MRSA

I have several posts brewing in my head - but thought I better go back and put up the info on MRSA that I've been promising.

Here is a PubMed article if you are interested in reading about the bacteria it's self - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004520/

It lives everywhere around us. Here in Hawaii, if a doctor thinks you have a staph infection it is treated as if it is MRSA because it is not worth throwing antibiotics that are unlikely to work at it. Our urgent care Dr. explained that staph has been evolving ever since modern antibiotics were created, but MRSA really scared the medical field in the mid-2000s because they were running out of synthetic options. He said about 2/3 of staph infections in Hawaii are MRSA. Now there are more synthetic options, but the bacteria is likely to adapt and resist them soon enough. Now they are even seeing resistance to the strongest drug vancimycin - VRSA. Roughly 25-33% of people have staph living on their skin, in their nose or under their finger nails. Here in Hawaii it is far more prevalent - articles I've read blame the moist, year round warmth and out door lifestyle. It can live in the ocean water, sand and other public places for months with out dying on its own. I read it can live on a blanket for 6 months - icky. Most of the time it doesn't bother us. Our immune system and the good bacteria on our skin kills it before it is a problem.

Unfortunately for us, one got past Autumn's defenses. I've racked my brain trying to find the exact cause, but the closest I will ever come is a few guesses. The night before we saw the 'pimple' the first time we had been at the beach and she had pooped in her swim suit without telling us. She had a mostly healed yeast infection and rashed up from the poop. These two things meant she had openings for the MRSA to get in. Where the MRSA came from??? The beach, our bath tub ... we will never know.
Here are the links to more details on our personal battle in chronological order:
Weird Bump
One Day
Healing
Slowly but Surely

If I had known it was MRSA when it was a pimple I likely could have treated it with prescription muriprocin cream, essential oils or manuka honey - killed it an moved on. Because we didn't know what it was we waited, watched and finally went to the Dr. 5 days later when it was too late to kill and move on.

Modern Medicine - this little bought with MRSA has made me really mistrusting of the over arching medical community. I believe it is too much about money and not about enough about the good of the people. (friends and family - please know that this is not about the service delivery and more about the bigger system) Big Pharm has way too much power over what gets into our mouth and bodies. I've scoured the internet and almost every personal story out there goes something like this - got MRSA somehow, took antibiotics, synthetic antibiotics trashed the immune system, after a full course, the antibiotics clear out of the system, MRSA comes back, back on antibiotics... over and over and over. Most of the stories tell of multi-year battles with MRSA. I won't go into the biology - but modern antibiotics do not seem to do the trick for a lot of people. More disturbing is that THERE ARE natural antibiotics available - but the doctors don't promote. There is even good research for some of them - but because the FDA has not approved their use yet - we battle in a stupid cycle with poor modern antibiotics against an ancient bacteria and let our health go to pot. I'm ready for integrated medicine - where the natural paths and physicians work together to create better health for all of us. At this point - although I acknowledge the benefits of the modern medicine - I think the natural paths are pointed in a better direction. Again - in a perfect Tara world - it would be integrated.

EVERY person I've read about has only found long term relief from external MRSA with essential oils and/or mankua honey.

Here is some of the research I've found if you are interested:
http://bio.waikato.ac.nz/honey/contents.shtml
http://www.thieves-secret.com/mrsa.htm - has a link to the research PDF
http://preventdisease.com/news/articles/essential_oils_bacteria.shtml

So - my game plan is certainly not to wait and see if MRSA shows up again. We are fighting it by doing these things:

After the infection on Autumn healed up I sanitized our entire house. Hot water, bleached and hot dried all of Autumn's clothes, all our bedding and towels. I sprayed Lysol fabric cleaner on the couch and rugs. I bleached the bathrooms. The more I read the more I believe that I don't need the toxic chemicals to protect ourselves.

I've made natural sprays for both bathrooms (1/2 vinegar 1/2 distilled water and 2-4 drops of tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil and Be Young's Defense blend) - we use it for weekly cleanings and spray in the tube after each use. A word about the tub - this is where we wash all the staph exposure from the day off. I'm sure most of our drains would test positive for it. We will now be persistent to kill anything in this bacterial hot bed. I used to let Autumn shower with me - and it is completely possible that she got the infection while sitting down in our shower at my feet. )-: Unfortunately mother/daughter showers are a thing of the past, as even if our tub is sparkling, I'm washing my ickies down to her. Even though the risks are low, we've been doing it for months - after this horrid experience I just can't.

I used roughly the same recipe to make hand sanitizer for the diaper bag and my purse. And the same recipe for a spray down after beach showers.

I got 16+ medical grade manuka honey for us to use as neosporin on our wounds and anything that looks like it could be a potential problem. If something looks suspicious I will likely alternate between putting the manuka honey and Defense blend mixed with olive oil on it. From what I've read either should do the job.

I've been rubbing one drop of the Defense blend with olive oil on Autumn's feet at night. I'm not quite ready to have her ingest them like www.staph-infection-resources.com recommends. But if we deal with another infection you can bet your boots that Autumn will be taking funny tasting applesauce everyday.

During bath time I put a couple of drops of Defense and tea tree into epsom salts and add them while the water is running.

I bought Dr. Bronners tea tree castile soap to use as shampoo and body soap. I'm in the process of switching to all homemade or all natural products in our home.

This weekend I'm going to make manuka honey antibacterial hand and body soap.

I'm also planning to get a diffuser for the oils - Aaron really hates the smell - but it kills the bacteria it in our carpets and everywhere - so we'll have to figure out a method that works for both of us.

I'm officially a happy germaphob... sigh... (-:


If a pimple that kind of looks like a spider bite shows up at your house...

(Common sense warning: This is what I plan to do - but this information is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician with any questions you may have regarding any medical condition)

The day it shows up action is needed.

I plan to treat it with either manuka honey, manuka oil, Manuka ointment, one of the essential oils shown to kill MRSA or a blend of them.

I plan to put a few drops of the treatment on an enclosing band aid (like a circle one with the pad in the middle) and apply to the spot. Reappling a new treated band aid 4-5 times a day. Additionally, I'd use hot compresses 4-5 times to draw the infection out. If it grows at all after starting to treat it, I'd go to the doctor and have it tested to see what it is we are dealing with.