Home Remedies for Impetigo

Friday, Feb. 25, 2011 - My 7yr old daughter gets sent home from school with a rash on her body. Her pediatrician was experienced enough to swab for streptococcus aureus even though she didn't have a sore throat.

Weekend - I have sex with my wife before any of us knew anything about the strep. Not saying this was the catalyst, but man I wish I had put 2 and 2 together beforehand.

Monday Feb 28 - I have spots all over my face. Nasty rash, but no sore throat. We're thinking scarlet fever. My daughter's culture comes back positive for strep. Pediatrician puts us all on Cefprozil, a Keflex-type antibiotic.

Day by day, I just got worse and worse. The impetigo raged on without pause. The cefprozil did nothing. Bacitracin did nothing. There was massive swelling and weeping yellow crusty stuff. Almost on a weekly timetable it would clear up to a large degree, not completely, but then it would come right back, and spread more. Up toward my temples, down under my chin, etc. Later I read that bacitracin (Neosporin) is useless ? it can't fight this kind of infection and it just helps to spread it around. St. Patrick's Day I was out at a bar and no one looked twice at me. By Sunday I looked so bad I didn't even go to church. Every time I thought I had seen the worst of it and was clearing up, it came back. (My little girl is fine, BTW, neither she nor my wife had to deal with this hell.)

By Monday, March 14th I realized it was coming back just as often as it was healing. I tried H202 mixed 50/50 with water about 2 or 3 times, misting my face after a hot shower with a spray bottle. This is hell on your skin, let me tell you, and it really burns for about a minute. It made me as red as a tomato, literally. But I could feel the peroxide working on the infection. Even so, it cleared up a bit, then came back.

I got a Rx for topical Mupirocin cream and a Rx for a broad spectrum antibiotic about the middle of the week. Since I had been thru a course of Cefprozil, and it did no good, I was very reluctant to take the broad spectrum. I did not take it, even though after it kept flaring up my wife urged me to take the systemic pill.

The Mupirocin topical stuff is strong, and it made me red and swollen, not as painful to apply as the peroxide but I looked like hell. As you can imagine, this was totallly affecting my job, as it is difficult to work like that, seeing customers, etc.

Even with the mupirocin, the impetigo kept coming back.

By March 21st I had seen 2 different doctors and 2 dermatologists. I was diagnosed 100% positive for impetigo and the one doctor here in PA told me she has seen a lot of it recently. But none of them could get a culture to grow. It was just my luck that every time I was in a doctor's office, there was no discharge and I was "better".

Two dermatologists told me STOP USING PEROXIDE, and the one guy said to keep using the mupirocin 5 days after that appointment. I was pretty clear for that appointment (for the 4th or 5th??time!! ) but I couldn't keep up the mupirocin. I had to give it a rest because it was hell on my skin.

I read some very helpful posts on the internet, and started using a neutral face cream (I happened to have Vanicream) mixed with 4 ? 6 drops of grapefruit seed extract. It doesn't provoke swelling as much as mupirocin, and after 2 days of GSE both topical and using as a pill, the heat and swelling went down (again). Problem with the GSE and Vanicream is it's ITCHY LIKE YOU CAN'T BELIEVE!!!!! One of the posts here says "Don't touch it" and I can't agree more. Light rubbing of my face brought ANOTHER relapse, even with clean hands. I wash them a lot now that I'm dealing with this horror. Just let it crust over, and touch your face only when you wash it. And know that when you wash your face, it will probably make it start weeping again. I washed my face 3-4 times a day.

Grapefruit Seed Extract with the Vanicream was very hard because it made me want to itch and rub. I tried Aveeno mixed with GSE and it was better, not as itchy.

March 28th, more or less, I believe I started to really heal. My skin was starting to split, with deep red creases by my chin. That's how hard mupirocin, and this disease, is on your skin. I missed about 3 days of work during this whole thing, and that doesn't count the times I had to leave early or come in late after seeing doctors. I also read a PH web page that talked about being alkaline, rather than acid, and how it affects your health, and so I started eating more fruits and veggies (I am mostly vegetarian anyway) and started with a one-a-day potassium/calcium/magnesium supplement. I tested my saliva, I was ph of 7 at that time.

I found pure aloe, already mixed with GSE in a health store. It's very runny in its pure form. Every day I used the aloe w/GSE, plus pure GSE, mixed together, and put on after my morning shower, and in the evening after I washed my face.

So here I am now, April 15, almost seven weeks after my first symptoms. I can detect a slight puffiness at the height of my cheekbones, but you would never notice it. Still a bit red there too, but once again, you can't see it except under very bright light, like a flash photo. I got a week of FL sun, wearing a wide brim hat the WHOLE time, but too afraid to put anything on my face except the aloe and GSE, every day, twice a day. I can rub my face lightly if I have an itch, and it's not there anymore. Not that I will try and provoke it, no way. I am VERY GLAD I made the decision to not take the broad spectrum anti-biotic, but that was my decision and I'm not saying it's right for you. I wanted my own defenses to fight this off, because I have this tendency toward this kind of stuff.

Here's the other complication I didn't even mention ? when I was a kid I got poison ivy real bad on my hands and arms. For decades after that, I could scratch my wrists and forearms, seemingly at will, and "bring it back". I read over and over in all the sci and med literature that poison ivy is urushiol, totally topical, and cannot live in your system. I thought I was a living contradiction to this ? rubbing would bring about swelling on my forearms, a pimply, rough raised rash, weeping yellow stuff ? poison ivy, right? WRONG! I guess that was the strep/staph virus living on my skin, and once in awhile taking hold. Well, on my forearms it was a nuisance, and a curiosity. But on my face, it's a total nightmare.

Still another possibly relevant factoid ? for a year, more or less, before this spring 2011 battle with impetigo on my face, I would come out of the shower, sometimes, and notice a single, bright red streak on my cheek. Usually just one side, not always in the same place. Always after using a washcloth that was kept in the shower and not a fresh one. Almost as if I had scraped my cheek along a rough wall in one spot. I believe this nastiness has been trying to break thru on my face for a long time, and either the strep that was in my family, or the up close and personal encounter with my wife brought it on full force. I am going on and on just to give you as much info as I possibly can. This is a serious infection that just DOES NOT want to go away, and I don't think there are that many doctors out there who really understand it. It took a LONG TIME to run its course with me, and I had it in the worst possible place. If you see this coming, my advice to you is use the GSE and a neutral skin moisturizer right away, take the GSE pills, and DON'T RUB it. It's gross, but let it crust. Wash it off, let it crust again. For weeks I was carrying a rag with me to dab my weeping face. Uhhh, so gross. And you have to keep yourself and all those things your skin touches away from everybody else. (Although I don't think it's as contagious after weeks and weeks as people think. Still, you think I'm gonna take a chance with my family?! ???)

So every time I have an itch on my cheek or jaw, I scratch it lightly and stop. I'm still very scared of this nonsense and it will be awhile until the terror fades.

We have had a few illnesses in the family but my 2 children have not yet had to visit a Doctor except for a dislocated elbow, even Whooping Cough for them both was uneventful if you can believe that. My first stop is always right here :)

Thankyou Earth Clinic!