Have you ever gotten cellulitis (NOT cellulite!)?

eminenz2

eminenz2

Cathlete
Whenever I get a bug bite, I get a large cellulitis surrounding the bite. The more serious/dangerous the bug, the larger the cellulitis. For example, if I am bitten by a fly or mosquito, the lesion only gets about three inches in diameter. The two separate times I was bitten by yellowjacket and once by a bee, the cellulitis covered the entire back of my thigh (bite number one), inflamed my forearm (second time), and swelled up the side of my leg (three's a charm!).

The first two times I went to the emergency room because my skin's reaction was so shocking, and the third time I went to my own doctor, and all three times I was assured that my reaction was not an "allergic" reaction.

Do any of you have experience with this sort of thing? I hesitate to go to the doctor because all I'm told is to use benadryl (orally) to control the swelling and benadryl cream to control the itch. The last time the doctor actuallly gave me steroids to help the healing.

How serious is cellulitis? I've looked around on the web and have found alot about children and cellulitis, but not really anything for grwonups, and not really anything having to do with bug bites.

Thanks for reading and for your advice/info.

Susan L.G.
 
my father gets it really bad, he has really bad legs that the swell up so bad his ankles look like huge balloons, and everytime he gets a cut or scrape on his leg it turns into cellulitis - his doctor wants him to put rubber bands around the bottom of his pants to make sure he doesn't get scraped (his legs and feet swell so much he can't even wear socks), but they give him a very strong antibotic, and he has to keep it covered with bandages and some type of ointment. Im not sure exactly what it is either, but all I know my father has to be extremly careful when he gets it and try to take percautions to not get it.

the lower leg is the only place he gets it.

Lori
 
My daughter had cellulitis when she was 2(day after B-day). She was stung by a bee or wasp. She was in the hospital for 4 days.

Prior to the sting:
She was kind of cranky all day, but I thought that it was mostly from being up late and out of her normal routine because of her B-day party. While outside she walked over to a section outback where my husband had just sprayed bees/wasp nets. We heard her cry, but we had no idea that she was stung. Well, by that time I figured she needed a nap. She napped for a few hours. When she got up she couldn't even put weight on her leg, but we still hadn't figured out that she was stung. It was all swollen and hot. She reacted to bugs and anything similair with a high pitched scream, which was odd because she never did that before. A couple of episodes like this is was what clued me to realise that she was probably stung. We found the spot which was near her ankle.


We took her to the doctor. Of course, the first thing they thought that happened to her swollen leg was probably caused by parental abuse. I had to get x-rays, to make sure that it wasn't broken. The whole time, they refused to believe that it was caused possibly by a sting. I felt really uncomfortable.:( They told me to take her home and bring her back if it got worse. Well, it did and really bad. It seemed as though this swelling was growing up her leg every few hours. Our doctors had no clue.

The doctor sent me to a childrens hospital and the doctors there informed me that she had cellulitis(infection of the fat cells).

BTW, my daughters cellulitis started like a band around her ankle that grew up her leg 2 to 3 inches per day. It was red, and extremely swollen. The swelling had reached to about mid thigh. Her leg was 3-4 times the size of her tiny leg. She couldn't not bend her knee or even walk. She was given steriods and antibiotics.

It is more common in children that in adults.

She(now 5) still is scared to death around any insects.

When I get stung, my skin and area around gets very swollen, sounds exactly like yours. I was also stung last summer in the back of the thigh and the whole back area swelled up for several days. This was nothing compared to what my daughter had or even looks like it.

Sorry that this got so long.
 
Oh my gosh - your story about your daughter was frightening! I just can't imagine how stupid the people at the hospital could have been not to recognize the problem for what it was! At least the people in the ER I went to knew what it was right away.

Yes - I also had the back of my thigh swell up - the skin was "very angry" as the doctor put it - red, hot, hard, and itchy to boot.

I hope one day your daughter can be OK around harmless insects again. Poor baby! :(

Susan L.G.
 
The story of you daughter is horrible - I'm soory to here this.


I get exactly the same thing you are talking about. Right know I have to fly bites on my leg about 2 inches in diameter that are swollen red and hard.

When I have been stung by bees my whole upper leg swelled up, got rock hard and melted ice because it was so hot. I too was also told this is not an allegic reaction to be worried about but cellulitis. One Dr. also told me benaydrl(sp) topically and orally - That worked for about 1/2 a day and I went back in and was put on steroids.

I now have a note in my medical chart to give me steroids if this happens again. It has happened to me about 4 times were the whole leg swells.
 
Susan...I hadn't even heard of this until I saw your post. Then yesterday one of my clients came in with a big bandage on her arm and told me it was cellulitis!. She got it from a scrape on her arm. She can exxagerate a bit, but told me The Doctor told her it can be dangerous if not taken care of...I wonder why some people get it and some people don't?....Carole
 
Carole,

Well, I was reading on the internet that it has something to do with the strep bacteria. When I first started teaching I got continuous strep infections - you know - wicked sore throats with fever, nausea etc. Maybe that has something to do with it? Maybe I'm now very sensitive to strep stuff?

Susan L.G.
 
Thanks Susan...I know my client got very swollen and it made me think of the cuts and scrapes I get, and the mosqitos seem to love me...but no cellulitis. That's interesting about strep...I know we do become more sensitive to different things as we get older..x( ....:)...Carole
 
Carole -

I know that I never use to get migraines until about seven years ago so you must be right that our bodies change and become sensitive to different things as we age. (I also think stress has a part to play as far as migraines go.)

Susan L.G.
 
I got stung by two wasps last weekend (knee and knuckle). I took my ring off immediately and iced the areas. No swelling, no nothing all day long. I put the ring back on (you see where this is going?) only to wake up at 3:00 a.m. because my knee and my hand were swollen and itching horribly! I had to cut my ring off with tin snips! Well, it wasn't too bad for the rest of the day, but Monday morning, my entire hand and knee were swollen to twice their size and the knee was weeping "serum" as the doctor called it. She put me on steroids and antibiotics and strongly suggested that I fill the prescription for Epipens (epinephrine that you jab into your thigh) as she felt that my reaction could escalate the next time!

Isn't it weird how some doctors are not concerned at all, but others are? (and Benadryl did absolutely nothing for me!)
 
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