Main reason I stopped diving or entering water is skin eating bacteria

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Until it's not. Draining does not always work. Antibiotics do not always work and it's name comes from it being resistant to many. Nothing worked for my son except cutting it out. It's not misinformation: it's history. Hygiene is the best cure and defense against MRSA. MRSA is mostly contracted in hospital settings.
Yes MRSA IS resistant to many but not all. Fortunately we still have antibiotics that are effective for MRSA. For abscesses, drainage is the treatment of choice but antibiotics are still indicated if there is any significant cellulitis surrounding the abscess. This is the most common presentation in the community setting. The problem is that once you are colonized with the bacteria it can be difficult to eliminate so recurrences are common. Yes in colonized individuals the bacterial lives in the nose, armpits and groin.

And there are two forms of MRSA, community acquired (CA-MRSA) and hospital acquired (HA-MRSA). All infections are serious, but as you can probably guess, HA-MRSA can be much more serious and much harder to treat. The infections tend to be deeper, from procedures such as surgery, and more resistant.

And yes “until it’s not” can be said for all bacterial infections. That is why the public’s insistence on antibiotics for viral infections can be so frustrating to healthcare professions.
 
That is why the public’s insistence on antibiotics for viral infections can be so frustrating to healthcare professions
And misdiagnosis, mistreatment, indifference and condescension are so frustrating to patients and their family.
 
And misdiagnosis, mistreatment, indifference and condescension are so frustrating to patients and their family.
I am sorry if that is your evaluation of healthcare.

As for misdiagnosis, the human body is complex and changing. Sometimes a problem is seen too early in it’s course and looks too much like everything else. Diagnoses are often fluid and can evolve as the presentation changes. Unfortunately there are not tests to confirm every problem. And even then the tests themselves can be wrong or inconclusive. And there are different levels of diagnoses and varies with confidence. It use to be that one was not definitely “pregnant” until one saw the baby.

And the patient themselves plans a role in this. Sometimes they will playup or down the history or symptoms to get the diagnosis they think is correct. Or just completely self diagnosis. Taking CA-MRSA as an example, patients often present as “spider bites” and even after I directly tell them no it is a skin infection they will persistent in calling it a spider bite. In the earlier years of CA-MRSA, before the extent of community colonization was well recognized, brown recluse spider bites were very commonly diagnosed, even among healthcare providers, even in states that do not have brown recluse spiders.

As to mistreatment, here I assume you don’t mean abusing the patient. With working diagnoses one chooses the best treatment for the patient at that moment in time for that patient. As the information and symptoms evolve the treatment may change. A patient presenting with a cold may be treated with cold medications. If later it evolves into a bacterial sinus infection, then the treatment changes. In this case the diagnosis and treatment changed but that did not make the initial diagnosis wrong nor was the patient mistreated. But chances are the patient didn’t see it this way.

As for indifference and condensation, that’s what feet are for, to take you to another provider. There are good and bad in every profession and even the good have their bad moments since we are all human.
 
I am sorry if that is your evaluation of healthcare.
It is. It's why they call them 'practicing' physicians. Health professionals have to earn my trust and respect. Few do.
And the patient themselves plans a role in this.
Only if the doctors allow them. My biggest gripe is that many don't listen.
As to mistreatment, here I assume you don’t mean abusing the patient.
No, I am referring to what many would call malpractice. They prescribe the wrong treatment.

I had a PPP (Partial Palatal Pharyngoplasty) with a tonsillectomy to cure sleep apnea. I'm fat and it was assumed that it was obstructive apnea. It was decided within moments after a sleep study that surgery was essential. I was given absolutely no alternative and O2 levels were so depressed during my sleep study that it was scheduled for the next day. I was absolutely scared into this surgery. I indicated that I was allergic to Demoral, and yet it was the pain relief they gave me (on demand pump). After the first shot, with the resultant dull headache, I didn't punch it again. When asked the next morning why I didn't use it, I pointed out it was Demerol, to which the nurse said "yeah, so?" Wow. I asked them to read the Rx I was allergic to and there it was, the very first thing on the list. He blamed me for not pointing it out when I first figured out it was Demerol. Go figure, huh? It's not their job to read what I'm allergic to when I'm unconscious. There were a few other gaffes, but that was pretty bad. Guess what? My snoring continued and my oxygen sats were still way, way low. Oh, it wasn't obstructive apnea after all, but another kind and maybe you should try a c-pap? I've been on a c-pap some 25 years now. Wow. I have at least a dozen stories that involve my family and medical incompetence including my son's MRSA. With the help of Google, he identified the problem before the Doctors. When he mentioned it, he was verbally slapped down by the doctor for such a preposterous idea. A week later they came to the same conclusion but he nearly died from the delay.

I'm not alone in my distrust of the medical system. Yeah, I know there are a lot of pressures, economic as well as time and number of patients who misuse the system. I absolutely avoid going to a doctor at this time. I am my own best advocate. I am my own best doctor. No one knows my body like I do and no one, NO ONE worries about my quality of life more than I do. Sometimes, I have to give in, like with the surgeon who fixed my broken leg. He was great. He listened. He gave me choices. He did a more than competent job. He has my trust and my respect. No, not everyone in that Fijian hospital earned that, but they were far better than any American hospital I've been to.
 
As for indifference and condensation, that’s what feet are for, to take you to another provider. There are good and bad in every profession and even the good have their bad moments since we are all human.
For most people in the US that's not really a viable option except on TV. Unless you're going to an ER, every doctor I've ever seen as a "new patient" has made me wait several months for a first appointment. I guess maybe if you're a 1%er or a congressman you could swing going to another doctor the next day. For most Americans, it just isn't an option.
 
For most people in the US that's not really a viable option except on TV. Unless you're going to an ER, every doctor I've ever seen as a "new patient" has made me wait several months for a first appointment. I guess maybe if you're a 1%er or a congressman you could swing going to another doctor the next day. For most Americans, it just isn't an option.
Ain't it the truth!
 
For most people in the US that's not really a viable option except on TV. Unless you're going to an ER, every doctor I've ever seen as a "new patient" has made me wait several months for a first appointment. I guess maybe if you're a 1%er or a congressman you could swing going to another doctor the next day. For most Americans, it just isn't an option.
It’s one reason Urgent Care clinics are going up in almost evey neighborhood.

In our neck of the woods getting in as a new patient for a PCP is a few weeks on average, if they are accepting new patients. If you have an urgent problem they may be willing to work you in sooner. A specialist is weeks to months, depending on the specialty. And if your PCP can pull some strings. Lag time in care is one of the reasons it can be important to maintain a good relationship with a PCP.

Pete. You have had some bad experiences and for that I am sorry. But it’s also obvious that you ”know what you know” but it is also true that you “don’t know what you don’t know” as is often said here on SB. And depending on Google for healthcare info is tricky at best.

No one short of divine intervention can confirm MRSA until it is found on culture. It can be suspicious, possible or even probable but it is not MRSA until grown on culture.
 
Pete. You have had some bad experiences and for that I am sorry.
I'm not singular. I am legion. There are many like me. That lady who died from NF? I wonder if she encountered the same incompetence that I have.
 
this hazmat suit. could be a parchele solution but mite be difficult to swim in.
 

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