Conjunctivitis

[Yvette]

Sorry to be dumb...what IS MRSA?

Blessings, Yvette

[OMG16]

Yvette it is Methicillin-resistant Staplococcus aureus infection.  It is a staph infection that is resistant to broad band antibiotics.  It is also very rampant in hospital, nursing homes and sometimes schools.  It can also be fatal.  MRSA is found in the nose and on the skin of about a 1/3 of the population.  You can be a carrier without ever being infected with MRSA, but you can give it to others.  Those with weakened immune systems are at higher risk for developing full blown MRSA.  This would include the chronically ill, young children, older adults and even surgical patients.  I hope this helps.  16

[Crazycat]

I'm doing okay Chris; the conjunctivitis has been long gone. Now it's back to the customary double vision, lightheadedness and roaring tinnitus. I haven't had much of a problem with dry-eye or tearing. I never lost control of my facial nerve.

Paul

[Dfcman]

ah yes...glad to hear man.  take er easy.

[Charlotte Lady]

Hmm... my own personal treatment for conjunctivitis is warm compresses.  Not too warm-you don't need burns too but they are soooooo soothing and the warmth does kill germs.

Years ago I had a MRSA on my right middle finger-14 months of a nasty purple first joint-fingernail.  It looked like I had a concord grape on my finger.  I think the concern with MRSA in a hospital setting is for the roommates with their immuno compromised conditions, not "normal folk" like your girlfriend. 

Is it possible the conjunctivitis is a variation of dry eyes and not an infection?  So many things which are not infections can cause eyes to itch, turn red and produce discharges -  things like a fiber from carpeting, an eyelash...the list is endless.  Since you have an AN, your eye might be less sensitive to foreign bodies.  After my surgery, that was one of the warnings I got, that my eye was less sensitive to pain

Donna

[Crazycat]

Well, the conjunctivitis is back again and this time with a vengeance. I got hit with another nasty head-cold and this one is worse than the one in early December. I can't seem to shake it. The guy I got it from (the drummer in the band) has walking pneumonia. I thought he had been acting weird, walking around like a vapid zombie, mumbling and talking to himself out loud. It turns out the he had been so sick he was actually delirious. I'm not at that the point yet as I don't really even have a cough or and chest pain but I know that while I have MRSA, a head cold that lingers can become a serious health hazard. The Erythromycin ointment I have on hand for the conjunctivitis does not seem to be working for me any longer.
I've noticed that the redness, swelling of the lids and stringy, gooey, yellow discharge is much, much worse than when I had it in December.

Compounding this situation is a toothache and sickening, hellish weather conditions. I also have to work like an animal tonight and tomorrow night, playing loud, obnoxious music to roomfuls of obnoxious, inebriated, stupid people. This is not something one can simply call in sick to avoid doing. Sunday I am scheduled to fly down to Florida for a week and a half to spend time with my girlfriend and visit Cocoa Beach and the Kennedy Space Center—if I'm still well enough or even alive by then to get on the plane.

I'm sitting here waiting for my sister to arrive to take me to the emergency room in an effort to get some stronger drugs —because I can't see well-enough to drive myself—
and be better prepared for my little trip away from home. Yet, tonight I have to drive a loaded cargo van on a sheet of ice into the bowels of an urban hell in order to serenade all the tattooed, body-pierced, beer-guzzling, crack-smoking, pool-shooting beasties.

"I could just scream"..... (Capt. Binghamton in McHale's Navy)

[4cm in Pacific Northwest]

Paul,

I hope you can get the assistance for your eye.

An understatement would be that you do not sound like a happy cat…

Perhaps you may want to make a vocational change to something that is not so hard on your hearing… time clock and body. The night club scene may not be the best environment for you given your medical situation. You also want to protect your one fully functional ear.

You will need to make changes that provide you for a better lifestyle to maintaining good health.

Hopefully between your sister, your girlfriend and my little post here you will be mothered…

Hug... and for goodness sake take care of yourself!

Keep moving forward,

4

[Palace]

Paul,


Address the toothache before, it gets worse!  Sinus problems may cause maxillary teeth to be more sensitive. 

With your "double vision," conjunctivitis, head cold and a possible tooth problem---please take care in bad weather.

