Cellulitis

Kathy--did it leave your arm swollen at all? Cellulitis is a common--unfortunately-complication of lymphedema, because lymphedema leaves stagnant lymph fluid--perfect for bacteria to grow in.

Sometimes you can have subtle lymphedema--so maybe, if there's any swelling, and since you had a severe infection, you may want to get checked out by a lymphedema therapist:

http://www.stepup-speakout.org/Finding_a_Qualified_Lymphedema_Therapist.htm

Here's a link on cellulitis:

http://www.stepup-speakout.org/Emergencies_and_Medical_Care_lymphedema.htm#CELLULITIS_%28INFECTION%29

I saw your post on the hormone thread, and that your infectious disease person felt the aromasin was partly to blame--did he/she explain how?

There are a a number of women here with personal experience with cellulitis, and I hope they post

Hope you're feeling better.

You know, people do get cellulitis without lymphedema, but any disruption of our lymphatics sets us up for it.

Here's one more link to a NE Journal short picture of a woman with a cellulitis that started in her breast--no prior history of lymphedema mentioned, but so often, it's overlooked:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm065836

Kira

That picture could have been me. My lymphedema was never really that bad, but I got cellulitis many many times, about 30 outbreaks in 16 months. fever 103.5 everytime. because it was recurrent no dr would dx me or give me antibiotics for 16 months,  FINALLY I found a dr who took me seriously and admitted me for IV antibiotics. That was in May. I have since had 25 days of IV antibiotics (vanomyacin) ((((ps they can give you a pump that you can walk around with and go about your business raher than hospitalizing you everytime-I needed to get back to work. I lost more time withteh cellulitis than I did with surgery chemo and radiation combined. it kicked my butt)))) I am still on an oral antibiotic (8 months later).  Although the fluid was never that bad, I did alot of research, and yes AI's have a lymphedema side effect.  I was very scared of the strep bacteria damaging my heart (it can eat holes in your heart) and was also frightened that I would loose my arm *not to scare you but cellulitis can turn into flesh eating bacteria.  My rash went from my wrist to my collar bone down to my hips accross my stomach chest and back.  Hot to touch and painful.  I beleived that if I did lymphedema therapy I could possibly get rid of the cellulitis and the dr agreed to prescribe the therapy for me...I was telling him what type of treatment I needed, I was surprised that none of the 10 drs I saw had any idea how to help me...  I did do 8 weeks of wrapping and massage therapy and my arm is great right now. I wear compression garments.  I decided to not do anything else as far as their darn pills.  It seems that they just wanna keep you on these pills forever, besides they didnt work for me the 1st time. SO I am a bit of a pain in my drs arse, I question and research and talk to many ladies, and make my own decision, and I am sooooooo done!  hugs terri

Found this site www.thebreastcaresite.com/tbcs and type lymphedema in the search box there are many articles.  My infectious disease dr DID NOT NOW to send me for therapy (make sure the therapist is lymphedema certified) I just found a couple of search sites to find a certified lymphedema therapist and my therapist (who was extremely qualified and had a lot of experience was not listed, so you can also call around and talk to occupational /physical therapists and ask them if they do massage therapy and how much experience they PERSONALLY have.  I explained to my infectious disease dr that the accumulated fluid was causing the bacteria to fester and becoming a Petri dish for the cellulitis to stagnate and keep reoccurring.  These are not technical medical terms, I just wanted him to consider the possibility that perhaps this therapy might help reroute/reduce/eliminate the fluid and reduce the lymphedema and thereby "cure" the cellulitis.  Being that my primary dr wouldn't even admit I had cellulitis, I appealed to my infectious disease dr who did write the script for the therapy (the PT/OT advised us how exactly to word the script for the insurance company) DO YOUR OWN research and find a therapist...be lined up...it is PERTINENT to move quickly on this.  I didn't know any better. The 1st time I got out of the hospital I waited till my 6 week follow up (when I was supposed to get off my oral antibiotic) to schedule the therapy to begin and on the 5th week, cellulitis returned and back in the hospital.  That time, I scheduled the therapy to begin on my 7 day follow up after I got out of the hospital, (but I fell and hurt my arm pretty badly) and on the 5th day I was out...FLARE up and back in the hospital, this time they kept me in longer and When I got out I planned to start the therapy 3 days later...you guessed it! flare up again...BUT this time I refused admission to the hospital and instead went to the hospital infusion center where they enlightened me about the option of the IV pump fanny pack...so I walked around with that for almost 3 weeks...had to go to the hospital every morning and get a new IV bag...and then went on to work, I scheduled the therapy to begin two days after I finished the IV and after 8 weeks of therapy and wrapping I am still OK...I have to do manual exercises every day to keep the fluid moving...but am very very happy and much healthier.  My point was the dr did not understand the need for the therapy or wrappings or compression garments...BUT he was a kind soul who LISTENED to me and helped me recover.  Let me know if you have any questions, hugs Terri

Hi Kathy,

I have had lymphedema of my left hand and arm since Feb 2006 and have been on Aromasin since April 2006.  I had my one and only episode of cellulitis in June 2008.  My cellulitis spread quickly from my upper arm to my shoulder, neck, chest wall and back within a matter of hours.  I had alternating fever and chills and was in the hospital for 2 days for IV Ancef, then 10 days of oral Cephalexin.  I was not allowed to do MLD or wear my compression garment initially for fear of spreading the cellulitis further, but after 24 hours of IV antibiotics could wear my garments and resumed MLD after the heat and redness were gone from my arm about 3 days later.

