Last Wednesday after riding on Tuesday night* a painful hard lump with a little pimple head came up on my left elbow.

Being a bloke I chose to ignore and see if it went away. It did not! By Thursday lunchtime I had a red swollen elbow running from mid forearm up to just below my bicep. (I also in retrospect felt a bit fluey on Wednesday night but chose to ignore that too – like an idiot.)

Off to the walk-in centre, met with worried looks from the staff (never good) and was told I had a nice little Staph infection going on and that I could have a nice big 7 day course of man sized Antibiotics.

Now had I chosen to leave it longer it could have gotten really nasty with blood poisoning etc!

The antibiotics have cleared up the majority of the swelling , though now I have had the “pleasure” of approx 7 teaspoons of blood/pus mixture (think milky coffee with blood flecks and extra creamy bits being squeezed through a 3mm hole in the swelling, with more to come!

I think the lesson is: if you get something thats “not right”, don’t be an idiot like me, get it checked out sooner rather than later.

*May not be relevant, it could have been the mudrun on Saturday, or Gym Equipment or an insect bite…

Not sure whether this should be in the Bike Forum or Chat…

I’m not sure I envy the infection, bit I do envy all that squeezing pus.

I nearly lost my boy to a staph infection when he was 7 days old. 3 IV antibiotics simultaneously for 5 days and the only way to control his temperature was to strip him and put a fan I front of him for three of those. Most terrifying experience I’ve had in my life.

I’m not sure I envy the infection, bit I do envy all that squeezing pus.

Just what I thought.

It’s less squeezing, more apply light pressure and just watch the flow!

Sounds great.

How do you get them? Do you know what caused yours? Get well soon, by the way!

Another evening of watching boils getting popped on YouTube I think.

No idea! I have my suspicions on how I got mine. I think I either had a scratch from MTBing and then did a Mud Run, got an insect bite or picked up something nasty from the gym.

Given the nature of this thread I don’t suppose I’m lowering the tone in saying that pus tastes really horrible, discovered from having had a tooth removed due to an abscess a few years ago, the dentist didn’t warn me about the taste.

POIDH… dare you..

Mate of mine who plays Roller Derby, got a very innocuous graze on his elbow and ignored similar symptoms to you, spent 6 days in hospital and had cellulitis. Not good.

I envy your pus squeezing.

I had spinal surgery in March, I’m on my second infection now. Just been for blood tests and swabs, where the nurse shoved a large cotton bud into my back and waggled it around. A little bit of wee came out at that point.

I can barely see my surgery scar, let alone squeeze it.

I’ve found it helps to squeeze a bit of blood out of a cut if it’s not healing like it should, seems to work in cleaning things out.

Back to the Docs – given another round of Antibiotics and told to get squeezing! 😈

Yes, had a small cut on ear from a crash 5 or 6 years ago, turned to abcess in neck, bad blood poisoning, body shutting down, emergency surgery to remove was told I had 24 hours if didn’t get surgery straight away.
Now have a good pirate scar on my neck when not covered by beard 😀

1. pics?

2.

BillOddie – Member
Being a bloke I chose to ignore and see if it went away.

Real man would have squeezed it, fainted, then ignored it.

clobbered my knee at daughters 8th birthday cycling party

had about 1/2 pint fluid drained from it a few times, then whole leg started swelling feom ankle to bollox when I was on a motorbike tour in normandy

sat on a ferry outside newhaven for about 6 hours in a storm. got to a & e as soon as I could – they sh@t themselves and put me on iv antibiotics for about 4 days – bit scary

My cousin got one of these infections; started as sinusitis and then turned into blood poisoning. Destroyed bits of his heart. Had open heart surgery to fix this up with artificial valves but then one of these fell out and he died a few days later.

I think the lesson is: if you get something thats “not right”, don’t be an idiot like me, get it checked out sooner rather than later.

+1

My cousin got one of these infections; started as sinusitis and then turned into blood poisoning. Destroyed bits of his heart. Had open heart surgery to fix this up with artificial valves but then one of these fell out and he died a few days later.

😯 Bloody hell!

given that staphylococci are ever present on the skin, staph skin infections are very common or you’re a manky bastard that never washes lol. staphs are one of the biggest contributer to food poisoning from people picking their noses.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOhHAoWZdLQ[/video]

^ that is both disgusting and highly compelling viewing

Hmm, my leg is looking a bit yellow with a big black blotch after crashing a week last Sunday, then riding on it for the Dyfi Enduro this Sunday gone, despite barely being able to walk on it let alone bend it during pedaling. The pain is starting to be unbearable, maybe I too should Man Up and go see a Doctor, thanks for the advice 🙂

Wasn’t there a Marine who died a few years ago from septicaemia after falling into a gorse bush and getting badly scratched?

Yes, here:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Marine+killed+by+a+scratch%3B+SUPERBUG+FEAR.-a0132703060

Lucky it was your elbow otherwise you may have caught it from a hooker.

How the **** does someone manage to grow a cyst that sort of size & not do anything about it???? 😯 😯

@pinkster
there’s a whole world full of cysts like that on youtube. There’s one on a teenage girls temple in one video 😯

I’ve always wondered that. I presume that takes a good while to reach that sort of size.