A Warning to all who dig!

  In a nutshell, I caught poison Ivy a month ago.  Today, I was diagnosed with something that the nurse called "Indian Fire".  Essentially, as of today, the theory is that the open sores let in a form or either Staff or Strep.  Now that you know what this is about, you may chose to read the details or not....

  First, I must explain a little about myself,  I am a healthy outdoors man type who turns forty next month.  I have only caught poison ivy/oak a few times and that was not until I was roughly thirty.  I am describing myself to you all because I find it important to show you that this can happen to a healthy person who has been outdoors all of his life. 

  I have never cared much about what poison ivy or oak or sumac look like because those couple of times that I caught it was very minor.  I boldly pulled vines that other people were wide eyed and scared of without hesitation. 

  Today, however, I have a different outlook on those plants as well as how much respect to pay the infection that they can cause me.  I have wrote those last few paragraphs to try to get to those guys who are now like I was..... poison proof. 

  I was so inexperienced with poison ivy that I saw it kind of like every other zit or infection that I recalled having..... get it out!  I would try to drain any sores and get whatever was inside out.  This, I now know, was very stupid.  I made the reaction worse and last longer by doing this. 

  My second ignorant mistake was that I continued to dig without any cares while my hands and forearms had these open sores.  The climate here is "semi-tropical".  The air is humid and the dirt is usually pretty moist.  I suspect that bacteria are pretty prevalent in this area. 

  The only way that I can describe what I have been dealing with over the last week is that my skin is bloated and aggravated from my elbows to my fingers.  My doctor explained that pockets under the skin are filling up with fluid.  The skin itself is very aggravated and easily broken.  I can pic any spot on my arms and simply pinch to make a sore that will leak.  That is how volatile my arms have become. 

  The poison ivy treatment was mainly just a steroid that essentially kills your immune system.  So you can see why I would have been easy enough prey for a few bacteria hanging out in the dirt.  Today, I am on two different types of antibiotics that each deal with either staff or strep.

  Now that I am on the antibiotics, the sores certainly seem to be healing and not reopening so easily.  I have been on the meds for 24 hrs and the sores are actually warm!  I can see a couple of bumps under the skin where some of the first sores had mostly healed and left a scar.  This makes me think that there could be waste product from the battle of the microbes such as puss.  This also makes me think that I had one heck of a nasty infection going on.

  I knew a 20 yr old kid who died from a staff infection that he contracted from a spider bite to the head.  It got into his bloodstream and they could not stop it.  He was also young and bulletproof.  I am not the dramatic type but I do know that this experience is going to permanently change my habits. 

  I will start wearing gloves to hunt from now on.  I now look at my hands and I see sores that essentially show me where I put the most damage on my hands when I dig.  It is that obvious to me.  I was tempted to show pics to illustrate but I just don't see Mr. Christian appreciating my infected fingers floating around with everyones's recent finds on top of your computer screen.. 

  I can show pics if anyone is truly curious.  It really is not gross or anything.  It doesn't even look as bad as some of the poison ivy cases that I have seen in the past.   I have managed to keep the sores small.  I have also been instructed to use peroxide a few times a day and not to sweat until the sores are gone.  Sweating alone opened them up.  Bathing will open them up shortly no matter how gentle I am.

  Okay, I have tried to lay all of it out for you guys in an effort to keep this from happening to anyone out there.  This can happen to anyone.  It is a huge pain in the booty that has effected me at work and home and could have soooo easily been avoided if I would not have been so ignorantly "bullet proof".  I have done my best to show you guys that this is serious and now I can only wish that none of you ever have to deal with it.  Perhaps you will be able to recognize this if someone you know gets it.  Maybe you will be able to just warn others who put themselves at risk.

  Happy Hunting All.

 

 

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Tri City Ditty

Thanks big time TRI, I think you should post it, I have never seen it or the plant and i too am the bullit proof type
and i have had a few close calls, and I think this is a health and safety issue so folks need to know,
And if people dont like it then it is my fault because i have asked for this to happen. so if you feel well enough to do it
then please do, and i will take the blaim

I hope you get well soon coz i miss our chats, Praying for ya Mate.

AU

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Good post here TriDitty,

I know the seriousness of staff infections that start out small and undetectable, they really can wreck havoc on ones self & yes cause a rather quick death if serious enough. Many Staphylococcus strains are antibiotic resistant, so your thread is actually a very good important post for the Diggers & Thunters here.

I agree with (RidgeRunner) and would like to see any photos of your hand and forearms, and would be interesting & add visual importance to the topic!

praying that you'll get healed & well soon,  
Jim

		Quote:			Posted by TriDitty
	Thanks guys, I am not really worried as far as my health goes right now though.  I can tell that things are changing even though this is just the first twenty four hours.   My gal just got back from Wal Mart with a new camera ( finally) so I can certainly get a couple of pics.

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  It's official, I'm no hand model.

  In fact, I really did not realize that my hands look that bad.  For some reason, I was getting used to this I guess.  I can't wait for it to go bye bye.

  The first pic really gives you a chance to see what I mean by old sore scars having little bumps under them.  Also, you can see what I meant by "volatile" when you look at the color of the skin.  Everything is still bloated and sore.

  The second one is what I meant when I said that I can see how rough I am on my hands when I am digging.  I have been around gravel a whole lot and it really has taken a toll on my hand modelling future.  The nasty one on the second finger to the left looks worse than it is because some of the scab has just come off.  Those fingers have a lot of fluids under the skin.  I have to be kinda careful not to damage the skin because that fluid wants to come out.

  The third one is a pic of the most problematic and stubborn one on the side of my wrist.  It is in a spot that the skin is stretched and bunched so it tends to break and leak more often than others do.  I had my wrist bent funny to catch as much of it as I could.

  The good news is that the one in the third pic has not leaked in hours.  Although I see that the pics are pretty bad, I am actually doing much better and should be fine. 

  Lesson learned...  I just chalk it up as another example of how new I am to the hobby.

Posted on: May 04, 2011, 12:39:11 AM

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		Quote:			Posted by Karl
	Post them if u got them LOL , I really don't think folks will mind , if they are graphic though u may want to change the heading to let folks know.

  I would not exactly call them graphic so I guess we should be ok.

  It took me forever though.  I did not notice that I was trying to post pics that were 2.5 meg in size until my browser locked up on me.  I had to do it all again and these pics aren't as good as the first.

  It is really late and I must wish you all a great night.

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Tri City Ditty

Weldone TRI, See thats why it is important to show such things,

And looking at those pictures shows everyone what will happen

Thanks for your pictures too Karl,  To me those plants look like the harmless ones we have over here.
There are a few over that sting,

In Australia we have one that touched a horse that horse Killed its self

AU

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