Infection after replacement?

I have had a Medtronic pacemaker for 20 years, I'm now 67. I just had the third battery implanted two weeks ago. Also they replaced the 20 year leads. The ventricular lead was repositioned one week ago after it dislodged. Now one week after that surgery I have redness at the site of the battery. Family doctor put me on Bactrim for 10 days. I'm supposed to have interrogation next Tues, that was scheduled anyway. I am concerned about MRSA. What is the general outcome for these infections? Am I worrying about nothing? Should I notify implanting doctor? It was not done locally.

Sue

11 Comments

MRSA

by kat97 - 2012-03-01 06:03:29

Count your blessings that your doctor is listening to you. After my loop monitor was implanted I was in severe pain and has pus draining from wound. Dr thought I was crazy I guess and I work in medical feild. He ignored me over 5 weeks. Then I ended up in hospital for a week. If you don't see any improvement in a few days you INSIST that they culture it. REPEAT INSIST THAT THEY CULTURE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes notify implant dr too. MRSA can be deadly. Sorry to be blunt! Lee

take care

by Hope - 2012-03-01 06:03:29

Do seek immediate medical advice until you get an answer to what is going on. As we age, and I am your age also, our bodies do not heal as quickly, so we do need to be even more cautious of any infection, especially involving our hearts. Will keep you in my prayers. Hopeful Heart

MRSA Infection

by donr - 2012-03-01 11:03:26

Sue: What has prompted you to be concerned about MRSA? IT isn't something that runs up & down the streets knocking on doors like the big bugs in the Orkin ads. Though, if you get it, it needs to be taken care of immediately!!!!!

Our #2 Grand daughter got it & it was cured. It is not an easy cure, they have to find the correct anti-biotic that kills the strain you have.

You asked the general outcomes of these infections - Generally, they are cured! But - as Lee said above, you must be vigilant, REALLY vigilant.

Bactrim is an ancient anti-biotic based on sulfa compounds. It is as good a place as any for the Dr. to start for an infection like yours. Have you ever used it before? If not, read the side effects of it. Both my Wife & #2 Daughter are allergic to it. Causes a nice, red rash not unlike poison ivy. Usually takes a couple of days to develop. But - by then, you should notice the redness/swelling of you wound starting to clear up.

I'll tell you - Lee is absolutely correct about the dangers of MSRA. But there are a myriad of anti-biotics out there that can cure nearly all the MRSA's. FWIW, MRSA is a streptococus, type A, that is resistant to some antibiotic whose name starts w/ M. #2 Daughter is an ER Doc & she explained it all to me, including the name & there's no way I can recall it. Then she ran through a litany of drugs that are successful against it.

At this point, relax, but be vigilant.
Don

Ian: better than being a Pollyanna!

by donr - 2012-03-02 01:03:09

Ian: Having taken Bactrim myself, I about choked on your description of its problems. Fortunately, I do not react to it at all, so it was/is a useful drug in the arsenal (nothing to do w/ football ) for infection fighting for me. I am allergic to penicillin & whatever the supercharged version of Erythromycin is. And - a couple other anti-biotics. I once was prescribed the Erythromycin derivative for some sort of throat infection. It knocked it down in about 2 hours & I felt great - then the reaction set in. I was sicker'n I was w/ the infection. For three days, no less. They've used it twice for bladder/urinary tract infections for me.

Thou spaketh a bookfull about the rash #2 daughter developed from it not being nice. She had an abcess on her inner thigh that had to be surgically drained - really a mess. They gave her Bactrim post-op for ten days. All was going fine till the 7th or 8th day, when she started complaining about a bad rash on her back. She thought it was poison Ivy. (Poison Ivy is a vine we have in the US that I don't think grows in England. It is a member of the Rhus family of trees/vines that have a sap that is severely urticating. All of my family is horribly allergic to it. this daughter most sensitive of all. In most people, it generates a local contact dermatitis; in her it goes systemic & she breaks out all over.) I think I mentioned that she's an ER Doc. She walked in to the ER that night & the day shift Dr. looked at her & commented that it looked like she was suffering a Bactrim reaction rash. Then all the nurses piled on. Boy, did she ever get a razzing over that. Took a week of steroids to clear her up!

Interesting that the bad reputation it has in the UK has not crossed the pond yet. It is still dispensed freely here w/o any serious "Black Box" warnings. I'm Kinda surprised. Hence, the difference in severity of our advice to depglass. Do we, however, agree in our assessment of the cureability of MRSA's w/ other anti-biotics? I take my position based on what #2 Daughter told me from the front line of facing MRSA's in the ER. It will be interesting to hear the take on them from British medicine.

Not to be tongue in cheek or sarcastic, but do you think there might be a chance that 2 plus centuries of our basic genetic stock being separated by the Atlantic Ocean has permitted genetic variations such that we no longer as two separate populations react the same to it? I know there are many statistically significant racial differences in susceptibility to certain diseases & allergies to foods.

Don

WHOOOPS!!!!

by donr - 2012-03-02 02:03:17

Non sequitar in last post: I wrote " And - a couple other anti-biotics. I once was prescribed the Erythromycin derivative for some sort of throat infection. It knocked it down in about 2 hours & I felt great - then the reaction set in. I was sicker'n I was w/ the infection. For three days, no less. They've used it twice for bladder/urinary tract infections for me."

