So I have had a few bouts with staph, some more terrible than others...but nothing like those extreme cases you see where guys get hospitalized. Basically, I had a small open cut on my right forearm that I knew I should have covered, but with my schedule and it being as tiny as it is I paid little attention to it. Well, after training a few hours at about the cleanest gym I have ever been in, I still managed to contract staph on my forearm, it instantly got red and swollen with a nice pimple like spot in the middle...and then two red lines started running up my forearm, passing my elbow, I knew this would likely get ugly, but being 10 pm already I was not going to the clinic. So I took one of my girlfriends small cotton circle things, for cosmetics I'm sure, and bathed it in defense soap, placed it on the spot, put a heat pack over that, and wrapped it all in tight with an ace bandage. I woke the next day and holy shit. It was a third of its size and the deep red lines that were trailing up my arm are all gone and the swollen bit was no longer a deep red, but a lighter pink hue. I've been repeating it for about 5 days and it is all but gone. Voodoo magic for sure. Anyone else ever do some weirdo home remedies and have them work?
soaking in epsom salts, copious hyrdrogen peroxide, and Bactine spray have all worked for me at various times.
When it comes to infection, my understanding is that it makes the water too alkaline for anything biological to live in it. There are supposed to be holistic benefits to soaking in epsom salts as well (improved cardiovascular and digestive health). I'm no expert, but you can find information here: Epsom Salt Industry Council - About Epsom Salt - News Bureau Table salt is a different mineral altogether. I wouldn't try table salt.
Epsom salt is great for sore muscles, small strains, and bruises. Pour a couple of cups in a hot bath and soak.It is unreal how much of the soreness it pulls out. Sorry to hijack your thread TS
No hijack, any home remedy type stuff I like to hear, because I am a guy who hates going to the doctor, it is overpriced and I have had some shitty doctors do barely anything for me for alot of money, so anything I can do on my own I love.
Just a FYI tea tree oil is reported to cause younger males to develop breasts. Now granted it was in younger males and their parents were using it a lot. There are some soaps and shampoos you can buy. I got a skin thing from the gym and it worked on them great but I wasn't using a lot or for long term. And I am anything but a young person anymore. I'm all for skipping an expensive doctor visit myself. But you should really research any "herbal home remedy" before using it.
I also had those red lines when I picked up a staph infection on my wrist. I waited for two days before going to the doctor. The lines reached up to my armpit and then I realised I better go to the doc. Had to take antibiotics for a week. With these advices I hope I won't have to do it again. Thanks
This stuff works wonders for me when I shower after class. Plus, I use this to wash all my workout clothes and gi.
Is it true that using a lot of antibacterial stuff opens you up for fungal infections (ringworm)? I can't remember where I heard this, not sure if it's true or not.
Well, the stuff that they sell at major stores contain Triclosan. There's a lot of reports that state it makes some strains of bacteria more resistant to the antibiotic. Though, there are also reports that state it's real safe.
Believe it or not I am a microbiiologist. That is what I do for a living. Big Eck I don't think that using a lot of antibiotics would increase your chances of a fungal infection UNLESS one of the organisms you have killed using the antibiotic is a natural defense against a certain type of yeast or mold. Antibiotics do not kill yeast or mold, only bacteria. A women is more suceptable to yeast infections after being on antibiotics for a while. But this is the only circumstance I can think of like that. As for Staphylococcus aureus, it is a very tough organism to kill. They are very hardy little bastards. Mats should be cleaned as directed per the instructions the mat came with or the cleaning solution a gym hopefully uses. For the most part, the only thing that makes organisms resistant to antibiotics is strangley enough...antibiotics. There is a reason you are supposed to take all you medicine till it's all finished. If you don't kill all the bacteria that made you sick you give it the chance to build up a defense to that antibiotic. Then that antibiotic no longer works on that strain of bacteria at all. Same kind of thing goes with enviromental cleaners. Bacteria can get "used" to them and the cleaners will no longer work. That's why the active ingredients change every few years. If you think the staph infection in the gym is bad you should try getting one in a hospital. Those little bastards have built up a resistance to both medicine and enviormmental cleaners. Good Luck if you get one. It's what kills most people who die from surgery. That's right, not mistakes by the surgeon, bleeding out or over anesthesia. It's the staph infection.
On the subject of epsom salts... Epsom salts/baking soda/h. peroxide is a good combination to use to cleanse the skin real well. Epsom salts draw water from the skin so it allows the skin pours to be cleansed and causes you to sweat/detox this way. It also works as a very mild laxative. It will also help greatly with muscle soreness. Bottom line, epsom salts are the shit.
