we may go this route for now.

MRSA-ful

Well, this is my first post on our new blog. I've been having a sense to start a blog about our MRSA journey for a while now. For one, I hope that perhaps our journey will help others suffering with this infection. And, since there has been so many twists and turns along this road, I have trouble remembering all the details over the last year. So I will be using this blog as a way to keep records of our MRSA. I will start with where we are now and then back up and tell our story from the start.

Right now, my 8 year old daughter and almost 4 year old daughters are both on antibiotics AGAIN for MRSA skin infections. I stopped counting how many times they have been on antibiotics at 12 times each, and that was within 9 months. My husband just got his first MRSA spot above his knee. He has been the only one in the family not to have an outbreak until yesterday. He came to me and said he had a spider bite on his knee. I said, "Yeah, right (sacastically, as we both knew what it was).

Right now we are praying through our decision on our next steps to take with this. We have two options. I'll post later about what they are.