Last sentence refers to wrong previous sentence. It should read "They've used BACTRIM twice for bladder/urinary tract infections for me."

Ah, the dangers of using pronouns!

Don

MRSA

by IAN MC - 2012-03-02 02:03:25

hi don... it's always good to hear from you.

Yes, I'm sure you're right about the susceptibility of MRSA to a range of antibiotics but I've been retired a few years and things change all the time.

Antibiotic research is a continual battle of "bugs versus drugs" and when MRSA first reared its ugly head ( 1961 in the UK not till 1981 in the US) there were hardly any antibiotics that would touch it... the bugs were winning the battle at that time. MRSA then became very fashionable , loads of research was done on it, and there are now more antibiotics to counter MRSA, and lots more in development.

By the way, I hope it wasn't you , Don, that introduced it into the US after your stay in the UK !!

..oh, just for the sake of accuracy, MRSA is a stapylococccus and not a streptococcus ( they look quite different down a microscope, staphs look like a bunch of grapes, streps are in a chain !) The "M" that you couldn't think of is "methicillin" .. it was an injectable penicillin which didn't have any effect against the newly discovered bug, hence the name.

The fact that the US never banned cotrimoxazole
( Bactrim) surprises me because your regulatory authority, the FDA , is normally even more stringent than our CSM . I'm sure if you Google " Bactrim UK ban" or something similar you will find enough data to put you off ever swallowing Bactrim again.

Your last point about genetic differences is interesting, I am old enough to say " never say never" .. anything in life is possible!

Best wishes and keep well

Ian

Ian: Thanks...

by donr - 2012-03-02 03:03:35

...For catching the wrong name for the bacterium. As soon as I saw the start of the sentence I knew what was coming! Staph A. AAAARRRRG! Oh, well, I'm an engineer, not a chemist or micro-biologist. I keep telling engineers that they have to know the history of things so they can understand WHY we are where we are today.

I know that we about birthed a fully adult Texas Long horn steer when we heard Granddaughter had MRSA - we were darned near writing her off as a goner. Till Daughter put it all in proper perspective for us. It was still a tricky cure - finding the correct anti-biotic that would kill it. Took a few days to grow the culture & test its susceptibility, during which we were sweating bullets - not to mention having that cow!

BTW: we did bring home from England a lifetime ban on donating blood - all because of the "Mad Cow Disease." We were there for 6 months during the big problems back in 79-81. BTW: What is the current status on that?

Don

Mad Cow Disease

by IAN MC - 2012-03-02 05:03:30

Don...I sometimes think that my wife has it but she keeps on denying it.

What a good question you ask ! I think governments have "swept it under the carpet" ( maybe that is just a UK term ) in the hope that people will forget about it.It is believed that BSE(CJD) can lie dormant in people for tears and years before the disease appears. Some estimates say that thousands of people may be infected.. There are still pressure groups trying to make blood tests compulsory to avoid passing on BSE via blood transfusions. I think a couple of hundred people have died from it but no cases recently..

As every year goes by we all feel more relaxed about it

I ate British beef tonight and it tasted great. As you know, there was absolute hysteria here at the time and millions of cows were slaughtered , all because cows which normally eat grass were fed the remains of dead sheep and cows.

Cheers

Ian

Thanks!

by depglass - 2012-03-02 09:03:03

I'm impressed with this forum and the thoughtful answers I received. The only online community I've ever joined was QVC. This will give me plenty to chew on for the day.

Sue

Tell me About Hysteria!

by donr - 2012-03-02 09:03:12

The blood donation ban is for life in the US for anyone who lived in the UK for 6 mo or more between Jan 1980 & 1996. We had a year of it - the entire calendar yr 1980. They decided that to ban anyone who visited there for only a few days would destroy our ability to maintain a blood bank. We ate lots of British beef while there. May have made us mad, but not in the sense of CJD!

We had our own MCD livestock problems for a short time & a whole bunch of animals were killed, somehow it infiltrated down from Canada. Apparently all cattle sales are registered & all cows are marked, so they were able to work backwards & find out where it came from.

We don't sweep things under the carpet - we sweep them under the rug!

Cheers!

Don

Bactrim

by IAN MC - 2012-03-02 09:03:22

I spent a fair part of my life , as a research chemist, doing research on antibiotics in the pharmaceutical industry.

I did a double take when I read that your Dr prescribed Bactrim. This drug was banned in the UK a few years ago because of its life-threatening side effects . The UK government body,the C.S.M ( the Committee of Safety of medicines) reviewed all the toxicity evidence and decided that it should ONLY be used in AIDS-related pneumonias.

If you want the technical bit, Bactrim is a combination of two ingredients, trimethoprim and sulphamethoxazole and it's the 2nd ingredient which can be very dangerous for some people

Don was right when he talked about the red rash, wrong when he described it as "nice" ...it can lead to very serious illness and death in some patients . Hundreds of deaths have been attributed to the use of Bactrim ( the combination of the two drugs is known generically as cotrimoxazole and was available under various trade names the main ones being Bactrim and Septrin)

Sorry if this scares you , depglass, I don't mean to , but I think it is atrocious that your Dr prescribes Bactrim when there are far safer alternatives available.

Ian

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