OKay help me figure out what this is..

[Purple*Lotus]

Because my doctor has no idea.

I had what he thought was a spider bite on my left leg. It was infected. I took the medicine and it cleared up. Two more have since appeared on the same leg.

These don't look like spider bites at all. They don't look like bites in general. The other one may have looked like a spider bite because it got infected. I can't post a picture tonight because my personal computer is still in the shop, but I can tomorrow when it comes back. I was thinking that maybe someone on MDC would be like "Oh, I had that" or something

A smallish white spot, with a large fifty cent piece sized red mark around it. Only one the one leg- which makes us think that it isn't a bite, because if it was a bug or something, you would think that it would bite me other places too, not just the one leg. No one in my family or at my job has these.

It hurts to touch, but goes away in a couple of days if I put neosporin on it.

Any ideas?

[Doodlebugsmom]

It kind of sounds like staph to me. It is often mistaken for spider bites. I would have it cultured, so if it is MRSA you could get the appropriate treatment.

Check out this website. It claims that many "spider bites" are actually staph.

I have to recommend NOT scrolling down far enough to look at the pictures on that site. They are extreme cases!

[Purple*Lotus]

Well they did culture it. All they told me was that it was resistant to the kind of medicine they orginally had me on so they switched me. Would they have told me if it was staph? I should have asked but I never thought to!

Thanks neighbor And when are we ever going to meet up? I work in the town you live in now

[dachshundqueen]

I looked.

Wish I had not.

Liz

[Doodlebugsmom]

Originally Posted by Bunnyflakes

Well they did culture it. All they told me was that it was resistant to the kind of medicine they orginally had me on so they switched me. Would they have told me if it was staph? I should have asked but I never thought to!

Thanks neighbor And when are we ever going to meet up? I work in the town you live in now

I can't IMAGINE they wouldn't have told you it was staph. I would call back and ask them, for sure.

You work here now? I'm currently getting my bachelor's in early childhood ed. here at the university. You work in childcare, right? PM me where you work. I'm really familiar with all the preschools in town!

[bjerme]

That sounds exactly like a staph (MRSA) infection.

[sbgrace]

I was thinking staph too. I'd call in and see whether they cultured for staph (I'm sure they did). If you keep getting it sometimes you need a systematic antibiotic to wipe it out. But did they give you bactroban originally? That stuff is often used for staph, resistant or not.

[William's Mom]

It sounds like it could possibly be MRSA.

Find out more from your health care provider, and/or go to another one for a second opinion.

Hugs!!!

[Purple*Lotus]

I am allergic to several antibiotics. They gave me augmenton. (SP?)

[Purple*Lotus]

It doesn't look like any of those pictures, thank goodness I am waiting for a call back. I will go for a second opinion saturday if need be Thanks ladies

[hippiemom]

YES it DOES sound like a spider bite and I'll tell you how I know...
I got a sore much like you describe, except the white center turned into a hole and the red surrondings turned an angry purple black... then it spread to other nearby areas looking like I had been bitten several times when i was actually reacting to the venom/infection of the primary bite. 3 days on abx did not touch it and the pain got worse, I had a low grade fever at this point. The overall radius of the area grew to about 10". I was reacting, severely and quickly, to the bite of a brown recluse spider. Google the bite and see what you find. It is not pretty, Ill warn you.. But it pays to recognize it.

They switched and upped my antibiotic and I responded finally, but it took several days to clear. I still have a silver dollar sized scar.
You can react to varying degrees to spider bites and it looks very, very much like staph. My staph culture came back negative of course but the wound was equally nasty. Luckily there was a doc on the team originally from CO and she recognized the bite, unusual but not hear of for my area.

[Purple*Lotus]

I got a second opinion today. She said to stay on the ABX, keep washing it with antibacterial soap and keep it covered with neosporin. Basically a hard core NFL person's worst nightmare

And it was not MRSA, which is a relief.