Taking antibiotics, how long?

[DawnsEarlyBirds]

I had a post earlier about our 13 year old son with large sore pimple like infections on his thighs.  The most logical response I got was that it was probably follicalitus (infected ingrown hairs) and could be a staph infection.  We have tried different things, but my husband was getting concerned about it.  SO, I took him to our funky dr. who said he couldn't help him because there was nothing nutritionally wrong.  He did say it wasn't staph, but he thought it might be scabies.  He suggested I go to the regular dr. or dermatologist.  I looked all over the web, it looks nothing like any picture I found of scabies, nor does it sound anything like it. 

I couldn't get into a dermotologist for weeks so I took him to our pediatrician.  This man has really annoyed me the last handful I times I have seen him (over the last 5 years) and again, he was very condescending.  I asked him about DSS salts, and he almost openly scoffed at me. He says, it looks like impetigo (it looks NOTHING like impetigo) or maybe a staph infection.  So, he gives me a prescription for an antibiotic, and sends me on my way.

So I bought the antibiotic and my son has been taking it for 5 days now, and there is no change in his condition.  He has been drinking kefir and taking Tummy Tune Up with it.  I want to stop it the antibiotic, because I feel if it hasn't been making any changes by now, it isn't going to help.

He has been spraying his legs with DSS solution and somethings are clearing up, but the large pimples/boils/whatever they are, continue to come out.  Any ideas?  Should I stop the antibiotics?  Maybe I should just amputate his legs and end the problem?  ARGH!!!! 

[likemanywaters]

You know, when my brother was little, he had a bad case of poision ivy on his legs that progressed to this weeping kind of infection that the doctor said he had not seen in 20 years (he was our beloved OLD and old school ped that we loved) a real old fashioned doctor . He said a name for it but I forget, I'm going to call my mom & ask her what it was called & post back later...  I don't remember what they did for it, but it took several weeks to clear up. None of the rest of us got it.

So, if it's that bad of an infection, and they are giving him antibiotics for it, I suppose they think it is probably in the bloodstream too?  I would guess it would be...

Stinks that you've had so much doc trouble  I know the feeling! Sorry!  You don't know how many friends of ours have had their kids or themselves on antibiotics in the last month...    It's always the first thing the doctors prescribe, & some without even testing & just guessing!

[likemanywaters]

It was Erysipelas also known as "St. Anthony's Fire".   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erysipelas

Historically most cases of erysipelas were due to Streptococcus pyogenes and infected the face, nowadays most cases occur due to Group A beta haemolytic streptococci and involve the legs.

My mom said our ped. gave him a cream that had traditionally been used to treat it, and it cleared up in a couple weeks. Don't know what that was though.

Look it up on google for more links & pics.
http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic129.htm
http://dermatology.about.com/cs/infectionbacteria/a/erysipelas.htm

I guess I should add that another doctor at the time said he thought it was just a really bad case of poison ivy instead, but we tended to think our ped had been right.

[DawnsEarlyBirds]

Thanks!  I looked these up, but they don't look anything like this.  Can't be poison ivy, we have a foot of snow, and doesn't have the red, fiery  look to it.   And the problem is, this dr. didn't look closely, didn't do any tests, only asked if he felt sick otherwise, which he doesn't. 

This thing starts out with skin bumps, looks like small pencil eraser size bumps of skin come out (and they are straight sided like the eraser, not a grandual hill, like a typical pimple) then after a while some, but not all turn into large pimples, with a half dollar size area around it that is sore red, sore to touch.  I popped on and all the pus came out, and there was a hole which was the exact shape of the original "skin eraser" ...  ?  Actually, the bumps that come out are just skin colored, they are not red or dark, just light skin.  And I am not completely sure if they are what gets infected ... maybe that is a seperate issue.  I can't find a picture that looks anything like this on the web.  Maybe I should look up warts?!  Thinking as I type here.....

I am stopping the antibiotic.  I ordered 40 pounds of DSS today from the ebay site someone mentioned in another thread(THANKS!) , so maybe I will give him baths in it when it comes and see if that helps instead of just spraying on the infected area. 

