Dh thinks he's got sceptecemia - is he just been a man?

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

Or am I being unsympathetic? Actually its unlike him to make a fuss - never known him go to a GP in 9 years.

Anyway he's got a lot of flea bites round his ankles and he's been scratching them. Had them for weeks. Yesterday he felt really ill, like he had flu - was cold and shaking badly. He felt slightly better today, but still poorly and went to work.

He's rung up to say his leg his so badly swollen that you can't see his ankle joint anymore. Also that there is redness tracking up his leg from the bites. So it does sound like some sort of infection.

Can this wait until he can get a GP appt tomorrow? Does he need a&e. Am loath to ring NHS direct 'cos they always say go to a&e.

our out of hours is quicker too! mad!

marking the leg is a good idea

mark leg, go to a&e unless you have an all night pharmacy and can get antibiotics dispensed at whatever time OOH turn up. but if I were them I would send you to A&E anyway so frankly i would just go. may not be too busy - my area as I am writing is relatively quiet

A and E now. My DH had sceptcimia (SP) and the sypmtoms sound similar. Doctors told them that if he had left it until the morning he could have lost his arm or died.

He had to stay is hospital for 3 days on an intraveneuos (sp) drip.

Sounds like cellulitis, particularly the tracking. DS1 was very ill with this at 10 days old and in intensive care/two weeks of 4 types of IV antibiotics. Hope it gets sorted quickly.

Well he has a appt at OOH at 7:10pm. Which is about the earliest he could have got to the hospital anyway so happy with that.

Just worried now as he said he's had the redness since yesterday but was hoping it would go away. Have seen his leg now and lower leg is very swollen. The redness is all round his ankle/lower leg, then there are long red lines up past his knee.

he might be admitted. good job getting him in to see someone, though.

Well thanks for the advice. He's back home now with antibiotics. Must admit I was suprised he's come home after reading some of the stories here! But pleased to see him. Just got to sort these damm fleas out now!

Watch him overnight. The DH of someone I know had a similar situation, got sent home by the docs with AB's, went back to another doc the next day, and has been in hosp for a few days now.

How is he today stripey?

He's a bit better today thanks Belgo. Ankle isn't as swollen and although still red lower down, he hasn't got the red lines going up his leg so I think the infection is receding. Have spent the day hoovering and flea bombing the house.

I had this a few months ago and sounds like they treated it same as for your DH. I phoned NHS direct and they said it was fine, I just ahd to see the GP the next day for antibiotics, which I did. The tracking just means there's an infection.

They're pretty intense antibiotics though - I got thrust when I took them.

thrush that would be.

Must work on typing....

Stripey - I've had this a fair few times - I'm amazed he's on oral antibiotics tbh - when the veins are tracking it's quite far advanced and I've always been admitted and given IV antibiotics

NB it's not the flea bites - it's the immune system's reaction to something that has got in with the flea bites - I got this from a blister FFS - apparently a lot of time it's to do with e-coli bacteria going from hands to the wound - DH scratching after having a poo perhaps - which gets into the blood stream.

Blinglovin - you made me snigger

If he's already feeling an improvement with oral antibiotics, that's great. If it had been worse today I would have been worried.

Now I'm . Sniggering sent my mind awandering....

Yes, he's been scratching the flea bites so guess thats where the infection came from. Will tell him to wash his hands better after having a poo.

also, get rid of the fleas.

You need to treat the cat/dog rather than the house though - fleas can't survive more than a few days without a vulnerable pet, they can't live on human blood - they will give you a good old nibble to find out though.

The cat's been frontlined and is done monthly so don't now how we've got fleas in the house.

Frontline can stop working if the fleas are immune, there is another one (can't remember the name of it - Tigivan perhaps) we had to switch because the fleas stopped being killed by Frontline. We've not had fleas on the cats since - amazing considering the amount of wildlife they eat!