Staph infection, Bactrim, and now viral infection

[Fanciefrancie]

Hi,
I developed a staph infection near my eyebrow a week ago.  It spread into eye sockets and down under eyes.  I was prescribed Bactrim and it started to clear a few days later.  I'm currently on day 7 of 10 day dose.  Yesterday I felt like I got hit by a truck.  Fever, chills, body aches everywhere and extremely swollen and painful lymphnodes in neck and jawline.  Fever broke about 5 hours later and I woke up felling so much better, but the swollen painful nodes were still there. 

Did my normal routine until the same hour today when the same exact truck hit me again.  I'm hoping fever will break soon but I'm concerned. 

I called the advice nurse today and she said she'd talk to my doc and call me back (haven't received a return call  )but in our conversation about my symptoms and history she indicated it was viral since I'm still taking the antibiotic.  She was concerned since the affected lymph nodes are in the same area as the infected abscess.

I have always been severely photosensitive so I have questioned a SJE overlap but not confirmed. 

Anyone have any ideas or similar situations?

Thank you in advance. 

[SunshineDaydream]

I have SLE and get terrible reactions to sulfa drugs such as Bactrim to the point that I make sure to have doctors note no sulfa drugs in my medical records. Sulfa drugs are contraindicated for people with lupus and some other autoimmune diseases. https://www.hopkinslupus.org/lupus-info/lifestyle-additional-information/avoid/  You might want to ask your doctor to switch you to a non-sulfa antibiotic and see if that helps.

[irish]

I hope that they call you and tell you to come in to be seen. If not I guess I would advise you to go to ER. I don't like to sound like a broken record, but I am an old disabled nurse(retired, too) and I have seen my fair share of staph infections. I also have MRSA cultured from my throat a lot and have been on meds for it very often.

I also had a son with staph on his eyelid years ago and it was a bear to get rid of. The fact that both eyes and the orbits are involved is concerning plus the lymph nodes and the sweats a

nd chills. Bactrim is a problem with Lupus and I had a really weird skin reaction with it years ago and can't take it anymore.

It may be that your doctor will have to change meds and he may want to do intravenous antibiotics as this is quite close to the brain. Also, nowadays antibiotics are more often given for 21 days or even 28 days for these MRSA infections. The antibiotics orally don't do the job as well now due to the bacterias resistance to them.

I would be adamant about getting seen and more antibiotics, etc. I am not prescribing but am telling you this from what all I have been through these past years. Your infection could have spread and this should be taken seriously. I don't mean to scare you, but want you to know what is going on. Good luck and please let us know how things are going. Irish

[Linda196]

You may want to check out Herxheimer Reaction. This is one site that seems to explain it quite well, but there are many others. Just try to avoid any that are based on specific treatments protocols rather than generalized reaction to any therapy. chronicillnessrecovery.org/?id=161

Quoted from site:
"Patients who respond to IT (Inflammation Therapy) report periodic exacerbation of their symptoms as an apparent direct response to Benicar and pulsed antibiotics. This phenomenon is known as the Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction and is often referred to informally as herx or herxing."

[Sharon]

Hi Fancie, may I ask how that staph infection around and in the orbits manifested itself?
Did it cause puffiness around the eyes and eye redness?

[irish]

I will answer this question in relation to what the staph looks like around the eye. Years ago my one son wiped out on a bike and got a bad infection on his knee. I was hot packing it and it drew into a large lump which when cultured was staph. He was on antibiotics.

We had 2 other sons and I was going crazy trying to do things to keep this from spreading. I decided to Lysol my bath towels and concentrate on keeping the bathroom really clean. Also, had a dishwasher and just worked like crazy to wash hands and keep everyone "clean.

All of a sudden the middle son has a "sty" on his one eyelid. I watched it and took his temperature and in about 36 hours it had grown more ugly and his temperature had risen. I got him to doc and with the history of other son the doc was very concerned. Started him on antibiotics and had to warm pack the eye. Very scary as any infection around the eyes, nose, sinuses, teeth can spread to the brain under certain circumstances.

So, if anyone is having redness of eyes and puffiness it might behoove you to see your eye doctor or regular doctor. Probably isn't staph, but could be a low grade infection that needs attention and treatment. Generally, I always sort of watch for the way owies tend to spread or go away. Can often tell. If something spreads fast it is aggressive and usually needs asap appointment and sometimes urgent care or ER.

I know it gets old going to the doctor but with all of us on this forum we are autoimmune and possible immune compromised and tend to get more infections that can be hard to get rid of. Also, sometimes we are more ill than our symptoms seem to show. Ain't it fun!!!! It is so expensive and time consuming to go to the doctor so much. I had 3 appointments in one day(thankfully at the same clinic) and it darn near killed me. At least I only had to waste one day. Good luck with your eyes. HOpe it is nothing serious. Irish