[Marisa]

I had the same type of  reoccuring infection 5 years ago. I would get an abcess or cyst and they couldn't realy diagnose it foliculitious, then staph, then cystic acne. I would get them on my face, then on under my arm, on my legs. One would leave and 2 weeks later I'd get a new one. Theyd have to give me lidocane and then cut the cyst out.Unfortunatley, I didn't know that antibiotics were so bad the dr prescribed keflex everytime I got  a new cyst & it was the only thing to make it go away and they took 10 days to disappear  but after about 4 months the abcesses/infections stopped.

[DHW]

DawnsEarlyBirds, have you tried giving him LARGE amounts of raw garlic by mouth?  In Herbal Antibiotics the author recommends juicing an entire head of garlic and taking tiny amounts in a large glass of water to finish all the garlic juice in one day.  Repeat as necessary.  He says be careful, though.  Garlic juice won't kill you, but you'll wish you were dead if you take too much at once.

Richard Schultze made mention in an article of a little old lady eating something like 47 cloves of garlic (2 heads) for several days to cure an untreatable lung infection.  It worked, although I can't figure out how she ate that much raw garlic!

Here's the link: http://alternativesmagazine.com/08/schulze1.html

[healthybratt]

to cure an untreatable lung infection.  It worked

Evidentally, NOT untreatable after all.   

[here2serve]

I am taking antibiotics for a severe sore throat I've had a few days ago, and my question is, is it really necessary to take the whole bottle? I've been feeling better for days. They always say to take them to the end. But wouldn't I be doing my body a favor by stopping the antibiotics now that I feel better, and push things like acidopholus, vit. C, echinachea, etc.?? Any thoughts?

[Mrs. B]

I am taking antibiotics for a severe sore throat I've had a few days ago, and my question is, is it really necessary to take the whole bottle? I've been feeling better for days. They always say to take them to the end. But wouldn't I be doing my body a favor by stopping the antibiotics now that I feel better, and push things like acidopholus, vit. C, echinachea, etc.?? Any thoughts?

My feeling on this issue is that if you have already started the antibiotics you need to commit to following thru with the whole bottle... otherwise you risk creating an environment in your body that is resistant to this drug in the future.
Just because the infection is getting better it doesn't mean that it is gone.  Continuing the antibiotics will make sure that the infection is closer to gone.  When you stop an antibiotic before completing it the bacteria may not be all eliminated and can build up a tolerance then in the future it will not be effective.  This was a major part of the problem with the over-prescribing that occured so much in the 1970-1980s.  People weren't encouraged to complete the doses, and then we ended up iwth a variety of drug-resistant strains, including MRSA, in the 1990s. 
I would definitely take advantage of the other remedies that you mentioned after completing the antibiotics, but I don't feel that you will be doing your body a favor if you stopped them earlier.

[MommabyHisgrace]

Just wanted to second the previous post!  Definitely finish the antibiotic and the just take natural measures to replace the good bacteria/flora in your gut when you're done!

[here2serve]

I am taking antibiotics for a severe sore throat I've had a few days ago, and my question is, is it really necessary to take the whole bottle? I've been feeling better for days. They always say to take them to the end. But wouldn't I be doing my body a favor by stopping the antibiotics now that I feel better, and push things like acidopholus, vit. C, echinachea, etc.?? Any thoughts?

My feeling on this issue is that if you have already started the antibiotics you need to commit to following thru with the whole bottle... otherwise you risk creating an environment in your body that is resistant to this drug in the future.
Just because the infection is getting better it doesn't mean that it is gone.  Continuing the antibiotics will make sure that the infection is closer to gone.  When you stop an antibiotic before completing it the bacteria may not be all eliminated and can build up a tolerance then in the future it will not be effective.  This was a major part of the problem with the over-prescribing that occured so much in the 1970-1980s.  People weren't encouraged to complete the doses, and then we ended up iwth a variety of drug-resistant strains, including MRSA, in the 1990s. 
I would definitely take advantage of the other remedies that you mentioned after completing the antibiotics, but I don't feel that you will be doing your body a favor if you stopped them earlier.

  Interesting! Thats why I asked. Thanks!