Cellulitis

Just wanted to say that if you still have pain and redness at the end of your antibiotic course, do go back to your GP. It's important to be sure that it has cleared up completely. Best of luck.

I had a patch round my ankle last year. It cleared up very quickly with antibiotics and I got to spend time with a very attractive young doctor so that was a bonus

I had it in my face and neck, I looked terrible. Was immediately put on a very strong course of antibiotics. Unfortunately, probably because I was very run down I developed shingles at the same time. I was given the anti shingles drug because it was in my face and they thought it might affect my eyesight. In due course it went down, but unfortunately about three weeks later the cellulitis returned but not so badly. I had to have a different treatment this time. It certainly took it out of me and it was several months before I felt right. It is a very strange thing.

The first time I had it I thought it was a reaction to an insect bite (I do react badly to them), the GP was nonplussed but she made me sit in the waiting room while she made further enquiries, phoned the hospital in fact.

When I had it the redness had a very clear edge to it and spread quite quickly hence the need for urgent antibiotics.

Thank you all.
Started on a course of antibiotics on Thursday and a lot better today.
It took almost 2 weeks before being diagnosed although I went and saw my doctor on the very first day when there was just a lot of pain but no swelling. He told me to come back if I continued to have pain. Went again and saw a different doctor a week later when my foot began to swell in the evenings and this one send me away with anti inflammatories which didn't work and it was my friend (wife of a GP ) who called to see me on Thursday and immediately said it was cellulitis and that I needed antibiotics straight away. She drove me to the surgery and I saw a doctor within 10 minutes who prescribed antibiotics.
Is this odd?. This all kicked off at 6am when I went to the bathroom and got the most intense pain in the ball of my foot that I have ever had and I struggled to get back to bed the pain was so bad. It frightened me enough to ask for an urgent appointment with a doctor. I continued to have pain in my foot but I could still get around and even walked the dog every day. It started to swell really badly last Monday evening after I went to a funeral in the morning and did a lot of walking and standing around.
What I do not understand is the way it started!. The only thing that makes any sense to me is that I must have been stung by a wasp in the bathroom as I didn't turn the light on ( I do react badly to wasp stings) but how would cellulitis set in immediately as I had pain in the ball of my foot from day one and neither of the first two doctors who looked at my foot very carefully could see anything. My foot was swollen when I saw the second doctor but he didn't diagnose cellulitis but he did say that he didn't think it was a DVT. The practice has an excellent reputation. I can still feel some pain in the ball of my foot but there was never anything to see like a bite or sting.
Very glad to say that my foot is a lot better today but still walking around (when I do) on my toes as I still have some pain and swelling there.
I knew nothing about cellulitis before this.

I echo what Monica says, as DD has been hospitalised twice with this awful condition, once spending almost a month there! We were so worried, and it is a dangerous thing ( or can be.)

Cellulitis should never be treated lightly. A lot of people I know have ended up in hospital having to have antibiotics drips to deal with it.

DH had it just after Christmas, but was underprescribed antibiotics because the doctor was concentrating on the other medical problem at the time. As a result the cellulitis re-occurred six weeks later and he had to have two weeks of very high doses of antibiotics. 6 months later the area of his leg where he had it is still very sensitive and he needs to put soothing cream on it and wear long socks to stop his trousers rubbing the area and irritating it.

I have had cellulitis in my left leg x2 within the last year and needed antibiotics asap on both occasions. The threat of this in the background is one of the reasons for not doing my left knee replacement.

I have had it two or three times and needed a second week of antibiotics to get rid of it completely.

I have never known it go on its own, that's interesting.

A few years ago I had it in my arm after a pneumonia injection. It spread quite quickly down my arm. I saw the GP, who diagnosed it, then gave me 7 day's supply of a strong antibiotic. So, for me, it took about a week to clear up completely, with the tablets.

I hope that yours gets better quickly. Take care.

Well I've seen a lot of it as a District Nurse and it all depends on the severity and the general condition of the patient. Some mild cases resolve easily on their own others need antibiotics and are subject to flare ups - have you seen a doctor about this?