I hope your drummer feels better, too.

I've had conjunctivitis and I know how awful it is.  Please discuss this with your AN and eye doctors.

Right now, I'm on day twelve with my cold, although I had the bad cough with it.

To be honest, I have a small bump at the middle of my nose and I'm tired of doctors and surgeries.  The little lump must be somewhere high up on the inside.  I'm putting off going to the doctor about that and I'm asking CrazyCat to see a dentist during all of his problems, too.  Maybe I broke my nose when I opened a cupboard into it.

I hope all the meds you get at the hospital work for you and quickly.



Hug to you,



Palace

[Crazycat]

Just picked up a couple of prescriptions. I'll let you know how they work out.

Paul

[nancyann]

Hey Paul:  Remember:  change your pillow case every day, don't touch your eyes with your hands (& if you do, wash your hands immediately), use paper towels to dry your face, etc., etc., etc.
Nancy (the nag).

[Crazycat]

Just got back from Florida vacation. I went to the hospital on the 8th and obtained two scripts: Tobramycin eyedrops and Cephalexin pills. The conjuctivitis was practically gone in one day. That stuff worked wonders! The Erythromycin ointment proved useless in my case.

  By the time I got on the plane to Florida on Sunday the 10th, the conjunctivitis was gone entirely, although I continued through the prescribed course of antibiotics.

The head cold lingered though. While descending into Tampa, the hearing in my good ear shut-off almost entirely; a combined effect from the sinus infection and the changing air pressure. For close to two hours I was practically 100% deaf. This was quite an experience. I needed a hearing-ear dog as I wandered off the plane and through the airport like a dazed survivor from a chemical weapons attack. When I met up with my girlfriend all I could do was mutter, " I'm completely deaf now".

 It wasn't until we were having dinner at an Applebee's in Tampa that my hearing gradually came back. There was no sudden popping or anything like that. I'd blow my nose and there would be this ripping sound in my head. Gradually, the high-end came back and I could tell I was back to normal.

What a nasty cold virus! Even down in Florida it was raging like wildfire. People were regularly going to the ER for treatment. I'm pretty much over it, although I'm still getting mild sinus headaches like aftershocks from a major earthquake.

Having MRSA made me especially worried about developing pneumonia although it never became bronchial at all.

[Crazycat]

I changed my avatar. After all, my middle name is "Vincent". So what the heck.......

[4cm in Pacific Northwest]

Crazy Cat,

RE
“I changed my avatar�

I love it…

Being that Ludwig Van Beethoven and Vincent Van Gogh both suffered from hearing loss and tinnitus, not to mention the historical speculation in both cases was lead poisoning, I have often wondered if perhaps they might have had AN tumors…

I have often questioned if their insanity, at the end of their careers, might have been because they were so isolated and alone with their condition with no empathetic buddies to chat with – (as we can here on the ANA forum…  )  or from the tumor pressing so much on the brainstem that their sleep deprivation eventually drove them absolutely nuts.

Because one of the subjects I once taught was painting- I have always questioned my exposure to art media and how that affected my health. I clearly remember when Van Gogh paintings were cleaned and the paint he used was carefully examined. The theory of his lead poisoning was later emphasized with documented paint/lead samples from the canvas’s… many stories published in various magazines.

Here are some brief synopses on both artists …if you are interested

Beethoven
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._15_%28Beethoven%29


Vincent Van Gogh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

One day, maybe in our lifetime, we may know “the cause� of Acoustic neuroma and if in fact toxic environmental exposure has any relationship to the AN tumor’s growth and development – or not.

Great for you to put a famous self portrait in there… Did you- yourself ever paint?

Cheers,

4

[Crazycat]

4,

   I dabbled with it but I was more of an illustrator. That is, until the AN sabotaged my left-side. Now it's strain to even write clearly. I used to have excellent penmanship.
I'm more of a musician though. As if hearing loss weren't enough, the dexterity I had on my left-side had to be sabotaged as well. I can still write but the ease and fluidity are gone. It's not the same anymore. I got screwed. What a world!!

   Paul

[HeadCase2]

Paul,
  I like the new avatar, very appropriate to use Vincent's self portrait.   Althought he got a little carried away with the world's first Translab 
Rob