I developed MRSA after I scratched what I thought was a pimple on my right buttock. Two days later, I got this huge lump at the area where the pimple was. The following day, I went to our Immediate Medical Center and was started on Bactrim. I was told to hot-pack the lesion. After I hot-packed the lesion, the infection spread like wild fire. The following day, I was unable to walk because my entire buttock was purple, full of pus, and extremely painful. My primary care doctor sent me right to the hospital where my surgeon performed emergency surgery on me. I now have an 8-inch surgical incision that has been laid open so it can heal from the inside out. The wound is now about 3/4 inch deep and 2 inches wide since it has healed somewhat thanks to the "Wound Pump" I will be wearing for at least another three weeks. I was hospitalized and given massive doses of antibiotics and will be on antibiotics for another three to four weeks, or more if necessary. My surgeon told me that he had seen many cases of this sort, but none that compared to the amount of necrotic tissue and pus he had to remove from me. Published: November 07 ::

I woke one morning with an itchy area along my jaw line. Within four days it was large; it appeared to be a "pimple - gone BAD!" It was too sore to touch or try to pop. I saw the doctor on day 5. He numbed the area, opened and drained the sore and took a sample. Due to my sensitivity to sulfa-based drugs, he prescribed Ciprodex for 10 days. That, with the several follow up appointments, changed packing and dressing, has cleared up my MRSA infection. It is now day 18, and there is a slight hardness to the area, a very small scab and an indentation in my face. I’m so glad I intervened. Published: June 24 ::

I am 21 years old and one night my thigh right above my leg started to hurt and just kept hurting more and more and swelling more as the night went on. After a day I could hardly walk on my leg because it hurt way too bad. I had a scab on it and picked it off which caused my leg to puss out for 48 hours until I finally had my surgery. Any pressure on the leg would make it puss out a lot more. By the second day there was a white stringy puss coming out along with the thick bloody puss. They cut my leg open and cleaned it out and I was on vancomycin 3 times a day for the week I was in the hospital and even though I have been released I have to go to the hospital every 12 hours for another treatment of vancomycin. This is going to last for at least 2 weeks after I am out of the hospital and then after the 2 weeks they will see how my blood samples look and I may still have to go in for treatments longer. I normally do not like to go to doctors but I am very happy that I went to the ER for this one in a reasonable amount of time of 2 days. Published: July 07 ::

I have been diagnosed with MRSA. I have had many Surgeries and Hospital stays due to it. My advice to everyone is if you think you may have signs of the infection, please seek medical attention immediately. I thought mine was just a simple spider bite, but I was wrong, my dad was the one who told me about the infection, when he looked at the red swelling of the area, he stated that it looks like the MRSA. I got up to go to work the next morning, and I couldn’t even walk because the area infected was right at the bottom of my knee cap, and as soon as I went into the emergency room they took one look at it and they knew what it was. I have had many medications, and hospitalizations from it. Keep Lysol or Clorox wipes handy, and antibacterial sanitizer handy so it would spread to others, I just hope that all of you are healthy and never catch this, because it is really devastating and painful to have and I just don’t want anybody to go through what I have been through over the past 9 months! Published: July 07 ::

I have been dealing with these abscesses in my armpit for going on about 6 years now they are very painful. They are like little cyst that appear from nowhere I had many the size of golf balls and 2 the size of a baseball. I have had 12 removed from under my arms and many others that drained by themselves. Well back in the beginning of May this year I had another one. I went and had it lanced then the end of May I got 2 more, same thing I went and had them lanced it was then that they told me I had MRSA . I don’t know how long I’ve had it. I’m taking all the precautions I can to make sure my two boys don’t get it. I have read a lot about it on the net and to be honest I’m scared to death. I worry about it so much I make myself sick to where I can’t eat for 3 or 4 days because I have my stomach messed up. So it’s a daily stress for me. Published: June 26 ::

I'm a college student, and I contracted MRSA at the middle of my first semester freshman year. I had what I thought was a pimple on the back of my thigh, right where my rear comes in contact with my bike seat. It got a little nasty, but it drained a few days later. I had several small abscesses through the course of the year; I just assumed everyone got them once in a while. A month before my spring semester exams, I found another abscess in roughly the same spot where my very first sore appeared. I figured if I left it alone, kept it clean and kept it dry, it would take care of itself. Not so much, I found -- a few weeks later it had swelled to the size of my fist. The pressure was so intense I had to sit cross-legged leaning over so I could minimize the pain. I couldn’t walk without limping. Right before my exams, I began feeling so nauseated that I couldn't get off the floor. I laid in our bathroom and alternated sobbing and vomiting for an entire Saturday. My poor roommate had to watch me crawl around the room and cry because walking was now impossible being that it was extremely painful. I went home to my parents so I could have some privacy and soak my leg in the bathtub and apply hot rags. Three days of rest, no activity whatsoever -- that's the only thing that got that terrible thing to drain. It's debilitating. I have had two more mild ones since the huge one, all on the back of my legs right below my rear. I'm waiting on the results of a nasal swab that is supposed to determine if I'm a carrier. I don't know what I'm going to do if I have to deal with these terrible nasty things for the rest of my life. Published: June 20 ::