Cellulitis Coupled With Lymphoedema
May 5, 2007
I have chronic lymphoedema in both my legs and trunk,this is an accumulation of lymph fluid in the tissues .which causes swelling permanently in the legs,i am more prone to cellulitis which has made my legs worse each time i've had an episode,my treatment has to be taking antibiotics permanently prophylactically to stop me from getting this awful infection,i have meticulous skin care ]and have to avoid cracks in hard skin on heals,use dermol 500 cream on legs to moisturise,as most of you others have said you have to be hospitalised and have intravenous antibiotics to beat this,i have multi layer compression bandaging neway an a special massage but cant if i get cellulitis because it can spread it round your system,up until 3yrs ago i was having up to 10 episodes a yr but now under control.
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I am 44 years old and have had Lymphoedema for the past 15 years. A year ago I started shaking was very sick, had a blinding headache and within 3 hours of shaking my leg with Lymphoedema had started to go bright red. I went to an emergency doctor (very painful to walk) where he said i looked terrible and gave me some antibiotics. The antibiotics had no effect, by this time the redness had spread to my good leg and I was in agony. I went my own GP who diagnosed cellulitis and gave me stronger antibiotics which again had no effect. After a forth lot of even stronger antibiotics things started to slowly improve but by this time I was having dizzy spells, hot flushes and all the skin around my feet and ankles shed off in big lumps. The redness lasted for weeks. The experience was quite frightening and also gave me Lymphoedema in what was my good leg although not as severe.
I have now just returned from holiday in Spain, on my first morning at home, I started shaking and knew straight away what was going to follow. Sure enough within half an hour I was vomiting and my leg started to go red, this time on my so called good leg. I wasted no time and called doctor for a home visit, again it was very painful to walk. He came within the hour and I told him what antibiotics to give me after doing some research. People with Lymphoedema that get cellulitis need a high dose of something like 500mg Amoxicillin for a minimum of 2 weeks. Four days later the redness has still spread to a large area of my leg but has been contained to just the one leg which is now not looking quite as inflamed.
I feel the GP's need educating about cellulitis especially on patients with existing Lymphoedema, they are not responding quickly enough and a lot of people are suffering more than they need to
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i have a very big right leg and the doctor told me it,s lymphoedema, can it be drained take the fluid out.
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I was just recently diagnosed with cellulitis. It started with feeling a lump on the side of my neck down to my shoulder and I thought it was a muscle knot, so I proceeded on trying to rub my neck trying to get the knot out. I went to bed not feeling too well - woke up in the middle of the night with a fever, sweats & chills, and no energy. I went to the doctors and he sent me right away to the emergency room. I was admitted to the hospital with IV and antibiotics. The emergency room doctor, nurse, and assistant could not find a bite mark, scratch, or anything on the side of my neck and on my shoulder. I have eczema on my back and neck, but I did not have a bad break out of the eczema the time that this has happened. Is there anyway that this eczema created my cellulitis ? I am very concerned about this and do NOT want to get this back. what precautions can I take so that I don't get this back ?
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