A Case of MRSA

More than two years ago now, one of the residents where I work ended up rubbing the knuckle on one of her toes raw after doing a great deal of walking. This woman was 98 years old at the time and has arthritis. The knuckles on her toes bulge upwards. At first this was just a minor irritation, but it did not heal. When we would help her with her showers we would apply Neosporin to the wound. The doctors also prescribed her a variety of antibiotics.

A few months ago, the wound was diagnosed as having a MRSA (Methycillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) infection. It still has not healed but she now has a wound care nurse who dresses it so it will not become more irritated. The MRSA also ended up infecting the tip of another toe, which had been rubbed raw.

I wonder if we accidentally provided the ideal climate for MRSA by our sporadic application of the Neosporin (only on the nights when we assisted the lady with her showers.)

The Real Cheesemeister is Back

Can we all please forget that "other" Cheesemeister that took over my body during the past day?

I kind of feel like I had a nervous breakdown or something because right now I just can't understand my actions. I have been under so much stress with work, my microbiology class, my parents, helping my son go to his certification class an hour and a half away every day for 2 weeks (he doesn't drive) and trying to complete a short story for a compilation book to benefit breast cancer, plus PMS, I think I just snapped and got a bad case of the paranoids. 

 

I used to go off like this a LOT before I got on Lithium. And I think it's more the borderline personality disorder than the bipolar to blame in this case. Borderline personality disorder is (in my opinion) the result of learned behavior during a dysfunctional childhood. One feels unheard and neglected and only extreme behavior tends to get a "rise" out of one's family. Although studies indicate that the oxytocin levels in people with borderline personality disorder are abnormal. People with this disorder have trouble bonding in healthy ways. At our worse we engage in histrionics (like I did over the past day) and drive others away.

I will be forever grateful who anyone who can forgive me for this insane behavior. And yes, I feel like it is a form of temporary insanity.

I'm glad to be back to abnormal.

The (sheepish) Cheese

Cheesy Rant Time: Natural Supplements

This was in response to an article on Cracked, of all things. 

Okay, #6 thru ten had me saying "hell yeah!" Especially the one about spotting a douchebag. I could have saved myself a lot of time and misery in my youth if I'd known that.
#1-5 made me want to slap the author. I came here for Cracked, not for Health Voice or Self or whatever. And now I have to make a non-humorous rant instead of a semi-humorous comment and I hate you.
Some natural supplements DO work. I for one cannot tolerate most prescription medications. I have hypothyroidism (among several other minor and annoying health issues) and when my doctor gave me prescription thyroid replacement, I developed artificially induced hyperthyroidism which caused my blood pressure to spike, my heart to race, and me to have horrific panic attacks that nearly landed me in the ER. My body does not process this shit properly and it just builds up. When I started using a natural supplement to stimulate my thyroid to do what it should have been doing, my thyroid readings normalized within six months without any of those shitty side effects. My doctor is a holistic physician. He prescribes pharmaceutical medication and utilizes herbal medications as well, and he was very pleased with this result. So yeah, some of the natural stuff does work. Do you have a degree in medicine? If you don't, then you oughtn't be making blanket statements like this that may stop people from finding another path to helping themselves feel better. Pharmaceuticals are hard on the liver and kidneys. They should not be prescribed willy-nilly.
I'm not usually this much of a grouch. But that one really irritated me.