Extremely painful, swollen nose - staph infection?

[kansaspeg]

Came down with a big sore bump inside my left nostril.  Entire left side of nose became red and swollen.  Went to Prime Care and test showed "light staph infection".  Have been taking double-strength Bactrim along with Valtrex in case it could be the start of shingles.  It has been 4 days on meds with no improvement, but no rash either.  Extremely painful.  Wake up every 2 hours and need Vicodin.  Seems to radiate into cheek.  Scalp itches now.  Now also have one swollen, painful lymph node under left jaw.  Shouldn't the Bactrim be working by now?  Is there a more effective antibiotic that I should be using?

[araya7675]

Ive had crusty red sores in my nose for almost 5 yrs and i finally got to an ent. Im getting surgery in a couple weeks, hes removing soft tissue. I hope this helps. When i first got an infection in my nose, i had gotten bells palsy which devastated me. I cant take the pain anymore. Ive put all kinds of oitments in there to help soften it, then the dr gave me muciprin which helps but ive also used clear iodine. Read up on the health benefits of iodine. I seen a website saying its good for staph in the nose..it burns like hell but it helps dry out the ooz.. good luck yall

[lucy1935]

this happened to me.  I think it is related to allergies.  I am going to see a ent doctor.  I also have headaches and a sore throat.  I put makeup on  to cover the red rash.

[vcdlady]

I've had an off & on infection (not sure if staph or ?, yet) just inside nostrils, probably from various hair removal methods causing irritation.

Local clinic nurse gave me several free samples of Bacitracin Zinc Ointment USP (each sample in a foilpac), manufactured by E. Fougera & Co. (Pharmaceutical company in Melville, NY).

I tried using it twice yesterday, and it caused the infection to start to get worse, and also it felt like I had drunk 20 cups of coffee (revved me up/agitation).

I called the company (E. Fougera), and asked what the ingredients were. They said Bacitracin antibiotic and petroleum jelly ("proprietary")--"proprietary" means there are secret ingredients that they refused to tell me what they are. I'm waiting for a call-back, to find out what those ingredients actually are.

Meanwhile, I looked on the internet for natural ways to treat nasal infections in nostrils, and found this wonderful forum! Last night and this morning, I tried raw (organic) honey, using q-tips, to apply to insides of nostrils (just a little). NO BAD REACTIONS AT ALL! It felt soothing, and healing.

I'm going to continue using the raw honey, to see if it works.

If anyone has a depressed immune system, they should avoid eating RAW honey, and use COOKED honey, instead. Why? Because raw honey may contain botulism bacterial spores, that get activated when they enter an immune-suppressed person (sick, having AIDS, etc.). (I'm not sure whether raw honey would be OK for immune compromised folks, for healing infections in nose--check with your doc first. Otherwise, use cooked honey, until you know for sure about using raw honey).

I'm also going to find out if the nostril infection is just local, or (hopefully not) "systemic"--beyond the nose.

So, thank you to ManukaHoneyGirl, and all of you using honey, and also to Dr. Weil's website that talks about using honey for infections, too.

I'm glad I found this neat forum!

Concerned Lady/Carol

[katieleigh3]

I am going through the same thing right now and that is how I came across your post. I have had MRSA (skin not respiratory) twice before and I think I have it again. It's a little scarier this time because the abscess in the right nostril is so painful and now I have a headache, swollen gland in the left side of my neck, the roof of my mouth on the left side, burning and pain on my let cheek and lip and I have been on Bactrim for about 3 days and applying ointment to the sore. I keep thinking since it's Sunday I want to go to the hospital and get checked but I'll feel like a jerk if there is nothing they can do. Please let me know if you get any answers and good luck.

[kls67x]

I've just been diagnosed with staph, and though the infection was really bad a year ago, I'm not suffering much now -- the sores have simply persisted on my skin.  After reading all of the above, I'm glad I resisted my doctor's suggestion to go on antibiotics for a month; I'm trying several home remedies now (vitamin C + antibacterial soap + daily shower + diluted alcohol on skin + probiotics) while I wait for the test results to come in.  My question is:  should I agitate to continue with these home remedies, or (given that the infection WAS so bad last year, & given what other folks have said) should I go for the month of antibiotics, to try to wipe out the staph from my system?  Does it stay dormant & flare up (sort of the like the herpes virus, though it's not a virus)?  Or can it ever go away?

[krissy685]

You should definitely go to the Dr for an antibiotic, you have all the symptoms of a sinus infection