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Cellulitis help

14 replies

beggingbehind · 24/05/2016 11:17

DS 16 got diagnosed with cellulitis of the arm yesterday. He had a slightly raised temperature felt I'll and had a space of swollen red and soft space about 4x3 cm went to GP got a course of anti-bs.hes had 4 of them now. I now anti-bs don't work very quickly but this morning he feels very sick red has spread to about 5x3 cm and has gone hard is this normal for cellulitis I don't want to make fuss. We don't have a minor injuries unit near by and it's difficult to get emergency GP appot,nets i don't want go make a fuss over something iyswim. Thank you

OP posts:
Badders123 · 24/05/2016 11:24

It can spread quickly and he may need IV abx tbh
Hope he feels better soon x

beggingbehind · 24/05/2016 11:45

Thank you

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CMOTDibbler · 24/05/2016 11:51

If its spreading, then it needs looking at again.

Balletgirlmum · 24/05/2016 11:53

Ds had cellulitis. The fab nurse told us if it spread/got redder at all to call them straight away.

confuugled1 · 24/05/2016 12:38

I'd also draw a line around it in biro, note the time and then see how much it has spread in an hour (or how long it takes to spread a cm if it's faster!) - then ring and try to have a telephone appointment with a doctor.

If you saw them yesterday they should have told you what to expect - good and bad. They should be able to talk to you rather than needing an appointment if you are able to say so precisely how circumstances have changed. And then they can tell you what to do - whether you need to go to a&e (or at what point you do if it's not now), if you need stronger antibiotics and so on.

If they won't do a telephone consultation, might be worth ringing nhs direct or whatever it's called these days for a telephone consultation and they should be able to tell you what to do, including booking doctor's appointments.

Might also be worth putting together a quick grab bag to take with you in case your ds does need to go to a&e and stay in for a couple of days in case he needs IV antibiotics - pjs, toothbrush, phone charger, water/squash to drink, couple of snack bars in case food is bad, book to read, change for parking and coffee machines etc

If you don't need it - great. If you do - then you won't be running around doing it panicking you need to be going, you will have it ready to grab and go.

Hope your ds is feeling better very soon!

Balletgirlmum · 25/05/2016 09:02

How is he?

beggingbehind · 25/05/2016 11:28

Took him back to doctors they said right to bring him in. They put him on another anti-bs and gave him a nurse apptment for thursday morning to see how its doing and said if it got a lot worse to go back. its spread again but DS is insistent not to back and says he can wait till tommrow. Thank you for your replies

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Balletgirlmum · 25/05/2016 11:33

If it's spread you need to go back. Cellulitis is really serious.

beggingbehind · 25/05/2016 11:44

I might get some advice as anti-bs wont have started to work yet would they? its not spread to far

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beggingbehind · 25/05/2016 22:24

I took him to A&E as it had spread he was throwing up and a lump had come up. Nurses were lovly and having waited for a couple of hours to see doc he had a look at it said it hadn't spread (It had since wed been there!) Hmm That there wasn't any pus in it (there was clear liquid coming out) to which DS poked it on the lump and a bit of green pus came out doc said "so there is a bit." Said carry o with anti-bs it should be fine theres nothing seriously wrong with it! He asked for pain killers non were given after seeing doc for 5 mins we left! It takes alot of courage for DS to go to hosptitial he went and nothing was done

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Balletgirlmum · 25/05/2016 22:32

That's appalling but similar to the treatment we had at the walk in centre.

It was the practice nurse who picked up how serious it was.

beggingbehind · 25/05/2016 22:39

Really! The nurses were great and saying it looked serious! I have put a thread on AIBU

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Balletgirlmum · 25/05/2016 23:37

Ds's infected cut was on his forehead though & there was real concern it would spread to his brain.

Dh is a private tutor & fortuitously the mum of his student that night was a nurse. She took one look at him, told us she was cancelling her son's lesson & we were tootsie him to be seen straight away.

Nurse at walk in said nothing wrong but we insisted due to this mums reaction.

The next day it had spread & we took him to our Drs (practice nurse) who immediately called the dr in.

Badders123 · 26/05/2016 16:30

That's in incredibly poor
He needs IV Abx!

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