Cellulitis

[MissJJ19]

Hi everyone
I’m hoping for abit of advice. Thursday afternoon I began getting a swollen ring on my leg like you do from a bite, yesterday I woke up and it had doubled in size. From there it has literally not stopped spreading up my leg. I visited my GP who gave me penicillin as he said it was infected. This morning I woke up feeling quiet unwell and the swelling had tripled in size, the doctor advised if the swelling did persist or I felt unwell to go straight to A&E.
On arrival they tried to send me away saying that I need to give the medication 24hours which is understandable but I showed her my leg and she quickly changed her mind and told me to take a seat. I was then called into a room with another nurse who asked me what had happened, I explained everything to her and she literally took a glimpse at my thigh where the swelling began and didn’t look at the rest, I explained I was feeling unwell with it and she suggested upping the dose of penicillin she then asked if there was more than one bite so I stood up and showed her my leg fully, she then decided from looking at it that I’d need a change in antibiotics altogether. Since I’ve been home I’ve felt very sleepy and the pain in the leg is awful I can barely stand, I’m just wondering if anyone has had this before and can let me know about their experience as I know it can turn nasty quiet quickly. I’ve attached a photo thank you

Don’t be afraid to seek medical advice again if you are happy with the outcome or things are getting worse.

I felt really uncomfortable at the hospital as she kept making it very clear it was ‘just a bite’ which of course I know it is but I’ve never reacted quiet so badly or felt so poorly x

Yes, I've had cellulitis twice now from infected insect bites. It's horribly painful.

I was advised to keep my legs elevated above heart level, cold compresses and antihistamines three times a day rather than the once that it says on the box.

The first time I was off work for three weeks but the second time cleared up slightly quicker albeit with two different antibiotics. I hope you feel better soon.

And yes, don't be fobbed off if you don't see some improvement soon or you start to feel worse. Cellulitis can be really serious.

Get your foot up above your heart if you can - in bed, put some cushions or something under the foot of the mattress to prop it up a bit, that'll help with the swelling. The swelling will be contributing to the pain.

Take paracetamol / ibuprofen / whatever you have, and take it regularly.

Plenty of water, try to eat if you can, and keep any visible open wound very clean.

If you're still worried and feeling worse, consider going back and asking about sepsis.

I can only sympathise. I recently had cellulitis from a bite on my ankle that got bad pretty quickly over the course of an evening. Thankfully a course of flucloxacillin prescribed by out of hours sorted the swelling but two weeks on I still have a fair bit of inflammation. Good advice in previous posts but don't hesitate to contact docs or out of hours again if you're worried. Cellulitis can get worse very quickly and any medical professional should be glad to see people just on care rather than treating someone with sepsis.

I know someone who needed a two day hospital stay to have intravenous antibiotics before the infection even started to abate.
I'd go back to A & E with that, it looks awful.

Thank you for your replies, in situations like this it’s good to reach out specially when I looked it up and the word ‘sepsis’ popped up. I’ve never heard of cellulitis before but from researching it it seems quiet common so I thought I’d reach out to seek other opinions or experiences
I’m going to monitor it over the next few hours and if I don’t feel right seek advice from 111.

How are you doing today?