I have never heard that Aromatase Inhibitors impact the immune system or predispose a lymphedema patient to more aggressive cellulitis but I will do some research on the issue.  Would be interesting to understand the mechanism if that is the case.

I hope you continue to recover from your cellulitis episode and that it is your last. I think our best protection against cellulitis is to follow the risk prevention protocols and keep our LE under good management.  Keep a filled prescription of oral antibiotics and seek medical attention at the earliest indication of the onset of cellulitis.  That's the hard one....it's so easy to adopt a "wait and see"  attitude when it is just a small red spot, but when you know in your heart of hearts that the red spot is not going away but getting bigger, redder and hotter it is time to take immediate action.  It was a valuable lesson I had to learn and one I won't soon forget.

Kathy,

I am very sorry to read of your recent hospitalization for cellultis. I'm sure it was somewhat scary, being aggressive like that and I'm glad you're receiving effective antibiotics and medical care.

May I add that I am always impressed by your strength in your journey, as well as your kindness to the women and men on this board. 

Happy holidays to you and all,

Tender 

Do you compresssion garments to use when you fly?  This will reduce the lymphedema swelling. They have them for arms and legs, hand and feet. hugs. I am supposed to use them on long trips, heavy exercise, flying, etc. I figured out this weakest body part theory when I fell and badly bruised my right arm, and another time when I gto a bug bit on my ankle. Both times were mere days after finishing an IV antibiotic, and WHAM! cellulits agian on the left arm/chest/stomach/back, NEVER anyplace else.  It helped me become more cautious cause I was overly orotective of my left arm, I would often accept "hits" (fall on another side, or forget to spray big spray on legs) I would accept "hits" on my other body parts, NOW I realize that I have to care for my WHOLE body.  I also found thru a google other stories that cemented this theory into reality for me, that teh cellulitis will attack your weakest part, despit teh location of the "hit" (again a "hit" is a bruise, bug bite, sunburn, DRY SKIN that cracks) Hope you ladies are lubricating well with something like Eucerin that has a low PH so bacteria growth is not prmoted>>>hugs

I either wear compression garments or use jovi pacs when traveling.  Also, I wear compression hose  for long drives or when flying.   I wear compression sleeves and shirts when exercising, but don't wear compression hose then.   

If I get a cut or scratch, I wash it immediately and use antibiotic ointment.  But I am not that protective of my body - I like to hike and climb.  Scratches, scrapes, and bruises come with the territory.  So I carry my first aid kit along with an antibiotic ointment and hope for the best.  It has been a year and a half since my last case of cellulitis, so these tactics seem to be working. 

***URGENT*** HI Ladies, I will be posting this issue on various threads, because I need a pretty quick response, so thanks you to anyone who can help/share:  This question is for my mom. BACKGROUND: She just finished radiation. Not sure how many treatments, I think it was for 5 weeks.  She was stage 1, and this is her second cancer episode, first time was 10 years ago (me, her and my youngest sister have all had breast cancer twice each, and each recurrence was 10 years later...)

OK QUESTION:  mom just called me her radiation dr told her she has cellulitis (last week) She has been on a sulfur oral antibiotic and has had no relief, hot-to-touch rash on rad site and tenderness.

Now I have had my own issues with cellulitis, I have had many episodes (over 40) and have only had it 2x with out a fever present.  so I wonder... I also had a lot more rads then she did, so could it be radiation burns??  That she has? 

I finished rads in 2009 and lost my skin etc, I did not end up with a hot to touch rash that was from radiation - that I am aware of, I did have hot-to-touch cellulitis issues (that started way b4 rads ever did) and was usually accompanied with a 103.5 fever.

Mom  has no fever.  The rad dr gave her an oral antibiotic a week ago and it is still hot-to-touch.

COULD THIS "JUST" be a radiation burn???  (I HATE to say "just", I know how hard it is...)

If not, I have to assume it is cellulitis, like the dr said, but I know how hard it is to dx this animal.

Mom is in FL I am in MI so I cant look at it, she says the "rash" is on her chest on the radiation site. In my case my rash went up my arm, and across the chest and back...hers is not spreading...so I wonder if this is just a rad side effect and NOT cellulitis???

The problem is she has heart issues and has also had c-diff in the past, so allowing a strep bacteria unattended is a real bad idea, and having IV antibiotics would be hard too (due to her

c-diff history). 

She is ready to go to the ER, either way I told her that this should not be treated by her rad dr, that she needs to see an infectious disease dr. 

Suggestions?  comments? 

Oh, and just in case can anyone recommend an Infectious disease dr in Ft Lauderdale area?  THANKS Terri

Another thing, if she is also recovering from chemo, her immune system might not be reacting normally.  Fever is a normal reaction to infection.  I had an infection following a surgery several weeks after stopping chemo.  I did not run a fever until just before going into shock.  I had light swelling and slight discoloration.  The ER doctor misdiagnosed me and sent me home. 

I was hospitalized for that once. I now call my family doctor to get on antibiotics real fast at the slightest sign of it again. It really hurts. I also have a flexitouch machine now that massages the arm to help reduce the swelling and then more garments. The garments do hurt with cellulitis and the only thing during that time I was able to do was to elevate it.

I created a thread if you care to comment or follow thanks t

Could this be radiation burns or cellulitis???