Anyone Had Cellulitis?

My husband had cellulitis 8 years ago in his leg and was hospitalized for 5 days to get intravenous antibiotics. We took him to the emergency room because he had a fever and swelling/redness in his leg, and he was admitted. He does not take the best ongoing care of his leg and it has recurred a few times, but he was able just to use oral antibiotics for those bouts. Given his hospital stay with the first bout, I would take cellulitis very seriously. If the redness spreads or you get a fever, these are very bad signs. I wouldn't feel comfortable waiting a week for follow-up after my husband's experience. I hope you feel better very soon!

K R,
Hi, I have not dealt with this personally but my husband has on his legs. He read your question and said to tell you to only keep the ice on for about 10 minutes and to make sure you are wrapping the ice in something, light weight dish towel or paper towel. He also said his took a while to clear up, the antibiotics take a while to really start working. Hope this helps.

I know I'm a day late on this one, but cellulitis is not to be taken lightly, as far as I've been told. My son had periorbital cellulitis (meaning around the eye but not in the eye). The doctor told us that if the infection gets into the eye, it can cause a loss of sight. The area just below his eye looked like it had a golf ball under the skin. It was huge! He's 4 years old. Scared the stuff right out of me. Anyhoo, the antibiotics took care of his right away. By the next day, the swelling was noticeably reduced and almost gone by the following day.

Be sure to take your antibiotics. Our Dr. also told us to use ice on it for my little guy, but he wouldn't stand for it, so we didn't end up using it too much and it still got better pretty quickly.

Take it easy - Brain surgery doesn't sound like fun. I fell and broke my back, ribs, and skull last summer and am still working on the recovery myself. I know it's not easy with little ones... mine are 4 1/2 and 2. My only advice is take all the help you are offered... and if you aren't offered enough, ASK! I had my mom out here for 3 months because I wasn't allowed to pick up my boys or do much of anything else! (She lives in CA we live in VA)

Because I'm a day late here, I hope this finds you much better already. Either way, keep in touch with your doctor. God Bless.

~J.

If it was me, I'd go to the Emergency Department at a major hospital, like the University of Md, GBMC, or Johns Hopkins. This is not something to have a "wait and see" approach. Swelling and pain are information, and in this case it is information about something in or near your your eyes, face, and brain. If it is a cellulitis, that can spread. If it is something else, you need to find out. Don't gamble with your children's mom. If you go to the ER and it turns out to be nothing critical, there is no harm in wasting a little time. Better safe than sorry. Please take care of it today.

Good luck.

FIRST of all, congrats on the successful brain surgery AND taking care of your boys! you're like super woman!! i totally look up to you :)

ANYWAY i had had cellulitis on the entire side of my face when i was in high school... with the antibiotics and the ice (and i was kind of lazy about the ice, i used cold damp washclothes instead) the swelling began to go down about 3 days later, and then didnt bother me anymore after the first week. just be diligent with the meds!

again, congrats on overcoming such a serious situation... i hope a little cellulitis and healthy, hyper boys are the worst of your worries from now on :)

I had cellulitis and used activated charcoal to cure myself. It went away in a week or two. AF

If you are not feeling better, you probably need more intensive IV antibiotics. I would also be worried about MRSA. I would go to an urgent care center or the ER.

No, I don't know about this. I'll keep you in my prayers and hope you feel better soon. I hope you have some help?

I found this on Web MD. Maybe you have already read this, but if not it is worth reading. If I were you and the cellulitis isn't any better in a day, I would get a second opinion right away. I have not had cellulitis, but I have had brain surgery. Let me know if you want to talk about that. Good Luck!
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/cellulitis-topic-overview

I have had it and if you do not have relief in the pain or it feels like it is getting worse- go back to the Dr! When this does clear up, you will have to be aware of it for a long time. I first got it about 10 yrs ago and have had flair ups every year to 18 mos- always someplace different. you DO have to be aware of MRSA too- especially if you just had surgery recently. Mrsa and cellulitis is not anything to drag your feet with- together it is absolute agony- trust me on this. It's painful and will drain the life energy out of you, so stay in contact with your doc, for sure. They told me to use moist heat for relief, but nothing really helped that much until the anitbiotics took effect. swelling reducer type meds (ibuprophen) taken with Rx pain killers was really the only think that put a dent in the pain aspect. Good luck and I'll be sending some white light your way to heal!

I never heard of this until a couple of months ago, but my sister in Georgia is dealing with the exact same problem herself--though in her case it started after a sinus infection, not brain surgery. It's also on her face, and your symptoms sound very similar. She's been through one round of antibiotics which appeared to make it go away, a few weeks went by, and then it came back. She's doing the second round of antibiotics right now. With all the drug-resistant germs there are out there right now, it's kind of scary...if you want to contact me off-line I will give you her e-mail and you can compare notes. She's a former med tech and has some medical background.

K R,

If it doesn't feel better after 48hours on antibiotics I would go back to the dr. Do not wait all weekend! If the antibiotics are responding to the infection there should be a noticable difference! Call your dr. It is normal for it to be extremely painful (I would think especially painful on your face). Please call your dr just to make sure it is clearing up.

R.